Tyre width vs Rim width

Mitch243

Likes Bikes and Dirt
Whats the deal? Can I put my 2.5" tyres on my mates narrow XC/AM rims? Can I put 2.2/2.35" tyres on my 29mm wide DH rims?

What affect does this have on how the rim gets dented/likelyhood of the tyre rolling off?
 

0psi

Eats Squid
No and yes. Wide tyres on narrow rims don't work too well because they'll roll around on the rim (for lack of a better description). Think of it this way, if you held an inflated balloon by the tied bit you'd be able to move it around quite a bit while your hand stays still, this is narrow rim/wide tyre senario (fingers close together=narrow rim). Now if you grabbed the same balloon with your hand palming the balloon (with your fingers far apart=wide rim) you'll find that the balloon won't move too much without your hand moving. There is a little more to it, like sidewall stiffness, but that's the basic way to look at it.

So you can see how this will affect things like control and the likely hood of rolling a tyre off a rim. As for dings, it's mainly down to tyre construction (single ply, dual ply, etc.), tyre pressure and material used in rims.
 
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Mitch243

Likes Bikes and Dirt
Mm that covers one situation, but what about narrow tyres for the rim width?

Would that make the rim more prone to denting on rocks? Going by what you just said it would make it less prone to rolling off the rim right?

Thanks for your quick response.
 

PirateKing

Likes Dirt
I occasionally run a 2.1 Crossmark on the back of my downhill bike with wide rims. It's no trouble, and stays on fine, and yes your more likely to dent your rim but thats from having light singleply tyres, not a side effect of the skinny tire.
 

fleebag

Likes Bikes
Whats the deal? Can I put my 2.5" tyres on my mates narrow XC/AM rims? Can I put 2.2/2.35" tyres on my 29mm wide DH rims?

What affect does this have on how the rim gets dented/likelyhood of the tyre rolling off?
What width are your mates rims?

There is so little diff between 2.5 and 2.35 it would make no difference.
If you use a DH wheel for XC you will just have a really heavy wheel....

Many people use XC wheels with 1.5 or even 1.25 slicks for the road.
 

0psi

Eats Squid
Narrow tyres on wider rims aren't too much of a problem, within reason. Ie: you wouldn't really want to b putting a 1" slick on a 40mm wide DH rim but a 2.35" will be fine on a 29mm wide rim, infact I used to run a 2.35 on the rear of my DH bike and I know quite a few other that do as well. Even the roadies are moving to wider rims these days.

As for the dings, it's mainly sidewall support, tire pressure and rim construction. A single ply tire will be more likely to ding a sidewall than a dual ply because the sidewall can deform more easily. Rims also make a diference, DT swiss deliberately made their DH race rim quite soft so that it would ding quite easily lessening the chance of getting a pinch flat.
 

Mitch243

Likes Bikes and Dirt
What width are your mates rims?

There is so little diff between 2.5 and 2.35 it would make no difference.
If you use a DH wheel for XC you will just have a really heavy wheel....

Many people use XC wheels with 1.5 or even 1.25 slicks for the road.
Pretty sure they are DT Swiss E540s. And there is a pretty decent change in the 'bag' size between 2.5 and 2.35, which is why we were hesitant at installing them the other day. Using road slicks is a bit different.

@Pirate King I meant denting from a sideward hit, not flatting. Is that the same thing with dual ply walls? All tyres that we're mucking around with are dual ply.
 

Mitch243

Likes Bikes and Dirt
Aah thanks Opsi, thats what I wanted to hear. Sorts everything. You posted after I started typign that last lot.

Thanks
 

Shredden

Knows his goats
I run 2.5 minions front and back on Syncros DS28's.

I've never rolled a tyre off, but my rim does have some gnarly dints, although that could be because it is an XC rim after all.
 
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