Wheels for wide 700c tyres

[lulubel]

I've currently got a set of road wheels with 15mm wide rims which, according to Sheldon Brown, can take 22-30mm tyres. (I've alse seen wheels with the same width rims specifying 19-32mm.) This is great if I'm going for a planned ride and I know it's all on road.

But my cross frame can take tyres up to about 45mm, so I'd like a second set of wheels with wider, cross-type tyres on, that I can use for those "don't really have anything planned and might want to see what's down that dirt track" rides. I know I'll need wider rims for this, but I'm not sure what I'm looking at because most of the wheels/rims I've looked at don't state the rim width.

Can someone point me in the right direction?

 

[Erudin]

Another vote for Rigida Sputniks, accepts tyres 28-51mm, lace them to 36h LX hubs and you get a tough weatherproof wheel. I've bought a couple of wheelsets from Spa, they build a good wheel, have not needed to true them yet despite all the abuse they get.

http://www.spacycles.co.uk/



Description
Ultra strong touring and MTB rim
Double walled
Double eyeletted
Accepts tyres 28-51mm
Weight 690g (700c except 48h) 630g (26")
ERD (700c) 600mm
ERD (26") 537mm

Usage
Touring, off-road, commuting

 

[festival]

Highly recommended, Giants new own brand wheels for 2012 come with 21mm rims allowing you to run wider tyres at lower pressures with less risk of pinch flats and improved ride and handling.
The branding is small so as to not clash when using on other brand bikes.

 

[RecordAceFromNew]

But my cross frame can take tyres up to about 45mm, so I'd like a second set of wheels with wider, cross-type tyres on, that I can use for those "don't really have anything planned and might want to see what's down that dirt track" rides. I know I'll need wider rims for this, but I'm not sure what I'm looking at because most of the wheels/rims I've looked at don't state the rim width.

Regarding what rim width is required for wide tyres, I think it is generally accepted that Sheldon's table is a bit out-of-date, and imho the tables here are far more representative of what is used out there for tyres up to 2.5" wide. Depending on which tyres you have in mind you probably find that you don't need much wider rims.

Iirc you are a light rider, so if I were you I also wouldn't necessarily go for heavy, stout rims - imho as long as components aren't rubbish a wheel's strength / durability is largely driven by how well it has been built. Looking at it from a different angle, Mavic's Crossmax, which come in both 26" and 700c, are amongst the most popular wheels for bashing around in all sorts of offroad condition by burly blokes. Those wheels don't weigh much more than a pair of Sputnik rims.

Looking at Mavic's rim line up e.g., I might try their new A119 if I want to run really wide tyres on inexpensive 700c wheels. Compared with the Sputnik that would save 300g of rotational mass at no cost. You could obviously do better if you are happy to spend more.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

29-er mtb wheels/rims?

 

[RecordAceFromNew]

29-er mtb wheels/rims?

Valid logic but for factory wheels (else it would again be a rim consideration issue) since nearly all quality 29-er mtb wheels (and alas also 26" mtb wheels) are disc only nowadays they can only be used if the OP has (hitherto uncommon) cross frame / forks with disc mounts.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

Valid logic but for factory wheels (else it would again be a rim consideration issue) since nearly all quality 29-er mtb wheels (and alas also 26" mtb wheels) are disc only nowadays they can only be used if the OP has (hitherto uncommon) cross frame / forks with disc mounts.

Good call RAFM.

I'd point out my fixed has 29-er rims

 

[lulubel]

Regarding what rim width is required for wide tyres, I think it is generally accepted that Sheldon's table is a bit out-of-date, and imho the tables here are far more representative of what is used out there for tyres up to 2.5" wide. Depending on which tyres you have in mind you probably find that you don't need much wider rims.

That chart's interesting. What's really interesting about it is the huge step up from 15c rims taking up to 32mm tyres and 17c rims taking up to 50mm tyres. That seems like a huge step up for such a small increase in rim width, and I'm obviously wondering why that 2mm makes such a difference, when the other rim width increases aren't associated with such a huge increase in tyre width. It suggests to me that 32mm tyres is very conservative for 15c rims, or 50mm tyres is a bit didgy for 17c rims. (If I could get 35mm tyres on 15c rims, they'd do what I need them to do, and - lazy as I am - I wouldn't have to adjust the brakes when I swapped wheels.)

Iirc you are a light rider, so if I were you I also wouldn't necessarily go for heavy, stout rims - imho as long as components aren't rubbish a wheel's strength / durability is largely driven by how well it has been built. Looking at it from a different angle, Mavic's Crossmax, which come in both 26" and 700c, are amongst the most popular wheels for bashing around in all sorts of offroad condition by burly blokes. Those wheels don't weigh much more than a pair of Sputnik rims.

I did wonder about the price of the Sputnik rims. My road rims were around £50 each (although I got them with about 50% off), so my immediate thought was that I'd expect to spend more than that. I'm not going to be hammering it down dirt tracks, so I don't need fantastically tough wheels for what I've got in mind. It's really just a case of being able to use the "road" bike to have a look at potential off-road rides and see if it's worth coming back with the MTB to explore further.