Originally Posted by
littleArnold
Well I am getting different answers...frustrating. I think that one guy at bike shop must of not known what he was talking about.... but he acted so sure of himself... only one tire size for one rim, a rim won't fit a range of tire sizes... but it is completely opposite of what Trek has told me at their stores. He said he was right and what I was told at the Trek Stores was the wrong information, he has been doing this 30+ years he knows more then they do according to him. He was an older man, maybe it was that way with the older bikes but not the newer ones and maybe he is just behind the times??? I talked to a bike mechanic at a Trek Store this time, not a middle man, and apparently the rim can after all handle tires in the range 28 - 40. I don't know if that's the ideal range, or ideal would be no lower than 32??
....ill see it is something I will have to decide. I am sorry so indecisive. I also am contemplating about actually going slightly wider and have this more of an off-road bike ... if I decide to get a road bike or single speed road bike... I don't know my Trek Hybrid is surprising me all the time as far as what it can do off the road. As I am riding it a lot more and my Schwinn Mountain bike less which has much thicker and knobby tires, I am finding the hybrid performs just as good off road as the mountain bike on most the gravel/ dirt paths I go on and at least it feels like the lighter bike wears me down less on the path and feels like it rides faster than the mountain bike on gravel/dirt paths... but I haven't actually timed myself to verify that. I have timed myself on paved surfaces mountain vs hybrid and the hybrid does improve my 20 mile time on paved by about 20-30 minutes easily. I don't ride on anything that really rugged which would actually require a mountain bike...
.... or I might just keep the mountain bike and put 28 or 32 smooth rolling tires on the hybrid to keep it more as my road bike and the mountain bike more as my off-road bike...
decisions , decisions, hard time making decision sometimes.... anyway thanks everyone for their feedback.
Don't go to that store again.
its absurd to claim only 1 size tire can fit a specific rim.
Some tires expand beyond the stated width. Some tires run narrower than the stated width.
I have 2 road bikes with the same rims and both run 28mm tires. One tire brand and model measures out right at 28mm. The other tire brand and model measures out at 31mm.
Both are perfectly safe to use.
One of those wheelsets used to be on my gravel bike and held 40mm tires. Thousands and thousands of miles without an issue.
This isnt just my experience, its all over the place- modern aluminum road rims conaistently handle all sorts of tire widths from 25mm to 45mm without issue.