speyfitter

Looking at building a Surly Bridge Club frame set into an “all-road” touring bike. Leaning towards the Schwalbe Marathon Plus MTB 27.5” x 2.25” tires. Wondering what would be a good durable rim to run with this that works with this tire width? Will have 36 spokes front and rear and have the local bike shop build it with Sapim Strong spokes and likely a Shimano Hub. Thanks!

base2 

Velocity Cliffhanger. Good for 45-65mm width & tubeless capable.

PhilFo 

Ryde Andra 40 or Sun Rhyno Lite.

zweitesmal2

Yes, I have 36 spoke Cliffhangers with 45mm tires and they're a joy on the road.

Indigo82

I have Schwalbe Marathon Plus MTB 26x2.25 on a 19mm internal diameter rim and they are perfectly fine. However, these are very heavy tires compared to Schwalbe Super Moto X 26x2.4 which I also have. Although Super Moto X don't have as much grip and puncture protection as MTB they are faster tire both on road and off road which in touring applications really makes difference when you cover many miles day after day. Super Moto X are also very capable off road due to width of 2.4 which gives them quite a lot of floatation capability. Their gravel and fire road capability is fine as well. As an "all-road" touring tire I would choose Super Moto X. MTB is more specialized tire for more difficult off-road touring. Both tires are available in 27.5 inch wheel size.

speyfitter

Thanks for the info. I was actually revisting this the other day and think I might end up going with the 27.5" x 2.35" Schwalbe Marathon Plus Tours as they sound a bit more road friendly (already have them on my road touring bike in 700 x 35 and they've been fantastic so far).

djb

just be very aware that these are heavy suckers and they are going to ride like dogs.
1380g each. Heck, I have some 4inch fatbike tires that are lighter than this.

point is, do you really need the heft and tread?

this touches on the whole choosing tires topic---without a lot of riding experience and being observant and comparing while riding the same route often, how does one "know" what a given tire will feel like without buying the darn things?
I have a friend who put these tires on his touring bike years ago, he clearly had the attitude of "MUST HAVE MAX PROTECTION AND TREAD" in his thinking, but I know riding beside him once, he was having to put out a crapload more power than me to ride along, but he is a strong guy, and didnt seem to mind--but really, these tires were overkill and he was expending a lot more energy than he needed to, but he just wasnt the sort of rider that noticed or acknowledged this.

I don't know what more to say to you, nothing in written words will really make you really feel how a given tire feels like riding, you really need to do back to back rides with different tires to actually feel this, and some people just dont even feel the difference in things, or put a fear of punctures ahead of everything else.

good luck with looking at choices and options.

speyfitter

Yup - Tires are all about trade offs. You can’t have your cake and eat it too.

djb

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the nice thing about 27.5 is that there are all kinds of options out there. I'm still with 26 with a troll so I can't try the almotions, a neat looking tire.

speyfitter

Sounds neat

Pratt

My Bruce Gordon came with 36 spoke Mavic rims and in 30 years they have stayed true. I ride, touring and recreationally, on 50 mm tires and they are fine on trails, dirt roads and pavement. At times I have mounted 28 mm tires and they were fine on pavement.