A customer brought me the front and rear wheels of a Racing Zero DB for service.
Starting with the front wheel.
While doing a general inspection on both wheels,
they wanted me to replace just one spoke with a red spoke.
However, the red spoke version of the Racing Zero DB
only comes on the Japan-limited model,
and spare parts are supplied only through
Fulcrum's distributor in Japan.
I wrote about this before (→here).
The Racing Zero DB spokes come in
three types, since the front-left and rear-right spokes
—the tangent-laced ones—are shared between wheels.
Quoting from that previous post,
the part numbers are:
Front Left / Rear Right (shared) R0-217B
Front Right R0-216B
Rear Left R0-219B
If the rear-right were a unique length,
the part number would have been 218 instead.
Also, the "B" at the end is a color code for black,
so red spokes would end in "R",
and following that exact naming convention,
the red spoke spare parts actually exist
and can be bought normally through overseas online shops.
That's how the customer brought red spokes with them.
I did a stylish spoke swap.
On the front wheel's radial-laced side, that's the right side,
and the spoke part number is R0-216R.
Next, the rear wheel.
According to the customer, "I bought the wrong spoke."
They were supposed to do a stylish swap on the radial-laced side spokes on both wheels,
but instead of buying the Rear Left R0-219R,
they bought the Rear Right R0-217R.
However, there's actually a consistency to this that works out.
↑Front wheel
↑Rear wheel
Both images above were taken from the left side of the wheel.
When you use radial-laced spokes on the front wheel and tangent-laced on the rear,
when viewed from the right side of both wheels
(when viewing the bike from the right side after the frame is assembled),
the swapped red spokes on both wheels line up
at the same position counterclockwise from the valve.
We decided to say that the customer intentionally prioritized this visual element
and deliberately bought the 216 and 217 from the start—
it was all part of the plan.
Starting with the front wheel.
While doing a general inspection on both wheels,
they wanted me to replace just one spoke with a red spoke.
However, the red spoke version of the Racing Zero DB
only comes on the Japan-limited model,
and spare parts are supplied only through
Fulcrum's distributor in Japan.
I wrote about this before (→here).
The Racing Zero DB spokes come in
three types, since the front-left and rear-right spokes
—the tangent-laced ones—are shared between wheels.
Quoting from that previous post,
the part numbers are:
Front Left / Rear Right (shared) R0-217B
Front Right R0-216B
Rear Left R0-219B
If the rear-right were a unique length,
the part number would have been 218 instead.
Also, the "B" at the end is a color code for black,
so red spokes would end in "R",
and following that exact naming convention,
the red spoke spare parts actually exist
and can be bought normally through overseas online shops.
That's how the customer brought red spokes with them.
I did a stylish spoke swap.
On the front wheel's radial-laced side, that's the right side,
and the spoke part number is R0-216R.
Next, the rear wheel.
According to the customer, "I bought the wrong spoke."
They were supposed to do a stylish swap on the radial-laced side spokes on both wheels,
but instead of buying the Rear Left R0-219R,
they bought the Rear Right R0-217R.
However, there's actually a consistency to this that works out.
↑Front wheel
↑Rear wheel
Both images above were taken from the left side of the wheel.
When you use radial-laced spokes on the front wheel and tangent-laced on the rear,
when viewed from the right side of both wheels
(when viewing the bike from the right side after the frame is assembled),
the swapped red spokes on both wheels line up
at the same position counterclockwise from the valve.
We decided to say that the customer intentionally prioritized this visual element
and deliberately bought the 216 and 217 from the start—
it was all part of the plan.