Rim width for gravel / touring bike

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thprice
Posts: 252
Joined: Sun Jul 17, 2011 6:34 am

by thprice

Hi,
I am looking to build a gravel / touring bike. The wheels will have discs, clincher tyres, expected tyre width 32mm - 35mm.
The range of rim widths is large and confusing.
A few years ago it is understood OPs were the benchmark, now rim widths vary from 20mm to 27mm.
Looking for advise as to what the best rim width is?
What impact does hook v's hookless have on normal clincher tyres?
Examples:
- 23mm e.g. Velocity A23 or Pacenti SL23
- 24mm e.g. Stan's ZTR Grail
- 25mm e.g. Pacenti CL25
- 26mm e.g. BikeHubStore TL450
thanks

Marin
Posts: 4035
Joined: Wed Jan 22, 2014 11:48 am
Location: Vienna Austria

by Marin

My 23mm wide Velocity A23 work fine with 27mm Open Pavés, 42mm Marathon Racers and 40mm Conti CX tires. Tubeless too.

by Weenie


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Stolichnaya
Posts: 2621
Joined: Wed Oct 06, 2004 6:55 pm
Location: Vienna, AUT

by Stolichnaya

The Velocity's work fine, but the Pacenti might be a wonderful step up.
You should check the Fairwheel Bikes rim round up comments.

jimborello
Posts: 283
Joined: Sun May 31, 2009 5:07 am

by jimborello

For what I understand, hookless rims are cheaper to manufacture and work very well for lower pressures like what you would find on mtb bikes running tubeless. Im not sure if it is a good idea to go hookless on a gravel grinder where you will be running pressures around 60 psi or higher. That being said I recently mounted 35mm Conti Cyclocross tires on my Enve XC rims (24mm external width, 19mm internal), inflated to 60 PSI and they are awesome. I normally use 29mm rims on my mtb for XC riding and all mountain, and I love wider rims but I did this setup for a race where most of the time we had fireroads and there wasnt anything technical so thats why I think narrower rims like the Enves are fine for gravel grinding.

Gavin929
Posts: 72
Joined: Sun Nov 27, 2011 4:50 am

by Gavin929

i really like the hed belgium plus rims. they make my 33c tires measure out to a nice plump 35c.

User avatar
F45
Posts: 1077
Joined: Wed Jun 08, 2011 6:08 am

by F45

I love these threads were the original poster never shows up again.

WTB Chriscross, 23mm wide, little channels for the rim bead to sit in to facilitate tubeless. Reasonably priced.

Their tubeless tires are nice, too.

r3awak3n
Posts: 68
Joined: Wed Feb 11, 2015 11:44 pm

by r3awak3n

I have velocity on my gravel bike but next rims for that bike will definitely be pacentis

pushstart
Posts: 461
Joined: Sat Jun 16, 2012 3:12 am

by pushstart

Stans Grails are awesome rims. That is what I am running on my touring/cx bike. They have taken a beating on singletrack without flinching. Right now they have studded tires mounted. Everything mounts easily (unlike pacenti, I hear) and tubeless seats easily. And they build up so nicely. I am a fan of the Stans/notubes rims.

thprice
Posts: 252
Joined: Sun Jul 17, 2011 6:34 am

by thprice

pushstart wrote:Stans Grails are awesome rims...
I went with Stan's Grail and Continental 35mm Cyclocross Speed tyres. Only 300 km to date, but so far so good. I'll need to get a few thousand km up before there is any real feedback to give.

Edit: At 375g per rim I was very tempted by Farsports MTB 29er 27mm wide rims but decided to stay conservative as there is no support where I will be riding. The Farsports will save ~200g rotating mass so I may buy a set and have fun with them on local rides.

Tom-s
Posts: 127
Joined: Sat Apr 26, 2008 10:44 pm
Location: Holland/Belgium

by Tom-s

I use 29er light hookless rims from LB on my touring bike. @ 335-340g they are a great weight saving. I run 35mm Kozak on them, Pace star version, tubeless with yellowtape. Very comfy.

jooo
Posts: 1510
Joined: Wed Feb 02, 2011 3:48 am

by jooo

At what pressure? That sounds like it could be an awesome (and light) setup!

Tom-s
Posts: 127
Joined: Sat Apr 26, 2008 10:44 pm
Location: Holland/Belgium

by Tom-s

Mostly between 2.5 and 4.0 bar (35-50 PSI) depending on road surface and amount of cargo.
I'm 70kg, bike = 12kg, cargo up to 20-30kg.

I use it at 3.5-3.7 bar if i use the bike as a road bike for group riding.

Vrad
Posts: 1
Joined: Wed Dec 03, 2014 1:45 am

by Vrad

I have wtb frequency i19's and i23's for cross/touring/randonneur riding. Excellent rims and can run anything between 28mm to 50mm tires easily. BTW, those measures are inner width..

thprice
Posts: 252
Joined: Sun Jul 17, 2011 6:34 am

by thprice

Now that the wheel-set has 2500 km up, it is time for a little feedback.
Both Stan's Grail rims and Continental 35mm Cyclocross Speed tyres have been flawless on sealed road, gravel and trails.
Even tried a set of Michelin Pro4 Endurance 28mm tyres, they to were good (used on sealed road only).

The Conti CX Speed tyre grip has been good (dry & wet roads, dry & wet gravel but not tried thick mud). No punctures, little wear. The tyres should see many more km before replacement. Typically used them at ~50psi.
What was also great: on wet roads the spray is substantially less than a normal road tyre... drier feet.

The rims have been issue free even though I gave them an occasionally pounding: Easy to build, have stayed true, no maintenance.
The Grail rims were the right choice for me as I can use them for lower pressure CX tyres as well as for higher pressure road tyres. The carbon rims often have lower max pressure ratings and can be hookless, both of which are likely inappropriate for 70psi road tyres (I have no interest finding out the hard way, many miles from home).

Why didn't I know about CX/Gravel earlier ... too much fun.

by Weenie


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Cornholio
Posts: 4
Joined: Fri Aug 05, 2016 1:56 pm

by Cornholio

I'm looking to make up a new set of wheels and am very interested to give carbon rims a try but am worried that the hookless rims will be an issue for gravel tyres & pressures?

I'm looking at the hookless carbon LB with 35mm tyres (with tubes) at 60 psi give or take 5 either way.

most companies say this may be too high but I think they are looking at full size MTB tyres not the smaller touring / gravel types.

I have just noticed that Praxis Works have a new wheels set out RC21 that are hookless and are rated to 120psi for road tyres.

has any one tried this or got any info about this?

Thanks in advance :thumbup:

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