well, like I said, people get away with all kinds of mismatches without problems. That in itself is not proof it is safe. It is anecdotal and has some value, especially with you very experienced riders, but I'm not ready to completely disregard guidelines by people in the tire and/or wheel industry with a lot more knowledge than me: Mavic, biketiresdirect (who has a good compatibility chart), Sheldon, etc.

and btw, my mtn bike was shipped with very skinny rims and fat tires, and I haven't had a problem either. But that's a low (tire) pressure situation, and at relatively low speeds. I don't want to be thinking about my road tires on a 40+ mph descent.


Now, can somebody give me some tire pressure guidelines for old French steel/chrome wheels. I've got some alloy wheels on an old Peugeot that seem to be beyond adjustments (the back hub and the front rim are shot) so I went to swap in the original steel wheels and noticed the rims are not hooked. I just acquired a new set of Kenda 27" (cheap) tires on another bike that I can use. What's the max pressure for this situation? Seems like the tires would blow right off the rims with too much pressure (and someone mentioned as much on this forum).