Narrow Rims and Wide Tires... Real World Experience?

[Adam Kilgas]

I've looked at the charts and such from various manufacturers that show their guidelines/recommendations for how wide a tire you can put on how wide a rim, but they're clearly (and sometimes explicitly said to be) on the conservative side...

So I'm curious what the experience, good and bad, is of ones in the group here.  My own: I'm running Pasela 35mm's on Sun M13 II rims, usually in the 70-80 psi range.  I've never measured, but I'm assuming they're 13mm internal width, which puts my combo well outside the recommended.  No problems so far, though, and I've thrown this bike into some corners at decent speeds.

In fact, the reason this all came up is because I started thinking about how much fun putting some Resist Nomad 45's on this bike would be (single speed, mid trail), before I remembered those pesky narrow rims... 45mm may be pushing it, methinks.

[John P]

You should perhaps ignore what I'm about to say because the church of the wide rims is strong now, but in the early days of 29ers people used to run 2.1" tires on 700c Mavic Open Pros.  From what I can tell the dimensions of the Open Pro and the M13II are very close to each other.  45mm is not technically pushing it.  Though you could debate for who knows how long about what performance you'd be adding or giving up.  And I have personally run 2.1" tires on narrow 700c rims mostly successfully.

  -John

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[Harald Kliems]

I did not particularly like having 35mm tires on a very narrow (I think also 13mm) rim. Cornering always felt a little sketchy, and even more so when the pressure started running a little low. And mounting stiff Marathon Winter tires on the rims was a nightmare. I eventually switched to a wider rim.

I think a couple issues back, BQ had an article about this topic, and their theory was that with supple tires, wide rims don't matter as much.

 Harald in Madison (WI)

PS I lack the knowledge to evaluate that claim, but one argument against wide tires on narrow rims is that this puts more strain on the rim's sidewalls. Not a practical issue if you're running the kinds of pressures en vogue around here, but if you have a fully loaded touring bike or a tandem, this might be a concern.

[Adam Kilgas]

It seems like I do remember reading that about tires with supple sidewalls... Don't specifically remember what issue or post, though.

As I mentioned, I've always kept to relatively higher road pressures, and haven't felt any squirminess in corners yet.

[Nick Favicchio]

2.1" on a 23mm OD rim, sure. 35mm or 38mm tire on a 13mm ID so what 15mm? 17mm? OD rim? Sure, that sounds fine.

2.1" tire on an open pro, which is a 15mm OD rim iirc, that sounds lame and scary. I'd try it, but your air volume is limited and you'd need pump them up a bunch.

[Ray Varella]

Narrow rims with fat tires were the norm with early mountain bikes. 

I rode Mavic MA2s for years. These were cut down from 700c rims and re rolled to 26" by Kieth Bontrager. 

Lots of people used them for years with no ill effects. 

If I were buying new rims, I might search for something wider but if I already had wheels built, I wouldn't give it a second thought. 

I've been using Mavic Module 3 650B rims for years with 42mm tires and would not hesitate to go with wider tires. 

The Module 3 appears to be the same width as MA2s. 

Ray,

Vallejo CA

On Sat, Apr 22, 2017 at 8:41 PM Nick Favicchio <nickfa...@gmail.com> wrote:

2.1" on a 23mm OD rim, sure.  35mm or 38mm tire on a 13mm ID so what 15mm? 17mm? OD rim?  Sure, that sounds fine.

2.1" tire on an open pro, which is a 15mm OD rim iirc, that sounds lame and scary.  I'd try it, but your air volume is limited and you'd need pump them up a bunch.

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Ray Varella

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[John P]

Open Pro is 15mm ID, not OD.  I doubt it would have a significant impact on air volume, though it would affect the shape of that volume in a number of ways.

  -John

On Sat, Apr 22, 2017 at 8:41 PM, Nick Favicchio <nickfa...@gmail.com> wrote:

2.1" on a 23mm OD rim, sure.  35mm or 38mm tire on a 13mm ID so what 15mm? 17mm? OD rim?  Sure, that sounds fine.

2.1" tire on an open pro, which is a 15mm OD rim iirc, that sounds lame and scary.  I'd try it, but your air volume is limited and you'd need pump them up a bunch.

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[Randall Daniels]

I ran 55mm wide tires (with tubes) on my racing mountain bike for a few years. Rims were 17.4mm ID Mavic XM317 disc with pressures that would put the tire around 20-25% sag depending on terrain.

I never had any problems and I'm a fairly fast and competent rider. Most of the trails were typical southeast us - rocks, roots and lots of elevation.

Not sure if this applies to road riding but hey if it works ok on dirt it's probably ok on the road too. 

[Mark Guglielmana]

Fairly fast and competent riders typically don't have as many issues as...

Fairly heavy and less competent riders...

I think I lean towards the later. Pinch flats from narrow rims and fat tires are common, so I've switched to wider rims.