- Yeah.
Well, you have probably guessed
what today's video is about already.
Yeah, it is the disc wheel.
On the right course, these things can be amazing.
They improve our air flow around the rear of our bike.
They reduce our drag, and they make us faster, free speed.
And you're probably thinking right now,
ooh, lucky you with your expensive disc wheel.
Well, take a close look because this is actually
a disc wheel cover on an ordinary wheel
but not just any old disc cover because this
is a homemade disc wheel cover all for under 30 pounds.
That's a fraction of a cost of a normal disc wheel,
and I'm gonna show you how you can make one.
(upbeat music)
Right then, here's what you're going to need.
Firstly, I've got some ABS plastic here.
I bought this for about 12 pounds online.
I got it in 1,300 mil by 660 mil
so you want something roughly around that size.
I've got it also in a one-milliliter
thickness, give or take.
Now, that is thick enough to give you enough stiffness
for the disc wheel so it's not flopping around
but also not so thick that it's adding unnecessary,
additional weight to the wheel.
You're also going to need a knife,
a Stanley knife, to cut that plastic.
We're also going to need some sort of glue,
so I've got some multi-purpose impact contact adhesive here
but you can also use ABS-impact adhesive, or pipe weld.
That's gonna work just the same.
That costs me about five pounds.
You're also gonna need some tape.
I've got a few here that I just had at home anyway,
so electrical tape, some painters tape or masking tape,
and some gaffer or duct tape.
You may not need all of these but you definitely need
the electrical tape and the gaffer tape.
And you probably have this at home anyway,
but a couple of pens, and some cotton or some string,
and finally, this is an optional one,
(drill whirring) but a drill.
This is gonna make my life a little bit easier,
but a circular tool on the end
for drilling through the plastic,
but you can just use a Stanley knife
so don't worry if you don't have one of these.
Finally, very important one, the wheel itself.
I've got a very nice wheel set here.
This is a ENVE wheel set, deep-section wheels,
and kind of paints a scenario that a lot
of people probably falling into.
You've invested in a nice set of wheels
that are good and versatile for most courses out there,
but investing in another additional wheel,
a disc wheel which can often be very expensive
is just that little bit too much,
so I'm gonna use these, and I'm gonna
put my disc wheel cover on to this but don't worry
if you don't have a wheel set like this because you can just
use a set of standard box rim, training wheels too.
(upbeat music)
Okay, so first step is to remove this cassette,
and that's gonna allow us access to the wheel
so we can install the actual disc wheel,
and also for our next step which is measuring,
this is one tool that I did forget
but I imagine most people have them in their own home,
and it's some sort of measuring tool.
I've got a tape measure here.
You can measure from the center of the wheel to the rim.
We do need to factor in the breaking track
if you're using rim breaks, and also the fact
that we're going to be sticking the disc wheel down
so we need to allow room for that tape,
so I'm allowing around a 15- to 20-mil clearance
from the edge of the breaking track on the rim.
So if I measure that up, for me that is roughly 28 mil.
Obviously we don't have a massive compass here
so that's where these two pens come in,
and I've put the cotton between them,
taped them on, and that's 28 mil.
If we move down to the plastic here,
I've already drilled a little hole in the middle here,
and that's gonna hold that pen there.
I remove the cap there.
We can start drawing out the disc wheel.
(soft electronic music)
once you finally mastered marking up a circle
using that tool which took me a little bit of time,
it's now time to cut this out,
and I'm going to do this the old-fashioned way
with a Stanley knife onto a cutting board.
Make sure you're not doing it onto your favorite table.
In an ideal world, obviously we'll get laser cut
but this is fun and hard work.
(upbeat music)
All right, so cut those out.
Now the next stage is to cut the holes in the middle
for the freehub body and the axle
so measuring my own wheel comes to around 40 mil
for the freehub body, and around 35 mil for the axle
but obviously make sure you measure your own
'cause they can differ slightly.
I unfortunately got a hole-saw drill bit here
which is exactly 40 mil, and I've got one
which is around 35 mil too.
I'm going to be drilling through using that central point
on the wheel that I made earlier when I measured it out,
and obviously I've got a couple of old planks here
so that I don't damage my decking any further.
So, here we go.
(rhythmic electronic music)
Another thing to think about
is obviously being able to pump the tires up.
On a lot of disc wheels, you have a valve opening.
This isn't essential given that this
is a removable disc wheel cover but it might be quite
a nice touch that we can always tape over it anyway.
I've marked out a little bit of an opening,
and I'm going to do this on the non-drive side
which I've also cut out today.
Here we go.
(upbeat electronic music)
Okay, so now we've cut them both out.
We need to check that they both fit
which they do really nicely,
but obviously, with the wheel being almost like
a cone shape with the spokes sort of graduating out,
they're not fitting quite so flush at the moment
so what we need to do is cut a little sliver out,
and that's gonna allow us to then bring the edges around,
and be able to bond that, so that is our next stage.
I'm gonna draw a line and cut along there.
Then obviously we need to repeat
the same process on the non-drive side.
(soft electronic music)
Now, pull the edges of the cover around,
over that just enough so that it fits the wheel snugly.
Tape it in place, remove it, and then cut along the edge
of that inside, overlapping seam to remove a small sliver.
I'm using the gaff tape at the moment
just to pull those edges back together
and make that gap really nice and tight
so they're as close together as they possibly can be,
and then, once I've done that, which is real nice then,
I'm then gonna tape over it with the paint tape
or the masking tape along that whole center line
because the next step is cementing
those two pieces of plastic together.
You need to make sure that this is on really well.
Maybe do a couple of layers 'cause you don't want
any of that cement seeping through.
Got a nice, tight seam there.
You can see that cone shape in it.
So now it's time to apply the adhesive along that seam
on the inside edge with the tape on the outside.
(upbeat electronic music)
I finished applying here, and you can already see
actually it's starting to go quite tacky.
Obviously for this to bond fully,
they recommend that you leave this for around 24 hours
before, then, we can start taking that tape off,
so I guess it's time to sit back and relax.
(soft rhythmic music)
I think it's gotta be near-enough dry now.
All right then.
Yeah, near enough.
I'm probably a little bit impatient here
but I do recommend you leave it 24 hours
but we're probably just good enough
to start peeling this tape off.
Moment of truth.
I've left, throughout all of this, this little film
on here that's been protecting it.
It's this quite nice unveiling,
if I can grab all of this.
We can start installing this.
All right, so now it's ready to install onto the wheel,
so I'm gonna go drive-side first,
and all we're gonna need now is some gaffer tape
because we are going to go from the inside of the wheel
and tape the spokes to the disc cover, and then some
electrical tape to go back around the rim on the outside.
(soft electric guitar music)
Nice thing with electrical tape is kind of bend as you go
so you don't need to worry about cutting any strips.
Make sure I'm not going over onto the breaking track.
All right, well that's all done.
(pounding on wheel cover)
Looking and sounding pretty good.
Looks pretty good, doesn't it?
So now we've done the drive side so now the non-drive side,
so just need to place this on there, line up the valve
with the valve opening which I've just done there.
Obviously we can't access the inside
so I can't start gaffer taping it to the spokes
but this is quite a nice, snug fit,
so what I'm gonna do is start with the electrical tape
on the outside so it's nicely fixed in place,
and then I'll finish off with a little bit of tape
around here just to make sure that it's nicely tucked in
and tight to the axle-hub area.
The other area is over the valve opening so I'm gonna put
some gaffer tape over that to cover that hole up.
That's really important
'cause that is an error at the moment,
and then the final touch is then to put the cassette on.
There it is.
It may not be my finest bit of work
but I'm still pretty proud of that.
Solid, and it looks fast.
Well, there we go.
That is my homemade disc wheel,
and I think I've done a rather good job.
Maybe a few improvements here and there,
but please do get involved.
I'd love to see some of your own submissions
and attempts at this, so if you do get involved
and make your own, please send them in to us
so we can have a little look at them,
and if you liked today's video,
please hit our thumbs up button.
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If you'd like to see our video
comparing disc wheel versus non-disc wheel,
you can see that by clicking down here.