Originally Posted by
ClydeClydeson
As my high school drafting teacher used to say, 'looks good from far, but it's far from good'
I would call those tires a 'non fit' on the trek, even though it looks cool with them. Spokes wheels flex side to side as you ride and this will obviously cause the tire to rub significantly on the frame and fork. MIght be rideable in the short term, but I would not want to risk such tight clearance far from home - after the tires wear off the paint from the fork and seatstays, then the steel is going to start wearing the tire down to the casing.
Like automotive test mules, test rigs, or anything not fully developed, this is where I'm at with the 620 and the big 48s. Obviously the rear tire is a no-go, so I'm stopped in my tracks. I made a second post, which ended up being below yours. I explain things more there, or at least get to the question of "Where do we go from here?"
So with an incredibly tight clearance in the front, and ostensibly in the rear if chain stays are dimpled to free the rear tire, the test riding would take place in a quarter mile or so radius around my home. Very controlled environment. Just proof-of-concept and data collection level stuff here. My questions could very well answer themselves, but for the time being, there's no way I'm going any further than a ten block radius on this setup, listening for rubbing and any other bad noises. I don't even have brakes hooked up to this, having removed them to focus on ease of mounting the tires and checking fitment.
In the meantime, and because of course I did, I mocked up an OS-tubed CAD model (rough draft), based heavily on my 620, just to see how things would look. Big tires match better to larger diameter tubing in general due to proportion, so it's also an aesthetic study for me. I like the results a lot so far.
