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I have spent quite a bit on my MTB in the last 18 months purely in terms of maintenance, and I feel obliged to keep running it for a good while to get my money's worth.
I'm now thinking do I commit properly and get a new wheelset? I currently have a 2014 non-boost 29er. The wheels are 21mm int. width (same as my gravel bike!) shod with 2.35" Maxxis tyres. It's 140/130mm travel, I'm 88kgs.
Question: Will I notice a difference going to a pair of DTSwiss ex511 30mm rims? It would be about a £250 operation. I'd also be moving from 24 spokes (factory wheel) to 32 spoke hand-builts. So hopefully not as flexy.
Just on the width consideration, it'll probably depend on the tyres you want to use. Going to a 30mm internal rim will let you use wider tyres, but if your riding means 2.35 is the widest tyre you use and you'd regularly use narrower tyres, it might not be an ideal move for you.
I suspect my non-boost frame would not have clearance for anything much more than 2.35", especially with a wider rim.
Okay that's a familiar issue! Might be worthwhile checking out the Stans WideRight chart then - it's just one company's opinion, but they match up their internal rim widths to the tyre width range. Just pick a rim width broadly suitable to your tyre choices - you might want to go for a narrower than 30mm rim if there's no chance of you putting wide rubber on there to get the "best" tyre shape.
Just for more width probably not worth buying new wheels, but if you want more spokes and/or better hubs, yeh probably worth going a bit wider at the same time.
The difference is subtle though, it's not a game changer. That said if you're rebuilding anyway due to low spoke count, go for it.
I went from 19mm int to 27mm and its definalty better, but also from aluminium to carbon at the same time, so I couldn't say what made more difference.
Still you are limited by frame clearance, I can't really go bigger than 2.35 on the back tyre, but the profile seems better with a slightly wider rim.
If you aren’t planning to run bigger tyres then 30mm isn’t necessarily what you need. 25mm would be sufficient to get away with a 2.4” - I was running a Maxxis 2.5wt tyre on 25mm internal width until recently too. I’m not convinced I’ve noticed the difference moving to 30mm rims - I did it because I wanted my old wheels to go onto another bike and thought I may as well gonwoder when I was building myself a new pair.
Think the old Dt e1900’s might be 28 spoke, but the DT XM481’s have 32 spokes and I built them onto pro4’s so hopefully a fairly bullet proof set of wheels for the riding I do.
Lighter wheels seem to make bikes go faster.
I know they shouldn't, since saving a few hundred grams should make no difference to something weighing around 100kg (you+bike) but there you go.
What bike is it? Maybe other owners could advise on what size tyres they have ran.
Lighter wheels seem to make bikes go faster.
I know they shouldn’t, since saving a few hundred grams should make no difference to something weighing around 100kg (you+bike) but there you go.
Not faster per se, but quicker acceleration from a stand still, and you can get back up to speed easier.
But then you don't have the momentum of a heavier wheel at the same speed..
The Lord giveth, and the Lord taketh away.
“Lighter wheels seem to make bikes go faster.”
They make bikes feel faster for sure. But that’s not the same thing.
I run 29mm internal width with 2.35 tyre and love it. Spreads the tyre out nicely.
Stans Flow is 29mm and their minimum is 2.35. I don’t see the extra 1mm on your wheel making much difference.
I run 2.35 tyres on 30mm internal rims.
I didn’t choose that width, I just didn’t think about it when I jumped on a really cheap set of wheels.
On my Meta AM there’s not a lot of clearance for anything bigger.
Ive noticed a bit more stiffness and better tracking mainly on cambered stuff or loading the bike out of berms where I think the change in profile of tyre allows more sidewall suppprt but it might just be imaginary.
Thanks all. On balance it looks like I should keep my money in my pocket. When I eventually get a new bike I'll go the whole hog get the advantage of boost too.
Existing wheelset is SRAM roam 50 which at 1.64kgs does have the virtue of lightness.
Personally, I wouldn't worry about it. I chop & change between a 25mm & 30mm wide set of wheels (different tyres) and struggle to tell the difference.
But then i'm not a fan of the huge 2.5 WT style tyres that are in fashion at the mo. The biggest I run is a 2.4 Maxxis on the front (which isn't actually that big) and a 2.3 on the back.