I went from 35mm to 30mm on 2.6 Minions to improve tyre profile. YMMV.

I like how the highly objective test(er) couldn’t even manage to take in focus pics of the tyre profiles – the leaves are nicely sharp though:

I have a set of Trailside on my agro hardtail and Endurowide on my Enduro bike. Both bikes I run 2.6 tires Schwalbe Hansdampf and magic Mary. I have had zero issues with rim strength on either bike. They have been cased on a few occasions. The trailwide are defiantly more spritely than The Endurowide, but I do have more confidence on the wider rim when it comes to corner grip. The sidewall seems to get better support. I am now in a dilemma – I am moving to a 29er and need to swap out the Stans S1 wheel set that the bike comes with. Really not sure if the Trailwide will be up to the task.

Just gone down from 30mm to 26mm with tyres down from 2.6 to 2.3 in 29″. And it feels better for it, way more surface feel and darty. Nearly half a kilo lost too, which isn’t going to hurt climbing. I’ve kept the old wheels and tyres so will be interesting to swap back after a while and see how they feel going the other way.

I can’t be asred to read the whole tread tonight, but I have a 2.5 & 2.4 WT Maxxis tyres on 35 MM ID rims & they look & feel a hell of a lot different to old fat albert 2.35 on mavic D321’s, the modern one are almost twice the size.

That Pinkbike article is junk. If they tried different tyres running at different pressures on a different trail, the results might look quite different.

If you’re lacking sidewall support with a 2.5 on a 30mm rim either stick a heavier casing tyre on there or a set of cushcores. The latter are fantastic if you ride terrain where you can happily run an exo or equiv sidewall without much risk of tearing it.

Why do people compare tyre profiles I thun air? By the time it’s at the contact patch, things will be a lot different looking.

I’m not a fan of big balloon tyres and wide rims, much prefer a middle of the road rim width and tyre with proper sidewalls. I never had a eureka moment with wide rims, still had to run it hard enough it was pingy to avoid squirm with trail casings.

When journos go on about