[Closed] Making an aero front wheel.

And how will you access the nipples?

Gaffer tape some plastic fairing to the rim. That's essentially what a Cosmic Exalith is.

And how will you access the nipples?

I'm sure if you put a dab of grease on them you could adjust them from the back, if necessary.

But the OP must have a LOT of free time.

eBay aero fairings.

http://forum.slowtwitch.com/gforum.cgi?post=1858532;search_string=home%20made%20front%20wheel%20fairing;

Just make sure it's REALLY well attached - if it should peel off at high speed and jam the front wheel it's going to be a pretty horrible crash..

You’d spend more money on bits than you would do just buying a Chinese ready built.

I would agree with the above. When you also factor in that your time = money as well in some regards, then even at minimum wage rates of roughly £7/hr, if you factor in your time spent thinking about it and trying out all sorts of crazy options ... you'd quickly reach an amount that equates to a cheap chinese carbon rim.

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You’d spend more money on bits than you would do just buying a Chinese ready built.

Time is free. Earning money to buy one is boring. Cobbling something together is fun.
Nipple access was a concern when using foam. Lots of duct tape might work.

Read that Slowtwitch article before . Too technical for me and not worth the cost.
Come on STW I want imagination not obstacles 😀

60mm deep carbon wheel on ebay for £70. 88mm deep carbon wheel for £150.

Buy them, test them, sell them. It'll cost you less overall that anything that you try to make...

I think this would be better to be honest.
[img] [/img]

Can you buy a modern fat rim, and bash it with a hammer a bit until its thinner and taller?

This looks a good solution

[img] [/img]

Practical too, if its windy on the day you could just cut out holes 😆

Cheapest: Duct tape to 60 mm
Less cheap: aero cover - not looked for 80-90 mm, but plenty of discs
Less cheap: used wheel
Least cheap: ne wheel

Personally, I'd buy a used wheel, everyone is always swapping and I bought a Jet 6/9 set for £450 which was almost unused.

YOU DO NOT WANT A DISC ON THE FRONT!

YOU DO NOT WANT A DISC ON THE FRONT!

unless things have changed dramatically im pretty sure that outside of an indoor track disc wheels are not permitted in events.

Rather than make a full wheel mould or carve large section of foam why not make a smaller sectional mould which you can either take fibreglass/carbon impressions of or go a bit GCSE and find someone with a vacuum former and make up multiple sections to form the fairing? Say eight sections @~240mm long each?

Even simpler could you not use some cloth and celulose dope?

Take an old wheel, stretch some old bed sheet over it on both sides, paint on the dope and wait for it to shrink, then carefully cut it off, will probably need some split pins to attach the resulting cones to the new wheels.

I think any sort of bodge is likely to come off and destroy your face/teeth in a crash, costing more at the dentist than you save not buying a s/h wheel.

And how will you access the nipples?

How is it done on stuff like Mavic Cosmics?

Time is free. Earning money to buy one is boring. Cobbling something together is fun.

I respect your attitude sir.

I'd be looking at some sort of combo of doughnut shapes made from corrugated plastic (to provide a bit of depth beyond the outside of the spokes to make the fairing flush with the rim), zip ties and duck tape to smooth the edges.

How is it done on stuff like Mavic Cosmics?

not with foam its not and they have square hex heads on the inside for nipple tweeking FNARRG FNARRG

square hex

Something doesn't add up here......

Disk covers used to be a cheap and reasonable option for the rear wheel at least. The way they worked was a metal hoop of the right size to fit just inside the rim, cloth cover stretched over and tied at the back, with the hoop clipped onto spokes. Access valve and nipples by unclipping it!

Not rear, that's easy. And not allowed.
My budget is different from that long thread this summer. So far this summers TT bike cost £80 for a new Chinerello Dogshite f&f. 20 spoke wheels were swapped for a knackered shotgun, base and extension bars plus brake levers £15 at a bike jumble I organised, saddle won in a club raffle tyres front a too extensive stock. Everything else from spares cupboard. Did buy new cable inners.
Get the idea?
Thinking of aero-ing one of my 6 pairs of GP4 rimmed wheels.

Flog the GP4s on retrobike, then buy Daffy's deep rims off ebay?
I admire the approach you are taking, but worry for your teeth.

Nooooo

In the quest for free speed, have you aero-ed everything else? I'm not up to speed on the rules about wheel covers (nor am i trying to undermine your project - can you do some photos?).

What about position, clothing, taping over the edges of your number, bottle on the seat tube to deflect air over the rear wheel, cardboard taped to your helmet etc?

I quite like the cloth/dope idea - if your sewing is any good, could that be used to fair a section, rather than the whole wheel?