I got a wheel cover trimmed by wheelbuilder for my rear wheel and it seems to fit fine. there is however a little rubbing around the cassette. I know it is pretty normal but does anyone have tips on how to avoid this?
A 1mm spacer between the hub and the cassette solved this on my wheel.
I got a wheel cover trimmed by wheelbuilder for my rear wheel and it seems to fit fine. there is however a little rubbing around the cassette. I know it is pretty normal but does anyone have tips on how to avoid this?
Ken Lehner turned me on to the trick of pulling the cover towards the spokes with some packing tape on the inside 
how is it fastened to the cover? it really just rubs a little so this might work, I’m just not sure how to go about setting it up.
how is it fastened to the cover? it really just rubs a little so this might work, I’m just not sure how to go about setting it up.
Pull the non-drive side cover off and then apply the tape to the inside of the drive side cover “capturing” the drive side spokes so that the cover is pulled toward them…make sense?
I wish he’d told me this before I had actually drilled small holes and fed zip ties through my cover to accomplish basically the same thing 
i took sand paper and opened the hole up until the cover would lay correctly. To do it again, i would have it cut for a PT even though i don’t have one.
the trimming for the PT is not the issue, the rubbing is on the other side where the cassette is. however the sand paper may help.
yeah thats what i am taking about, i kept opening up the hole until it was able to lay flat on the spokes. the hole on the drive train side should be bigger then on the none drive train side.
great minds think alike…although I just epoxied connectors on the inside instead of drilling.
FWIW, the tape trick never held longer than a few rides in my experience.
Are they close ended wire connectors? I am putting the covers on a FP60 with A Dura Ace cassette. Want to nip this in the butt b4 I enclose the wheel. What kind of epoxy did you use? Would any Generic brand epoxy work? Thanks for the pic. It looks like you used four connectors?
When I contacted Wheelbuilder about the covers, they said that Shimano hubs will cause rubbing with the cassette. Is this a problem across the board?
I want to get a wheel cover for the shimano r550 wheels that came stock with my P2SL, but want to make sure it’ll fit right.
The packing tape trick I used lasted the whole season, and I never take my wheel cover off. It’s the only wheel I use.
YMMV.
I think I used 6…one in each little area where they would fit. The more the better, makes it easier to have a complete ‘seal’ and have it not wobble untrue.
I used JB Weld but another epoxy might be better, as one of my connectors popped off. I would also recommend scuffing the area up a bit with sandpaper (again, which I didn’t do)
Another recommendation…don’t bother with the cover screws, just use electrical tape to seal the cover to the rim. 3M electrical tape works a lot better than the standard cheapo hardware stuff, as it stretches a bit more which makes the curving easier.
enjoy!
could you describe this packing tape trick? also, does the cover spin completely ‘round’, or are some spots higher/lower? do you use the screws to keep them together, or electrical tape?
FWIW, I noticed much less cassette rubbing when using the screws (vs. sealing the cover w/electrical tape). but if you’re going for ‘uber’ aero you don’t want those screws slowing you down right??
I have a low-profile rim, so I can’t tape down the whole edge to the rim. I used to use the bolts (easily replaced at Home Despot), but I tried the electrical tape under the covers and across the rim. It seems to work okay (too much tension on the tape causes it to lift, so I have to redo it). I have no high spots on the covers, IIRC. I use about 4-5 pieces of packing tape, I think on the inside half of the wheel (the wheel is in my car, which is in the shop). Crossing a couple of spokes each, contacting the inside of the cover between spokes and on each end of the piece of tape.
Actually cleaning my frame would probably save me more time than optimizing wheel cover connection efficiency.
I have not tried putting on wheel builder covers yet covers are still sitting in box they were sent to me in. So I can not give you a answer on that one.
Chris King hubs have similar clearance issues. I used the packing tape method inside and it works pretty well. Better than the zip tie method for me. I run the cover on a Mavic CXP 33 and don’t have much room to tape the cover to the rim so I use the metal fasteners. The bolts have held up fine. Tighten them occasionally. You could put some black elec tape over them but i think they actually look ok- mechanical looking.
Does anyone have any pics of the use of packing or electrical tape with the wheel cover?