Originally Posted by
WhyFi
I don't have any experience with wider rims (I do have parts on the way (Velocity A23)), but I thought that one of the main reasons to move to a 23mm wide rim was the smoother, less bulbous tire/rim transition when using 23mm tires? They (HED, at least) cite better aero characteristics and less sidewall 'flop' (as they call it) while cornering with the combination. Moving to a bigger tire after moving to a wider rim seems like it would be counter-productive, if that's the case.
Even when using a wider tire, example a 25MM tire, the bulbousness (is that a word?) is far less than a tire mounted on a conventional rim. The difference in the feel and handling characteristics when using the wider rims is very real and very noticeable.
Here's a pic of my HED Bastogne wheel with a Vittoria Open Corsa 700X25, when mounted measure an actual 28MM. You can see the profile of the tire/rim intersection is very smooth and the tire is not very bulbous at all.
You can read a 'report' I wrote when I first got the wheels 2 years ago here:
http://forums.serotta.com/showthread...ht=rode+report