Wheel Cover - Traning & Racing

Phil Mills

I have a half iron distance race coming up in seven weeks.  I purchased a wheel cover from Wheel Builder, but have not ridden with it yet.  I am planning to perform my two RR with the wheel cover on, but is that enough time to get used to it?  Should I use it on all of my training rides leading up to my race?  I read a comment on Strava from Tim Cronk that led me to believe he frequently rides with one on. 

My concern is that I have not ridden with a wheel cover, so am unsure how it will affect my bike handling skills, which aren't spectacular.  My race is in Ocean Shores, WA, which is on the Pacific coast and is known as a great kite flying location.  There is usually/always a 10-15+ mph  wind blowing west to east.  It is a two loop course running mostly parallel to the coast, so I will experience side winds on both sides of the bike. Since the cover is convex on the non drive, is there a difference in how the bike handles in a cross wind on the drive side vs. non drive side?  

Searches on using a wheel cover in windy conditions were unanimous.  They all indicate that a wheel cover or disk wheel should be used unless the race forbids them.  I predict the opinion will be similar in here as well. 

Chris Ciannella

Phil - I did Steelhead last year and had my disk on for about 5 weeks prior to the race. You have to take your cassette off to install - I'm way to lazy to do that for just my RR's, hence I left it on. As far as handling goes, I never even noticed it was on. Granted I live in Chicago where the crazy winds usually die down by June.

Put it on now and leave it on.  Better to ride with it now and adjust accordingly then wait to race day and find out you're forked!

donymo

You don't even know it's there (handling-wise)

Phil Mills

Good to hear. Either way I was planning on installing it this weekend for next weekend's RR. If all goes well with the install, and I have no reason to believe that it won't, I will start using it this weekend.

tim cronk

Phil I have never felt an adverse handling effect of my Disc in any wind, the only exception is very slow speeds like at a turn around, or loading/unloading the bike. The front wheel is a very different animal and I can feel significant handling differences between every size from 30/40/60/80....I used to use a disc cover and found that I was too lazy to install/uninstall for every race, so I just left it on. I have since acquired a full quiver of FLO wheels and run the 90 or the Disc in back all the time training or racing.

Edit: wanted to add the reason for all FLO is same width so no messing with brakes.

Mike Westover

I installed mine a couple of weeks before my first race this year and have left it on since. I did take off the non-drive side once so that I could re-tape the drive side to the spokes to reduce rubbing in the biggest cog. 

The biggest issue for me with leaving it on is inflating before each ride, which takes an extra minute now dealing with the crack pipe. I've also had some trouble with the valve cover stickers coming off, and have started using electrical tape to keep them on (it's a Wheelbuilder cover).

No handling issues that I have noticed.

tim cronk

I hate using those crack pipes. If you find the right air chuck / tube stem combo to fit in the wheel jacket hole you can avoid it... The joe blow standard head works fine in my FLO disc cut out and I never bother taping up the hole.

Tom Glynn

I put my cover on just before the race, use it once or twice just to make sure nothing is rubbing and it works well. I don't find there are any bike handling issues with it.