I know that a 40mm internal (45mm external) rims are usually the preserve of plus bike tyres. But anybody tried running a normal tyre such as a 2.3 High Roller or Hans Dampf on a rim that wide? I’ve seen loads of posts about 35mm etc wide but non on a true 40mm internal

Does it work? Any better with the wider profile?

Well it is still a good bit narrower than the tyre so should be fine (2.3 tyre is almost 60mm)

Would it mess with the tred design/ patttern though, as you’d be riding more on the shoulder tred when going straight, and if leaning over, you might not have much tread to use before your riding on the side wall?

I ran a 2.3 bontrager on my 47mm Northpaw rim with no problems

Following thread with interest.

@mattyfez definitely hoping it messes with the profile and squares it up. Not expecting trailblazers on my cooker to be up to much in winter. Have a set of 2.4 Conti MK2’s that should fare much better, and if they get squared up the side knobs will be much more useful than half way down the sidewall like on a regular sized rim.

I am running MK2 2.4s on a 30 internal width rim and the rims still look like they would be better if wider.

I’ve got some SS 41mm external/36mm internal 26+ rims with 2.35″ DHFs on my HT and they’re awesome and I have 2.35 High Rollers on my FS (26″) on Sun Singletrack (30mm internal?) rims which are pretty good too.

All sounding quite positive…..

Run normal sized tyres on a 50mm Rabbit Hole all the time and it’s great as long as you choose the tyre well. Square profile tyres don’t work well as they flatten out too much, stick to rounder profiles. 2.4 ardent is fantastic in summer, comes up huge but still rolls well. 2.35 Magic Mary is my winter choice. Only other thing to remember is the sidewalls will be a bit more exposed, so go for exo/snakeskin versions.

2.35 nobby nic on 45mm dually made the tread very square and the side walls would be vulnerable on rocky terrain as they bulge a bit but it’s all loam and roots around here so it was fine

I think IBIS had their wide rims out way before plus sized tyres existed? Never did their enduro race teams much harm…?

Just tried a 2.3 Exo Minion DHF on a DT 40mm internal and it’s a beast!! Quite a flat box profile but the tyre looks much bigger and the side knobs far more aggressive. The side walls do bulge out slightly wider than the tread which looks like sidewall may rub more on rocks etc but it’s no wear near as much bulge as in a dedicated plus tyre.

Will certainly give it a go.

Ran some 2.4 Ralphs on 45mmID rims and it felt a bit odd, like you had no ‘spring’ in the tyre. It gripped fine and smoothed out little bumps but it felt as though the tyre was a lot smaller than it was in terms of comfort, like the ‘spring’ in the tyre was due to the square profile vs the normal bulb. A normal rim would push into the tyre when you hit a bump, and the sidewalls would already be curved, but on the wide rim with vertical tyre sidewall it just seemed harsh. I could be wrong of course as it may have just been the heavy stiff rim, but interested to see if anyone else has felt similar.

[edit] I have a fatbike (these are my summer rims for it) so know I needed to run lower pressures for wider rims.

I’m running 40mm Syntace rims with a 2.35″ supergravity HansDampf on the rear.
After 6 months’ use on rocky Lakes tech the sidewalls wept Stans fluid steadily and I’ve had to replace the tyre before the tread even looked 50% worn 😕

Syntace rims are 40mm external aren’t they?