Road tire on touring rim
 

I've got a set of Mavic A719 rims (622x19mm) and am planning to build a set of endurance wheels for my steel road bike. The bike has clearance for 28mm tires which will fit fine on those rims, but I also have a nearly new set of 25mm tires that are on the bike with its entry level wheels now. I looked at several online resources, including Sheldon Brown's site and 28mm tires are the narrowest "recommended" tires, but SB also states that the figures in the graph are "conservative" and that many riders have used tires outside of the recommended ranges without problem.

How many of you would hesitate to run a 25mm tire on a 19mm (inside) wide rim? If you don't like the idea, what are your concerns? The tires in question are Specialized All Condition Armadillo Elites (Kevlar bead) if that makes a difference.

It's not ideal (in theory) but it'll be fine.

I've never tried it but the current trend is to go with 19-20mm inner width road rims. Supposedly it creates a better profile with 23-25mm tires. Don't know if this is just a pointless fad or not but at least it's safe to try.

I always liked to have some tire casing bulge beyond the rim. Anotherwords the tire being wider then the rim. I do like 25-28mm tires on my light weight bikes and run mavis Open Sports on then too. Remember that with a wider rim the tire will "size up" as being a little bit wider then the labled size, IF the lable was 'right" when on a narrower rim. Also check the brake caliper's pad width WRT the rim's width. Some "racing" rakes of onle a few years ago really don't like rims with an outside width of around 25mm or wider. Andy.

25mm tires will work, but make sure you sit the beads correctly.

As an extreme example, my '93 Trek MTB came with 26x2.125" (559-54) tires. When I realized it was going to be used as a beater road bike I replaced them with 26x1.25" (559-32) tires and they worked fine. So narrower tires on rims meant for wide ones can and do work well.

I've used 23s on these Ambrosio, no problem.

http://i232.photobucket.com/albums/e...lds51/Hib6.jpg

That is a pretty good rim, but I would go 28 rear and 25 front for endurance/touring purposes. I also recommend checking Vittoria brand tires.

Thanks for all the replies. It pretty much confirms what the LBS told me, use up the 25s and then switch to 28s if I want to. I hadn't thought about checking brake clearance, but these are Tektro road calipers, nothing special, and the outside measurement on these rims is 22-23 mm.

Mavic recommends 28 to 47 mm for that rim. I would guess that a true 25 or 26 should be OK.

I don't understand wanting to use heavy rims with light tires. If you're concerned about the "entry" wheels, just make sure the spokes are tensioned and stress-relieved and go ride.