I have an older set of DT Swiss 1100’s 62mm deep (pictured below) I’m thinking running on my gravel bike as a 2nd set. I have two sets of road wheels that roll and corner better than these so, this is just for fun. The front internal rim width is 17mm while the rear is 20mm. Two questions:
Can I safely run a 40mm tire with those internal rim widths?
I ride in AZ so it can get pretty chunky. Will rims this tall fail easier than say my 25mm Nox hoops if I bottom out?
Have you checked for any specs limits from DT Swiss and the tire maker? Either may list a basic guide on sizing for tire to rim and such.
Personally, I’d avoid 40mm on a 17mm internal as I think the “light bulb effect” would be noticeable and may lead to odd performance in side loading and off-center impacts.
Agree with the consensus re: 17mm being too narrow for gravel tires. It’ll work, but they’ll lack support.
Re: danger of deep wheels. I don’t think they’re more susceptible to bottom-out damage, but that’s a lot of rim sidewall exposed to rocks and riders. Have you seen how thin-walled deep rims are?
FYI, they’ll also ride pretty stiff.
Big fan of aero wheels for gravel (I use AR4.5s) , but those seem too deep and too narrow.
Normal setup is a Nox 25mm carbon hoop with 40mm Conti Terra Speeds at the moment.
I don’t need another set. I just can’t sell these for much money and they don’t perform as well as my other road wheels so I’m just messnig around with them. Maybe they’d be good for a BWR type event with a 32-ish.
Yep for sure. That was in my head…the walls are just paper thin and more prone to damage from loose rocks etc…Agree and the stiffness. It might really suck if too chunky.
Lets not forget that it was only about ten years ago that even most mountain bike rims were 21mm or less… Stans had the 21mm ZTR Crest, and Velocity had the Blunt 30mm, which were both considered pretty wild… 18mm or 19mm internal wasn’t at all out of the norm, even on high end wheel sets back then. There is nothing inherently dangerous about running a fat tire on a narrow rim, but you’re certainly not gaining any performance, especially aerodynamically on 62mm deep wheels.
I have an old set of FLO45s hangin out since I got new road wheels and had a similar thought to make them fast gravel wheels. 17mm internals (16 something measured) as I planned to put 35mm tires on them. Got in touch with FLO and got their blessing for the combination. Had one semi-mounted and didn’t look too ridiculous. Back burnered the project when I was thwarted by the tires I planned on using being old and sealant crusted and not wanting to seat properly plus needing yet another roll of tubeless tape to match the super narrow inner width.
Moderate story shorter a similar spec from another manufacturer said sure fine on the combo so maybe someday.
I get your point, but since I have direct experience with a Stan’s 17mm IW wheel running a 38mm Bontrager LT2 (IIRC) tire, I can say that it was NOT an ideal combo for my needs at least. There was a huge change in overall feel compared to similar grip 33mm CX0 & CX3 tires I ran with those wheels. There was noticeable wobble and instability in the largest tires from that shape issue.
Those combos aren’t “dangerous” and I never made that claim or even implication. I specifically mentioned “odd performance” and I stand by that from my experience above. He asked for our thoughts and I gave mine.
I wasn’t targeting you by any means, just making a statement(of my thoughts). I’d bet in 2014 we were all riding our 2.25" mtb’s on 17mm wheels, with tubes, at 40psi. We didn’t know any better, and there weren’t other options… That was my point.
OK, but it sure looks that way when you quote me directly, then respond in a way that seems very connected (to my reading at least).
That is likely true, but that didn’t make it a good thing either. I would never choose a setup like that with what I know today. We know far better ways to mix and match sizes, pressures and use cases.
No doubt it’s tight but, that looks tighter than reality. The top of the fork is tighter. Anyhoo, I’m not serious about riding 38’s on this. Just thought I’d see as long as I was messing around with the other bike. Ii think 35’s (depending on the tire) might be ridable. For sure 32’s which IIRC Trek says 28’s are the max…
Hmmmm…
