Well, it has been a while. The "V" is still on the indoor trainer, but now I can usually unclip.
It finally happened. Into the 4th season, the window film came completely unstuck and wrapped around the axle of the front right wheel. Periodically, I have had to re-stick the film in places, but this is the first time a cover has completely come off. I was doing about 38 mph when that happened. No issues other than some noise. (OK, there was a certain amount of cursing, also.)
I used Monokote on both sides of the rear wheel, Monokote on the outside of the front wheels, and window film on the inside of the front wheels. The window film is substantially cheaper and a little easier to apply, but ugly, and not really repairable. (Small holes can be "fixed" with tape.) I have so much film left over, I will never use it all. I was too lazy to try to find a place that sells the type of tape used with window film (double stick with a peel off layer on one side), so I used standard home office supply Scotch double stick tape. We shall see how this holds up. The cost was basically zero, since I have lots of left over film, and double stick tape in the desk drawer.
The old double stick tape (which came with the window film) dried out and became brittle, so removing it was a bit of a challenge where it was still sticking. I cleaned up the residue with acetone (aluminum rims).
The Monokote is still holding together, but is showing it's age. I am now putting patches over patches. At least Monokote is very easy to patch. I don't have much left over, but still enough to make patches. I think I will keep them, just to see if I can get another season or two out of them. They have certainly lasted longer than expected. I don't remember the exact cost, but I think the Monokote was about $25 a roll, and the window film with double stick tape was about $10.
I used a trammel to cut the covers. That gave me nice round circles to glue on. That worked, but was a waste of time, effort and money. Much easier to cut a square slightly larger than the wheel, stick it down to the rim, then trim along the edge of the rim with a razor knife. Much easier, faster, and no trammel needed. It also wound up looking better. Not that anyone with a Cruzbike would care about aesthetics...
So if you want cheap wheel covers, and are a total weight weenie, go with the Monokote covers. If you need to look totally cool, there is another brand, Ultracote, which has a carbon fiber pattern.
