https://imgur.com/a/V9F7Z9j
I’m building a 20” from the ground up, inspired by the profile of these rims.
By eliminating the braking surface, stolen did a clean sheet design for a rim I think is the most attractive. I’d love to get a true toroidal rim/tire Combo and this gets close. I bought 3 tires to investigate purely aesthetic features. I’m looking for overall look and ability to fill a frame & fork as much as possible. I don’t have any other parts yet, but I thought I’d share a bit of data. If there is a comprehensive chart somewhere, I’d love to see it. It turns out advertised sizes can be noticeably different than reality.
If you know of a tire in the 21×2.5” actual size range, please let me know. A round sidewall is a must.
Are there other round profile rims out there?
Stolen Low Pro
20×1.5” (38mm external) 1.25” internal width
Demolition Momentum
2.35” advertised
2.375 actual
20 7/8” diameter
Cult F&S
2.4” advertised
2.3” actual
20 5/8” diameter
Subrosa Matt Ray Designer
2.4” advertised
2.25” actual
20 1/2” diameter
Opinion:
Subrosa has the best (roundest) profile buts it’s noticeably smaller than the other 2
by Lavawood
5 Comments
Federal makes an “aero” or round profile rim now, it’s pretty clean. Biggest tire I’ve ever run or seen was the Cult AK tires but they’ve been discontinued. Neal, the designer for cult, told me they switched manufacturers and the new ones couldnt make the tire work, which is a bummer. I’m still holding on to a few of them for rainy days.
God damn, when I first started riding in the 1980’s 1.75″ was considered wide. Of course, we also rode with our seats higher than our handlebars – so take it all with a grain of salt.
It’s long been know there’s zero consistency on tyre sizing, hell some brands even called their tyre a particular size for the lols. Then as you’ve pointed out different rim widths can play a part as well. There’s been quite a few who’ve had aero profiled rims over the years, effectively a semi circle profile with no side wall for a braking surface, animal steam roller, odyssey lighthouse, cult aero, vocal aero as mentioned federal xl and more, hell even back in the 90’s araya had an aero rim, so it’s a shape that’s been used a fair bit in and off.
I’m so glad I asked, thank you!
While I’m at it…
Ideally , I’d like this round profile with polished eyelets.
Vanta black rim with polished eyelets. Carbon if necessary. 29” all the better.
The Cult Vans tires are actually bigger than 2.4, my buddy measured his and they were like 2.45, idk the diameter. But they just barely fit his frame which I believe is meant to fit 2.5’s