The front and rear wheels with the Record hub I built the other day
This is the earliest hub compatible with CULT bearings, which didn't exist when this hub was being produced.
I had written that I wouldn't do this conversion this time around,
but the customer requested it, so we're doing it.
Actually, the CULT conversion was the original plan from the start,
but I had completely forgotten about it.
As I'm writing this article,
all the distributors carrying Campagnolo have run out of CULT bearing kits.
We didn't have stock for both wheels at our shop either,
but we did have individual parts in stock—the races, locknuts, and ceramic ball retainers for CULT of the same size—
so even though it'll be more expensive sourcing them this way,
we're going to pool these parts together to assemble a CULT bearing kit.
I said "more expensive," but that's an internal issue.
Since the shortage is really due to our oversight—the distributors' and our shop's—
we're going to charge the customer the standard CULT bearing kit price.
Starting with the front wheel.
It was grinding and rough when spinning.
Looking inside, I found pitting on one of the races.
Even if we weren't converting to CULT,
this would be the kind of condition where I'd strongly recommend the customer replace the steel ball bearing kit on one side.
I removed all the parts from inside the hub
This is a photo at the point where I pressed in the CULT race
and set the retainer in place.
Now for the rear wheel.
The internal cavity of the hub body, inboard from the races,
is packed with grease from the original Campagnolo era.
This grease would be completely useless even if we were running steel ball bearings,
but it accumulates here when you inject grease through the hub's grease hole.
I cleaned out the hub interior and converted it to CULT bearings.
With both wheels, there was potential for wheel center offset depending on how the races seated,
and I did get a slight offset—roughly the thickness of a piece of paper on each wheel—
which I corrected.
About the relationship between the XDR freebody and the right end nut at the point when the wheel was built—
this was something I was planning to address anyway, separately from the CULT conversion.
The right end nut in the image above is the OEM part that came with the original hub,
and the nut and spacer are integrated as one piece.
↑In later versions (right side of the image), while the final dimensions end up the same,
the nut portion and spacer are separate pieces.
These parts are sold as a nut + spacer set;
individual pieces aren't available separately.
The XDR freebody comes with three different spacers for this section.
↑From left to right: two lines, one line, and no lines.
The two-line version is for budget rim-brake wheel models—
Scirocco, Vent, Khamsin, or Bora DB and the original Bora WTODB—
and is 7.4mm wide.
The one-line version is 8.2mm wide and fits rim-brake wheels like Bora WTO,
as well as earlier models like Bora, Hyperon, Shamal Ultra, and Zonda.
There's no disc-brake wheel it fits.
Since regular hubs use this same width spacer,
we're using this one for this job.
The no-line version is also 7.4mm wide like the two-line,
but it's a spacer that only fits Zonda DB and Scirocco DB.
↑One-line spacer + individual right end nut (right side of image)
As I mentioned,
end nuts aren't sold individually,
but I'm calculating it all out for the customer's convenience.
The spacer now has a dust cap function added to it.
Just to be safe, after swapping to this one,
I'm doing the centering check again.
This is the earliest hub compatible with CULT bearings, which didn't exist when this hub was being produced.
I had written that I wouldn't do this conversion this time around,
but the customer requested it, so we're doing it.
but I had completely forgotten about it.
As I'm writing this article,
all the distributors carrying Campagnolo have run out of CULT bearing kits.
We didn't have stock for both wheels at our shop either,
but we did have individual parts in stock—the races, locknuts, and ceramic ball retainers for CULT of the same size—
so even though it'll be more expensive sourcing them this way,
we're going to pool these parts together to assemble a CULT bearing kit.
I said "more expensive," but that's an internal issue.
Since the shortage is really due to our oversight—the distributors' and our shop's—
we're going to charge the customer the standard CULT bearing kit price.
Starting with the front wheel.
It was grinding and rough when spinning.
Looking inside, I found pitting on one of the races.
Even if we weren't converting to CULT,
this would be the kind of condition where I'd strongly recommend the customer replace the steel ball bearing kit on one side.
I removed all the parts from inside the hub
This is a photo at the point where I pressed in the CULT race
and set the retainer in place.
Now for the rear wheel.
The internal cavity of the hub body, inboard from the races,
is packed with grease from the original Campagnolo era.
This grease would be completely useless even if we were running steel ball bearings,
but it accumulates here when you inject grease through the hub's grease hole.
I cleaned out the hub interior and converted it to CULT bearings.
With both wheels, there was potential for wheel center offset depending on how the races seated,
and I did get a slight offset—roughly the thickness of a piece of paper on each wheel—
which I corrected.
About the relationship between the XDR freebody and the right end nut at the point when the wheel was built—
this was something I was planning to address anyway, separately from the CULT conversion.
The right end nut in the image above is the OEM part that came with the original hub,
and the nut and spacer are integrated as one piece.
↑In later versions (right side of the image), while the final dimensions end up the same,
the nut portion and spacer are separate pieces.
These parts are sold as a nut + spacer set;
individual pieces aren't available separately.
The XDR freebody comes with three different spacers for this section.
↑From left to right: two lines, one line, and no lines.
The two-line version is for budget rim-brake wheel models—
Scirocco, Vent, Khamsin, or Bora DB and the original Bora WTODB—
and is 7.4mm wide.
The one-line version is 8.2mm wide and fits rim-brake wheels like Bora WTO,
as well as earlier models like Bora, Hyperon, Shamal Ultra, and Zonda.
There's no disc-brake wheel it fits.
Since regular hubs use this same width spacer,
we're using this one for this job.
The no-line version is also 7.4mm wide like the two-line,
but it's a spacer that only fits Zonda DB and Scirocco DB.
↑One-line spacer + individual right end nut (right side of image)
As I mentioned,
end nuts aren't sold individually,
but I'm calculating it all out for the customer's convenience.
The spacer now has a dust cap function added to it.
Just to be safe, after swapping to this one,
I'm doing the centering check again.