What are people running these days for trail/am riding? Shopping for carbon rims, and I am not so sure on anything wider than 30mm (ID). Is the whole 'wider is better' thing played out? Will I be faster? Can I run Nevegals?
Rim Widths, 2016
- Thread starter rideit
- Start date
We ran some wide rims back in the day from HED, Sun, etc. I like 35ish, much wider exposes the rim to rocks kicked up by my feet, no weight savings, etc. skinnier than 30 is straight XC racing IMO. These days I'm on 30 for my hardtail and 35 for the AM (90 for the fat bike 
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Yes, you can run nevegals, but they still suck
)Yes, you can run nevegals, but they still suck
my RFX has 30mm (ID) Light Bicycle crabby rims. I'd buy them again in a heartbeat. I wouldn't necessarily go wider, but the LB quality has really come a long way since they hit the States. 10/10.
that said, I'd think the sweet spot for rowdy trail riding is 25-30mm, depending on your go-to tire.
that said, I'd think the sweet spot for rowdy trail riding is 25-30mm, depending on your go-to tire.
I like my Derby rims - 34mm internal width. Work great with true 2.3-2.4 tires.
When I hear of people running these super wide-ass rims, I just think to myself "they must hate cornering".
Big bike 25mm internal - don't like narrower, would like to try 30mm...
Little bike - 19mm (819's that won't die)
Would love to go 25-30mm on these, but $$ say not at this time.
I don't like the 19mm at all. Limits tire choice, cause if I go too meaty, I roll them right off teh rimz, and it they don't come off, sometimes they feel like they are about to.
But I'm still trying to ride the unrideabru 26", so choice is a bit more limited with regard to some of the new neat stuff.
Little bike - 19mm (819's that won't die)
Would love to go 25-30mm on these, but $$ say not at this time.
I don't like the 19mm at all. Limits tire choice, cause if I go too meaty, I roll them right off teh rimz, and it they don't come off, sometimes they feel like they are about to.
But I'm still trying to ride the unrideabru 26", so choice is a bit more limited with regard to some of the new neat stuff.
tried i30's 2 years ago and kept cutting sidewalls (2.3 minion exo). perfectly happy at i27 for my trail biking needs.
Happy with my dt 471's. I looked it up and they're 25mm ID.
Nox Teocalli's, i26, working well for me.
Thinking 30mm Light Bicycle numbers. Go to tires are High Roller II's. Sounds like I'll be happy.
LOLz same here.
OP: Just run what you're comfortable with. Or comfortable experimenting with. I ran i21 on my trail bike(DT EX500 26") and i23 on my dh bike(Mavic 823). I wanted to try this whole wider-is-better thing but without going all the way to i35. I ended up building my new trail bike with i25 rims(DT EX471) and i27.5 on my dh bike(DT FR570). I haven't tested the i25's yet, but a few days on the big bike with the i27.5 and I am really happy with them. Not sure if I would like it even wider or not though. When the time comes, I will rebuild with these again.
When Aaron Gwin was running DT Swiss rims, he chose to use the i25 EX471 instead of the i27.5 FR570 on his downhill bike. And the EX471 is the rim he infamously ran down Leogang. Food for though. I don't think any of the world cup dudes are running anything wider than i30.
Haha, I am definitely no World Cup dude!
Lol I am aware, I was just throwing that out there so you have a frame of reference.
FR570 or Flow EX on the DH bike, whatever those widths are.
Easton ARC 24 on trail bike with 2.35 DHR and 2.25 Ardent.
Easton ARC 24 on trail bike with 2.35 DHR and 2.25 Ardent.
if you're worried it's not wide enough, you could always do this:
Roval fattie sl with i30 on my mega. Was slight improvement over spank oozy 295. Then i installed procore and minion wt tires. Now my mega is like a dh bike. Rough trails are now smooth. It's kinda like cheating. Traction galore, even on flat turns, which are my fav...
opinions on procore?
I dig it. I dig it a lot. But it’s not for everyone. For me, I put more value on reliability vs. light weight. Procore adds 200g per wheel, I believe. Which is like going from single ply to dual ply tires. Now, for the Keystone Enduro I ran Minion DHF 2.5 WT DoubleDown tires and procore. Which probably added 400g per wheel. But for me, it was worth it. The piece of mind of the DD toughness while still being able to run lower psi, and not having to worry about burping tires (because the procore pressure “clamps” the tire onto the rim) was a no brainer for me. Can you accomplish the same thing with running just DH/dual ply? Sorta, but without the significant lower pressure.
Running lower pressure (like 18F/22R) makes a huge difference. All those rocks you see/feel on the trail? Gone. Like a magic carpet ride. Turning traction is increased too. The tire just conforms to the trail more. Does it roll slower? IDK. Is it overkill for your local trails? Depends. I still run DD tires on my steamroller 29er (no procore), only because of the value I place in reliability. But I’ll run EXO tires and procore on the mega on the locals. The lower pressure and increased traction makes things moar funner while still giving me confidence of not flatting while letting go of the brakes thru the rocks.
Running lower pressure (like 18F/22R) makes a huge difference. All those rocks you see/feel on the trail? Gone. Like a magic carpet ride. Turning traction is increased too. The tire just conforms to the trail more. Does it roll slower? IDK. Is it overkill for your local trails? Depends. I still run DD tires on my steamroller 29er (no procore), only because of the value I place in reliability. But I’ll run EXO tires and procore on the mega on the locals. The lower pressure and increased traction makes things moar funner while still giving me confidence of not flatting while letting go of the brakes thru the rocks.
I personally have my LB 24mm inner width and think that to 27 is ideal for our 2.35 tires. I have ridden the 30's and while fine, I actually thought it was starting to square the same sized tire off more than I liked. 35's are silly to me unless running plus bikes and rode some Ibis 40's on 2.4 tires and pretty much hated them. Braking traction was super sweet but the tire was so square it wouldn't track straight, always trying to get on corner lugs with every undulation of the terrain. Made going fast far more sketchy than I would wnat to experience on a regular basis. I will avoid wider than 27 for any tire around the 2.35 size going forward.
You can run 18/22 on gnarly stuff? And it keeps the tire on the rim? MMMMMpfffffff........ crap. Now I'm gonna go buy it. Guess I'll be eating pb&j 3 meals a day for the next few weeks. Thanks a lot jerkface.
running a 24.5 inner , next wheels will be a 30 inner
I ride on 26 ID and don't have the desire for more width really on my trail bike, if anything more maybe 28ish.
-Brett
-Brett
on chinese carbon 30mm ID rims with 2.35s. I like them, they work fine. Not sure I get the whole wider is better thing, when I drop my pressure and start cornering really hard, even with these tires/rims, the handling gets squirrely, so I end up pumping them back up. I plan on trying some burlier sidewall tires next time.
DH bike is stans flows, which are 25.5 I guess. Same deal, the conti tires can't cope with low pressures so I run them higher than I would like. No rolling though!
DH bike is stans flows, which are 25.5 I guess. Same deal, the conti tires can't cope with low pressures so I run them higher than I would like. No rolling though!
how much do you weigh?
180lbs.
Granted, for the race i ran ~22/28 just in case. But it is keystone. BTW i got 5th in master's men 40+ with some luck due to others bad luck - flats, crashes.
Check out the reviews. One review actually rode with schwalbe dudes. I think they ran 12/18!
Granted, for the race i ran ~22/28 just in case. But it is keystone. BTW i got 5th in master's men 40+ with some luck due to others bad luck - flats, crashes.
Check out the reviews. One review actually rode with schwalbe dudes. I think they ran 12/18!
I'd rather just run dh tires. Sidewall support matters.
Well if you're running skinny rims, i can see tires rolling over being more of an issue at such psi. But I've really not felt that until getting up to mach plaid racing. But upping psi fixed that.
But yeah just rolling with dh meats is the simplest answer.
But yeah just rolling with dh meats is the simplest answer.
have you tried 2.5 tires on the 30mm id rims? I think they would get along better with them than the 2.35's. What width Conti's are you running on the Stans?
i just don't get the whole ultra low air pressure trend. i'm about 210-215 lbs geared up, and i can't run anything lower than 30 psi without it feeling squirrely as fuck, plus the hit to rolling resistance. trail or DH, even with wider rims (granted not the super wide modern nonsense) and DH casings, the lowest i could get was maybe 27-28.
I run 19m and 23mm Crossmax rims. 21/28. Never burped a tyre, Will get flat once tyre starts getting worn down.
Steve Peat won 6-7 World Cups on 21mm Mavics.....picked them over the 29s........
Steve Peat won 6-7 World Cups on 21mm Mavics.....picked them over the 29s........
20psi in a 3.0 tire feels a lot more like 30psi in a 2.3 tire.
But 20psi in 'normal' sized tires........yeah that just sucks and is a good way to be a regular at the rim store.
wait....what... i didn't know we were talking about plus bikes, just normal bikes. can i get a do over?
That's most of the talk of sub 25 psi.....bigger tires. My assumption, not yours.
With procore, maybe not so much. But I have a hard time taking that setup seriously. I'd rather stop and fix things than ride with 18psi in a normal sized tire.
With procore, maybe not so much. But I have a hard time taking that setup seriously. I'd rather stop and fix things than ride with 18psi in a normal sized tire.
Totally true. Cat3/expert XC racers push their equipment harder than the majority of AM/DH riders. It's amazing what abuse bikes will take, you get a much better appreciation for it at Mach 3 down a rough trail on a hardtail. You also see how little difference many gear/bike choices make on your time/speed.