Bike Forums - View Single Post - Tire/Wheel Width and Relationship (article)

10-04-17 | 08:15 AM

#46

cyccommute

Mad bike riding scientist

Joined: Nov 2004

Posts: 29,068

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From: Denver, CO

Bikes: Some silver ones, a red one, a black and orange one, and a few titanium ones

Quote:

Originally Posted by Doug5150

When MTBs first appeared on the market, they did use wider rims...

Narrow rims just don't work well with wide tires. Technically you can do it, but you can't make it work right.
I've explained it elsewhere on the forum previously.

I'm not sure what you mean by "you can't make it work right". I've been running 55mm mountain bike tires on 17mm rims forever and never had any kind of issue. The tires don't blow off and they grip well enough in corners that I can rail a paved corner at 20 or 30 mph without thinking about it.

As for narrower tires...23 to 37mm...I've mounted those on various rims of various widths and never had problems with the tire blowing off or having an adverse on cornering as well. I have Velocity Deep V (14mm inside width) on a touring bike with 35mm tires. I don't even think about them. Same goes for my commuter bike with 18mm wide Dyads and 37mm tires.

I had to suffer though wide rims on those original mountain bikes. The extra width doesn't provide any advantage. The only thing it provides is extra weight.

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