Could the retro-crowd be right all along? Rim Width.....so which is it?

[2manyoranges]

I have assiduously followed the research, reviews and comparisons on wider rims - and run 30 internal with 2,35 tyres on my modern bikes, but with some running 35 internal.

And now I have found this - yes, it's only one article - but it's VERY interesting:

https://www.renehersecycles.com/myth-18-wide-tires-need-wide-rims/
I run M231s and 2.10 on retro.

 

[FluffyChicken]

Run whatever the tyre was designed for.
It's resistant, inductance and capacitance theory whatsits etc that they are designed to, will change if you don't.

 

[velomaniac]

Geoff Apps of Cleland fame runs wide tyre on narrow rims at low pressure and swears they are great off road. This is contrary to the idea of wide tyres on wide rims for off road but Geoff has been riding off road longer than any of us so maybe he has a point. Read his blog its interesting.

 

[2manyoranges]

I'm beginning to get properly interested in this now.....

 

[Tootyred]

Ive been running ma40s (19mm rolled down road rims) off road on 1.95" and now 2.1" for over 30 years. Ive just built a new pair having worn the side walls out. Never had any issues off road.....and did some pretty stupid things on them in my youth!

 

[2manyoranges]

Interesting. That was my experience too. I then started to do some of the 'built trails' stuff and after a couple of front wheel washouts, switched to wider rims and lower pressures, which did seem to improve things. But it all seems rather a dark art and I am interested in different takes.

 

[Tootyred]

I find if i go to low on pressure, even on fat rims, the vagueness of the steering ( especially under heavy cornering) as the tyre moves about, is more disconcerting and slows me more than the possible wash out risk.

My pet thoeory is that a slightly harder tyre digs in more than a lower pressure tyre that moves about under the rim. Yes a flattie might get a touch more grip, but at the loss of control. Oh, and I dont get pinch flats too often!

But i assume it also depends what you ride on. We dont have slimy rocks, just sandy forest and hard pack clay lanes.

 

[Tootyred]

The other thing to consider is what discipline your riding. I only ride XC and as most bikes seem to be DH orientated (even if the most action they see is a kerb in asda carpark), im not suprised narrow rims are now an out of fashion anathema.

 

[2manyoranges]

Yes I think the fashion thing is playing a big role. But there’s something objective lurking in there. One thing I use as a reference in my own riding is ‘rut anxiety’ - which can affect XC as much as enduro etc - and that’s when you are riding along in the rut of choice, only to find that it becomes a second-class rut and the one on the left which you thought was worse now looks better - or when the rut you are in gets deeper and deeper and you need to get up and out onto the central hump. On older bikes there was a lot of anxiety in making the move - crossing up the wheel and over the bars, sliding out and going down on your side - both common. With modern wider tyres and rims my ‘rut anxiety’ has gone from about 10 (always) to 2 (sometimes).

 

[Tootyred]

Frog hops your answer there. But then im an original 70s bmx kid.