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Max. tyre width on racing rims
I've been browsing for a set of wheels. They're going to go in a "road cross" (ie: not pure CX) frame, so I was thinking it would be nice to be able to run some fatter tyres for gravel roads, towpaths etc... I'll probably go for a hand-built pair with Mavic Open Pro rims, but was also looking at Mavic Ksyrium Elite and Fulcrum Racing-3 2-way-fit. Mavic say that 28 mm is the max recommended tyre for their rims, but the consensus seems to be that CX types happily run 35 mm tyres with no problems. I downloaded the manual for the Racing-3s, and was very surprised to see that the permitted tyre width is only 23-25 mm, with a "danger of serious injury or death" if exceeded. Thinking it was something about the 2-way-fit rim I checked the manual for the regular Racing-3s, but it says the same. They all appear to be 622 x 15C ETRTO (ie: gap hooks inside the rim is 15 mm). Sheldon Brown has table of safe tyre / rim width combinations, which suggests that 32 mm is fine for a 15 mm gap. So I guess I shouldn't worry. Still, seems a pity that nobody does a 17C rim, which would be fine from 23 to 35 mm.
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5 comments
I got a price from HED for an Ardennes rim on it's own, as I wanted to build it into a Powertap wheel that would match my road wheels. They quoted £199 each for the rim!
I know they are Scandium, but £199 is insane when you consider a CXP33 or Open Pro are well under £50.
It looks like they throw in the hubs for free if you buy the wheelset, as the price I paid would equal the cost of 2 rims and the equally insane price of the DT Swiss aerolite spokes at £3.50 each.
The Ardennes are great wheels though, and a definite upgrade from the R-Sys's they replaced.
they do let other manufacturers license them too, but i don't know of many that do. Industry Nine are the only ones i know of, and you can't get them over here...
The HED wheels are interesting. Apparently HED are selling the rims separately as "Belgian Rims".
Also Velocity Wheels make a similar width rim called the A23.
Both are 17C, but UK availability seems limited.
Ive run 30mm Mich-Mud's on open pro's and they are fine but can squirm a bit at very low pressures (youd have to be a featherweight to consider running them that soft tho). Ive got Mavic A719's now and they are quite a bit wider and give a much nicer profile with wider tyres, not good for anything narrow tho, and a good deal heavier!
If your a normal weight id not worry about the OP's, chances are youll never run them soft enough to have a problem.
there are wider road rims out there - HED's Bastogne and Ardennes wheelsets both have a 23mm rim (measured to the outside edges) which is at least 2mm wider than most road rims, 4mm wider than most.
Having said that i run 28mm tyres on my fulcrum racing 3s, and so far i've managed to avoid serious injury and death. and i've seen lots of CX bikes with road width rims.