A customer brought in an original generation Racing Zero for me to work on.
Even though this is a rear wheel from a Racing Zero made before rest phase holes existed,
there's something that looks like rest phase holes,
which is because there are no spokes there.
The customer recovered the broken spokes and nipples on their own.
These red "necktie" spokes are no longer in the manufacturer's inventory,
so I can't special order them.
Though we still have a small supply at the shop.
This wheel was sent from far outside the Kinki region,
and apparently a shop near the customer said:
"Even if you repair just one spoke, the other spokes will eventually fail too,"
and when I heard this over the phone, I told them—
basically exactly like this:
"That's the kind of BS crap shops say. Don't believe it.
If you want the wheel fixed, send it to me."
The way they were trying to lead the customer toward
"Well, if one spoke won't fix it,
I guess we have no choice but to buy a new wheel"—
that stink was way too much, you dumbass!
I don't know if this shop's manager or staff would have the guts to say the same thing to my face.
This is just speculation, but even if spokes were available,
I doubt they'd fix it, and honestly, I don't think they could.
It's genuinely rough for the customer to have a shop like that nearby.
Well, because they didn't believe that nonsense,
they called our shop
and sent the wheel to us.
By the way, with steel spokes,
if a spoke breaks at the head (spoke nipple side fracture doesn't count)
and then gets repaired, but breaks again within a very short period,
there is indeed a phenomenon where subsequent spokes will break repeatedly—
a kind of "breaking habit."
I've done complete spoke replacements for that reason.
However, with Racing Zero and Shamal Ultras spokes,
where the kamaboko-shaped spoke head breaks right at that junction,
or on the front wheel, where it breaks leaving only the part that fits like a jigsaw puzzle piece on the hub flange—
I've personally only ever seen that happen once.
So with aluminum spokes like those on Racing Zero and Shamal Ultra,
you can safely say that the lifespan of "healthy" spokes without deformation or cracks
won't be shortened by a history of unhealthy spokes occurring.
↑Left is the spoke sent from the customer,
right is a new spoke.
First, I turned just the nipple of the replaced spoke,
and once it stopped being in the position with the most runout,
there was almost no lateral deviation, and with just slight adjustment to two other spots,
the truing was done.
So that state was basically the same as one second before the spoke broke,
which means the runout was basically non-existent to begin with.
At that point the rim had shifted toward the freehub side.
I believe this is due to age.
The customer said this wheel was a 2008 model,
so they might have bought it in 2008,
but the original release was 2005.
It's pretty rare for a wheel from about 20 years ago with special spokes to have a chance of being repaired.
Can Shimano or Mavic's 2005 models—or even 2008 models—be serviced?
I centered the wheel by tightening the non-freehub side.
Even though this is a rear wheel from a Racing Zero made before rest phase holes existed,
there's something that looks like rest phase holes,
which is because there are no spokes there.
The customer recovered the broken spokes and nipples on their own.
These red "necktie" spokes are no longer in the manufacturer's inventory,
so I can't special order them.
Though we still have a small supply at the shop.
This wheel was sent from far outside the Kinki region,
and apparently a shop near the customer said:
"Even if you repair just one spoke, the other spokes will eventually fail too,"
and when I heard this over the phone, I told them—
basically exactly like this:
"That's the kind of BS crap shops say. Don't believe it.
If you want the wheel fixed, send it to me."
The way they were trying to lead the customer toward
"Well, if one spoke won't fix it,
I guess we have no choice but to buy a new wheel"—
that stink was way too much, you dumbass!
I don't know if this shop's manager or staff would have the guts to say the same thing to my face.
This is just speculation, but even if spokes were available,
I doubt they'd fix it, and honestly, I don't think they could.
It's genuinely rough for the customer to have a shop like that nearby.
Well, because they didn't believe that nonsense,
they called our shop
and sent the wheel to us.
By the way, with steel spokes,
if a spoke breaks at the head (spoke nipple side fracture doesn't count)
and then gets repaired, but breaks again within a very short period,
there is indeed a phenomenon where subsequent spokes will break repeatedly—
a kind of "breaking habit."
I've done complete spoke replacements for that reason.
However, with Racing Zero and Shamal Ultras spokes,
where the kamaboko-shaped spoke head breaks right at that junction,
or on the front wheel, where it breaks leaving only the part that fits like a jigsaw puzzle piece on the hub flange—
I've personally only ever seen that happen once.
So with aluminum spokes like those on Racing Zero and Shamal Ultra,
you can safely say that the lifespan of "healthy" spokes without deformation or cracks
won't be shortened by a history of unhealthy spokes occurring.
↑Left is the spoke sent from the customer,
right is a new spoke.
First, I turned just the nipple of the replaced spoke,
and once it stopped being in the position with the most runout,
there was almost no lateral deviation, and with just slight adjustment to two other spots,
the truing was done.
So that state was basically the same as one second before the spoke broke,
which means the runout was basically non-existent to begin with.
At that point the rim had shifted toward the freehub side.
I believe this is due to age.
The customer said this wheel was a 2008 model,
so they might have bought it in 2008,
but the original release was 2005.
It's pretty rare for a wheel from about 20 years ago with special spokes to have a chance of being repaired.
Can Shimano or Mavic's 2005 models—or even 2008 models—be serviced?
I centered the wheel by tightening the non-freehub side.