Which clincher rim for CX tires?

[Digger90]

Was thinking of getting some Mavic Open Pros for my CX bike but see the recommended max tire size is 28mm.

Looking at most road rims, they're all a little on the small size for avg CX tires ranging from 32mm-35mm.

What do folks recommend? I'm seeking a reasonably good quality rim that doesn't break the bank. Blank sheet of paper time - can buy a rim and have wheels handbuilt, or buy a pre-built factory wheelset.

[jrm]

23c to 35c on my two sets of OPs. I dont race at all only trail riding. That said the salsa delgado cross looks like a real nice rim.

[nmanchin]

I have open pros on mine. nice and strong, that's about all I can say about them. go stans. you will eventually want to go tubeless.

[Howley]

Talking about wheel rim width in relation to tire size, I too needed edjimicated; so went to the "source" of all good info: Tire Sizing Systems the late great Sheldon Brown. Now what wheel rim/tire will I use...stay tuned.

I was told to be Cross rightous (for the cyclocross Worlds)-no greater than 33mm in tire width-not sure if rim width is limited but as all thing "official" it might be.

[Howley]

As I read the Georg Boeger provided a chart showing recommended width combinations: I see for tire size 28mm-35mm rim size should be from 15mm - 21mm. Recommendations a guide and as a MTB rider and wanting to perhaps put on 29er tires i.e. bigger than 33mm I might go with a 22mm-27mm rim.

Not sure what a 33mm tire will look like and how it will perform on a 22.5mm inside width rim vs. a 27.5mm rim - See CR18 vs. Rynolite from Sun in 700c.

I have a set of 29er tires on a set of 700c 22mm no brand rims and Wow- way sloppy side wall flex even with hight tire psi @40lbs

[PeT]

Was thinking of getting some Mavic Open Pros for my CX bike but see the recommended max tire size is 28mm.

From Sheldon Brown's site (linked above):
"If you use a very wide tire on a narrow rim, you risk sidewall or rim failure. This combination causes very sloppy handling at low speeds. Unfortunately, current mountain-bike fashion pushes the edge of this. In the interest of weight saving, most current mountain bikes have excessively narrow rims. Such narrow rims work very poorly with wide tires, unless the tires are overinflated...but that defeats the purpose of wide tires, and puts undue stress on the rim sidewalls."
Sheldon is/was wise, but I've also been running 2.0 to 2.25" 29er tires on Open Pros for almost 7 years now without sidewall or rim failure. I'm banging the rim multiple times per ride if the pressure is low enough to cause "sloppy handling", so my reality is that a 50 mm wide tire works fine on an Open Pro rim. Cyclocrossers have been using Open Pros as the go to clincher rim for years -- I suspect they'll work for you just fine for even the widest of cyclocross tires.

[FKMTB07]

OP's are fine for cross.

Check out Velocity A23's and Hed Belgiums as well for 23mm wide, fairly wide clincher rims.

[yourideit]

velocity A23

[limba]

I've used OP for 10 years and I've never had a problem. The fattest tire I've had on them is a Michelin Mud 700x30 or 32.

Actually, now that I think about it, I do get a lot of flats when I ride my cross bike on the trails. I just figured I was pushing my luck. Maybe a wider inner pocket would help?

[Howley]

Open Pro Looks to a bit less inside to inside than what I am using.
PeT said "so my reality is that a 50 mm wide tire works fine on an Open Pro rim."
Glad they work for you.
l'lI find my reality someday. Just not enough time on a real cross or road bike to know anything. My perceptions currently form my reality at least 'till experience hits me.

As the guru once said "smart people learn from their mistakes-Wise people learn from the mistakes of others". I'm a slow learner...

[rbemiss]

i just got a set of 32* velocity chukker 's if my memory is correct they are 24mm wide. a bit heavy but i think they will be bomb proof...

[TommyKnocker]

We have about 10 wheelsets, four bikes and three racers of varying weights and abilities- we swap tires, wheels, etc CONSTANTLY and simply run the tires that are best suited for the day. We run tires from 28-35 mm and have never had any failures, etc. and the tread wears out far faster than the sidewalls. Trying to figure tire/rim combos down to 1-2 mm is not something I waste any time on.

That said, running a good set of 32-34mm tires on a standard set of rims will always work and worrying about variances in rim width of a millimeter or two does nothing. If you're starting from scratch buy a tubeless-ready rim so that you have that option when it becomes the standard (which it will), mount 'em up and go ride.

[nmanchin]

I used OP's all season with 35's. That said, I will do a cheap tubular setup next year.

And before their life on my CX bike they were on a mtn bike with 2.2's. Not optimal but I never had any problems.

[JasonByers]

I'm using stans arch's. I weight 195 and I built this bike to ride a lot of trail so I wanted a tougher wheelset. Anyway I like them a lot, braking squealed a little at first but they stop better than the road rim I was using. I bought these pre built from Stan's with mountain hubs but I'm sure you could lace a road hub to them if your frame won't take a mountain hub. Fairly light at 1737g with tape and valves on my scale. I'm running 35c kenda SB8's right now and they are probably 3-5mm wider mounted on these rims vs the Bontrager race lites I was using before. Maybe not what you’re looking for but I figured I'd mention it anyway.

[251]

I've had Salsa Delgado Cross rims on my cx bike for years, and they've been great. They're probably heavy, but have been very reliable and durable. The braking surface is getting a little thin/concave on the Delgados, and I'll probably replace them with another identical pair, or possibly Open Pros. I have a set of Open Pros on my road bike, and they're also great rims. I don't think you could go wrong either way.

While I wouldn't give a second thought to 35mm tyres on Open Pros, I think the wider Delgados give wide tyres a better profile.

[M_S]

My favorites are the Delgados and A23s. Delgados for trail riding and training, A23s for racing and faster stuff, at least until I get some tubulars. Wide rims are one of the best improvements I made to my cross bikes in terms of ride quality. Yes, you can use cross tires on narrower rims and many people do just fine that way, but the cornering stability and fewer pinch flats from the wide rims is worth it, especially if you are building from scratch anyways.

Open Pros are ok but quality has gone downhill in my anecdotal experience. I've seen a lot of cracked ones.

[turbogrover]

I've run 42mm tires on my 19mm rims for several seasons, without any issues. Ignore the recommendations.

[jrm]

I had never heard of the A23 until i read this thread. Im currently on open pros and have a set of delgados on order. The A23 is appealing to me as a delgado substitute seeing that they're as wide as the delgado, and ~100g~ lighter. Id like to ask how the A23s hold up to trail riding/commuting. Only thing im kinda concerned about is durability. Any insight from some one who has open pro A23 experience? Thanks in advance.

[Fakie1999]

check out the cross section of road bike review. the a23 gets good feedback over there too.

[kingpin_75s]

+1 on the Velocity A23's and Hed Belgium C2s

My next set will be the Hed Belgium C2s on White Industries on Black Road Hubs

If you can spend the extra the HED rimes are really really nice!

[®andyA]

I had never heard of the A23 until i read this thread. Im currently on open pros and have a set of delgados on order. The A23 is appealing to me as a delgado substitute seeing that they're as wide as the delgado, and ~100g~ lighter. Id like to ask how the A23s hold up to trail riding/commuting. Only thing im kinda concerned about is durability. Any insight from some one who has open pro A23 experience? Thanks in advance.

I have all 3 of those rims/wheels.

I use the set of Delgados on my MTB, the Open Pros were once my CX race wheel, but this summer I had a wheelset built with A23 and like them much better (all 32h-3X) for CX racing.

For reference, I raced Iron Cross with the A23 wheel and I felt it was rock solid. With it's combination of width and light weight, the wheel performed very well on the various terrain of IC. And it was plenty strong enough to handle the tough descent of the Lippencote trail. I feel the tire profile/fit on the A23 lends itself to better performance for the tire. I like taking my CXer on less technical MTB trails. And this past late-summer/early-fall, the A23 wheels really ripped on those trails.

The Open Pros have been a good rim/wheel. Though, tires feel a little more 'squirmy' and I feel traction (while still good) isn't as good as with the A23. But with it's narrower profile, I suspect the more 'balloon' profile/fit may be the main issue here. Trail riding was good with the OP's as well. But now that I've ridden the same trails on the A23, I feel I get better tire performance with the A23 wheels vs the Open Pro wheels.

As you would expect, the Delgado wheels are pretty heavy, but then again, it's on my steel disc-only MTB. I'm actually thinking/planning on upgrading my Delgado rims to Velocity's Blunt SL's for next season. Same width and similar weight as the A23, but for disc wheels.

My 2¢.

[jrm]

I have all 3 of those rims/wheels.

I use the set of Delgados on my MTB, the Open Pros were once my CX race wheel, but this summer I had a wheelset built with A23 and like them much better (all 32h-3X) for CX racing.

For reference, I raced Iron Cross with the A23 wheel and I felt it was rock solid. With it's combination of width and light weight, the wheel performed very well on the various terrain of IC. And it was plenty strong enough to handle the tough descent of the Lippencote trail. I feel the tire profile/fit on the A23 lends itself to better performance for the tire. I like taking my CXer on less technical MTB trails. And this past late-summer/early-fall, the A23 wheels really ripped on those trails.

The Open Pros have been a good rim/wheel. Though, tires feel a little more 'squirmy' and I feel traction (while still good) isn't as good as with the A23. But with it's narrower profile, I suspect the more 'balloon' profile/fit may be the main issue here. Trail riding was good with the OP's as well. But now that I've ridden the same trails on the A23, I feel I get better tire performance with the A23 wheels vs the Open Pro wheels.

As you would expect, the Delgado wheels are pretty heavy, but then again, it's on my steel disc-only MTB. I'm actually thinking/planning on upgrading my Delgado rims to Velocity's Blunt SL's for next season. Same width and similar weight as the A23, but for disc wheels.

My 2¢.

ordered some A23s and will use the OPs as a road set.

[M_S]

I've got Delgados and A23s as well. The A23s make for a really stiff wheel that is totally bomber. For gears I have some laced to Ultegra hubs and I also have some on Surly hubs for SS use. They are my all around training wheels. I think they can hold up to just about anything you can throw at a cross bike. I save my A23s for racing, road riding, and dirt roads mostly. But since I built them a while ago they haven't needed any truing at all, so for my purposes they seem quite durable. Honestly I would use A23s for everything but for the fact that they are about twice as much per rim as the Delgados. If I'm just riding around solo I don't care about weight.

I just finished a long loaded tour in Europe and I used a rear wheel with a Delgado and a front with an A23 to save a little weight. Didn't match at all but seemed to work fine.

[Erik_A]

Sorry to dredge up an older thread, but would the Alex DH19's behave similarly to the Velocitys? Alex Global Technology, Inc. and other than weight would Shimano MTB (Deore type) hubs work out OK vs an Ultegra or 105 hub?

[251]

I'm not sure about the rims, but a Deore hub is spaced to 135mm and the 105/Ultegra are spaced to 130mm. However, the hub spacing can be changed and some 130mm frames (steel) can take 135mm hubs. I've been using 135mm-spaced XT hubs in a 130mm-spaced steel Gunnar frame since 2006.