Disc Cover: USAC Legal?
 

Are wheelbuilder.com disc covers legal in USAC event? Specifically Tour of the Gila? Rule 1M.1(b) is a little confusing:

(b) There may be no protective shield, fairing, or other device on any part of the bicycle, which has the effect of reducing air resistance except that spoke covers may be used

Is a disc cover just considered a spoke cover or is it a fairing/protective shield?

Thanks!

i believe a fairing or protective shield is the lightweight body you see on bicycles that break land speed records.

http://www.bikeforest.com/m5_full_fairing.jpg

Double check that section of the rule book. I'm thinking it's referring specifically to time-trials.

That said, I do know we had a master's racer (former Olympic Champion) use a solid disc wheel during a 4-mile circuit race with a tri-spoke front wheel. Officials said it was fine because it was a circuit race, implying it wouldn't be fine in a non-circuit, road race.

What else would they be referring to as "spoke covers"? I'm pretty sure they are referring to exactly what you're talking about.

Edit: I'm assuming you're referring to a USAC time trial. I'm pretty sure that's the only type of race they are legal in.

yes they are legal. yes I have used them in numerous USAC events. yes discs are mass-start legal as well. yes people use them in crits on occasion. yes.

There's a multiple time National Champion in the Northeast that rides one in every crit.

The reason for the rule staying in place are the faired tall profile wheels - Cosmics, Jets, Bontrager clinchers, some others. They're faired wheels, not structural. The rule was created initially to allow "poorer" racers to use wheel covers (i.e. j-disc) instead of real (expensive) disk wheels.

Disk covers count. In fact I believe that the Jet disc wheel (covered spoked wheel) should be legal.

As far as legality goes, the officials around here in NE, who are usually pretty strict, are allowing use of tri- and quad-spoke wheels in mass start races. they should be illegal, as would be full on disk wheels (no spokes under the sides). They have fewer than 16 spokes.

I think they changed that rule. There is no longer any mention of spoke count in the USAC rulebook section 1.

(c) Wheels may be made with spokes or solid construction. No wheel may contain special mechanisms to store and release energy

aha, thanks

I had an odd conversation at the start line of a stage race TT back in March. A well respected race organizer and an official got into a conversation with me about disc covers, while I'm waiting to start. I use one, and had one on my Zipp 404 for this TT. They said they would be enforcing the "No disc cover" rule. I of course got nervous and asked "When?" They said right now, we're enforcing it currently. I kept waiting for them to tell me to take off my cover, but they didn't even though they were looking at my wheel. We just kept talking about covers. Eventually the official said "mine was ok" because it was "attached" to the wheel. Now mine is just a wheelbuilder cover that has electrical tape holding it to the rim. I didn't argue with the guy and just shut up at that point. Another official alluded to the illegal covers being the old covers that "snapped" on, something I'm not familiar with. But, I left rather confused by the exchange.

Here's how this rule works.
If there are no NRC, UCI, or national championship medals on the line. . .any wheel is legal. That is why in your local crit you can still see people running tri spokes, and even disc wheels. However, if you go to an NRC race they will enforce the minimum spoke rule, meaning no tri spokes, no old Spinergy wheels, no disc wheels. This also applies to bicycle weight rules so you can go ahead and ride that 12 pound bike. It also applies to the position rules with regards to time trial bikes (seat 5cm behind the bottom bracket, level aero bars, 75cm rule with extensions, etc)

In pretty much any time trial you go to, using a disc cover will be perfectly fine. You can also slam your seat forward, have a crazy light bike.

However, if you are doing any UCI, NRC, or national championship event then the disc cover may be called illegal. A lot of times it depends on the official at the event. I remember at Tour of California a couple years ago Zirbel's tt position was fine for the prologue but the same position 3 days later was not allowed in the time trial (because it was a different official). Note, if you are doing Tour of Gila you will only be subject to these rules if your event has the NRC points on the line (meaning if you are in the Pro 1).

My take away is to bring extra wheels to every event. Thanks for the info all.

Sort of. Rule 1M(e) states that these events are run under UCI bike rules. It also includes an event that selects members of a national team, or for international competition qualifiers. I had to drive to a relatively small junior race at the last minute to measure bikes as it was a qualifier for the worlds team - go figure.

So if you are doing a NRC event, Nationals, etc. you should review what is required. The UCI rules are available at www.uci.ch and there is a cheat sheet in the officials section of the USAC website. There will also be some info coming out shortly regarding enforcement of the 3:1 rule at nationals.

Other than that, pretty much "run what you brung" including wheel covers. You can thank the industry and masters race lobby for keeping the UCI bike rules out of the USAC rulebook for true domestic races.

Thanks Tech Director.