Is 30mm wide enough for plus tyres?

Considering some budget wheels to try B-plus.

Is 30mm internal rim width sufficient for 2.8in tyres? I’m finding conflicting opinions online (yes really!), so it’d be good to hear from some friendly STWers.

Define ‘sufficent’…

They will definitely work – see the long thread on b+ conversion I started. Mine were only 25mm and worked with 3.0 tyres.

I’m now on 35mm internal rims and they seem a good balance between weight and width.

Define ‘sufficent’…

Will they end up too tall and fold over alarmingly when I’m cornering?

It’d be for a long travel enduro bike.

Hard to say for sure. The narrower the rim, the more pressure you’ll need to prevent that and for an enduro bike that might not be ideal. I’d suggest trying some out to get a feel for it…

BTW http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/650b-and-other-plus-sizes-if-you-like-rim-tyre-frame-fork-combinations

It’ll be fine, there are far too many MTBers riding around with much too wide rims and squared off tyres as a result.
Maxxis etc design their 2.35-2.5 tyres for 17-25mm wide rims I believe.

This is currently very fashion led, if you’re going to ride wide rims then use suitably wide tyres to get a decent profile….not 2.35 tyres on a 35mm rim.

Rant over.

I did the same as you Stace, decided to go in cheap to try it. Bought a pair of i35 rims, and cheap Novatec D882 hubs, lbs built them for 60 quid all in, including spokes.

Used them in my Spectral 29 for maybe 5 months, didn’t think they were ‘all that’ and sold them for 100 quid less than I paid for them and the tyres (2.8 NN’s)

Glad I tried it, but like the fat bike before them, not really for me.

It’ll be fine, there are far too many MTBers riding around with much too wide rims and squared off tyres as a result.

On the other side of the coin, there’s also far too many MTB tyres with a useless profile that needs squaring off for the vast majority of riders to actually make use of the edge knobs that sit half way down the sidewall on a narrower rim.

Opinion* suggests 35mm rims work well for tyres up to 2.8. I think the Maxxis WT are designed for that kind of width as well. I’d agree that too wide a rim and a standard 2.3 tyre just squares them off. I want my tyres to be round!

I’n sure you’d be fine with 30mm. If it’s squirmy stick a bit more air in there. Only potential issue is chubbies are very sensitive to even a few PSI compared to non plus tyres.

Anyway do it. Everyone should try a chubby 🙂

* from Steve at Next Day Tyres, IBIS based on the MOJO 3 design and some random oiks from the Internet.

35mm works well for 3.0″ too IME.

The Bird site has some thoughts on this

Big, Big or Biggerer? New wheel options available now.

I’ve had a go on 2.8in tyres on 35mm rims, which felt good. WTB Ranger tyres I think, which is probably what I’d buy.

I could see myself using them a reasonable amount in drier months.

30mm rims are significantly cheaper and a touch lighter, but if it’s the equivalent of running 2.5in tyres on 20mm rims then I won’t bother.

I read that Bird blog earlier actually, it’s about the new wide trail kinda tyres rather than plus.

My Krampus has 3″ tyres on 45mm (internal) rims.
My Codeine has 2.8″ tyres presently also on 45mm rims but I’m about to switch to 30mm (internal). I wanted something a bit narrower to knock off a bit of weight so was looking at 35mm ideally, but got a good price on a pair of Halo Vapours. I’ll probably keep the Alpkit wheels as spares though as I’ve no actual problem with them other than weight.
I should get the tyre switched over at the weekend once I get some new valves. I’ll check on comparative measurements.

Please come back and report when you’ve ridden them. And make sure you give it some welly into the corners.

😉

Were they from a shop? Any left in stock?

Will do.
Bought from these here classifieds I’m afraid. Seem like nice wheels, even if the bearings may not be as good as I’d hoped…

I would say no. 35+ is what you want, and probably 40 is optimum. The 30mm will make them come up both small height-wise, as well as (more) prone to pinching and flats in my experience.

I have 38mm internal and they work fine with 3″ tyres so I Would say 30 would be ok for 2.8″ might not be ideal but might also help with clearnace on a not properly plus frame

Ok, I was leaning towards wider rims and that’s sealed it for me.

Think I’ll get the Hope 35w wheels, lbs has them at a great price.

Bit of feedback for you.
2.8″ NN on a 45mm (internal) Alpkit rim gives carcass width of 71mm, 72mm across widest part of knobs.
Same tyre on 30mm (internal) Halo Vapour gives carcass width of 67mm, 70mm across knobs.
Eyeballing the two wheels, the narrower rim gives a much rounder profile, and appears to be 1 or 2 mm taller.

If it wasn’t for the bargain of the 30mm rims, I’d probably have swayed towards 35mm, but I’ll certainly give it a go. Slightly narrower tyre width is a bit of an advantage to give me more clearance in my non-boost 29er frameset. 30mm is probably bob on for a 2.6″ WT tyre.

2.8 Nobby Nics. 30mm (internal) rim on left, 45mm on right.

I’m running a 3.0 Purgatory/3.0 Ground Control combo on 30mm internal rims, I’m 14 stone running tubeless 17psi front, 18psi rear on a Stumpjumper Expert 6fatty, tyre profile is nicely rounded, with no noticeable carcass roll and no burping. Its not a very aggressive tyre anyway, but it still digs in on a corner as long as you are not in real slop!

Running a 3.0 Purgatory front on a 27mm rim here, as a bit of an experiment really – measures up a bit slim at 2.8 but otherwise turns well and softens up the front end of my rigid 650b a bit.

And I forgot to say, saved 300g with the single wheel change, so happy with that.

ir_bandito – sorry if i missed it elsewhere in the thread, but are you/were you running different pressures on the 30mm and the 45mm and was there a difference in performance.
Is there more to it than just size of the tyre?

2.8 on an i29 seems fine to me.

but are you/were you running different pressures on the 30mm and the 45mm and was there a difference in performance.

No idea on pressure, its about [squeeze finger and thumb] “this much”
I do expect the narrower rims to need a bit more though.
Only fitted to the narrower front rim last night, so untested. Hopefully will do over the weekend.
Haven’t done the rear wheel yet as it nds new bearings, so leaving the Alpkit wheel on for the time being.

FWIW I’ve a pair of 29mm internals and run 2.3 tyres with 20psi on my 29er.

Feels a nice compromise, so I’d have thought you need considerably wider with a 2.88 and equivalent low pressures.

I’ve just put a 2.8 Maxxis Rekon on a 29mm internal rim* on the front of my bike. Comes up just over 2.6″ but I don’t think the Rekon is a true 2.8 anyway.

First ride at 16psi and it was fine, needs a better test this weekend

*I wanted to be able to fit a normal tyre if required

After the ‘Horror of Penyard’ night ride this week I ditched the chubbies off my Mojo 3 and fitted Maxxis WideTrails on the same 35mm rims. 2.5 DHF front/2.4 DHRII rear. Meaured at 2.45/2.35 edge to edge. Around 10% heavier than non WT versions.

Shades of Red by Alex Leigh[/url], on Flickr

Shades of Red by Alex Leigh[/url], on Flickr

One ride so far and I was very glad of the extra clearance at the rear. They feel like my standard DHF/DHR combo. Hard to know if they are any ‘cush’ier or grippier as I’m still getting used to the bike. Started running them at 22psi, let some out of the front. Run the chubbies at 16.

I see Maxxis have now brought out a 2.6 which has 7% more volume than a 2.5 apparently. What a time to be alive 😉

I’ve had a 2.75 dirt wizard on a Crest. it came up barely any bigger than a 2.4 x king (2.37 v 2.35 on the calipers) on a gugo (50mm internal) it came up true to size) So you might need 40/45??mm rims for the 2.8 to come up at 2.8?

Slight hijack: I’m thinking about the other end of the scale. I’ve just ordered some 27mm internal Easton Arcs for quite cheap on CRC. For 2′ tyres on the gravel bike. Currently using stans 340, which aren’t ideal.

If I wanted to run something like a 40c nano, or a 38c marathon, on the Arcs how would that work out?

Are people managing to run 2.5/2.6 tyres on regular frames and forks?

Or are we talking boost, and 27.5 in 29er frames etc?

Normal frames and forks, mostly, I think. Depends on what you’ve got and how much clearance you like to have.