Originally Posted by
Darth Lefty
You can go smaller width for city commuting. We’ve all been doing it with mountain bikes for 25 years. The BB height still won’t compare to a roadie bike, which is about 11.5 inches. MTB’s start off about an inch higher than that so you can lose up to an inch in the tire size.
Thanks. I was wondering how seriously I should take Surly's recommendation about handling being affected under 2.5". The pedals still have plenty of room to clear the ground, because 1) I'm using 165mm cranks, and 2) I'm not riding over roots and rocks. I'm guessing they're referring to handling on trails, and they just don't want to get sued if someone tries to bomb downhill tracks with 38mm tires.