New Tires Jumbo Jim 4.40 + Surly Wednesday (they fit, kinda)

So I installed a new pair of Jumbo Jims 4.40 on my Wednesday and they fit**** Well kinda.

As you can see in the second picture I only had about 3,5mm clearance with the seat tube. Which is not enough, these tires will stretch a little bit overtime. They already stretched from 103mm to to 104,5mm width in the first 48 hours. Initial clearance with seat tube was 4-5mm, but again after 48 hours it was about 3.5mm. Like I said not enough clearance, so installed some overpriced Monkey Nuts v3's. Now clearance is more then enough. The lowest gear (50t) is not usable as the chain rubs against the tire, this was actually better without the monkey nuts installed. But as the tires moves further backwards the chain comes closer. Additionally the front chainring is 3mm offset instead of 6mm. This again helps with clearance. This did change the chainline, however I believe this is a NON issue, as the the lowest on the cassette is not usable anyway. So the "chainline" on the casette also moves outwards by about 5mm (1 cog on the rear is 5,15mm according to my research(sram)).

I had done my research before hand, so I knew what I was getting into. I personally don't need a 50t on the rear anyway, so eliminating that lowest gear is also a non-issue for me. I do wish Surly had made some 6mm monkey nuts, giving me 9mm of clearance on the seattube is more then enough (unless the tire stretches a lot more in the future). With a 6mm monkey nut, the chainstay would stay shorter, thus less impact on the handling. However, after my initial ride, I can't say the 12,5mm increase had negatively impacted the ride.

VS Surly Nate's

I was using a Surly Nate's 3.8, I measured the height of the rear wheels before changing and the JJ 4.4's are about 1.5cm higher then the Nate's. 73,5cm vs 75cm. I measured the top of the tire, without the knobs on both tires. My Nate's measured at 103mm width and the JJ 4.4 at 104.5mm. Nate's are 4 years old and thus stretched. I do expect the JJ 4.4 to stretch a little more.

TL;DR

JJ 4.4 fits, with Surly Monkey Nuts V3, 3mm offset chainring instead of 6mm. Lowest Gear (50T), not usable due to chain rubbing on tire.

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