I received a Racing Speed Dark Label from a customer.
I took it in for truing, centering, and hub overhaul.
That said, it hasn't been used much, so it's more like an initial inspection.
There's barely any runout, and only the rear wheel had a very slight centering issue.
I have several centering gauges (all different types),
and there are differences in precision between them — "even if a wheel passes centering on the most lenient gauge,
the strictest gauge will detect misalignment."
This time, the offset was at the level where it would have passed with the most lenient gauge.
For my regular wheel work, I use the strictest gauge.
I'll explain someday why I bother keeping the less precise ones.
These are Continental Grand Prix tubular tires.
On Continental tubulars, you can typically see stitching on the underside of the rim tape,
but this model is different — it doesn't have that.
This model only has stitching underneath the tread.
(Which means puncture repair is probably impossible)
Another thing that caught my eye is the seam "burr."
Unlike the Competition, there's a burr running across the tread.
I wouldn't worry about this much, but
↑This one definitely stands out.
On the contact patch in the normal wear zone, it should wear off with a little riding.
This wheel has a "steel ball / steel ball race" specification.
With Campagnolo / Fulcrum,
"ceramic ball / steel ball race" is called USB,
"ceramic ball / ceramic ball race" is called CULT,
and the steel ball races should be black while ceramic ball races should be silver.
I previously wrote "they got mixed up" regarding the Red Wind 105 (here),
but when I asked Campagnolo Japan today,
they told me "there are silver ball races for steel ball specs too."
However, on this wheel, the rear had a black ball race,
so the front and rear are mixed.
It's unlikely they'd be mixed left to right,
but apparently this is a time of specification changeover, so such things can happen.
This work was from two days ago, but I thought I needed to confirm the ball race specifications
before I could write about it.
The reason is, there have been several Campagnolo / Fulcrum wheels recently
where the front and rear ball races are different colors, and I thought
"all of these can't possibly be mistakes,"
so I wanted to check.
I took it in for truing, centering, and hub overhaul.
That said, it hasn't been used much, so it's more like an initial inspection.
There's barely any runout, and only the rear wheel had a very slight centering issue.
I have several centering gauges (all different types),
and there are differences in precision between them — "even if a wheel passes centering on the most lenient gauge,
the strictest gauge will detect misalignment."
This time, the offset was at the level where it would have passed with the most lenient gauge.
For my regular wheel work, I use the strictest gauge.
I'll explain someday why I bother keeping the less precise ones.
These are Continental Grand Prix tubular tires.
On Continental tubulars, you can typically see stitching on the underside of the rim tape,
but this model is different — it doesn't have that.
This model only has stitching underneath the tread.
(Which means puncture repair is probably impossible)
Another thing that caught my eye is the seam "burr."
Unlike the Competition, there's a burr running across the tread.
I wouldn't worry about this much, but
↑This one definitely stands out.
On the contact patch in the normal wear zone, it should wear off with a little riding.
This wheel has a "steel ball / steel ball race" specification.
With Campagnolo / Fulcrum,
"ceramic ball / steel ball race" is called USB,
"ceramic ball / ceramic ball race" is called CULT,
and the steel ball races should be black while ceramic ball races should be silver.
I previously wrote "they got mixed up" regarding the Red Wind 105 (here),
but when I asked Campagnolo Japan today,
they told me "there are silver ball races for steel ball specs too."
However, on this wheel, the rear had a black ball race,
so the front and rear are mixed.
It's unlikely they'd be mixed left to right,
but apparently this is a time of specification changeover, so such things can happen.
This work was from two days ago, but I thought I needed to confirm the ball race specifications
before I could write about it.
The reason is, there have been several Campagnolo / Fulcrum wheels recently
where the front and rear ball races are different colors, and I thought
"all of these can't possibly be mistakes,"
so I wanted to check.