A customer brought in the front wheel of a Scope Cycling
Artec 6 for service.
The top-tier model in Scope Cycling's lineup is the Artec (ARTCEH).
Below that is the R series for racing,
and below that is the S series for sport,
with the numbers that follow roughly indicating rim depth.
The Artec features a hub with organically curved flanges made by 3D printer,
a rim sidewall resembling fish scales,
and carbon spokes—all designed for aerodynamic performance.
The 2 has a 22mm depth rim, the 4 a 45mm depth, and the 6 a 65mm depth rim,
with an internal rim width of 23mm across all models.
Today's wheel is an Artec 6.
↑This is what the rim sidewall looks like
Since only disc brake models exist,
there's no constraint requiring a braking zone in the rim sidewall shape,
and since the hub distinguishes left and right sides from the start,
customers can't accidentally use the rim backwards.
As for why it was brought in:
At a certain shop (I'd like to write it, but I made a promise with the customer not to),
they had the bearings replaced with CeramicSpeed bearings,
but afterwards there was play in the hub axle moving side-to-side relative to the hub body.
Even when installed in the front fork, pressing alternately on both ends of the wheel with my thumbs,
there was definitely lateral play.
I don't know if the customer took it back to that shop.
That shop boasts that they can build wheels,
but the assembly work they did was done incorrectly,
and I've seen wheels where the nipples kept loosening even after they finished.
From what I can tell, not only is their work quality low,
they're just plain stupid.
They're apparently famous in some circles for their signature move of getting furious
when the casters on returned Seatylock travel cases are damaged.
The thing is, the bolt specification on Seatylock casters is standard,
so you can replace just that part with something from a decent manufacturer
and basically eliminate all the trouble.
Anyway, I explained to the customer why there was lateral play
and taught them various things they could do on their end to address it.
These are trade secrets so I can't write about them.
Separately from that, I ended up doing some truing work as well,
Not that "it's okay for cheap wheels to have loose tolerances,"
but for a wheel with a list price of ¥928,400,
the wheel center is way off.
With a cartridge bearing hub, it's unlikely that
replacing bearings would shift the wheel center,
but if it were me, I'd check the wheel center anyway just to be sure.
If it's off, I'd correct it with the customer's approval.
Of course, I ended up fixing that too.
There was also some runout, and I figured that since they took on bearing replacement,
they could only do what they were told to do, but
they didn't even properly do what they were told to do (the bearing replacement).
I did the truing and centering.
The rear wheel was also brought in "while they were at it" and "just in case."
There were no screw-ups with the bearing replacement on this one, but
What in the world is this?
That's pretty rough.
Fixed it.
To adjust the Artec's carbon spokes, you need a tool that grips three of the four
engagement points arranged in a cross around the spoke
(the remaining one is a slot for the tool to pass through),
and the customer brought one,
but our shop has them too.
The reason is that we have a relationship with Scope's wheel distributor,
so we sourced the tool beforehand.
Beyond that, Scope has developed a proprietary diamond ratchet
face ratchet mechanism used in their Artec hub, and
they produce a dedicated grease for it,
This grease works so well on face ratchets in general that
at our shop we also use it on face ratchet hubs like Tni's LW Super Hub,
which don't have grease guidance recommendations, and even on
products like Mavic that come with dedicated grease.
Even on DT's star ratchet hubs, we often use this
even though we have star ratchet-specific grease in stock.
About a year ago, in an article about Mavic's Cosmic SLR 40 (here),
I wrote:
"For the face ratchet grease, I'm applying something other than Mavic's white stuff.
I've told the customer what it is,
and I gave them a quantity that's hard to use up in personal use."
Someone asked in the comments what that grease was,
and this is it.
Recently I restocked the same product,
but the packaging labeling has changed slightly.
Additionally, they've released a Silence Grease,
a separate grease for "those seeking greater quietness,"
so I've stocked that too.
Compared to the traditional red grease,
the Silence version comes in blue.
Artec 6 for service.
The top-tier model in Scope Cycling's lineup is the Artec (ARTCEH).
Below that is the R series for racing,
and below that is the S series for sport,
with the numbers that follow roughly indicating rim depth.
The Artec features a hub with organically curved flanges made by 3D printer,
a rim sidewall resembling fish scales,
and carbon spokes—all designed for aerodynamic performance.
The 2 has a 22mm depth rim, the 4 a 45mm depth, and the 6 a 65mm depth rim,
with an internal rim width of 23mm across all models.
Today's wheel is an Artec 6.
↑This is what the rim sidewall looks like
Since only disc brake models exist,
there's no constraint requiring a braking zone in the rim sidewall shape,
and since the hub distinguishes left and right sides from the start,
customers can't accidentally use the rim backwards.
As for why it was brought in:
At a certain shop (I'd like to write it, but I made a promise with the customer not to),
they had the bearings replaced with CeramicSpeed bearings,
but afterwards there was play in the hub axle moving side-to-side relative to the hub body.
Even when installed in the front fork, pressing alternately on both ends of the wheel with my thumbs,
there was definitely lateral play.
I don't know if the customer took it back to that shop.
That shop boasts that they can build wheels,
but the assembly work they did was done incorrectly,
and I've seen wheels where the nipples kept loosening even after they finished.
From what I can tell, not only is their work quality low,
they're just plain stupid.
They're apparently famous in some circles for their signature move of getting furious
when the casters on returned Seatylock travel cases are damaged.
The thing is, the bolt specification on Seatylock casters is standard,
so you can replace just that part with something from a decent manufacturer
and basically eliminate all the trouble.
Anyway, I explained to the customer why there was lateral play
and taught them various things they could do on their end to address it.
These are trade secrets so I can't write about them.
Separately from that, I ended up doing some truing work as well,
Not that "it's okay for cheap wheels to have loose tolerances,"
but for a wheel with a list price of ¥928,400,
the wheel center is way off.
With a cartridge bearing hub, it's unlikely that
replacing bearings would shift the wheel center,
but if it were me, I'd check the wheel center anyway just to be sure.
If it's off, I'd correct it with the customer's approval.
Of course, I ended up fixing that too.
There was also some runout, and I figured that since they took on bearing replacement,
they could only do what they were told to do, but
they didn't even properly do what they were told to do (the bearing replacement).
I did the truing and centering.
The rear wheel was also brought in "while they were at it" and "just in case."
There were no screw-ups with the bearing replacement on this one, but
What in the world is this?
That's pretty rough.
Fixed it.
To adjust the Artec's carbon spokes, you need a tool that grips three of the four
engagement points arranged in a cross around the spoke
(the remaining one is a slot for the tool to pass through),
and the customer brought one,
but our shop has them too.
The reason is that we have a relationship with Scope's wheel distributor,
so we sourced the tool beforehand.
Beyond that, Scope has developed a proprietary diamond ratchet
face ratchet mechanism used in their Artec hub, and
they produce a dedicated grease for it,
This grease works so well on face ratchets in general that
at our shop we also use it on face ratchet hubs like Tni's LW Super Hub,
which don't have grease guidance recommendations, and even on
products like Mavic that come with dedicated grease.
Even on DT's star ratchet hubs, we often use this
even though we have star ratchet-specific grease in stock.
About a year ago, in an article about Mavic's Cosmic SLR 40 (here),
I wrote:
"For the face ratchet grease, I'm applying something other than Mavic's white stuff.
I've told the customer what it is,
and I gave them a quantity that's hard to use up in personal use."
Someone asked in the comments what that grease was,
and this is it.
Recently I restocked the same product,
but the packaging labeling has changed slightly.
Additionally, they've released a Silence Grease,
a separate grease for "those seeking greater quietness,"
so I've stocked that too.
Compared to the traditional red grease,
the Silence version comes in blue.