I need some new narrow-ish rims for my Kaffenback commuter. 50% road 50% rough track/towpath commute of around 25 miles each way.

Been using Mavic A119 with Schwalbe Marathon 35mm tyres. Solid and reliable but heavy and draggy. Can’t get a full rear mudguard on with the 35s as it fouls the seat tube, and want to go back to a full guard to keep the crap off me and the front mech.

I got some 28mm Conti GP4 Seasons tyres. Nice and fast, but they are narrow and I’m getting pinch flats every ride on the 19mm rims.

So I need some narrower rims that will work with the Conti tyres. I have heard that the GP4Ss come up at 25mm. I was looking at CX rims, but they seem to be on the wider side of a road rim, so I’m concerned that I’ll still get pinch flats.

Will Open Pro/Open Sport take a bit of abuse? Is Pro worth the extra over Sport? Looks about 11 or 12 quid diffference per rim.

I’ll probably build fresh wheels and set my A119s aside for a winter 29er project. I have a brand new Hope Pro2 Evo rear hub kicking around, but its 36 hole (bought off a mate to help him out as he was skint!) so would need a suitable rear rim. I will probably use a Novatech front Hub.

Any views on the Mavic rims ability to take a bit of a bashing, and any alternatives?

Cheers.

All I’ll say is that Open Pros are tough as old boots, and it’s never worth skimping with wheels, dissembling them makes repairs an enormous headache.

Open Pro vote here, then.

And here. Not a very popular CX rim for nothing.

You can get the CD version with grey anodized, rather than silver braking surface, if that suits sir’s aesthetic preferences.

I have Open Pros on my Crox de Fer commuter, my commute has a similar makeup to yours (but is only 8 miles each way!) Do a bit of singletrack sometimes as well. They have been excellent, would really recommend them. Had 28mm Marathon Supremes on at one point and had no problems with them.

Open Pros sound like the way to go then, cheers 🙂

@NedRapier – “aesthetic preferences”! Black Kaff frame, brown forks running discs but have canti stubs still on, parts bin groupset, rack, panniers, guards, one black plastic bottle cage, one red and white GRP bottle cage, 40mm spacers under the stem…..

please explain “aesthetic preferences” 😆

Ceramic coatings will give you better wear life, but the braking will likely pants in the wet [assuming you buy harder ceramic specific pads].

On my tourere I have Ridiga Tungsten Carbide grit coated rims. 8000 mils or so on them, NO wear. Swisstop Blue pads, brakes hopeless in the wet, but can endo full-loaded bike with 1 finger in the dry.

YMMV

Forgot to mention I’m running disc brakes, so rim wear not an issue, braking surface optional 🙂

I got some 28mm Conti GP4 Seasons tyres. Nice and fast, but they are narrow and I’m getting pinch flats every ride on the 19mm rims.

What PSI are you running them at? I’ve got the same setup: 28mm 4 season on 19mm rims (Mavic CrossRide Disc 29er) and I’ve never had a puncture or pinch flat (touch wood). I run mine at 95psi.

I got some 28mm Conti GP4 Seasons tyres. Nice and fast, but they are narrow and I’m getting pinch flats every ride on the 19mm rims.

GrahamS beat me to it.

Another vote for open pro’s, built well with 32 spokes they are astonishingly tough for the weight. For a traditional build with 23-28c tyres there really isn’t a better choice.

The only downside is if you want to run fatter (32c +) tyres.

I’m switching to 35c tyres and disc brakes on my new commuter and I’m going to give the DT Swiss TK540 disc brake touring rims a go, they’re a bit heavier but look strong, have a wider profile and no braking surface so they’ll hopefully look ace once they’re all built up.

“aethetic preferences” – in this case, silver rims may divert the eye away from the rest of the bike, but grey rims might help someone notlook at the bike at all! 😀

I have bought some of these and quite nice,
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=45996
cheap, good weight etc and dont seem to ride much different from my open pros

I’ve had 2.0 race Kings on my Open Pros. Worked nicely on SDW. One of those enduracne racing snakes on here whose name begins with t (terrahawk or trail_rat) said 2.1 SB8’s worked fine round Strathpuffer or somewhere, so that was good enough for me.

The only downside is if you want to run fatter (32c +) tyres.

I ran 35mm Sammy Slicks on mine for ages with no problems. Currently have 32mm SB8s (tubeless) and they are fine too.

Open pros are good.

Open sports are better value and good enough. I own both, used cx, road and touring.

GrahamS – Member

What PSI are you running them at? I’ve got the same setup: 28mm 4 season on 19mm rims (Mavic CrossRide Disc 29er) and I’ve never had a puncture or pinch flat (touch wood). I run mine at 95psi.

100-110 psi I’m 13 1/2 stone and panniers add 9-10kg on the back.

3 pinch flats on Tuesday, two rear one front. I knew the front was doomed when I hit a stone washed onto the cycle track and fired it into the hedge, Sure enough 100yds later….

The other two on that day were rears. One I didn’t even recall hitting anything and was on a smooth stretch of tarmac.

@NedRapier – I’ve spied some silver Open Pros at Halfords online for £32 a go 😆 Could build them with black spokes and chrome nipples. Oh, and my hubs are different brands and colours too 😉

I’m running 28mm Contis on Velocity A23s.
Never had a problem with pinch-flatting, ridden on some fairly rough roads/tracks

I’ve toured on gravel roads with Open Pros and Panaracer Pasela 28mm tyres – didn’t have any pinch flats.

@ir-bandito – this is all your fault anyway! Recommending GP4S on some other thread 😉

TBF, they haven’t suffered and wear or penetration punctures, just pinch flats.

Velocity A23 rims seem quite popular for that sort of application, and give a bit more width for wider tyres.

+1 for the Velocity rims. 23mm wide and there is the off-centre (A23oc) spoke option for the rear that increases wheel dish for strength. There is a non-machined rim option too, if you’re running discs. I’ve just had my winter bike wheels rebuilt with them, replacing Open Pros. They can be run tubeless too, so well worth a look, in my view.

Open sports on my topwath commuter here. On to my third pair of rims in five years – replaced due to rim wear from rimbraking in muddy conditions

^^^ disc brakes on commuters FTW!!

100-110 psi I’m 13 1/2 stone and panniers add 9-10kg on the back.

3 pinch flats on Tuesday, two rear one front.

Blimey! WTF are you doing to them??

I knew the front was doomed when I hit a stone washed onto the cycle track and fired it into the hedge, Sure enough 100yds later….

A stone? I’m always hitting stones. And kerbs. And even glass.

Are you sure it is pinch flats you are getting and not a spoke poking through the rim tape or something? Have you checked whether they are always in the same place?

What tubes are you running? Are they rated for 28mm tyres? If they are standard road tubes then they may be over-stretched.

I’m using the Conti 28 Tour Slim which are rated for 28 to 37mm tyres.

Just pulled them apart to re-fit my Schwalbes for now.

Deffo pinching. Slit in the tube in line with the rim.

The fact that I’ve had front and rear suggests not a rougue spoke or burr on the rim, and the rears have been in different places. But will check again as I’d ruled that out so not checked.

Tubes are a variety of brands, the last two were 25/32mm and 28/32mm. I had to limp to the Triathlon shop in Nottm to get an emergency tube to make sure I got home on Tuesday. They only had race ones at £9 each! When i had to fit it 5 miles from home it seemed the best £9 I’d ever spent. At least that is now a spare for the tri bike.

As I said, same rims with bigger tyres and no punctures in the last couple of years (except for when a sidewall ripped on an old tyre, but that was another story).

And yep, I remember distinctly hitting that stone and the resultant sinking feeling.

I do batter over stuff, fully laden, but it just seems to be this tyre/rim combo. Didn’t suffer with the previous tyres until they perished with age and split the sidewalls!

Hmmmmm……I could try some (more) different tyres I guess. Keep the GP4Ss for winter road training use.

Maybe a 28 or 32? Any suggestions?

Another happy Open Pro user. Fine from 23c up to 35c CX tyres.

And no problems with 28mm GP4Seasons either FWIW.

Open Sports here, they’re great VFM.

Wait a sec – Opens are not designed for discs, are they?

In what way? It’s the hub that has to be “designed for discs”

I’m not sure – disc braking results in differential tension in the spokes depending on the direction they “face”, doesn’t it?

Rim braking does not – sure the spokes suspend the weight, but that’s more evenly distributed between both “directions” of spoke.

ir-bandito – this is all your fault anyway! Recommending GP4S on some other thread

Sorry…

I’m not sure – disc braking results in differential tension in the spokes depending on the direction they “face”, doesn’t it?

Rim braking does not – sure the spokes suspend the weight, but that’s more evenly distributed between both “directions” of spoke

If the wheel is correctly true and tensioned, the spokes should all distribute the load, regardless of the braking system.

gofasterstripes – Member
Wait a sec – Opens are not designed for discs, are they?

I’ve never thought it matters. Seems there are one or two rims out there that simply don’t have a machined braking surface and no other difference that sets them out as disc specific.

Silly question but is it definitely the 28mm Conti 4 season you are running?

They also come in 23 and 25 which would be too narrow for your rim and might cause pinch flats.

I don’t think you’re right ir-bandito

If you slow the bike from the hub, there must be a total resultant force within the spokes equal to the force generated by the disc system. Seeing as 50% of the spokes have +ve length in the x-axis [trailing spokes], they will be under tension, the remaining 50% under compression.

Mary Hinge – no difference that you can see from the outside.

Anyway – I have work to do, and I suppose you’d be better off asking in a bike shop, maybe it’s in CYTECH somewhere?

Open Pros are great, but I don’t know if they are warrantied/safe to use with discs

Jeebus!! There are loads of folks out there running Open Pros on disc hubs. They are doing thousands of miles per year, loaded up with panniers and hitting all sorts of surfaces. I’ve been known to take mine down Glentress. Stop worrying about it. It just works!!

OK scotroutes, I know that’s true, I just don’t know if I can recommend it!

I edited my previous post, too.

Deffo pinching. Slit in the tube in line with the rim.

Mis-aligned rim tape can expose the sharp edge of the spoke holes and cause a puncture (usually after you’ve ridden for a while). It causes a slit in the tube similar to a pinch.
It took me about half a dozen flats before I realised what was going on. 😳

GrahamS – Member
Silly question but is it definitely the 28mm Conti 4 season you are running?

They also come in 23 and 25 which would be too narrow for your rim and might cause pinch flats.

Just checked, deffo 28mm. A number of roadie type sites do say they come out small though.

@ Dibbs – will pull the tyres off again and check rim tape allignment. I have just checked one of Tuesdays tubes and it does have 2 inline cuts on the inside edge, so that is in proper snakebite territory.

I run Mavic TN317 Discs on Kaff. I’ve used 28mm tyres and they’ve been fine but now using 37mm for a bit more comfort.

Mavic TN317

I quite often carry very heavy loads and they haven’t let me down yet!