Today, a customer (technically speaking) brought me a Mavic open rim and a bundle of spokes.
"Open" refers to a rim model called OPEN that Mavic made as a predecessor to the Open Pro.
I measured the internal diameter of that rim, and separately they wanted me to calculate spoke length for an Araya Aero 4 rim laced to 7400 hubs.
So I checked the required spoke length and investigated the origins of the spokes in the bundle.
This customer (technically speaking) can actually build wheels themselves.
The spoke bundle included DT's Revolution based on #15 and other types,
but most of them were Hoshi's Aero Star Bright (Aero SB).
↑This is a bundle of Aero Star Bright Type III, aka Aero SB3.
The Aero SB3 is a square aero spoke that fits through round holes on generic hubs.
Star Bright has a capital "H" mark on the spoke head,
stainless has a ☆ (star mark),
but while Aero SB exists,
there's no such thing as Aero Stainless.
So the stamp is always an H mark.
However, this Aero SB3 has mixed generations,
and the emboss height of the H differs (see image above).
The lower-height ones aren't just worn down—
the vertical bar length of the H itself is different too,
so it looks like different stamp dies were used altogether.
But they had the same magnetic properties.
Both react powerfully to a magnet—*CLANG*!
Also, with Hoshi's aero spokes, perhaps due to the machining equipment limitations,
the flattened butted section length varies in several versions,
and depending on the length, the round spoke sections at both ends of the butted part
can look absurdly long,
or even with just a 2mm difference in length, the butted section length
can differ noticeably.
But this bundle of spokes with the different stamps
had the same butted section range, probably because they were the same length.
↑This is Aero Star Bright Type I, aka Aero SB1.
Aero SB1 and SB2 have identical flat butted section dimensions,
and Aero SB2 has the same H-stamped spoke head as Aero SB3
but only fits flanges with a slit hole specification,
but Aero SB1 has a hook-shaped spoke end that catches on the hub flange,
allowing wheel building with round-hole flange hubs.
Oh, and by the way, this Aero SB1
has an "absurdly long" round spoke section on the hub side.
I tried reverse-spoke lacing on a Tnii front hub.
Radial lacing is better done with reverse-spoke lacing.
Tangent lacing is also possible,
but you have to account for the reverse-spoke's strong outward directionality.
When I tried reverse-spoke lacing on the freehub flange of a 660 rear hub,
it interfered with the hub body.
There are quite a few hubs where Aero SB1 won't work.
Aero SB1 and SB2 have HOSHI emboss stamping on the butted section,
and this is a relatively nice example from the spokes this time,
but the HOSHI character string
was shifted downward on many of them.
Also, the top of the horizontal bar of the 4th character H
was often unclear, making it look like a ladder.
And here's what surprised me: these spokes
barely reacted to a magnet.
Earlier I wrote that Hoshi's aero spokes
only come as Aero Star Bright,
but I was just assuming that—
it turns out there are exceptions.
With the Type I model, since there's no spoke head proper,
I can't confirm H stamp = Star Bright.
Well, I actually have evidence in our shop of fraudulent spokes
with H stamping but made of the same manufacturer's stainless,
so Hoshi doesn't guarantee that H stamping means they're making genuine Star Bright.
↑This is my personal Aero SB2,
(and again, the round section on the hub side is absurdly long),
when I lined up three flattened sections as a wall,
a magnetic rod stuck to it with *CLANG*!
Actually, even one spoke works, and it sticks
not just on the long face of the flattened butted section
but also on the short face (the blade side).
But this time, the so-called Aero Stainless 1 (or whatever we should call it)
showed no magnetic reaction at all on a three-spoke wall like the one above.
This magnetic rod is used for nipple and rim replacement on Racing Zero and Bora wheels,
but I also use it to check spoke magnetism.
↑Top is Aero Fake SB1 (let's call it that),
bottom is Aero SB3,
and while the Aero SB3 has some light surface rust on some,
the Aero Fake SB1 has stainless-like luster
with absolutely no rust.
↑This is Aero SB3
↑This is also Aero SB3
↑This is my personal Aero SB2,
the round section is absurdly proportioned,
but the stamping is clean and it sticks well to magnets.
↑This is also my personal Aero SB2.
This one has the most extreme absurd proportions.
But the stamping is clean and it sticks well to magnets (etc.).
↑This is also my personal Aero SB2,
but even with the same uncut spoke length,
the round section length is different—pretty sloppy stuff.
If you use this for radial lacing on a front wheel,
the irregular light reflection off the spokes around the hub area
on a rotating wheel really stands out,
so you definitely shouldn't mix them up.
But the stamping is clean (etc.).
The so-called Aero SB Type 1 and 2—the clarity of the HOSHI emboss,
especially whether the 4th character H is clean,
seems to determine the manufacturing period,
and the unclear ones are questionable as genuine Star Bright.
The customer (technically speaking) brought quite a large quantity of spokes,
and what I've posted here is just part of it,
but the Aero SB2 and SB3 were entirely genuine Star Bright,
and only the Aero Fake SB1 showed little to no magnetic reaction.
Well, I'm suspicious of all Hoshi spokes anyway.
Once you've been caught screwing up, you can't trust them for life.
I've also seen rear wheels assembled with H-stamped spokes on both sides claiming to be Star Bright,
with proper 2mm length difference between left and right,
where only one side—say, just the freehub side—sticks to a magnet.
This means that of the spokes purchased believing them to be Star Bright,
only the longer spokes (for the freehub side) were genuine.
As far as I know, there's one exception—a spoke that is invariably 100% genuine Star Bright as claimed:
NJS-approved spokes for track cycling.
I have two theories about this:
One is that because track cyclists are generally sharp about their equipment,
deception doesn't work, so they do it right;
the other is that NJS spokes are just selling stock manufactured long ago,
and they were only making quality products at that manufacturing time.
I think the latter theory is thin, though.
"Open" refers to a rim model called OPEN that Mavic made as a predecessor to the Open Pro.
I measured the internal diameter of that rim, and separately they wanted me to calculate spoke length for an Araya Aero 4 rim laced to 7400 hubs.
So I checked the required spoke length and investigated the origins of the spokes in the bundle.
This customer (technically speaking) can actually build wheels themselves.
The spoke bundle included DT's Revolution based on #15 and other types,
but most of them were Hoshi's Aero Star Bright (Aero SB).
↑This is a bundle of Aero Star Bright Type III, aka Aero SB3.
The Aero SB3 is a square aero spoke that fits through round holes on generic hubs.
Star Bright has a capital "H" mark on the spoke head,
stainless has a ☆ (star mark),
but while Aero SB exists,
there's no such thing as Aero Stainless.
So the stamp is always an H mark.
However, this Aero SB3 has mixed generations,
and the emboss height of the H differs (see image above).
The lower-height ones aren't just worn down—
the vertical bar length of the H itself is different too,
so it looks like different stamp dies were used altogether.
But they had the same magnetic properties.
Both react powerfully to a magnet—*CLANG*!
Also, with Hoshi's aero spokes, perhaps due to the machining equipment limitations,
the flattened butted section length varies in several versions,
and depending on the length, the round spoke sections at both ends of the butted part
can look absurdly long,
or even with just a 2mm difference in length, the butted section length
can differ noticeably.
But this bundle of spokes with the different stamps
had the same butted section range, probably because they were the same length.
↑This is Aero Star Bright Type I, aka Aero SB1.
Aero SB1 and SB2 have identical flat butted section dimensions,
and Aero SB2 has the same H-stamped spoke head as Aero SB3
but only fits flanges with a slit hole specification,
but Aero SB1 has a hook-shaped spoke end that catches on the hub flange,
allowing wheel building with round-hole flange hubs.
Oh, and by the way, this Aero SB1
has an "absurdly long" round spoke section on the hub side.
I tried reverse-spoke lacing on a Tnii front hub.
Radial lacing is better done with reverse-spoke lacing.
Tangent lacing is also possible,
but you have to account for the reverse-spoke's strong outward directionality.
When I tried reverse-spoke lacing on the freehub flange of a 660 rear hub,
it interfered with the hub body.
There are quite a few hubs where Aero SB1 won't work.
Aero SB1 and SB2 have HOSHI emboss stamping on the butted section,
and this is a relatively nice example from the spokes this time,
but the HOSHI character string
was shifted downward on many of them.
Also, the top of the horizontal bar of the 4th character H
was often unclear, making it look like a ladder.
And here's what surprised me: these spokes
barely reacted to a magnet.
Earlier I wrote that Hoshi's aero spokes
only come as Aero Star Bright,
but I was just assuming that—
it turns out there are exceptions.
With the Type I model, since there's no spoke head proper,
I can't confirm H stamp = Star Bright.
Well, I actually have evidence in our shop of fraudulent spokes
with H stamping but made of the same manufacturer's stainless,
so Hoshi doesn't guarantee that H stamping means they're making genuine Star Bright.
↑This is my personal Aero SB2,
(and again, the round section on the hub side is absurdly long),
when I lined up three flattened sections as a wall,
a magnetic rod stuck to it with *CLANG*!
Actually, even one spoke works, and it sticks
not just on the long face of the flattened butted section
but also on the short face (the blade side).
But this time, the so-called Aero Stainless 1 (or whatever we should call it)
showed no magnetic reaction at all on a three-spoke wall like the one above.
This magnetic rod is used for nipple and rim replacement on Racing Zero and Bora wheels,
but I also use it to check spoke magnetism.
↑Top is Aero Fake SB1 (let's call it that),
bottom is Aero SB3,
and while the Aero SB3 has some light surface rust on some,
the Aero Fake SB1 has stainless-like luster
with absolutely no rust.
↑This is Aero SB3
↑This is also Aero SB3
↑This is my personal Aero SB2,
the round section is absurdly proportioned,
but the stamping is clean and it sticks well to magnets.
↑This is also my personal Aero SB2.
This one has the most extreme absurd proportions.
But the stamping is clean and it sticks well to magnets (etc.).
↑This is also my personal Aero SB2,
but even with the same uncut spoke length,
the round section length is different—pretty sloppy stuff.
If you use this for radial lacing on a front wheel,
the irregular light reflection off the spokes around the hub area
on a rotating wheel really stands out,
so you definitely shouldn't mix them up.
But the stamping is clean (etc.).
The so-called Aero SB Type 1 and 2—the clarity of the HOSHI emboss,
especially whether the 4th character H is clean,
seems to determine the manufacturing period,
and the unclear ones are questionable as genuine Star Bright.
The customer (technically speaking) brought quite a large quantity of spokes,
and what I've posted here is just part of it,
but the Aero SB2 and SB3 were entirely genuine Star Bright,
and only the Aero Fake SB1 showed little to no magnetic reaction.
Well, I'm suspicious of all Hoshi spokes anyway.
Once you've been caught screwing up, you can't trust them for life.
I've also seen rear wheels assembled with H-stamped spokes on both sides claiming to be Star Bright,
with proper 2mm length difference between left and right,
where only one side—say, just the freehub side—sticks to a magnet.
This means that of the spokes purchased believing them to be Star Bright,
only the longer spokes (for the freehub side) were genuine.
As far as I know, there's one exception—a spoke that is invariably 100% genuine Star Bright as claimed:
NJS-approved spokes for track cycling.
I have two theories about this:
One is that because track cyclists are generally sharp about their equipment,
deception doesn't work, so they do it right;
the other is that NJS spokes are just selling stock manufactured long ago,
and they were only making quality products at that manufacturing time.
I think the latter theory is thin, though.