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Wide 29er rims

20K views 41 replies 21 participants last post by  diylighter 
#1 ·
After searching around the internet, this is the list of 29er rims, 35mm and wider, that I can find. Did I miss any?

Velocity P35 rim: 32 or 36h, 35mm, 595g, double wall, disc only

Salsa Gordo rim: 32 or 36h, 35mm, 700g, double wall, disc only (discontinued?)

Kris Holm XC rim: 36h, 38mm, 795g, double wall, disc or rim

Kris Holm Nimbus Dominator rim: 36h, 42mm, 903g, double wall, disc only

Velocity Snow Cat rim: 32h, 44.5mm, xxxg, single wall, drilled holes, disc only

Kris Holm Freeride rim: 36h, 47mm, xxxg, double wall, drilled holes, disc or rim

Surly Rabbit Hole rim: 32/64h, 50mm, 699g, single wall, drilled holes, disc only (not yet released)

Speedway UMA rim: 3xh, 50mm, xxxg, double wall, disc only (discontinued?)

All in all, it's a pretty short list of wide rims for 29ers. There are no remaining double wall rims wider than 42mm and no 32h rims without drilled holes wider than 35mm.

My hope is that the Surly Knard will add to mounting pressure for manufacturers to put out more wide 29er rims in a variety of styles and configurations. I've heard rumors that Velocity is going to be putting out a double-walled, ~45mm rim, so perhaps there is hope. And Jeff Jones keeps hinting that he is going to be selling 50mm 29er rims.
 
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#3 ·
A correction to the list that I posted. The Nimbus Dominator rim is not made by Kris Holm, it is made by Unicycle.com. I talked with someone from Unicycle.com today, and he said that they have started to get a lot of inquiries from 29er bike riders about the Nimbus and Kris Holm rims. Many of these inquiries have also been trying to find wide double-walled 29er rims without the drilled holes and in 32h (in addition to 36h).
 
#4 ·
Gordo's are indeed discontinued, but there are still lots of them about at dealers.

Sun MTX 33 are also 35mm wide and can be still found if you know whom to ask.

Speedway Uma's are in short supply and I don't think Greg is having them made anymore.
 
#12 ·
Might I add that Dirtrag had an article some time back that claimed Syntace was to be making these wheels in 40mm 29er. I think that article is probably wrong because nothing has shown up on the website. And the 35mm Syntace 29er wheels are not yet available, though the price plus cost to get them in the US might make them tough to find stateside.
 
#15 ·
So basically with any kind of concerns about weight of the rim, the Velocity P35 seems to be the only option currently available?

I'm considering to build a wheelset with wider rim that would allow me to use Knard as front tyre when those are available. The same rim should be usable with 29er 2.25 Ice Spiker Pro's so I guess the Rabbit Hole would be too wide then, maybe? ISP is about 55-56mm wide on Bonty Duster so I guess Rabbit hole would make it a bit of a box profile.
 
#16 ·
So basically with any kind of concerns about weight of the rim, the Velocity P35 seems to be the only option currently available?

I'm considering to build a wheelset with wider rim that would allow me to use Knard as front tyre when those are available. The same rim should be usable with 29er 2.25 Ice Spiker Pro's so I guess the Rabbit Hole would be too wide then, maybe? ISP is about 55-56mm wide on Bonty Duster so I guess Rabbit hole would make it a bit of a box profile.
 
#17 ·
So basically with any kind of concerns about weight of the rim, the Velocity P35 seems to be the only option currently available?

I'm considering to build a wheelset with wider rim that would allow me to use Knard as front tyre when those are available. The same rim should be usable with 29er 2.25 Ice Spiker Pro's so I guess the Rabbit Hole would be too wide then, maybe? ISP is about 55-56mm wide on Bonty Duster so I guess Rabbit hole would make it a bit of a box profile.
The Rabbit Hole might be too big for the Ice Spiker, yes. If you want something to be light, and to be available in rim only, then the P-35 is likely the best bet. However, if I were primarily concerned with using a Knard and/or an Ice Spiker, then I wouldn't care too much about rim weight/rotational weight.
 
#18 ·
Should be rim only since I would like to build the wheels myself. P35 it is then unless something new pops up soon. I would like to be able to use ice spikers as well as I'm from Finland and those are usefull from december to april here. Wider rim would also make the ice spikers a bit wider which I think would be good. Of course the rim shouldn't be too wide.

Knard is something that would be nice to try out with rigid fork but during the summer I probably run suspension fork and Ardent 2.4 in any case. So in that sense the weight does matter at least a bit.
 
#21 ·
I'm not sure what is wide enough for me either.. Basically I haven't ridden wider than 28mm so far but I would like to try out a rim wide enough to make actually a difference. I suppose you would be the best person to tell how much difference is there going from 28mm to 31mm and to 35mm and the difference between dl31 and p35 in real life :). I guess that Knard would work better on p35 but I suppose it would be ok on dl31 as well. Eylets are of course nice which p35 doesn't have.
 
#28 · (Edited)
Fwiw, when I initially designed the P35 it was going to be a 32mm wide rim. But Velocity felt they needed to go to 35mm to compete with the 35mm Salsa rim.

The P35 rim makes a big difference in the tire profile and the way it handles. It creates a much larger contact patch, and offers a huge amount of grip. So much so that I had to change my riding style... I was almost (for me) impossible to get the tire to break loose, so rather than drifting through turns, you have to push it harder, lots of body english and counter steering required to get the most from it.

Ultimately, I found a slightly narrrower rim (31-32mm) was more fun to ride. You get a lot of the advantages of the wider rim, great traction, higher volume, lower tire pressure, etc. But you can more easily roll the bike over and drift through turns more easily. Hope that helps.

Cheers,
KP
 
#29 ·
Ok, that does help, thanks! I think that for me however the P35 might suit better, sinse it's actually the grip, or traction that I'm looking for. Trails that I mainly ride during the summer are quite narrow with lots of rocks and roots, very technical and quite low speed in general. Not a personal preference, it's just the way the trails are around here. Accents and decents are steep and short, so no high speed carving and/or drifting anyway, unfortunately.

I'm also planning to try out fully rigid set up, so anything that makes the tyre bigger is good. Of course living in Finland there's tons of snow out there right now, so a larger footprint would be an advantage also, at least that's my guess.

DL31 would be a very interesting option for my Tracer VP though when the wheelset needs updating.

Thank for the reply, I really appreciate it!
 
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