I have a wheelset with Mavic 517 rims. Sticker say 599x17.
I want to get another wheelset for different tires so I can swap them back and forth. But I do not want to re-adjust the brakes each time.
How critical is width? Must I find 17 width rims? How close would be close enough? Are 17 width rims common? Are mtn bike rims wildly varied in width? Thanks!

599? Sure it's not 559?

Don't your brakes have a "trim" adjustment?
You could set your brakes for a wider rim and then "trim up" for the narrower rims.
You'd have to measure the distance between pads with the "trimmer" at its' extreme limits of travel. That's how much wider you could go if all adjustments were perfect. Of course you wouldn't be able to routinely trim it for pad wear, temperature change, state of the moon....
Better leave "some" adjustmaent.

Trim? You mean the quick release?

Best check before you buy.

700c rims, for example come in many different widths. The range for mountain bike rims is much greater. Assuming that you'd like to swap wheels without having to readjust the brakes you'll wantto get rims that are within a few millimeters of what you have. Most road rims are between about 19mm and 22mm wide (outside dimension) so a lot of the time that's not an issue in practice.

Whoops I mistyped. Indeed they are 559.
Yes, there is "trim", Bill (operator, that's the fine barrel adjustment) but it would be better just to toss 'em on and rock.
In my reading I'm discovering the listed width on wheels (the 17 is 559x17) is the inside width for tire matching purposes and that the outside braking surface is not even a spec that's noted.

I fear is going to make it impossible to buy online or through eBay and get matching width wheels.

Feel free to offer suggestions.

One of the many reasons I use Discs on my bikes... much less to worry about in terms of interchangability.

That said, If you can at least measure the outside of yout 517s that would give me a place to start looking.

I guess I do not understand the big deal with brake adjustment. This will take FAR less time than changing the wheels! Another BIGGER potential problem is that you might have to readjust the rear der when you change the rear wheel, a much more complex adjustment.

I change wheels often, and have to readjust the brakes which takes literally 1 minute. Of course I am talking road bike.

Halfast, Roadie wheels seem to have much less variation thn mtn wheels. Now that I'm shopping I'm finding wide differences in width. More than barrel adjust differences. Lots-of-tools differences.

unless your smart enough to run the same hub and cassette on both wheels hehe

i have 2 bikes, both use the same hub sets with different rims and the same disc brakes. swapping out the strong wheels for the light wheels and downsizing tyres takes about 2 mins hehe

I doublt you'd have much of a problem. I used to swap wheels on both my mtb and my roadie without having to readjust the brakes at all. Worst case scenerio, you might have to adjust the angle of the pads, but most likely you will need nothing or maybe a slight loosening of the cable. Glad to see you're getting rid of the 517s, I had those and they sucked.

I don't think he's getting rid of them. And the 517 is a great rim... its all in the build/use.

Sorry, should have known I was out of my league!!

Oh yeah, it says he's using different tires. And I was incorrect on the rim. I had the 217 (earlier version) which I didn't like because the machined braking surface wore quickly. I never tried the 517.

cccorlew:

I have three bikes for which I have multiple wheelsets. Two of them require no adjustment whatsoever. Those are the dedicated road bikes. One of them has my race wheels, AM Classic CR-420s, and Shimano WH-R540s for training. The other has a set of Open Pro/Ultegras that I swap out for lighter, faster, but cheap Weyless/Korso/Titan wheels on occasion. I've found that the more important issue is where the cassette ends up sitting in relation to the RD.

The third bike is my 'cross bike. It has fairly beefy, wide Alex wheels on which I run my 'cross tires. I have a separate set of Mavic CXP33s that I run road tires on so that when I travel and need the 'cross bike I can ride road or offroad just by swapping wheelsets. That way I don't have to take two bikes for training. On this swap, the brakes are noticeably looser since the CXP33 is a much narrower rim than the Alex. However, I have never found any need to adjust this, as the brake still functions properly and does not even come close to bottoming out against the bar.

Oh, and I also have a hardtail MTB that I swap between wheels on occasion- no problems there either.

My recommendation? Buy your wheelset; as long as it's intended for the same use (road/road, MTB/MTB, CX/CX), it will likely be close enough that adjustment will be unnecessary.