A customer dropped off the rear wheel of a first-gen Shamal Ultra 2WAY-FIT.
The original Shamal Ultra has a gold rim and spokes,
the second generation is titanium gray,
but this is the first-gen model of the "Shamal Ultra 2WAY-FIT."
Like the original Shamal Ultra,
this is a rear hub from before the freewheel-side flange
got "mega-fied."
The customer had put yellow tape markers on spokes—
one on the freewheel side and one on the non-freewheel side,
The non-freewheel-side spoke was twisted
from an attempt to turn the nipple,
and the freewheel-side spoke was completely broken.
When the customer asked at the shop in the neighborhood that sold them this wheel,
they said repair wasn't possible because spare parts supply for that freewheel-side spoke has ended—
and that's actually true.
The spoke head has five vertical lines stamped on it—a length specific to the G3 lacing freewheel side
from before the original Shamal Ultra got mega-fied.
The gold of the first gen, the titanium gray of the second gen,
and the black spokes of the first-gen 2WAY-FIT
have all been discontinued,
so we can only hunt through distribution inventory.
We had it in stock.
So repair was possible.
The broken freewheel-side spoke runs in the outpoke direction,
but on pre-mega hubs,
inpoke spokes lie on top of outpoke spokes,
so that one also had to come out temporarily.
The customer had written in a note that the nipples on this wheel
were stuck tight—like adhesive had been applied!—and wouldn't turn.
Short of complete seizure,
there are means to remove them.
Though what counts as "complete seizure" is subjective—
if someone thinks a nipple is completely seized
but another person manages to turn it through some method,
then for that other person it wasn't completely seized.
Really, "a nipple I can't loosen"
is what gets labeled "completely seized" by that person.
On this point, I have the confidence that there are virtually no people
ranked higher than me in making that judgment
—meaning there are virtually no people who can loosen a nipple
that I've declared completely seized.
The non-freewheel-side twisted spoke—
I was able to loosen the nipple completely
while maintaining that twisted state.
In the threads of the nipple,
a crispy-type threadlock compound was caked solid.
The non-freewheel-side spoke stamp shows three vertical lines.
This length is common to Fulcrum Racing Zero and Racing 1 radial-laced sides,
so aside from black, there are red Racing Zero spokes and silver Racing 1 spokes available.
When I called the customer about something else,
this came up in conversation, and they said
to go ahead and make just that one spoke red.
That's what we call "fashion thievery" on this blog.
Style rating: Before repair ☆ → After repair ☆☆☆☆☆
(our shop's subjective take).
About what I asked the customer on the phone:
For aluminum-rim/aluminum-spoke Shamal Ultra and Racing Zero
non-tubeless models—what Campagnolo and Fulcrum call
"clincher" spec—when building or servicing the wheel,
aluminum-spoke nipples are inserted from the outside of the valve hole.
But doing that with a 2WAY-FIT rim makes the hole so large
that tubeless valves won't work,
so with 2WAY-FIT rims, the nipple goes in from the inside of the valve hole (photo above).
There's a dedicated valve bushing to fill that hole diameter—
not the two-prong type used on Bora etc.,
but a four-prong type—
and the rear wheel that was dropped off didn't have one.
This valve bushing isn't a "nice-to-have" part—
it's a critical functional component, so I'm replacing it on the rear wheel,
but since I don't know if the front wheel the customer has is equipped,
I asked on the phone: should I send an extra one just in case?
This valve bushing can't come loose while a tube valve or tubeless valve is threaded through it.
If it comes loose at all, it's only from being poked at an angle from the inside when threading the valve,
and it flies off with a click. So if you thoroughly check whether it's on before and confirm the valve slides through smoothly,
you won't lose it.
The fact that this valve bushing appears on the 2WAY-FIT rim
"with aluminum spokes"
is evidence it's a workaround necessity for threading nipples from the inside.
Even on 2WAY-FIT rims, Zonda and Racing 3 with steel spokes
don't use this setup because the nipple sizes are standard,
so they're not designed for a valve bushing.
After replacing the spoke, I got radial and lateral runout mostly sorted.
This is the provisional center at that point.
The rim is drifting left,
but we were actually working through centering and it had drifted twice this far at one point.
If the customer just pulled this rear wheel from the frame
and hasn't since reset with another rear wheel or adjusted anything else,
↑putting this centered rear wheel back in will likely mean the brake
left-right position and shoe height won't line up,
so you'll need to reset those.
Fixed.
On the freewheel-side spoke:
the one with blue tape is the replacement spoke,
and the one with white tape is a spoke I temporarily removed
for work purposes.
On the non-freewheel-side spoke:
the red spoke is visually obvious,
so I didn't put a marker tape on it.
I wanted the red spoke positioned near the valve hole phase,
but the spoke needing replacement—the twisted one—was right next to it,
so I moved the original black spoke from near the valve hole
into the repair position,
and positioned the red spoke at the rim hole near the valve hole.
↑so the spoke at the repair location
is not brand new.
The valve bushing is fitted into the valve hole.
To absorb spoke tension on the thicker section,
there are "islands" where the rim height increases,
seven of them in the G3 pattern.
But the island near the valve hole has the elevated rim profile
extended all the way to the valve hole.
The original Shamal Ultra has a gold rim and spokes,
the second generation is titanium gray,
but this is the first-gen model of the "Shamal Ultra 2WAY-FIT."
Like the original Shamal Ultra,
this is a rear hub from before the freewheel-side flange
got "mega-fied."
The customer had put yellow tape markers on spokes—
one on the freewheel side and one on the non-freewheel side,
The non-freewheel-side spoke was twisted
from an attempt to turn the nipple,
and the freewheel-side spoke was completely broken.
When the customer asked at the shop in the neighborhood that sold them this wheel,
they said repair wasn't possible because spare parts supply for that freewheel-side spoke has ended—
and that's actually true.
The spoke head has five vertical lines stamped on it—a length specific to the G3 lacing freewheel side
from before the original Shamal Ultra got mega-fied.
The gold of the first gen, the titanium gray of the second gen,
and the black spokes of the first-gen 2WAY-FIT
have all been discontinued,
so we can only hunt through distribution inventory.
We had it in stock.
So repair was possible.
The broken freewheel-side spoke runs in the outpoke direction,
but on pre-mega hubs,
inpoke spokes lie on top of outpoke spokes,
so that one also had to come out temporarily.
The customer had written in a note that the nipples on this wheel
were stuck tight—like adhesive had been applied!—and wouldn't turn.
Short of complete seizure,
there are means to remove them.
Though what counts as "complete seizure" is subjective—
if someone thinks a nipple is completely seized
but another person manages to turn it through some method,
then for that other person it wasn't completely seized.
Really, "a nipple I can't loosen"
is what gets labeled "completely seized" by that person.
On this point, I have the confidence that there are virtually no people
ranked higher than me in making that judgment
—meaning there are virtually no people who can loosen a nipple
that I've declared completely seized.
The non-freewheel-side twisted spoke—
I was able to loosen the nipple completely
while maintaining that twisted state.
In the threads of the nipple,
a crispy-type threadlock compound was caked solid.
The non-freewheel-side spoke stamp shows three vertical lines.
This length is common to Fulcrum Racing Zero and Racing 1 radial-laced sides,
so aside from black, there are red Racing Zero spokes and silver Racing 1 spokes available.
When I called the customer about something else,
this came up in conversation, and they said
to go ahead and make just that one spoke red.
That's what we call "fashion thievery" on this blog.
Style rating: Before repair ☆ → After repair ☆☆☆☆☆
(our shop's subjective take).
About what I asked the customer on the phone:
For aluminum-rim/aluminum-spoke Shamal Ultra and Racing Zero
non-tubeless models—what Campagnolo and Fulcrum call
"clincher" spec—when building or servicing the wheel,
aluminum-spoke nipples are inserted from the outside of the valve hole.
But doing that with a 2WAY-FIT rim makes the hole so large
that tubeless valves won't work,
so with 2WAY-FIT rims, the nipple goes in from the inside of the valve hole (photo above).
There's a dedicated valve bushing to fill that hole diameter—
not the two-prong type used on Bora etc.,
but a four-prong type—
and the rear wheel that was dropped off didn't have one.
This valve bushing isn't a "nice-to-have" part—
it's a critical functional component, so I'm replacing it on the rear wheel,
but since I don't know if the front wheel the customer has is equipped,
I asked on the phone: should I send an extra one just in case?
This valve bushing can't come loose while a tube valve or tubeless valve is threaded through it.
If it comes loose at all, it's only from being poked at an angle from the inside when threading the valve,
and it flies off with a click. So if you thoroughly check whether it's on before and confirm the valve slides through smoothly,
you won't lose it.
The fact that this valve bushing appears on the 2WAY-FIT rim
"with aluminum spokes"
is evidence it's a workaround necessity for threading nipples from the inside.
Even on 2WAY-FIT rims, Zonda and Racing 3 with steel spokes
don't use this setup because the nipple sizes are standard,
so they're not designed for a valve bushing.
After replacing the spoke, I got radial and lateral runout mostly sorted.
This is the provisional center at that point.
The rim is drifting left,
but we were actually working through centering and it had drifted twice this far at one point.
If the customer just pulled this rear wheel from the frame
and hasn't since reset with another rear wheel or adjusted anything else,
↑putting this centered rear wheel back in will likely mean the brake
left-right position and shoe height won't line up,
so you'll need to reset those.
Fixed.
On the freewheel-side spoke:
the one with blue tape is the replacement spoke,
and the one with white tape is a spoke I temporarily removed
for work purposes.
On the non-freewheel-side spoke:
the red spoke is visually obvious,
so I didn't put a marker tape on it.
I wanted the red spoke positioned near the valve hole phase,
but the spoke needing replacement—the twisted one—was right next to it,
so I moved the original black spoke from near the valve hole
into the repair position,
and positioned the red spoke at the rim hole near the valve hole.
↑so the spoke at the repair location
is not brand new.
The valve bushing is fitted into the valve hole.
To absorb spoke tension on the thicker section,
there are "islands" where the rim height increases,
seven of them in the G3 pattern.
But the island near the valve hole has the elevated rim profile
extended all the way to the valve hole.