I just bought this bike. I love it and it rides sweet, but the front tyre clearance is making me a little bit nervous… Changing wheels isn't much of an option. Would smaller tyres help?
by AangTheTriangle
I just bought this bike. I love it and it rides sweet, but the front tyre clearance is making me a little bit nervous… Changing wheels isn't much of an option. Would smaller tyres help?
by AangTheTriangle
7 Comments
Smaller tires would help for sure.
Ride more they’ll get smaller
Seriously though if there’s a gap and you don’t notice any rubbing when you’re riding then send it. You might have a problem with mud/leaf accumulation if you’re doing anything off-road
One nice thing about steel forks is they can survive a lot of tire rub! As others have said, it may not even be an issue depending on how aggressively you ride and how stiff the wheel is.
I’d drop few mm on the tires – ie if those are 700×38 I’d go to 35s, etc.
The top clearance is unlikely to rub, but your fork will be scraping off any junk the tire picks up. The side clearance will rub hard or even be unrideable if you develop any kind of side-side wobble in the wheel.
Grind a curved notch in the bottom of the fork. Then touch up with black Rustoleum. You won’t miss a couple mm of non structural metal.
If it spins, it wins.
I’ve run a gap that size on one of my bikes front tire for a few years, and have had no issues.