Fabric wheel covers

I've only had experience with Ripstop nylon, uncalendered, untreated. Also silk, tissue, polyester tissue (polyspan), most plastic covering, solarfilm, solartex, Orc cover, mylar and other heat shrinks. But not Ripstop polyester as I think that doesn't stretch like nylon covering does.

The glue for fabric covering, hasn't been solved for longevity yet, I used cellulose nitrated dope last time. It lasted 2 race meetings (2month) then started coming away. I would try, contact adhesive, superglue or even epoxy in the future.    

I come from a 58-year-old aeromodelling background where pins would be used to position and hold the nylon on. The nylon is sprayed with water which slackens the nylon, and I would pull the covering tighter (snug) by pulling out the pins and reinserting the pins, one by one, going around the outside.

With metal rims, you can't do this, so I covered both sides at the same time and used safety pins, going through both sheets top & bottom, to secure the nylon on first. 

So, apply at least 2 coats of dope on the rims, let the dope dry. Make and attach the center hub support plywood annulus (disc with a hole) to the center of the nylon. Fit over the wheels. Do the water spray and pull the covering, snug or tight, then re-pin to hold its position. Once the water has dried, I would dab dope through the rim edge (12mm band) using several coats, until enough has gone on to hold the nylon on, about 4 or 5 coats of 50/50 dope/thinners. I only use a brush, spraying is wasteful and a hazard because of airborne particles. Leave that lot to hard off for a few days or more. Start doping the nylon with 4/5 coats top & bottom, don't go over the glued areas or the 'glued' area will let go. Leave to dry between coats. After 4 coats I test to see if I can blow or suck through the covering. If you can't next step is to cut the outer nylon that isn't needed, this could be done earlier if you are confident the nylon is holding the nylon. This is the method I have used up to yet. A stronger glue is needed. Also, some rims are treated, anodised, or powder coated and can reject glues. What I have found to cure this requires the rims to be wet and dry 'sanding' back to the base metal. Hope you don't mind that nice paint job being scuffed up, needs must!

The results I got was a drum tight covering, pity it didn't last long enough, I shall try epoxy next time. The nylon was superbly resistant to knocks and weather, but doped nylon carries on shrinking for some months and this is what caused the detachment from the rims. I am sure this is solvable but I have yet to try it, maybe in 2025 I will.     

Hope you find this useful. Picture needed of how I use the pins, hmm later.      

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All the best.

Roy

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All the best.

Roy

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I remember now that's why I had to take the rear cover off as I felt the Great White would need the rear working for stability at speed and I was also gearing it higher with lighter wheels (Frattelli rims) and wanted an easier more reliable shift as I found it sometimes did not change and got stuck in gear which could prove disastrous on my training run which included some very steep hills and I expected to be hitting 60 mph on the downhill section with a sharp right hand turn at the bottom. I needed a reliable low gear for the climb up to the top of that hill as well. 

That hill is where I broke the rear swinging arm on my velomobile when it did not shift properly and I tried to force it. After it was repaired I never tried to force it again and got out of the velo and put the chain back on if it came off. I did used to hit 60 mph on the downhill. On the climb though I could only do about 4 mph though and I would have needed to go faster than that for a bike. I think I needed to do about 7 mph to feel safe on my Kingcycle with the fairings on.< id="BFI_" style="width: 1px; height: 1px; display: none;">

All the best.

Roy