A customer entrusted me with the front and rear wheels of a Bora One CX.
A rare item and still brand new. Incredible.
The Bora One CX is one of the wheel series for cyclocross that first appeared in the 2014 model year.
It wasn't quite the time when cyclocross was still purely rim brake cantilever systems at 100%...
Actually, for example, GIANT's TCX already had a disc brake version in the 2013 model
(like the MTB transitional period,
the front fork is 15×100mm thru-axle
and the frame is 135mm quick-release width spec).
The CX series was a wheel line that appeared for only a very short period during this era.
There are CX stickers on the rim and hub shell.
Since Bora only had tubular rim specs at that time and only came in 50mm rim height,
the model name doesn't include the rim height like "Bora One 50."
In 2014 when this came out, the Bora One 35 CX with a 35mm rim height also appeared,
but that's the CX version of the Bora 35—a narrow rim that only lasted one year.
Starting with the next generation Bora after wide rims were added and clincher rim specs appeared,
even the 50mm rim height model began to include the rim height in the model name as "Bora One 50."
Besides the Bora One CX, other CX wheels released in 2014 included
the Scirocco H35 CX and
Kamsin Asymmetric CX.
These appear in the 2015 catalog, but
the Bora One CX and Bora One 35 CX
have already been discontinued from the catalog.
So this wheel has become a rare item to the point where
even its actual manufacturing is suspected to have existed.
About what makes the CX series different.
I printed out the spare parts diagrams for the Bora One and Bora One CX.
With the Bora One, the bearing adjustment cone nut is
HB-ZO019, with "ZO" included in the part number
because it originally came from Zonda,
But with the Bora One CX,
the bearing adjustment cone nut is
HB-BUU019, with "BUU" included in the part number
because it originally came from Bullet Ultra,
and additionally a waterproof seal ring
HB-BUU035 has been added.
These images are the front hub left side, but
the front hub right side, and
HB-BUU035 has been added to the rear hub right side.
And the rear hub left side, but
the Bora One CX parts for this are clearly incorrect.
First, the bearing adjustment cone nut is
not HB-ZO019 but
HB-BUU019 (confirmed on the actual part), and
the line pointing to HB-BUU035
doesn't point to the seal but to the bearing adjustment cone nut,
which is also wrong.
I'll start by inspecting the front wheel, but
the customer mentioned a request
that made me slap my knee.
If the ball races are black, they want them replaced with
silver ball races, which are more resistant to wear.
These are the same HB-RE100 part, but
the specs are being changed while keeping the same part number,
so you can't intentionally order the old black ball races—
it's like Campagnolo was always made with silver ball races from the start,
one of those historical revisions Campagnolo sometimes pulls.
A notable example is the WH-BUU002, or the current third-generation
valve stem bushing, something I've written about many times before (→here).
I myself have seen a transitional-period Zonda where the ball race specs were different—
front and rear wheels from the same box,
but the front wheel had silver ball races
and the rear wheel had black ball races.
The front wheel had silver ball races.
The blue seal is HB-BUU035, and
the bearing adjustment cone nut that's slightly thicker
to allow mounting the blue seal is
HB-BUU019.
The front wheel had centering issues.
While it's possible the centering shifted from disassembling and reassembling the hub,
I don't think it would shift this much,
so it's definitely an original characteristic.
I did wheel truing and centering.
The runout was nearly nonexistent though.
Next, the rear wheel.
There was a warranty card on the rear hub shell too,
but I removed it during photography.
↑This is still untouched, but
the CX bearing adjustment cone nut is slightly thicker, so
the part edge doesn't line up flush with the hub body.
This doesn't affect the end width or wheel center.
↑The seal looks like this
The rear wheel also had silver ball races.
The rim was offset toward the non-freewheel side.
I could easily center it by loosening the nipples on the seven spokes on the non-freewheel side, but
I didn't want to do that, so
even though it takes more steps, I tightened the 14 spokes on the freewheel side
to do truing while centering.
I mounted the sprocket
and glued on the tire using rim cement.
These tires, by the way, were the final stock of two from a Japanese distributor,
and since Veloflex is now defunct,
future availability depends only on remaining stock, making it difficult to find.
A rare item and still brand new. Incredible.
The Bora One CX is one of the wheel series for cyclocross that first appeared in the 2014 model year.
It wasn't quite the time when cyclocross was still purely rim brake cantilever systems at 100%...
Actually, for example, GIANT's TCX already had a disc brake version in the 2013 model
(like the MTB transitional period,
the front fork is 15×100mm thru-axle
and the frame is 135mm quick-release width spec).
The CX series was a wheel line that appeared for only a very short period during this era.
There are CX stickers on the rim and hub shell.
Since Bora only had tubular rim specs at that time and only came in 50mm rim height,
the model name doesn't include the rim height like "Bora One 50."
In 2014 when this came out, the Bora One 35 CX with a 35mm rim height also appeared,
but that's the CX version of the Bora 35—a narrow rim that only lasted one year.
Starting with the next generation Bora after wide rims were added and clincher rim specs appeared,
even the 50mm rim height model began to include the rim height in the model name as "Bora One 50."
Besides the Bora One CX, other CX wheels released in 2014 included
the Scirocco H35 CX and
Kamsin Asymmetric CX.
These appear in the 2015 catalog, but
the Bora One CX and Bora One 35 CX
have already been discontinued from the catalog.
So this wheel has become a rare item to the point where
even its actual manufacturing is suspected to have existed.
About what makes the CX series different.
I printed out the spare parts diagrams for the Bora One and Bora One CX.
With the Bora One, the bearing adjustment cone nut is
HB-ZO019, with "ZO" included in the part number
because it originally came from Zonda,
But with the Bora One CX,
the bearing adjustment cone nut is
HB-BUU019, with "BUU" included in the part number
because it originally came from Bullet Ultra,
and additionally a waterproof seal ring
HB-BUU035 has been added.
These images are the front hub left side, but
the front hub right side, and
HB-BUU035 has been added to the rear hub right side.
And the rear hub left side, but
the Bora One CX parts for this are clearly incorrect.
First, the bearing adjustment cone nut is
not HB-ZO019 but
HB-BUU019 (confirmed on the actual part), and
the line pointing to HB-BUU035
doesn't point to the seal but to the bearing adjustment cone nut,
which is also wrong.
I'll start by inspecting the front wheel, but
the customer mentioned a request
that made me slap my knee.
If the ball races are black, they want them replaced with
silver ball races, which are more resistant to wear.
These are the same HB-RE100 part, but
the specs are being changed while keeping the same part number,
so you can't intentionally order the old black ball races—
it's like Campagnolo was always made with silver ball races from the start,
one of those historical revisions Campagnolo sometimes pulls.
A notable example is the WH-BUU002, or the current third-generation
valve stem bushing, something I've written about many times before (→here).
I myself have seen a transitional-period Zonda where the ball race specs were different—
front and rear wheels from the same box,
but the front wheel had silver ball races
and the rear wheel had black ball races.
The front wheel had silver ball races.
The blue seal is HB-BUU035, and
the bearing adjustment cone nut that's slightly thicker
to allow mounting the blue seal is
HB-BUU019.
The front wheel had centering issues.
While it's possible the centering shifted from disassembling and reassembling the hub,
I don't think it would shift this much,
so it's definitely an original characteristic.
I did wheel truing and centering.
The runout was nearly nonexistent though.
Next, the rear wheel.
There was a warranty card on the rear hub shell too,
but I removed it during photography.
↑This is still untouched, but
the CX bearing adjustment cone nut is slightly thicker, so
the part edge doesn't line up flush with the hub body.
This doesn't affect the end width or wheel center.
↑The seal looks like this
The rear wheel also had silver ball races.
The rim was offset toward the non-freewheel side.
I could easily center it by loosening the nipples on the seven spokes on the non-freewheel side, but
I didn't want to do that, so
even though it takes more steps, I tightened the 14 spokes on the freewheel side
to do truing while centering.
I mounted the sprocket
and glued on the tire using rim cement.
These tires, by the way, were the final stock of two from a Japanese distributor,
and since Veloflex is now defunct,
future availability depends only on remaining stock, making it difficult to find.