Road Wheels & Road Wheel Recommendations?

Absolutely fine.

Thank you.

I don't have much experience of wide tyres on road rims and the internetz would have me believe you need massive rims for anything over 28c

Absolutely fine

For some definitions of fine.

Rewind to early gravel years and everyone riding big tires on drop bars was in something like that.

go on then?

Yeah this was my thinking. I'm not sure I buy into the idea of needing 25mm plus internal width just to run bigger tyres. Was just looking to hear someone say the run big tyres on 18-19mm rims and its fine!

I suspect gbj_tester has something to say though? Overall tyre shape might be a bit bulbous? Will it really matter that much?

Will it really matter that much?

If you set the pressure for optimal handling, the ride will be shit. If you set the pressure for optimal ride, the handling will be shit. Neither of these things is likely to kill you. The other, and probably better, argument against your plan is that tyre swapping is a PITA with which you will become bored after about the first time, so just put the wheels with the tyres and bike they suit best once and for all.

Yeah I agree tyre swapping will be a PITA. I have wheelsets on my mountain bikes that I tell my self I'll swap around depending on what riding I'm doing, but I never actually do it due to them being set up tubeless and can't be arsed with it.

But I've still not went tubeless on my road bike so it would be less of PITA. I know that once I have the wheels I'll put tyres on and keep them as light climbers. But I like the option of putting 38c tyres on for very very mild gravel riding.

I don't have any experience of wide 700c gravel tyres but all the charts I've found basically say it will be compatible. Whether I notice any difference in ride quality or not, I'm not sure.

The wheels are brand new unused and hard to say no to so think I'll take them anyway

I run 37 on 19mm internals, which is a little bulbous but ‘fine’. Tbh, I wouldn’t want to go much further than that, which you’re doing at both ends. What’s wrong with 36mm? :)

I don't know how we survived 90's MTB with 2" tires on old school rims. Virtually unrideable. Or maybe it's all industry blabber and hardly makes a difference?

What’s wrong with 36mm?

Well exactly!

I'm going to take the wheels anyway and try them with big tyres. I highly doubt I'll come away thinking that the ride quality feels shit due to 2/3mm internal width difference.

They are quite snazzy wheels though, already starting think I don't to abuse them off road much...

Now you mention it, I had a set of Mavic Crossmax SL Pro mountain bike wheels that I ran with 2.4" tyres.

Just checked what internal width was... 19mm

I think that answers my own question

maybe it's all industry blabber and hardly makes a difference

Obviously the industry has an interest in talking up the difference, but just because they're venal scum it doesn't mean there is no difference at all. In thirty years we've changed how we ride, changed what we expect, and learned how to reconcile those two things.

Sort of depends on the tyre/use I think.

I find 45mm Ridlers alright on gravel mounted on Kinlin rims (ø19mm). Hard cornering is limited by tyre edge-tread and loose surfaces … so never really gets high grip levels. This probably masks a less than ideal setup.

The chap who was selling the r45 wheels sold them to someone else with no warning.
Probably just as well really.

Most of the riding I'll be doing on this bike won't be too hard going. So I was thinking I would get away with it since there wouldn't be too much hard fast cornering.

Can anybody point me to some relatively wide alloy rims / rim brake? Lower spoke counts - pref 20/24h. Is 18mm internal width as wide as they come?

Thanks

Ambrosio p20. 20 internal

thanks

Pacenti Forza are 20mm internal, £75 each.

Whether or not you'll find them, I don't know, but good old Archetypes come in 20/24.

No reason to buy Archetypes over Kinlin XR rims in my book. I've got 5 Archetype rims, but I doubt I'll be buying any more.

Because the anodized ones look nice with Ti :-)

Yeah, of the five I've got 3 are the grey anodised versions. Haven't ridden them yet but I'm sure they won't look so purdy for long.

Looking for recommendations, I had a rear open pro UST fail quite catastrophically on me this morning, only 12-14months commuting on it and loads of life left on the brake track. I can get a 32hole replacement from wiggle for £45 but wondering if there are other rims I should be looking at..? Tubeless rim brake 32 hole type flavour.

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Kinlin XR22T if you want to stick with a shallow rim.