I had some Schwalbe G-One laying around, i put them on Mavic Rims with 15mm inner width. The tires are 35-622 (front) and 40-622 (rear). Schwalbe docu says that is out of spec. However, it does not appear to far off to me, judging by the looks. Have you ever stretched the limits like that, and is that rideable?
by Independent-Meat-616
12 Comments
I almost always say just send it, but… I’m very unsure about this. 😬
I hate to be all “in my day”, but tire combinations like this were the norm no more than ~15 years ago and it was never a problem. I rode literally thousands of miles on Open Pros with the widest possible tires you could find which would fit in a Surly Cross Check, and so did everyone I knew and rode with back then, and it was never an issue.
I think you’ll be fine.
It’s quite [far out of spec](https://www.schwalbe.com/media/f5/9b/3e/1716878352/Reifen_Felgenkombination_ETRTO_EN_(2).pdf), like the max tyre width for 15 mm rims according to Schwalbe is 27 mm. But it would take a 17 mm rim to make it into spec. Eh I’m not sure I’d feel safe. Especially the failure condition, a tyre popping of the rim, can be catastrophic.
This is OK.
You’ll be fine. Don’t overthink it. I’ve been riding 38s on 15mm rims for years and years
Half of r/xbiking run 2.3s on narrow old school MTB rims (myself included 😅). I’ve never had an issue
Had a chat with DT Swiss about this. They told me it’s more of a problem the other way round: When the inner width is very wide and you are fitting small tires. I‘m riding 42-622 on 18mm inner width and DT Swiss said its fine up to 50-622.
This is my go-to when choosing new wheels
https://www.wtb.com/pages/tire-rim-fit-chart
I ride 2.25“ tires on my 90s mtb with 17mm outer width rims. You‘ll be fine.
Echoing a lot of other comments…. Before wide rims and tubeless became the norm and you could buy a “gravel bike” off a sales floor, this was normal.
I put thousands of miles on 40c Nanos and 43c Rock n Roads on wheels that had 13-17mm rim widths.
I descended Titus Canyon in Death Valley on nano 2.1s mounted on skinny rims and ran a set of Panaracer fire crosses in 45c on a set of Mavic Ksyrium SLs, which if I remember right were only 15mm internal width.
Is it perfect? No, Modern wheels give far better options and tire profiles but not everyone has the funds/want/need to go buy new wheels.
Also- take a look at old 26″ MTB wheel/tire combos and you’ll realize you aren’t even pushing it.
One day I won’t have to point out that in the late 80’s & early 90’s it wasn’t unusual to see people running MTB’s with 2.2″ tyres on rims with an external measurement of 16mm.
Not this day however
I have CXP Elites with 38mm Gravelking tires and they haven’t let me down yet!