Originally Posted by
Velocivixen
@
dddd-that's good to know about the Kenda Kross tires. I guess the final width of the tire has to do with the specific rim it's mounted on? It sounds like, from what I've read, that some tires spread out more when mounted to a particular wheel and other tires are "taller". Someone on one of my earlier thread had the opinion that, on a vintage mixte with good paint, "cross" type tires wouldn't be a good look. I went with my old stand by, the Paselas.
A wider rim will appreciably widen a bike tire's casing and flatten the tread profile, but actually also slightly increases the height of the tread above the rim (at least it does when the original rim is considerably narrower than the tire, which is usually the case).
Tires like the Kenda Kross get some added width and height from their free-standing tread knobs, but I measure tire width only across the casing and I measure tire height only up to the base of any such open tread blocks.
The thickness of a smooth tread affects any dimension where the measurement is taken, especially the height.