A customer left me a Bora One 35 and 50 for inspection.
Both are tubular rim wheels, and the letter mentioned
"narrow rim 35 and 50,"
but only the 50 has a narrow rim.
If the phrasing were "narrow rim 50 and 35,"
you could interpret it as the narrow rim descriptor
applying only to the 50.
First, the 35's front wheel.
Since it's not a narrow rim, the nipples aren't internal—
instead there's a grip area on the inside of the rim
held by magnets.
Both 35 and 50 had tires mounted, but
the 35 was taped on, while the 50
was simply placed on as rim cushioning.
The image above shows a spot where several centimeters
of tubular tape film backing was left unpeeled.
The temporary center was spot-on.
There was a slight wobble, so I corrected it.
The hub rotation was fine, so I didn't disassemble it.
These are Campagnolo/Fulcrum cup-and-cone hubs.
While they're not maintenance-free,
they don't need servicing as frequently as some people think.
By "some people," I mean those who do hub grease-ups
themselves every half year or year.
Interestingly, people who say "I'm scared to touch it myself, so I don't touch anything"
usually have hubs in better condition inside
than those who do service them—
unless there's loose ball bearing play causing side-to-side movement.
So, if I don't detect any problems,
I usually skip hub disassembly.
I'll top up grease if it's getting dry, though.
Next, the 35's rear wheel.
Both wheels still had their valve bushings—
these were second-generation replacements.
Even more than the front wheel, the tubular tape film backing
had been left unpeeled. The image above shows
the edge of that area.
The tire wasn't adhered this far.
Once the tape is pressed down, it becomes almost impossible to remove—
yet this Continental (German-made, non-Giro tire) black cotton base tape
shows zero tape adhesion marks.
In this condition, if you pressed hard through a downhill corner,
there's a real risk of the tire coming off.
The hub's ball bearing play and rotation were fine, but
the freewheel body had a loose, sloppy feel to it,
so I checked the freewheel pawl spring.
It was bent, so I replaced it.
The circular part spans just over one full turn,
and on an undamaged spring, that section
would overlap in perfect circles.
There was virtually no wobble, but there was centering offset.
This is the direction that typically shifts with age,
but the amount is substantial, so there may be another cause—
perhaps it was off-center from the start, or from some botched truing attempt.
I centered it.
Now for the 50's front wheel.
This is from the narrow-rim era of Bora.
Since Bora had no models other than the 50mm high rim at that time,
it wasn't called "Bora One 50" for differentiation—
just "Bora One."
The nipples are internal.
Campagnolo's high-profile rim wheels of that era
were called "Fluid Dynamics Wheels"
(I write "fluid" rather than "fulid" following
the Japanese distributors' notation of that time),
and the inner edge has a sharp V-shaped point,
so universal nipple configuration wouldn't seem to work.
The internal nipple setup might be a remnant
from using Colima (Colnago's proprietary rim supplier) rims.
Compared to recent wide rims with U-shaped inner edges
you could almost set sushi on,
this narrow deep rim might have less resistance
when flowing with water currents.
But air and water have different viscosity and behavior patterns,
so aerodynamically the recent U-shaped rims are likely superior.
Personally, I prefer narrow deep rims like this
based on tire-width matching and my own mental wind-tunnel testing.
The valve bushings from this era were
glued directly to the rim—
they can't be removed, and there are no spare parts.
This one is completely gone.
You should wrap something around the valve area
or apply a donut-shaped cushioning tape
over the valve hole.
↑This is from another Bora Ultra Two for reference—
an image of an intact valve bushing.
It's called "Bora Ultra Two," but that doesn't mean
the rim height is 2mm, just for the record.
No centering offset detected.
I just corrected the slight wobble that was there.
Once I removed the tubular tire that was sitting on it,
the rim's outer edge was completely clean—
no trace of tape or rim cement at all.
However, there was rim cement that had dripped and hardened
on the hub shell.
Scraping alone wouldn't budge it very easily, so
I wiped it off with acetone.
Finally, the 50's rear wheel.
The valve bushing was just barely holding on.
The temporary center was spot-on,
but I took these shots intentionally.
The rear hub rotation felt gritty, so I'm disassembling it.
I want to see whether the center shifts because of this work.
I disassembled the hub, cleaned it, and applied
the press tool to both the left and right cones—
I tightened them slightly though there was no obvious play.
One of the grease guards inside the hub shell was cracked.
In the image above, around 2 o'clock,
you can see parts cleaner seeping into the crack.
↑Like this.
The right cone race had spalling damage.
The hub rotation was definitely rough,
but I didn't expect to find this kind of obvious damage.
This is from the black ball race era,
and nowadays even the same part number
only gets the silver, harder revised version,
so I repaired it with that.
These four parts make one set,
but we sell them individually here.
I decided the left cone race and both cones
didn't need replacement, so I reused them.
Before disassembling, the hub had plenty of
that characteristic gritty white lithium grease
(probably Finish Line) packed outside the left-side seal,
suggesting someone tried to cure the grinding sound with a grease job.
It looks like when doing that, they didn't wipe away
the grease that squeezed out past the seal—
on the right side it might lubricate the freewheel pawls,
but on the left side it's pretty pointless even for sealing.
When I reassembled the hub,
the rim was offset to the right.
The cone re-pressing might have had an effect, or
the bite of the wedge-type centering washer changed.
Since lateral wobble was originally nearly nonexistent,
this isn't a situation where taking a measurement
on the non-freewheel side and applying it to the freewheel side
creates gaps that appear and disappear.
I centered it.
Both are tubular rim wheels, and the letter mentioned
"narrow rim 35 and 50,"
but only the 50 has a narrow rim.
If the phrasing were "narrow rim 50 and 35,"
you could interpret it as the narrow rim descriptor
applying only to the 50.
First, the 35's front wheel.
Since it's not a narrow rim, the nipples aren't internal—
instead there's a grip area on the inside of the rim
held by magnets.
Both 35 and 50 had tires mounted, but
the 35 was taped on, while the 50
was simply placed on as rim cushioning.
The image above shows a spot where several centimeters
of tubular tape film backing was left unpeeled.
The temporary center was spot-on.
There was a slight wobble, so I corrected it.
The hub rotation was fine, so I didn't disassemble it.
These are Campagnolo/Fulcrum cup-and-cone hubs.
While they're not maintenance-free,
they don't need servicing as frequently as some people think.
By "some people," I mean those who do hub grease-ups
themselves every half year or year.
Interestingly, people who say "I'm scared to touch it myself, so I don't touch anything"
usually have hubs in better condition inside
than those who do service them—
unless there's loose ball bearing play causing side-to-side movement.
So, if I don't detect any problems,
I usually skip hub disassembly.
I'll top up grease if it's getting dry, though.
Next, the 35's rear wheel.
Both wheels still had their valve bushings—
these were second-generation replacements.
Even more than the front wheel, the tubular tape film backing
had been left unpeeled. The image above shows
the edge of that area.
The tire wasn't adhered this far.
Once the tape is pressed down, it becomes almost impossible to remove—
yet this Continental (German-made, non-Giro tire) black cotton base tape
shows zero tape adhesion marks.
In this condition, if you pressed hard through a downhill corner,
there's a real risk of the tire coming off.
The hub's ball bearing play and rotation were fine, but
the freewheel body had a loose, sloppy feel to it,
so I checked the freewheel pawl spring.
It was bent, so I replaced it.
The circular part spans just over one full turn,
and on an undamaged spring, that section
would overlap in perfect circles.
There was virtually no wobble, but there was centering offset.
This is the direction that typically shifts with age,
but the amount is substantial, so there may be another cause—
perhaps it was off-center from the start, or from some botched truing attempt.
I centered it.
Now for the 50's front wheel.
This is from the narrow-rim era of Bora.
Since Bora had no models other than the 50mm high rim at that time,
it wasn't called "Bora One 50" for differentiation—
just "Bora One."
The nipples are internal.
Campagnolo's high-profile rim wheels of that era
were called "Fluid Dynamics Wheels"
(I write "fluid" rather than "fulid" following
the Japanese distributors' notation of that time),
and the inner edge has a sharp V-shaped point,
so universal nipple configuration wouldn't seem to work.
The internal nipple setup might be a remnant
from using Colima (Colnago's proprietary rim supplier) rims.
Compared to recent wide rims with U-shaped inner edges
you could almost set sushi on,
this narrow deep rim might have less resistance
when flowing with water currents.
But air and water have different viscosity and behavior patterns,
so aerodynamically the recent U-shaped rims are likely superior.
Personally, I prefer narrow deep rims like this
based on tire-width matching and my own mental wind-tunnel testing.
The valve bushings from this era were
glued directly to the rim—
they can't be removed, and there are no spare parts.
This one is completely gone.
You should wrap something around the valve area
or apply a donut-shaped cushioning tape
over the valve hole.
↑This is from another Bora Ultra Two for reference—
an image of an intact valve bushing.
It's called "Bora Ultra Two," but that doesn't mean
the rim height is 2mm, just for the record.
No centering offset detected.
I just corrected the slight wobble that was there.
Once I removed the tubular tire that was sitting on it,
the rim's outer edge was completely clean—
no trace of tape or rim cement at all.
However, there was rim cement that had dripped and hardened
on the hub shell.
Scraping alone wouldn't budge it very easily, so
I wiped it off with acetone.
Finally, the 50's rear wheel.
The valve bushing was just barely holding on.
The temporary center was spot-on,
but I took these shots intentionally.
The rear hub rotation felt gritty, so I'm disassembling it.
I want to see whether the center shifts because of this work.
I disassembled the hub, cleaned it, and applied
the press tool to both the left and right cones—
I tightened them slightly though there was no obvious play.
One of the grease guards inside the hub shell was cracked.
In the image above, around 2 o'clock,
you can see parts cleaner seeping into the crack.
↑Like this.
The right cone race had spalling damage.
The hub rotation was definitely rough,
but I didn't expect to find this kind of obvious damage.
This is from the black ball race era,
and nowadays even the same part number
only gets the silver, harder revised version,
so I repaired it with that.
These four parts make one set,
but we sell them individually here.
I decided the left cone race and both cones
didn't need replacement, so I reused them.
Before disassembling, the hub had plenty of
that characteristic gritty white lithium grease
(probably Finish Line) packed outside the left-side seal,
suggesting someone tried to cure the grinding sound with a grease job.
It looks like when doing that, they didn't wipe away
the grease that squeezed out past the seal—
on the right side it might lubricate the freewheel pawls,
but on the left side it's pretty pointless even for sealing.
When I reassembled the hub,
the rim was offset to the right.
The cone re-pressing might have had an effect, or
the bite of the wedge-type centering washer changed.
Since lateral wobble was originally nearly nonexistent,
this isn't a situation where taking a measurement
on the non-freewheel side and applying it to the freewheel side
creates gaps that appear and disappear.
I centered it.