Here's the deal... I do a bit of road riding with some mates and use my old rigid Rockhopper which is currently running on Conti GP 26x1" slicks. Being very thin these need a lot of pressure and are rated up to 120psi. I run them at over 100psi mounted on Mavic X618 rims (the old jey-core double-eyeletted ones). There's a sticker on the rims, which I've been trying to ignore, that says max 60psi. This wasn't such a big deal when I was running 1.3" Sport Contacts at 80psi but the GPs are a different order of magnitude and a fair bit quicker, which is why I use them.
So what's the worst that could happen? Will the rim fail, and if so how?
And what are the alternatives - is there a 26" rim that'll handle higher pressures? Or will 650c roadie wheels fit and will the braking surface of the rims line up with the V-brakes?
[i]Will the rim fail, and if so how?[/i]
"possibly" and "in a way that causes maximum injury" respectively would be my view.
Rims never seem to fail gracefully when they split.
This is what troubles me... I figure that a) the double eyelets add a bit of strength to the rims, and b) that manufacturer limits are inherently conservative, however going 2x over them is quite a leap of faith.
Plenty of manufacturers make these tyres, so there must be rims for which they are suitable?
Mavic's website has [url= http://www.mavic.com/sites/default/files/download/tirepressurechart_eng.pdf ]this[/url], seems to answer the question!