Wheelbuilder.com Disc Cover ...

Rear Disc Cover from Wheelbuilder.com

Last week  I posted pics of my Quitana Roo Tequilo with a new Zipp front wheel and a Disc Cover on the rear. Since then many emails have been sent asking how it is working out and how was it to assemble?

Yesterday morning a long ride was scheduled but my stomach had other plans!  The alarm squealed at 5:45am and all my gear was already laid out and ready to go.  Unfortunately my stomach was very loudly protesting my departure and felt this early morning time could be much better utilized in say the upstairs bathroom.  Needless to say my ride did not happen yesterday and I am still a little queasy today.  So the first question of , "How is it working out?" is not going to be answered until probably tomorrow or Wednesday.  BUT we can go over the, "How to assemble?".

First look at the image from Wheelbuilder.com on how to measure the size of your wheel so it can be customized:

Then watch this video from the Wheelbuilder.com website:

For months I have been agonizing over a race wheels solution without breaking the bank.  After reading Jon's excellent review - Nerd  Report: Aero Wheels vs Regular Wheels, I decided that spending gobs of cash on carbon wheels is not the prudent thing to focus on at this time.  But I still wanted something, just something about $1500 less.

After researching alternatives the decision made was to find a cheap front on Ebay or craigslist and then get a disk cover for my current rear wheel.  I found a front Zipp 440 on Ebay for $95 so my next steps was to order the Disc Cover - it cost $89.

Now once the Disc Cover arrived installation needed to happen.  Being that I am still rather new to cycling and bike maintence this required some more research.  The above video tells you how to install the Disc but does not tell you how to remove the cassette.  I used this video to figure that part out:



Ok, that looks easy enough but I needed two additional tools:

1)  A Chain Whip:

2) A Cassette/Lock Ring Removal Tool:

I spend about $20 on these at my LBS and they were extremely easy to use.  I have a socket set that worked with the Lock Ring Remover but if you do not you can just grab hold of it with a wrench.  

After the cassette was removed it was as simple as can be in placing the Discs.  First place the non-drive side disc and then flip the wheel over and place the drive side Disc.  The Discs come with 8 male and female retention screws.  These screws are engaged once the discs are lined up correctly.  Then just carefully place your cassette back, tighten the lock ring, and Viola -- you have a perfectly mounted disc cover!

Now I have took the QR for a spin around the neighborhood and placed it on the trainer and both the Rear Disc and the Front Zipp seem to be functioning extremely well (knocking on wood).

That is the pretty simple steps to adding a disc cover to your rear trainer.  If you have any questions send me an email (jeffirvin @ gmail DOT com) and I will be more than happy to help you out.  

Overall with the cost of this wheel solution ran me about $250.  This includes the Rear Discs, Front Zipp, Tubular Wheel for Front Zipp, and the Cassette Tools.  Now I did get an extremely awesome deal on the Front Zipp on Ebay so it may cost a little more, but if you watch closely other deals like this are available. 

Thanks for Reading,

Jeff

(Disclosure:  This review/How-to is my opinion and mine alone.  The products in this post were paid for by me.  All information was generated by me or from the Wheelbuilder.com website or YouTube.)