[Closed] Wide rims for a pootler? Another out of touch question.

Wider rims enable you to get more volume out of a tyre/rim combo. Volume is good for steamrolling. 🙂

There's obvious limitations, but it's worth a try to see if you like it.

The aerodynamicists will be along shortly to advise against it because it may knock a poofteenth of your top speed.

Id not worry about the weight diff. Basically wider rims allow you to make the most of lower tyre pressures, which give better grip/feel and ride comfort.

Since using wider rims Ive stopped getting pinch flats and am able to run low pressures.

30mm is a good all round size, you can fit 2.3 up to 2.6 tyres. 35mm is good for 2.6 to 2.8.

25mm is a little narrow these days.

25mm is a little narrow these days

Even just for cruising about on easier stuff? The manufacturer websites seem to think 30mm is gnarly

For the last 10(?) years I have been a believer in moar widerer is moar betterer.

I built a pootler during lockdown that runs 2.35'' tyres on Flow EX rims (probably the skinniest build I have) and the rims make full use of the contact patch of the tyres (Ardent Race).

30mm as above seems to be a decent (non plus) sweet spot.

50mm+ rims are ace though 🙂

I saw this week a 2.1'' tyre on a 45mm rim. I would have thought that was cutting it a bit close but the owner said they had no problems.

sorry for the slight hijack but would an arch (26mm internal) be OK for a 2.1

I've found it depends on a lot of things.

Narrow rims make tires more rounded, round tyres present a nice consistent contact patch to the ground as you lean them over. This tends to work well on summer XC tyres which tend to have lots of low profile knobs evenly spaced over the tread.

But not all tyres are nice and consistent like that, some have center knobs, and then cornering knobs on the shoulders. For those tyres you want a wide rim that makes the tyre as square as possible so that as soon as you lean a bit, those shoulder knobs are digging in.

Wide rims also reduce the tires tendency to roll over (because when lent over the edge is closer to the ground and it's wider/less leverage). Which means you can run lower pressures.

Then to make it complicated, that second type of tyre is generally suited to rougher tracks, where you don't always want a wide rim because the overhanging bit of tyre protects it from rocks.

You also hit rolling resistance issues with wide rims as they push more of the tread into the ground, rather than just the center bit that's designed to be fast rolling. You're also potentially stretching the tyre into a shape it wasn't designed to be, although modern tyres are probably designed around wider rims than the used to be you still want to avoid daft combinations like 2.3" on Velocity dually's.

Or a 2.35 G One speed on a Hugo on Surrey Hills trails when you've dropped the pressure a bit for more grip and you dink the rim on a rock 25 miles from home and lose a load more pressure and then lose a bit of your pump head in the undergrowth faffing about because you'd last used it to pump up the kiddie wagon tyres with schrader tubes.

Nothing a couple of isotonic pints and some cheesy chips can't get you past, though!

30mm front, 25mm rear is where the cool cats are at.

I am very tempted by the idea that buying the right bike wheels might make me cool.

I use a 29mm internal width rim with 2.2 vittoria barzo. Seems to work ok and I haven't died yet.

I think I’m with qwerty, as I’m just about to go with an ex471 rear, ex511 front build. Harder usage than OP. Hopefully no pootling on this bike.

I'm on 27 or 28mm internal currently, with 2.35" tyres, looking at XM481 and XM521 rims for a future build, but with the 521 on the rear for a 27.5/35mm 29/30mm mullet setup 😀