I have a pair and am not sure what size tire to put on it. The wheel is a 700cX19. I can pretty much put any width right? 700x23?

you should be good up to 28mm, those rims are the shizznit. if you ever sell them let me know.

They aren't pricey rims ya know.

i know, but i'm not willing to buy a set just to sit on them until the right bike comes along.
i rode ma-2's (the same set for 5 years) and they're awful hard to find now.

ma-3s are the next-best thing.

and i think i was wrong about 28mm, they'll take up to a 32mm w/ no problem

Mavic says that tires up to 28mm are ok. I've run 700x28 continentals on MA3's (rear wheel) with no problem. Lotsa rubber helps protect the rim.

MA3's have a pretty poor track record of cracking around the spoke hole. several shops stopped carring them because of all the problems they have had. mine failed after 6 weeks.

I've run 41mm Specialized Nimbuses on those rims..... no problem.

I think the one thing limiting the tire size is the clearance on the frame and fork

The rim width is also a limiting factor. If the rim is too narrow for the tire, you increase the likelihood of pinch flats or ever tire roll-offs. Sheldon has a chart on his wheel size page: http://www.sheldonbrown.com/tire_sizing.html

MA2 and MA3 are the same rim but the MA3 has the hard anodized surface. The MA2 is out of production. As Jobst Brandt points out, the ano treatment is done before the rim is joined, so the twisting necessary to bring it into a flat hoop cracks the ano layer. Now you've got less structural material sitting underneath a layer of cracked aluminum oxide. Nice work. This is what leads to spoke pull-through. Plus I think it's a single eyeleted rim rather than a full sleeze where there is an eyelet on both the inside and outside surfaces of the box section. Likewise they have some history of the sidewalls separating from the rim base.

Mavic recommends 100kgf of tension which isn't unusual but other manufacturers will let you go higher. After smashing my rear, I rebuilt it at 110kgf because I'd rather worry about spoke pull-through than another crushed rim. Of course, I have no hard proof that a more highly tensioned wheel wouldn't have also gotten ruined.

exactly, anybody here remember the MA40 MTB rims? They had the same profile as MA2's and you could 1.5" and bigger tyres on those!

i've had mine for 2 years with no problem.

Yeah, a friend of mine rides a pair of the MA40s that bontrager cut down to 26". They still roll straight 'n' true.

I've wondered about how ma3s can have a lower profile than all of these other rims and still be strong enough to be a touring rim. Unless my definition of touring is different from mavic, to me it is paniers and xtra weight.
I do have and ma3 rear wheel anyway, lbs told me the little washer looking thing (eyelet?) around the nipple is what makes it strong. For the $ it is the one right now.
Everybody says open pros are bombproof, but it is called a light road rim or something by sheldon. the ma3 is a touring. confusion. mavic site is in my history, think I'll take yet another peek

there is a debate on eyelets making a rim stronger. but the MA3 had a single eyelet and that is a weakness not a strenth.

I've MA3's on my tourer with Specialized Infinity Armadillo 35mm's. For me that's the widest I'd go with these rims. They've been bomb proof for me, loaded touring Budapest to Istanbul, then a goodley bit of commuting as well. The rear is about due for replacement due to brake wear, unknown actuall mileage (bought used)-this set was built by Peter White. I've never had to re-touch them.

I've open pro's on my brevet bike, they're pretty sturdy as well. These are laced crossed on the drive side, and straight on the non-drive. No problems as of yet, and riden over some pretty nasty pavement. Unknown builder.

The Open Pro is bomb proof. I've wrecked one, but it was after I got hit by a car (oddly enough, I didn't go down, but it I did get knocked two lanes over). It's also lighter because it's a different alloy than the MA3. That's why they can build their beefiest mountain rim lighter than an MA3.

High profile rims are useful for wheels that don't have enough spokes, but if you're running 36 spokes (and you should for touring) the wheel will get its vertical strength from the spokes.

There's no reason for a rim to be heavy on a wheel with plenty of spokes, and with properly inflated tires of width suitable for the application.

The rim only needs strength when the tire bottoms out. If your tires are wide enough and properly inflated there shouldn't be an issue of rim strength.

For loaded touring you should be on medium or wide tires, typically 32 mm or wider. Wide tires don't work so well on narrow rims, so the principal need for a "touring" rim is that it be reasonably wide.

Sheldon "MA3, CR-18" Brown

Mr Brown-
I AM SO HONORED THAT YOU HAVE ANSWERED MY QUESTION.
Thanks for all the free info on your website. Invaluable. You are one of the legends. In fact, I saw your new gunnar on fixedgeargallery and rushed to get mine submitted so that it could sit in your shadow!!!

Thinking about it, A friend of mine, very experienced bike tourist, was riding on an 80's trek with rusty nipples that needed some butter on old 27 inch wheels. maybe I have a pic that will fit on the forum...
I was so excited to see his touring setup, but was a little disappointed to see how much crap he had! I thought he was a minimalist!
I gotta share hwo awesome he is, He's hiked the AT, PCT, CDT, touring in europe, asia, he is a great traveler, he was riding to MT from chicago, via st louis, and north along the divide to MT to finish his cdt trip.
Here's 2 quotes from him:
I like a 40 for my big chainring.
when I asked him how he affords to do all this traveling:
"I don't tell people what I do, I tell people what I don't do. Haven't had a car in 20 years, no phone, not married, no kids, no house."