- 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.
