Seeking Advice: Best Tires for Non-Ideal Rims

[j.schwartz]

I am waiting for a new 59cm Clem-L to arrive and plan on building it up as a pretty basic off-road bike.  Most of the parts are things that have been floating around my bike bins for years.

The only new thing I'm planning on using is a Bosco 52cm alu bar I purchased earlier this year but haven't really used.

I just replaced my old touring wheelset that was on the Appa with a new more modern and appropriate Cliffhanger wheelset 

So I have the older wheels which are:  36h Synergy Rims laced to Shimano dyno (DH-3N72) in front and an XT hub in the back.  I've ridden these Synergy rims for about 9 years and they show no signs of any issues around the eyelets that others have reported.

I'd like to use what I have but I want to maximize the tires for the Clem.  I'm planning to use tubes (those rims aren't good candidates for tubeless anyway)

Does anyone have any thoughts to how big I can go?

Note these are 700's.

I'd really like to mount 29x2.4's but these rims are 23mm wide with a 19mm interior width.

I did mount some non-tubeless Vittoria Mezcals in 29x2.1 size when they were on the Appaloosa and they really didn't balloon at all.  Maybe they could've been stretched out a little better by a wider rim, but they fit and rode pretty well.

*Pics attached of that

Has anyone successfully run some off roady, tubed, mountain tires on those rims in about 2.35" and up ?

Thanks

[A. Douglas M.]

Hello J,

Many people rode 2.4 tires on rims with 19mm internal width before wider rims really caught on. Some people will tell you it makes it harder to lower pressures without sidewalks folding, but that is less relevant with tubes. You’ll probably get pinch flats before that happens.

I run Maxxis Ardent 2.4s on Magic 819s with no problem.

I say try it and see how you like it. Nothing catastrophic will happen. MTBR has lots of good info on this, too.

Best,

Aaron Millhench

[Patrick Moore]

Back in the day both Trek and Sun (at least those 2) made 13 mm internal/19 external mountain bike rims. I used both with 2" tires for thousands of miles with no problem except having to keep pressure higher than (I would now consider) optimum.

Wider rims work better for wider tires, but skinny rims work alright.

[Mark Schneider]

Jan Heine specifically says narrow rims are fine with his tires. So I'd imagine most reasonably supple tires would work fine. Like Patrick I rode mountain bike tires on old narrow rims for years. I have no specific recommendations your width will be a little less on the narrow rims than on the Cliffhangers for same tires but it's not a huge deal IMO.

Mark 

[John McBurney]

I run 48c compass/RH 650s on Synergy rims with tubes with sub 30 psi without problems. Conversely I run 38 /700 tubeless on a Cliffhanger at 40 psi without any issues. I also run 38s with tubes on Magic CXP33’s which seem narrow and it works great. 

John 

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[Garth]

If you can find a tire that rides the way you like, get it even if it's not necessarily 2.35/2.4. 

[tc]

I'm running Nano 2.1 tires on Synergy rims (64 Atlantis) with no issues.  It really depends on the tread profile.  If creating a rounder tire profile (fat tire on smallish rim) will cause the particular tread transition (from tire center to side) to be more abrupt, you may not like that.  If the tread is uniform from center to side, then likely no issues.  At one time I ran 2.4 Mezcals on Alexrims DM24 rims -- the std rim Riv put's on complete Clem's.  They have a 24mm inner width.  Loved them.  Mezcals don't have an abrupt change in tread pattern, so maybe give it a whirl.  If it doesn't feel right, then spend the cash for Cliffhangers :-)

Tom

[Paul Clifton]

Here are 27.5 x 60mm Schwalbe Big Ones mounted to Atlas rims, which I think are 19mm internal width. It's a little balloony but it doesn't worry me. I will ride them tomorrow, I hope. I have ridden 2.3" wide Neo Motos on these rims quite a bit without any trouble. The Neo Motos are now mounted tubeless on rims that are 24mm wide. There are images comparing the shape.

[James / Analog Cycles]

We used to run 20mm external width rims and 2.4" tires all the time back when singlespeeding was hip.  Built dozens of bikes with that combo, zero issues.  

-james / analog cycles 

[j.schwartz]

Thanks everyone 

Glad to hear I can "slum it" with these old wheels.