XC race bike rim width

[BingoBob]

I ride a Rocky Mountain Vertex, and until recently I never realized how well it handled or perhaps that it could handle even better.

Stock wheels were 20mm and Continental Race kings 2.2. It was a good setup.

I mangled my wheel and found a mint set off an older vertex with 17min wide rims and maxxis ikon 2.2’s. The tires feel hard with no give or compliance. I feel I have more traction going into corners until wham its gone and the front end washes.. man down.

Is the rim width my issue? Tire?

Should I go back?

Should I get a wider tubeless rim and rebuild?

 

 

 

[Aaron Chamberlain ✓ supporter]

Could be a lot of things: Rim width, tire pressure, tube vs. tubeless…

All tires handle differently and it takes time to learn the characteristics of different tread patterns. I have had a similar issue when running the Maxxis Ardent as a front tire. There’s plenty of grip there, until there isn’t. And then you’re on the ground.

Before swapping wheels or tires, is there a way you can go tubeless with your current setup? That may be a big help. If not, I would get a wider set of rims. 17mm is very narrow, even by XC standards. If you want something racy, Stan’s Crest wheels are light and decently wide. Stan’s Arch wheels are a good middle ground.

Or maybe try going back to the Continentals.

[BingoBob]

Thanks Aaron,

I thought about going tubeless with the old rims, however I am very skeptical of going tubeless with the 17mm dt swiss wheels. Narrow wheels burb easy.

Maybe rebuilding my stock wheels with a 25mm tubeless Stanz rims and a pair of race kings or x king front, race king rear in the uti version is the way to go?!?!

[Aaron Chamberlain ✓ supporter]

Yeah, I don’t blame you. I used to regularly burp tires until I started using wider rims (21-25mm). I’ve personally had really good luck with WTB’s rims, which tend to be a little cheaper than Stan’s. Although, you can’t go wrong with Stan’s rims either.

[Author]

Posts