Carbon Fiber Wheel Covers

Triathlon Forum
1

So a couple of friends and I have decided to start a company making lightweight carbon fiber wheel covers. It’s a product we have wanted to see for awhile, so rather than wait around for someone else to make it we decided to go ahead and do it ourselves. We looked into manufacturing costs and they were surprisingly reasonable. We recently got a good bit of funding, so we’re now ready to go into production.

What we’re a little unsure about, though, is who exactly would be interested in a product like this, and therefore who we should target our marketing to. From talking with collegiate triathletes like ourselves, it seems there is a lot of interest in it, but we’re not sure what other segments of the triathlete community would think of it. There’s no better place than Slowtwitch to find this out so what do you all think? Throw out any comments, suggestions, criticisms, and questions you can think of. Thanks.

2

Wow, $299? Well they look nice. Good luck.

Oh, and by the way nice guerilla marketing ploy. It’s only been
tried here on ST a few hundred thousand times.

3

Can you compare the weight of your carbon wheel cover vs the existing plastic wheel cover? Also I think the $300 price range for a wheel cover might keep some potential customers away. The wheel cover looks really nice by the way.

4

Can you compare the weight of your carbon wheel cover vs the existing plastic wheel cover? Also I think the $300 price range for a wheel cover might keep some potential customers away. The wheel cover looks really nice by the way.

Thanks. I do agree that the price may keep away some customers. We could sell them for cheaper if we manufactured them in Asia, but we would prefer to keep it in the US. As far as weight goes the wheelbuilder covers are around 440g. Our current prototypes weigh 190g, but production ones should be around 160g.

5

Especially when you already have someone making them at a lower price point…

http://www.raltech.co.uk/Prod_3-Wh-Cov.html

6

Especially when you already have someone making them at a lower price point…

http://www.raltech.co.uk/Prod_3-Wh-Cov.html

The RALTech ones do look great, but they’re nearly as heavy as plastic ones, and at current exchange rates they cost $240-300 depending on the model. And then there’s the cost of international shipping if you live outside the UK. So we think we can offer a much lighter set for around the same cost.

7

How would one go about trimming and adjusting a carbon wheel cover? Correct me if I’m wrong, but don’t quite a few people do this to their plastic wheel covers to make sure they fit?

8

I didn’t go all they through adding it to the cart, but how would one tell you what depth wheel they have so you can send the correct size?

9

How would one go about trimming and adjusting a carbon wheel cover? Correct me if I’m wrong, but don’t quite a few people do this to their plastic wheel covers to make sure they fit?

Good question. You can actually trim carbon with scissors just like you can trim plastic. That’s how we trimmed our current prototype and it worked very well. There are also carbon fiber scissors that will make it easier, but for something this thin regular scissors work just fine. We do plan on cutting them to size for the customer using a router, though, so this shouldn’t be necessary.

10

I didn’t go all they through adding it to the cart, but how would one tell you what depth wheel they have so you can send the correct size?

When you click purchase, a box should pop up asking you to provide your rear wheel details, as well as whether or not you’ll be using it with a Powertap hub.

11

Can you list the wheels you’ve built prototypes on? Each wheel type will fit differently based on depth/width of rim. I doubt most people are going to order these without seeing how they fit on their wheel. Your best bet would be to find a range of people with different types of wheels to build on and seed them with covers since my guess is you don’t have access to the range of wheels that someone like Wheelbuilder.com does. I think it is a cool concept and would definitely be interested if I could see how it would look on my wheel set (Enve 8.9 clinchers), but as mentioned, I’m not spending $300 (or even $240) on something that hasn’t been perfected for the exact dimensions of my wheel.

12

I agree with the others that 300 seems too high, even if I stick it on the cheapest brand new rear wheel I can find, I’m still in flo disc territory. 200 and I might be tempted…

13

Cool. One suggestion: I don’t know how much testing you’ve done on different frames, but I know wheelbuilder has restrictions on what frames do and don’t work with their wheelcover (I know the Trek SC is listed as incompatible although people have made it work). You might either want to list the incompatible frames, or address the issue in the FAQs.

14

Can you list the wheels you’ve built prototypes on? Each wheel type will fit differently based on depth/width of rim. I doubt most people are going to order these without seeing how they fit on their wheel. Your best bet would be to find a range of people with different types of wheels to build on and seed them with covers since my guess is you don’t have access to the range of wheels that someone like Wheelbuilder.com does. I think it is a cool concept and would definitely be interested if I could see how it would look on my wheel set (Enve 8.9 clinchers), but as mentioned, I’m not spending $300 (or even $240) on something that hasn’t been perfected for the exact dimensions of my wheel.

Thank you for the comments. I agree that this is going to be one of our biggest challenges early on. We have dished these slightly shallower than wheelbuilder.com does theirs. This should allow them to fit well on the new crop of wider rims. While we haven’t been able to test the fit on very many wheels, we have compiled a lot of data on various rim widths and shapes, as well as hub dimensions, so we have a good idea of how to cut them in order to get them to fit properly on different wheels. Obviously there will be some trial and error involved in this, so we are offering a 90 day no questions asked return policy, so if someone isn’t satisfied with the way they fit then they can always return them for a full refund.

15

I always wondered why wheelbuilder never got into carbon wheel covers. Honestly, I think you will probably do just fine at 300 but 230ish you would be selling like FLO’s preorders. I am very interested myself, I have an early model 808 FC CC so I think you will probably have tested and perfected that cut. hopeing so. Good luck

16

I think there is a potential market for this product if you can deliver them at that weight. However, right now your site doesn’t have a lot of credibility for me as the images on the home page are obviously computer renderings, and the one shot of the actual product has a bit of a homemade look to it (maybe it’s the light, you need better pictures).

I’d like to see more actual photos of the product, not renderings, and also details on how the cover will be attached, before I was willing to pony up. While the $300 price seems high, the 20% discount brings it to a price that seems much more workable, I’d highlight that discount more on your site if I was you.

17

Have you thought about galvanic corrosion? Aluminium very rapidly corrodes when into contact with carbon fibers, do you apply an extra layer of resin in order to prevent direct contact?

18

What is the method of attachment? From the crude photo, it looks like silicone caulk was used. (Nevermind … found it in your FAQ.)

Will these overcome the waviness issues like the Wheelbuilder covers? (I know they say the waviness has no effect on aerodynamics, but I find that hard to believe.)

Say … kudos to you three for doing this. I DO believe there’s a market here … especially if the weight savings are for real. Really cool to see three college kids stepping out with this kind of entrepreneurial venture. I’m anxious to support you (and I HAVE been looking for a carbon fiber wheel cover … don’t like the look of the Raltech or whatever it’s called). I think you need to spruce up your website a good bit and I’d like to know there’s some solid security before I place an order and give you my credit card number.

My first TT of the season will be the Tundra TT just north of Atlanta in February. I see you don’t plan to ship anything until then. I’d love to show one of these off at the TT for you, but since you’re in the ATL area, you should plan to have a presence there. Hundreds of time trialists and triathletes show up for it each year. It’s a pretty big event.

FWIW, I don’t agree that the price is too high. If you realize the weight savings compared to Wheelbuilder and you don’t have the waviness issues (which is something I would tout if it’s the case), I think they’ll sell just fine at that price. If I add that kind of weight to my Aeolus D3 7 I’ll have one heck of an awesome disc wheel for a good bit less than the weight of a Zipp Super 9 or Hed Stinger. That’s something!

19

I like the concept. Name is pretty unique too. Price is a bit on the high side, but what do you expect for carbon fiber.

Are you considering dropping the price if you ship the uncut products for the buyer to cut it on their own?

20

Will these overcome the waviness issues like the Wheelbuilder covers? (I know they say the waviness has no effect on aerodynamics, but I find that hard to believe.)

The waviness comes from attaching them with screws. When you only attach the covers at eight points around the perimeter then it’s difficult to avoid this. That’s why we recommend using electrical tape to attach them (and we’ll include a roll with each order). It takes a little more time, but it’s well worth it.

My first TT of the season will be the Tundra TT just north of Atlanta in February. I see you don’t plan to ship anything until then. I’d love to show one of these off at the TT for you, but since you’re in the ATL area, you should plan to have a presence there. Hundreds of time trialists and triathletes show up for it each year. It’s a pretty big event.

Nick McCormick and Justin Clark, the two guys I’m starting this company with, did that race a couple years ago actually. I’m not sure if we’ll have production models in by that time, but we’ll definitely be there racing on production quality prototypes.

I think there is a potential market for this product if you can deliver them at that weight. However, right now your site doesn’t have a lot of credibility for me as the images on the home page are obviously computer renderings, and the one shot of the actual product has a bit of a homemade look to it (maybe it’s the light, you need better pictures).

I’d like to see more actual photos of the product, not renderings, and also details on how the cover will be attached, before I was willing to pony up. While the $300 price seems high, the 20% discount brings it to a price that seems much more workable, I’d highlight that discount more on your site if I was you.

Thank you for your comments. I agree that we weren’t promoting the 20% off very well so I put it on our homepage. And we’ll be adding a detailed section about attachment soon (currently we only mention it in the FAQ). As far as pictures go our only prototype at the moment is one we made ourselves so it’s not the most photogenic of bike parts. We should be able to put up some good pictures and videos in early January when we get our production quality prototypes from the manufacturer.

Have you thought about galvanic corrosion? Aluminium very rapidly corrodes when into contact with carbon fibers, do you apply an extra layer of resin in order to prevent direct contact?

We’ve been testing our prototype since summer and haven’t had any problems. I’ll look into it though. Thanks.