Mountain Biking - Help with max tire width for rim

Hello,

I wanted to buy some MotoRaptors from Pricepoint and was curious if the 26x2.24 were too wide for my back rim, the stock WTB DX23. Does the "23" refer to interior width? If so, according to Sheldon Brown's site the widest tire I should have on it is 50 mm (little under 2 inches) even though this is narrower than the tires that came with the bike, 2.1 inches. But according to Schwalbe's website a tire up to 62 mm (2.44 inches) would work. What do you think is the max tire width would be for this model of rim? My front rim is a replacement FX28, which I assume would work fine. The Motoraptors also come in 2.14 inch widths, but I wanted to be sure of my options.

Thanks very much,
Alex

The limiting factor will not be rim width as that can always be overdone a bit. What will limit you is if the tyre would fit in the frame and forks.

And remember that tyres grow in Mud.

You can fit a larger tire on a small rim but, you will have to run a bit higher psi in that tire otherwise it will float around the rim in corners giving poor handling and give you more pinch-flats.

Sheldon brown's #s are a bit conservative.

That tire should fit easily.

Don't know what WTB means by the DX23 but I'm betting on outside width...be nice if WTB would put decent specs on their site but they don't. I run 2.4 tires easily on 17mm inside width rims. I'd worry more about the tires fitting in your frame as opposed to rim width as someone else said...Sheldon was very conservative and more oriented towards the road side of things...

Thanks for the tips!

Does anybody run a slightly wider tire up front than they do in the rear? Heard that's a good combo, at least in some conditions.

Cheers,
Alex

Thanks for the tips!

Does anybody run a slightly wider tire up front than they do in the rear? Heard that's a good combo, at least in some conditions.

Cheers,
Alex

I used to but the bike came with that set up when I bought it. Think this was down to the fact that it was a rigid and there was an opinion that a larger tyre in the front would give some "Suspension".

Handling improved when I changed the tyres to the same size front and rear but that may have been due to the better replacement rubber giving better grip,

And I think the 23 on rim size relates to the width of the rim. My Mavics are 23mm wide and I fit 2.1's-1.8's and Grand Prix Slicks at 1.0 on that rim.

A larger front tire should provide a little more cush as well as a slightly larger footprint for better cornering traction. The tire itself, knob design and rubber compound can vary quite a bit, as stapfam said plays a role in terms of how well the difference might handle overall. I've got a few bikes that I run bigger tires up front because I can (and frame limitations for rear tire). Not uncommon for people to run bigger ones up front for all those reasons...

I have been riding mavic 717's with Schwalbe's 2.25's front and rear for the last year or so with no problems

I know mavic is very conservative regarding widths on their rims

I just got a new set of 2.35 tires yesterday and put them on, no problems on the 717's

I ride around 30-40psi

here is a link that might be useful, scroll down near the bottom

http://www.schwalbetires.com/tech_info/tire_dimensions
Tire Dimensions | Schwalbe North America

Cool. The Mavics are around 22-23 mm, right?

I'm not opposed to getting the 2.14 inchers, but I saw someone write that they were narrower than advertised, so I was worried they would end up being TOO narrow.

Cool. The Mavics are around 22-23 mm, right?

I'm not opposed to getting the 2.14 inchers, but I saw someone write that they were narrower than advertised, so I was worried they would end up being TOO narrow.

The current model number scheme from Mavic for their mountain rim lineup has the last two digits being the inside rim width, the ETRTO inside width...but doesn't apply to older models (like the F219 started out with that name before the number scheme changed, it's now known as the EN321, formerly XM321; there are some other model names and current widths that don't match up).

The Mavic 717s are 17 inside width, as are their 117, 317 and 517 rims in the current lineup.