Wide aluminum rim options (ie cheaper than carbon)

[jm2e]

This ultra-wide rim crap is ridiculous. I get 23-25, but 30+? Really?

Hyperbole much? Think there's so much difference between 25mm and 30mm that it changes from heavenly to crap, just like that? Sounds a lot like every debate about every change in cycling over the last several years.

....People diggin on these 30+ mm internal rims with 2.2" XC tires, were the ones running their 29er's at 18 psi tubeless, who ride slow on smooth dirt and don't know how to lean and corner a bike.

People diggin on these new wider wheels might be just looking to try out something new. If others are trying it, and enjoying themselves, and it's time for me to buy something new, what the hell is wrong with a little curiosity. Sorry if I ride too slow for you and am not a cornering beast. Do I still get credit for being a mountain biker, or should I turn in my card?

Sounds about right. It's funny to see them talk about how great the 30+mm rims are because they can drop the pressure under 20 psi. If I did that, I wouldn't be able to ride a single rocky trail and would be bottoming out all the time on the rim. The extra sidewall cuts from the wider tire are a reality as well. Wider rim = wider sidewalls = less ability to shoot the gap....

As stated above, my first experience with wide rims was a friend of mine in Italy who's a lot better than me. He was running uber low pressure on terrain that's not stop big sharp rocks all day. We were amazed that he wasn't having all kinds of flat tires and rim damage. He was on Syntace MX35 wheels and swore by them. It was more convincing than conjecture about how your bad self would destroy something that it hasn't tried yet.

I don't understand the 1000x less gamble on the light bike carbon stuff. It's not a gamble at all as far as the shipping etc goes. You order, they come.
Is it the carbon?
Seems the rim failure is about on par with any other carbon rim.

Hyperbole on my part. I don't have the actual figures on what the Cheap Chinese Carbon Gamble is. But between inconsistencies in communication, long delivery times, unknown quality control and pure faith in any warranty claims, I'd say yes, it's definitely a bigger gamble to buy from Nextie or Lightbicycle than it would be to buy from one of the most respected German bike parts companies that now has brick and mortar support in the US now.

Sorry for the blog/rant/attack. I realize no harm, no fowl, just normal TGR posturing and self-aggrandizing, so no offense taken. Just having fun passing the few remaining hours until my collarbone surgery tomorrow. And thinking about how fun it will be to build a wheel set when I can finally move both arms but still can't lift anything heavy or go back to work. Oh Joy!

[Damian Sanders]

People diggin on these new wider wheels might be just looking to try out something new. If others are trying it, and enjoying themselves, and it's time for me to buy something new, what the hell is wrong with a little curiosity. Sorry if I ride too slow for you and am not a cornering beast. Do I still get credit for being a mountain biker, or should I turn in my card?

I spent $200 this year to go from perfectly good 19mm internal rims to 25mm internal rims.....that also happen to be lighter and tubeless ready. Hard to tell if they are stronger or stiffer. There is plenty of evidence and theory that says there is a disadvantage to putting a tire on too wide ( and too stiff) of a rim, for reasons previously discussed. Yes, there is clearly a noticeable change (improvement?) in feel with a wider rim, but it's not actually an improvement overall. Plenty of confirmation bias and internet hype going on when someone drops $1k+ on a shiny new wheelset. I've seen so many internet hype trains come and go, this is clearly one of them.

Same with 29er's, by the way.

[Lindahl]

I prefer 23mm myself. Jumping to 30 or even higher and we're talking non trivial gains in rotational weight - no hyperbole. I notice that big time in terms of acceleration. 100g is pretty obvious. These are the same dudes reaching for XT/XTR drivechains to save grams in the most useless locations.

[stuckathuntermtn]

I would imagine that at a certain point, it becomes like low pro tires on a car. Great for pavement. Dirt not so much.

[BushwackerinPA]

a 2.3 tire mounted on 19mm rim and the same tire mounted on a 30mm rim will have vastly different air volumes. Affecting both the effective spring rate of the tire and how much air needs to be run to prevent rim dings.

[juanbendedknee]

Bushwacker, Don't start making sense now! We're actually all only interested in what the pokey old folks think about the new bike trends.

/s

[SB]

65mm is my minimum these days but once in a while I break out the stumpy on those P35 rims. Yum

[Lindahl]

a 2.3 tire mounted on 19mm rim and the same tire mounted on a 30mm rim will have vastly different air volumes. Affecting both the effective spring rate of the tire and how much air needs to be run to prevent rim dings.

Doesn't make sense to me. The tire doesn't magically get taller. It only gets wider (and probably shorter?). Less psi at the same height = more chance of bottoming out? The only improvement I see is more contact patch and the whole 'stiffer sidewalls' argument. For me its not just rim dings. You squash a tire and it'll get torn apart more easily.

[BushwackerinPA]

Doesn't make sense to me. The tire doesn't magically get taller. It only gets wider (and probably shorter?). Less psi at the same height = more chance of bottoming out? The only improvement I see is more contact patch and the whole 'stiffer sidewalls' argument. For me its not just rim dings. You squash a tire and it'll get torn apart more easily.

how doesnt this make sense? A tire can not get any shorter if you measure it back to back the tire will be the same height. The height of the tire of rim is almost fix except in the most extreme examples bike tires share more with radial car tires than with bias ply. The further apart those sidewall get the more air volume it has.

I am not super wide rims myself, but would love to try them. but it hard to beat the value of Flow Ex which can be had for 50-60 dollars a piece.

[radam]

how doesnt this make sense? A tire can not get any shorter if you measure it back to back the tire will be the same height. The height of the tire of rim is almost fix except in the most extreme examples bike tires share more with radial car tires than with bias ply. The further apart those sidewall get the more air volume it has.

I am not super wide rims myself, but would love to try them. but it hard to beat the value of Flow Ex which can be had for 50-60 dollars a piece.

Tires can totally get shorter. Go ahead and take a piece of paper and bend it into a semi-circle. Now bring the ends/sides sorta close together and stand it up on a flat surface. That's a tire on a rim. Now let the sides spread way far apart. What happens to the top of the semi-circle? It gets lower.

[jono]

^^That's a good analogy for the threads that run "radially" from bead to bead, but he's talking about the ones that run circumferentially around the center of the tire: if those have a fixed length (aren't very stretchy) then the outer diameter at the largest point is essentially fixed.

Both arguments have some merit because the casing is not perfectly stiff in any direction, but BWinPA's analogy is close: grab an unmounted tire and notice how easy it is to move the beads in and out. Pretty sure that's any tire's most flexible mode.

As well as being softer with more volume, a larger contact patch supports more weight at a lower pressure. So the differences would be very slight if tires weren't so thoroughly non-linear (aka: difficult to predict intuitively).

[jm2e]

So, anybody know about wide-ish rim options out there these days? Since that's why I started this thread in the first place.

Here's what I've got:
Sub $100 & 25mm inner width: Stan's Flow, WTB Frequency i25, WTB KOM i25, Spank Oozy Trail 295, DT Swiss EX471, Pacenti DL31

Sub $100 & 30mm inner width: Velocity Blunt35

Sub $200 & 30mm: Syntace XM35W

[jono]

American Classic 101's?

[Eluder]

no experience but the velocity BLUNT SS is wide and light ..... which probably means it won't hold up but thats the whole thing about wide rims.... heavy, weak, or expensive.

[Damian Sanders]

So, anybody know about wide-ish rim options out there these days? Since that's why I started this thread in the first place.

Here's what I've got:
Sub $100 & 25mm inner width: Stan's Flow, WTB Frequency i25, WTB KOM i25, Spank Oozy Trail 295, DT Swiss EX471, Pacenti DL31

Sub $100 & 30mm inner width: Velocity Blunt35

Sub $200 & 30mm: Syntace XM35W

You still haven't stated your weight, bike, riding style and what you're looking for in a wheelset. I looked at all of those extensively earlier this year, they are different enough that some are a better choice depending on what you want.

[jm2e]

Sorry, I didn't realize I still needed to give my measurements so that you guys could size me up. I'm 170lbs and ride technical trail. Either it's got roots or rocks or both. I'm either going relatively slow, or relatively fast, but never quite pinning it at any kind of race pace. I do loads of 6"-2' jumps and the occasional 3-4 ' drop, but recently did something closer to 6' to not quite flat on my Chili by accident at a DH park. And stomped it. But then there's the most recent jump I didn't stick so well and ended up with a broken collarbone and a concussion, but the wheels held up fine! I do less and less flowy XC type trail as time goes by, so I'm probably about the opposite rider from Mr Damian Sanders esquire, zooming by on his uber light SB66 with KOM wheels.

I've been on a set of Sun Ringle Charger Pros for a few years, beating them into a tired pulp and it's time to start from scratch since the rims are dented to shit, the alloy nipples are seized up and stripping when I try to true it and the free hub looks like it's about to explode so between that and they're straight pull relacing them is not a great idea. If I had a decent hubset already, I'd probably go with the Syntace rims, but for the price difference, I can buy a DT Swiss 350 hubset from Germany.

The rims listed as <$100 25mm inner width are all very similar to the Charger Pro rim and it shows that this market hasn't seen any change in the last several years. While the carbon companies, which includes high end brands like Enve and NOX along with factory brands like Specialized and Ibis in addition to the Chinese nock offs, are running away with what some might call a silly gimmick but is obviously popular enough to make. Then there's Syntace, who kind of figures out how to make rad aluminum shit that's not crap and stays really light, while everyone else says it's impossible.

[Lindahl]

We also need naked photos of your girlfriend or sister to properly identify the correct rim.

[Damian Sanders]

We also need naked photos of your girlfriend or sister to properly identify the correct rim.

Wheel size would help too. And details on the bike - fork, cockpit parts, tires, drivetrain, suspension setup, and overall setup.

But I would say EX471 based on what has been said so far.

[Finstah]

WTB does indeed have some very wide aluminum rims coming that should be available soon. Definitely a 29mm internal, and a 35mm internal. The 35mm internal one is even spec'd in the 26" size on the 2016 Kona Process 167.

[jm2e]

Just read about the Ryde Trace Enduro rims from Holland. 28+mm inner width.
Not a lot of info on them. $185 for a pair shipped to US.

[kidwoo]

Whoa:

430 g (26" ISO 559, 32 hole)

https://www.syntace.com/index.cfm?pid=3&pk=3546

430g for a 30mm wide rim? I don't see those lasting too long. That's light.

[Damian Sanders]

Whoa:



https://www.syntace.com/index.cfm?pid=3&pk=3546

430g for a 30mm wide rim? I don't see those lasting too long. That's light.

That's external width. Pretty much the same specs as the WTB KOM i25, at more than twice the price.

[kidwoo]

That's external width.

duh....I missed that part


Dicks.

[shirk]

http://www.velocityusa.com/product/rims/blunt-ss-584



I've got a handful of rides on one of these as a rear rim. No real smashing time on it yet. Will see how it lasts.

It is replacing a Pacenti TL28.

http://www.pacenticycledesign.com/in...ucts/rims/tl28

The TL28 never got a fair go, it was built up with spokes a touch too long in a rush and didn't get proper tension.

[Dromond]

What miracle is going to take place if/when I surpass 25mm internal width? Will magical bicycle fairies tickle my nether regions? Will I levitate? I don't really want to run a tire bigger than 2.35, and I can run 25-28 psi all day any day running tubeless at this width. It just seems so solid and functional with being too draggy, squishy or uncompliant. Is this about maxing out the bump absorbancy on hardtails or straight line traction for soft/loose trail conditions or something?