Hi, I'm 39. I ride cross-country trails during the summer on a hardtail with a suspension fork. During the winter, I convert my 29er to a fully-rigid, drop bar 29er/monstercross bike. I've been using the Velocity Blunt rims for a couple of years and typically ride this wheelset with tubed 2.25-2.4 (advertised) tires. I've been pretty happy with the set-up. I'm switching my race wheelset over to Blunt SLs next season (from VXC 29er rims), and am kicking around changing the Blunts to P35s. I've never run tubeless, but am anxious to try. I know there are several combinations available for running Blunts tubeless (many of which are available on threads in this forum), but I'm guessing there are more combinations that are easier to set up with the P35s. Plus, the wider footprint of the P35 is appealing. I like using big tires to train on. The rim change would be done by a very good local builder here in Portland (OR). Any thoughts? Waste of resources? Any drawbacks - aside from a 100+ gram (rotating) weight gain per wheel?
If you can afford it, go for it. Nothing like satisfying curiosity.
For me, the wider footprint is far more important than the weight increase. And if this is your training wheelset, the extra weight is not even an issue, TBH.
Since the rim is stronger I went down to DT Swiss revolution spokes/alloy nipples and got back another 70 grams/ wheel. I use Blunts and P35 with 650b. I can go down a couple of Psi using P35. I like them but the Velocity rims are harder to build true than Stan's or Dt Swiss rims.
I have been running a P35 32h in the front and a Blunt 36h in the rear for 2yr almost. The P35 will cause a tire to 'grow' so watch fork clearance! The big rim in the front is amazing on rigid. In the rear..agin tire clearance-that is why i went Blunt. I'm 250lb and have had no trouble-I build wheels-so they were right to start. I say dont fret the weight-go big in the front!
I run Blunts setup tubeless with Bontrager strips. Super easy to set up. A buddy of mine runs a Blunt SL rear, and a P35 front, both tubeless. I believe he had a couple of issues with the P35 not holding air, but those have been resolved with some extra Stans.
Hey Jeff, That is an awesome setup! Not to mention how it makes the P35s more tempting. 29Buzz, thanks for the reminder. I'll check with the builder and measure the clearance before I'd make the switch. I feel a little silly for not considering that option earlier. While there is a wealth of chatter about the topic of what tires to run (front versus rear), I still prefer, in many circumstances, a wider front tire with a larger contact patch and more aggressive knobs on the front and a smaller rear tire with less aggressive knobs in the rear. It would only make sense to do the same with the rims, I guess.
Thanks for all of the responses. Dubthang, it's reassuring to hear that there are tubeless Blunt options out there. The P35s seem like a better move for what I'm interested in.
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