Are Wider MTB Rims and Bigger Tyres Faster?
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- Опубліковано 20 січ 2023
- Mountain bikes are always evolving, geometries moving around and new standards appearing! One that is out of view and maybe even easy to miss is that rim widths have crept up, but is bigger (wider) better and does it actually make a difference to how fast your bike rides?
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When you guys do comparative data you need to display both results size by side
True .... Common sense
Helpful stuff, but would really like to see a 2.6 tire tested on a 30mm vs. a 35mm internal rim width, i.e. keep the same identical tire, but on different rim widths to see how they perform differently with different profiles.
I can tell you my experience with 30 mm vs 35mm rims i have two bikes one 29 f and r wtb asym i 35m rims the other same bike with dt 30 mm rim front 29 and 27 rear 35mm rim and depending on the tyre the 35mm rim feels more planted the biggest thing i find is a 2.6 assagai works great on both rim sizes but a 2.5 runs out of knobs on 35 mm rim and the 35 m rim is noticeable heavier .
A 2.6 will fit on both, but the biggest differences are:
- lateral flex on the i30
- the fact that you can run 2-3 psi lower on the wider rims and
- grip, much more on the wider rims
I should add that I've tried this myself and have my opinions, but would be interested in a more objective test from folks like the pros at GMBN. :)
I had a set of 2.6 DHFs on a 30mm internal width wheelset. Gotta say, moving down to 2.4s was a huge improvement in every subjective metric. I wonder if the 2.6s would have been nicer on a wider rim.
Ive just changed to 2.6 butcher grid gravity on an i30...from front 2.5 WT assegai and rear 2.4 WT dhrII ( wich ive used on my dh bike and now on my enduro)..gotta say the 2.6 butchers grid gravitys are on another level for me..much more grip, lower Psi too..i believe i35, square the profile of a 2.6 too much?
I like the wider rim, especially on my hardtail because I can have wider tires which gives me a little more suspension at the rear end 😅
Nice! It always pays off to run a wider tyre on a hardtail! The extra grip & squish you get makes for a slightly more forgiving ride. 👍
Same here. I broke my back real bad 10 years ago and ride a hardtail now. Running 2.8 inch wide tires on 38mm wheels. The extra gush is much appreciated and makes it more fun to me. Although i may try running a 2.7 wide tire in the front just for a touch more response.
Feels to me the results are probably "skewed" because the pressure wasnt adjusted to the wider rims. Even gcn has multiple videos explaining lower pressures in wider tires is important due to rolling resistance.
When applied to the 2.35 tires i feel the results would be different.
My XC bike came with really narrow rims and would only fit 2.25s well. The stock wheels had an I'd of 19 or 20 and exd of may 24. Road those for years and while they were generally faster, the ride quality was rough.The new wheels are nice dt swiss rims and hubs and fully rigged with now 2.35. They are still lighter that the original. Still the bigger tires and nicer wheels make a big difference. It may come down to your preferred trail. Do need speed and do lots of climbing or is your trail more balanced and may need more tire for traction and cushioning. More tire does take abit more work to get up the hill.
I'm running a 2.4 Aspen on the front and 2.25 on the rear of a Santa Cruz Blur with reserve 25mm wheels. I like the combo. The 2.4 feels great on the front. Byers cornering grip and small buimp compliance. The 2.25 has more grip than I would have guessed. I'm sticking with that combo for this season
For riding every day I would go with the wider rim/tires for the comfort. Really good informative video, I like these types of videos. Keep up the good work and stay safe out there.
Nice!!! I just wished you placed both 2.25 tires on both wheelsets that way we focused only in comparing rims and not rims and tires
This was an advertisement, not a test.
Improved grip and the added confidence might make quite many non-pro people faster.
So, 90% of the people who ride bikes 😬
Kinda like a motor on a E-bike 😂
Very good point.
To a point. 30mm is probably the upper limit of that benefit on full sus bikes on typical trail or enduro tires. Which is why 30mm wide rims are the most common rim width on trail and enduro bikes.
Comfort Adds Speed.
My question would be what's the breakdown of rolling resistance by tire width, pressure, and terrain. In road cycling its pretty well proven that wider tires to a point are better. Gone are the days of 21 mm tires at 110 psi. Largely this width expansion has shown tire deflection over obstacles and imperfections plays a big part in real world rolling resistance. Right now we see pros like Nino Schurter riding 2.4 inch tires so there must be something to wider tires.
Great video love the detailed testing
Neil's hands down the best gmbn presenter in my opinion, always solid factual information.
Thanks for this comparison Neil, it is one that I had been wondering about. My Supercaliber came with 30mm rims and my friend's old Top Fuel with 25mm rims. The latter seems wide enough for XC to me especially when weight makes such a difference on these bikes. Cheers from Australia 🇦🇺
When I did the new build of my Scott Scale 920 (2013) I also got new wheels, I went from the original wheel set with 15mm rims to 25mm rims and a little bit better wheels so they were a bit lighter as well and the bike feels a lot better with the new wheels!!!!
I went to a 35mm rim with 3.0 tires and I've been loving them. Just put in some PRs over the weekend. Not sure they're the fastest but they float over things.
Right I'm running 40 with 3in and can't complain about the traction and float
Maybe for a race, the narrower/lighter wheel is better, lower rotational weight for quicker acceleration and the need to put out more watts. The wider/higher volume tire is probably better for everyday riding, where speed isn't an important factor.
I personally love my plus hardtail with its 27.5 x 2.8s, especially with its "suspension" feel and grip on loose climbs. I have done some long-distance rides with a varied mix of surfaces, and the wide, plush tires seem to just take the edge off.
Nice data 😉, I’d like to have seen 35mm width too
I like these videos as well, nice work. I ride a similar XC bike but on much rockier trails than in your test and prefer 2.35 Rekon Race tires on a 30i rim compared to 2.25 Aspens on a 27i rim. About 200 grams different but very noticeable through rocky sections as the smaller tires tend to bounce off rocks a bit more and the larger (and heavier) tires are more stable, track better through the rocks, and I think are more fun in general. The smaller lighter tires do accelerate better and are very fast. But I care more about fun.
My 40mm rim means a squarer tyre profile for 2.8 Rekon+ tyres. It is slower but downhill it gives me more confidence - as an older cyclist I love the stable feel. Maxxis recommend at least 40mm for their 2.8s - ie. 35 is too thin. After 20,000 miles the rear rims are showing hairline cracks at the spoke holes - this shows how much work wheels are doing on the trail.
fun over performance every time, for us mortals. great vid.
Thanks for watching! That's a good way to do it! 😅
I'd like to see a rim comparison using the same tire. DH pros run 2.5 tires on 25mm id rims, so it would be an interesting one.
For what its worth I went from 25mm id rims to 28mm id rims with the exact same tyres and didn't notice a difference, they did look slightly wider and not quite as round though
Wow really??? My tire lacked support and folded on a big jump destroying my Maxxis DHF EXO compound. No issues when using 30mm internal width
@@rataflas How wide was your tyre? Mine was 2.35
@@benjy288 mine was 2.5WT
@@rataflas Maybe a 2.5 benefits more from a 30mm I'd rim
Great breakdown!
Wider is more comfortable but harder work - great to know 👍
I mean just have a look at fatbikes, yes they take it to an extreme but still they work by the same principal, so much that most don't even have suspension because the tires provide enough damping.
@@haemmertime excellent point about fatbikes 🙂
23 years ago My mate and I built a 26+ Foes Weasel with Boxxer tripples up front supporting a HED 26" x 46mm rim with a Gazzaloddi Nokian 3.0, and a Mavic D321 26" x 36mm with a Gazzaloddi Nokian 2.8 on the back.
It wasn't fast under pedal... but you could hit curbs without batting an eyeball. (so it was fast on lumps and bumps giving confidence in side sheer grip.. and those Gazzas did stick nice)
One problem with the large footprint... sticky mud would fill the tread and you would have to bunny hop to clear it between corners.
Incidently the Gazzas lasted 20 years as a daily street ride, but are a little Kojack now days...
Unfortunately Tyre manufacturers turned their backs on 26" plus riders unless your rich. (Surly Knard 26x3.0... Knard, is that for "I Knard'ly afford one)
I run Maxxis 2.5's on my 26" Faith... (the last Maxxis 2.8 I had stretched a sidewall and rode off the side of the rim... luckily just after I stopped at the end of a run)
Love the Oiz. Getting one soon.
Nice! The Orbea Oiz is such a good looking bike! 👍
I think the video could have been expanded to include a comparison also with Enduro wheel sets. I switched from Nukeproof Nuetron 28mm rims with 2.4" tyres to Hope Fortus W35 35mm rims with 2.5" Wide Trail tyres. The difference is stark. I do feel the 35mm wide rims and tyre combo means more effort required when peddling along road, gravel, bridalways etc, but the comfort, stability, grip and outright control is far better when you are descending rough terrain, or are going really quick down open slopes.
The narrower rims have their place and I do like to swap back to them (using same bike - Nukeproof Mega 275 Al.) when I want to just go for longer non technical xc type rides.
Interesting you say that, I've been looking at a set of the Fortus 35 but and thinking of going with the 30 as its abit more best of both
I would just run the 28mm rims or go to 30mm rims. 35mm is too wide if you're not on 2.6s or plus tires. My bike came with 35mm rims and I switched the out for 30mm rims and the bike feels MUCH more lively and lighter (the bike actually got slightly heavier as I put DT Swiss FR560s on it). The bike felt sluggish and reluctant to lean over onto the cornering knobs with the wider rims
If the rim is too wide for your tyres then the side knobs will contact the ground even when you're a straight line, making pedalling a LOT slower. Sometimes you can compensate with more pressure but it's better to choose the rim width the tread pattern was designed for
I am pretty sure the slower rolling does come from the tire putting more of the side lugs to the ground on a wider rim. especially when you run "more tire" with bigger knobs than you really need for the riding circumstances. it will feel more planted and cushioned of course and might give the normal rider a better feel which might actually make him quicker. for racing and someone who does know what he is doing, a little narrower lighter tire/rim combo on the other hand might be quicker. at least for faster, not extremely technical courses.
That's 15 seconds/mile slower. As a runner, that is a huge difference in pace. Plus if you consider that the time lost was most likely on the climbs (or at least when pedaling, i.e. not the descents) it was probably even more like 20-30 seconds/mile slower when pedaling. That's pretty significant.
Great to see a comparison with data. GMBN love all of your videos! Keep these coming
I'd have put that 2.25 on the wider rim, just for a reference. My combo is 2.25 with 27mm internal width, fox XCO racing.
It is for me. I have a Bronson with 27.5 x 2.6 with 35 mm rims, have a Bronson with 27.5 x 2.3 with 27 mm rims, had a Trek X Caliber with 29 x 2.3 with a sub 30 mm rim (I can’t remember what it was) and have ridden numerous 29 x2.5F, 2.4 R and 29 x 2.6 with wider rims.
The wider rim and tire gets pinged around the trail less which allows for higher speeds with better stability, allows me to run a lower PSI which for a 210 lb rider is not always easy which provides better grip on rooty, rocky sections allowing me to through them faster, and the wider rim sets the wider tire at a better angle allowing for better grip in cornering and me to really lean the bike and thus faster cornering. Plus, they don’t fall in the cracks in rock gardens, which I ride a lot.
For me, 2.6 is the sweet spot. All the benefits of the 2.8s with none of the drawbacks like squishy sidewalls.
i love the new rim sizes on my regular hard tail.
Nice test but you should have used same size tires to make the test better.
Always love your vids guys keep it up! 👍
Thanks! Will do! 👍
Love the videos when did you switch to smith helmets and eye wear
I can't say for sure, but I can say that my PR downhill are ALL on my 27.5+ but I think this comes down to confidence in the traction and width than anything else.
What about a wider rim with a narrower tyre vs narrower rim with a wider tyre (withing the recommended limits - of course, no extremes - or even so that actual air volume is same for both)?
The question of pressure is still open, should it be just same, or for the same grip, or for the same protection...
Great video, always wondered what was better
Thank you! Glad you found this useful! 👊
The test should have been to isolate the tires and rims. So 4 combinations: wife tyre, wide rim, wide tyre barrow rim, narrow ture wide rim and narrow tyre narrow rim.
It doesn't matter what the manufacturer says.
Wider turns an xc into a trail bike. The biggest improvement was downhill on the HT where rear comfort, traction and puncture resistance greatly aided.
Wider rims and same tire means more rubber when you go strait (bigger rolling resistance) and less thread when you turning (less grip in corners)
29er with 30mm internal rim width 2.6 tyers
If you are using wider tires you should use lower pressure. Using the same pressure isn't really fair. Aerodynamics is also important when choosing tire width.
wheel aerodynamics on a mountain bike?
There is a gravel rolling resistance test on UA-cam and 2.5 is the winner downhill . Maybe an enduro version of this video is called for then a rolling no pedal timed run down a loose metal road , grass bank and anything else you can think of the 2.5 on 35mm vs this conclusion . 2.5 wide tyres are larger overall diameter than 2.3 on the same rim so that helps
I am currently using a Vittoria Mezcal 2.35 x 29 on a 28mm internal width rim. The thing is that this 2.35 mezcal had the same width as my old CST Jack Rabbit 2.25 x 29. Kinda disappointing because I was expecting a wider tire with my Mezcal 2.35. Other than the width of the tire that doesn't live up to it being a "2.35" , THE MEZCAL IS THE BEST XC TIRE THAT I USED! I also do MAXIM bike delivery daily and it feels like I am riding a gravel tire. So smooth on the road with 40psi front and rear! 👍
Use the same setup and ride in rougher trails. There will be a point where the wider rims and tires will be faster. Curious to know
it's all in the noise, not enough difference and not enough runs to get any kind of accurate measurement
Would love to see you do this test on a trail or enduro bike on sendier trails as well, compare 30mm wide rims with 35mm wide rims. IMHO 30mm is the sweet spot for rim width on full sus trail and enduro bikes on your typical 2.4 or 2.5 width tires. I've had both widths on my current bike it came with 35mm wide rims (Ibis is obsessed with 35mm rims) and It's currently running 30mm wide DT Swiss rims. The 35mm width absolutely rolls slower and plows more in corners as it doesn't want to lean over, the 30mm wide rims are MUCH more eager to corner and roll noticeably faster with the same tires, it does seem like there is an upper limit to wider rims feeling better. I would however run 35mm wide rims on a hardtail if I were running 2.6s or plus tires, the extra volume helps with hardtail ride quality.
I have 37mm and 2.6 on my 5010 and there is no issues with them being “eager to corner”, it feels like it’s on rails.
You kept the pressure the same that’s why it’s slower. More volume now in the wider rim, so it needs less pressure to achieve the same tire characteristics. Very possible it was slower just because the tire was too hard.
Keep the 2.25 on the rear and switch between front Barzo tires only 2.25, 2.35, and 2.6. Use appropriate rim widths for each front. I want to see what that 2.6 Barzo can do on the front.
i ride some 40mm(pluse size) wide rims witn some 2.5" tyres and feels so good, super solid dependable wheelset.
To me 2.5s on 35mm wide rims feels like a heavy ass plow truck that doesn't want to corner, I couldn't image 40s. 30mms feel like the sweet spot for 2.5s and 2.4s
@@mrvwbug4423 i love the solid feeling of wide rims with smaller tyres makes for a bomb proof set up through rough stuff
Can't believe I ran 2.25"tyres on 17mm rims a few years ago... damn 2000s rims lol, and I didn't know any better
Do a test with down country bikes included. I have 35 mm wide Ibis carbon wheels with 2.6 front and 2.4 rear. At 28 lbs with pedals and bell it isn’t light but it is light enough to climb well along with great downhill speed and braking due to 200 mm rotor up front. My Ripley rips!
I've got a hardtail, I'd say a wider stronger rim is an utter must if you want confidence
I ride 2.8" 27.5 35mm internal width rim and i love them. Better grip, better comfort, looks better. What more can a guy want?
Also whoever picks the music for Neil's videos deserves a raise.
shouldn't one of the runs be 2.35 tire on the i24 rim and 2.25mm on i28 rim for a full proper comparison?
I want same width tires + different rim widths
300 grams of mass would imply climbing 0.3% slower, factoring in the fact that its rotational mass implies the climbing would be 0.3% slower also (yeah that is how it works, do the math if you don't believe me). So more time was lost here than can be explained by the weight. Perhaps rolling resistance was worse because pressures were kept constant or perhaps the effort was spent less ideally during the run somehow.
Interesting data. I wonder if you could get the benefits of both by running the wider one up front and the narrower faster one on the rear.
A few companies sell mixed width wheelsets. Hunt does it with their Trail wide and Enduro wide wheels
Would like to see the difference between them on a gnarly course and with a greater difference- say 2.3 vs 2.6 on a trail bike.
The other thing I would be interested in knowing is were you faster in certain areas on the wider tires and with 30 mm + rims. Those “wide” rims with 2.35 in wide tires are still pretty skinny by today’s standards for anyone but XC riders. For riders out for fun overall times don’t matter, but being able to rip corners and bomb downhills faster is worth it even if it means overall slower bc that’s the fun part. Don’t really care how fast I go on some flat pedally section.
Not a big enough difference in the rim width to get a good test, Most people upgrade from 24/25mm to 30+ internal width and depending on tires this can be noticeable . With the wider rim it can square of the profile of the tire so you need tires with more volume to maintain the profile.
Keep up the good work
Yea 28mm is an odd (non-numerically) size to pick for this test, I haven't seen that width before in US.
@Bike_Network. Hi , you invited me to contact you
The issue here is you used 2.25 vs 2.35. I've tested te same set of tires (different vendor) on a track i know very well and i've ridden 100s of times on 24mm wheels and then on 30mm wheels (internal). Both wheelset were close to 1200g, lighter tires and the pressure was calculated for both sets separately (silca pressure calc). I measured sizes of tires on both rims - and the width increase was around 75% of rims width increase. No matter how i measure - 30mm rims were faster, and the overall feel of the bike was better. In long sketchy mountain mtb races it is far more noticable. And side note - you can have 2.25 tires which are closer to 2.3 in size and these which are less than that. Vittoria is on "bigger" side - but it's terribly heavy. There are tires of the same size and almost 100g less (per tire).
I'm into experimenting with the same stuff. Problem with this test: The wider rim, larger tire at the same psi has more 'tension' than the smaller, narrower. Hence, losing the advantage of the wider setup. The wider setup needs less psi to match the tension. Lower the pressure at least proportionate the the rim width difference. Don't want to be too negative but it is the whole point of a wider rim.
From my experience to maximize the traction benefits of the wider rim the pressure should be lowered. I don't race so time doesn't really matter. I prefer traction and confidence. My favourite tires are 3.0 x 29 on 48mm inside rims run at about 12 psi.
This was a cool comparison! Thanks Neil!
Definitely wider = better for me! I have 40mm 27.5 rims with 2.8" tyres on my trail bike. Why? Because I am old and I like comfort :) Nearly 50 years old and still riding trails.
bicyclerollingresistance done such test in more controlled manner and conclusions was that sweetspot rim to tire width ratio is 70% with least rollong resistance with range 50-80% as good enough.
Hi Neil! just curious if its good to use a 32MM inner/38mm outer rim with a Rekon Race 29x2.25 tires?
In the UK, I think I’m starting to prefer the narrower option 😂
Wider is usually heavier which is usually slower, especially with rolling weight and going uphill. But overall more comfortable and bomber
More difference than I expected. The roadies on GCN did a test on what a kg more makes you slower and it wasn‘t much. Must be the deformation of the tire (that also made it more pleasurable to ride). Bigger tire only at the front would be interesting.
on road bikes wider is better ... to a point, that point is 28c tires which is probably the most popular size on modern road bikes. GCN found that 28c was the lowest rolling resistance on typical road surfaces as that size was the sweet spot between deforming enough to keep the tire in contact with the road surface but not deforming too much and causing more rolling resistance. They did find that narrower tires did better on super smooth surfaces like velodromes or roads in perfect condition.
@@mrvwbug4423 We had to find out the same in the 90s on the MTB when racers were on 1.9“ with high pressure.
I'd like to see a bigger tire on the front only also. I've got a feeling you were slower to accelerate with the larger tire on the rear more from a gearing perspective along with also accelerating a lighter rear wheel tire combo. Do the 2.25 on the rear. Then switch between the front tires... 2.25, 2.35 and 2.6 Barzo with appropriate front rim widths for each.
Actually nope, but makes you more confident, safer and more grippy, so faster overall just because you have more confidence, but per se, they're slower
Great video 😃 as an amateur does it really matter? 🤷♀️🤷♀️
In my opinion, a wider rim is better up to a certain point, after it gets to a certain width, the tire ends up squaring off at the corner knobs and lowers my cornering grip
Thank you for using IW and not ID when talking about the internal width of a rim.
Try that all over again BUT, reverse the order of tyres used.
Maybe the second set could be faster if they were first out. (???)
24vs28? why not to really show the difference by including say an 19mm internally wide rim as well to really show what a wider/narrower rim with the same tyre/tire does to the riding experience so to speak? going with different width of tyres on the rims makes no sense if its a comparison...
I'm 50. Do I need speed or comfort? I'm also age stupid. Give me SPEED! 😂
Just about to move from tubed 19mm to tubeless 27mm. I'll let you know. 😀
why not the 2,25 on the wider internal rim with? that would have been really interesting.
I run i29’s with 2.25 wide tires and it’s as perfect as I’ve ever felt. I also have the same tire in 2.6 on a set of i30’s and interesting enough, there is not much width difference between the two at all. Maybe a 1/16 of a inch.
Is this a scam? You don’t have any subscribers on UA-cam, and gmbn has thousands. Seems fishy. Thanks for the offer tho.
I think riding style makes a huge difference. Neil mentioned that he really leans the bike over. I am the opposite. I love the feel of the larger volume of wider rims but I also notice that I really don't utilize the outer, cornering knobs of a 2.35-2.6". Surprisingly, I've found that my XC sweet-spot on my local terrain (rocky, rooty, super loose over hard) is 30mm rims with 2.25" Maxxis Rekons. But everyone is different. You just have to match it with your style and terrain.
The faster you go around corners the more you need to lean the bike over so really depends on skill level, the slower you go the more up right you can ride around corners, so not style as you put, speed and skill level is the difference.
You'd probably really like 2.4s on those 30mm rims. I also am getting a chuckle about Maxxis Ikon and grip being used in the same sentence hehe. I think you'd probably really like a set of Rekon Races or Rekon/Rekon race combo in 2.4 width on those 30mm rims for your XC setup.
@@mrvwbug4423 Hahahaha. That's my bad. I meant 2.25 REKONS! Very glad you said something. Thanks. Yeah, I rode much wider Ikons for years, and though they are fast, the cornering is horrid. I still have a 2.4 Rekon in front right now but will go back to a 2.25 Rekon in the summer. Also, my 2018 Specialized Epic can't fit 2.4s in the rear. The specs say the max for that year is 2.1 but I did 2.3 for several years and they constantly had leaf clearance problems. The narrower Rekons are vastly better in every way.
Nice video, convinces me to go for 25mm because it is lighter and faster. Like the data video set up
Definitely not
I used 35mm rims with maxxis Dissector 2.4 but the tire was too square. I chenged for 30mm rims, same tires, front and rear, it was perfect, the grip got much better.
Yeah 35mm rims are for 2.6s or plus tires. 30mm is the sweet spot for your 2.4 and 2.5 width tires. I had the exact same experience since Ibis is obsessed with 35mm rims, I switched out to DT swiss 30mm wide rims after killing two Ibis S35 rims in a year.
@@mrvwbug44232.5 WT tires work perfectly fine on 35mm rims. I moved up to 35mm rims on both my bikes 3 years ago and will never look back. Heavier but I ride faster with more comfort
I tell people all the time that rim and tire weight matter a lot. When I build up my trail or enduro bikes I always get the medium durability tire, like a trail rated tire instead of a heavier casing enduro or DH tire. Those heavy tires make the bike feel so sluggish and it isn't worth it to me to have to pedal all that weight around for the added durability. I get it for downhill racing and such, but for everything else, nope...heavy rims and tires make a bike feel terrible and it makes you work a lot harder.
GMBN could "kidnap" Ollie from GCN and get him to explain the rolling resistance. That would make these videos more interesting.
When I got my first set of 2.1velociraptor in the 1990's I was destroying rims and tubes on a weekly schedule, I was getting anything I could get araya, wtb, sun etc
The solution was to run 40+ psi 😂
At over 100kg, wider works better for me. Idk if wheels have gotten that much better, or if wider is just more stable?
What about a mix? Fat front, narrow rear. All the grip for steering but less resistance from the rear.
Good question…. My front and rear are the same, but I’ve often wondered if it would be better as you described.
That’s the setup i run on my Orbea M10 TR Oiz, 30 mm rims 1530 gr. 235 at the back Racing Ralf, front 2.4 Wicked Will. Love the it.😊
@@Buddyboz exactly. I know with the tyre the effect is noticeable but I'm curious about how much the rims would affect it. Most people run matched sets but I'm a weirdo with a Halo Tornado up front and a Jalco something or other out back. Having not run a matching set I can't say if it's faster or not.
For me the best test would have been using the same tyre but 24mm and 28mm rim ? Then test from there ? Would a wider rim on the same tyre ? Might be a marginal difference? Or maybe not ?
I'm happy with 2" wide but hooked rims seem to be going away and harder to buy
I prefer the comfort of the wider rims and tires vs. speed.
I go for the rims that came on my bike.
Nino goes 2,4 Aspen, but there are 2,25 and even 2,1 on the market. How do you think, why, if wider = slower?..
I went for wider tires and didn't get slower. But my loops consist of much rougher terrain than the marble-track you did this test on. I think if you ride lots of roots and chatter up and down, the benefits of bigger tires outweigh their added bulk.
Interesting but how does that translate to enduro/DH. Not exactly a ton of G outs in corners on a XC trail. They are lighter so you're gonna move faster with the same effort on climbs and flat sections.
Wouldn't be better to test same tire size on different rim widths? This way, it might be due to the rim, might be due to the tire, might be both. If you use different rim width with same tire width, we'd know more. Or same rim width, different tire width. Btw, what's with the Smith helmet (and glasses too?)? New chanel partner, POC is gone? I saw on Doddy's Instagram he's using Smith helmet as well.
Does 29 mtb rim fit all 29 mtb tires?
Disc brakes made rims so much better. Taking away the braking surface was a game changer.
As far as rim and tire width is concerned I have been a bigger is better rider since the options became available. Floatation combined with grip is heaven for me.
Does using a boost hub have any impact on rim performance? I run narrow rims on my Trek, however I have a boost front hub and a regular rear hub. The thing I have noticed is better perfromance on the front which has increased my cofidence and speed that I ride. I am not sure if Tech covered Boost hubs or if GMBN has any insights on Boost vs none boost hubs and the role they play in bike performance. Thanks for your insights.
I'm no engineer, but the intention of boost-hubs is that the spokes pull at a lower angel on the rims providing more lateral stiffness and I think wider rims( with more material) also might be stiffer to lateral movement. On the other hand you also need to factor in the way the spokes connect to the rim, I mean which way they are alligned accross the rim. For example in an older video GMBN presented a rim that had an allignment like a moto-tire making it almost to strong against lateral forces.
@@haemmertime Thanks for the information, this helps my understanding.
Some brands are trying to sell us flexy single walled rims currently.
When your rim is noodley its like have suspension but for side to side obstacles.
Boost for strength, regular for comfort when hitting rocks with the side of your tyres
I thought the whole point of wider rims and bigger volume tires was running lower pressure?
Ok, but I would blame this completely on the tyre. If you run the same tyre on differnent rim sizes even with a bigger difference (I know its not recommended) there will be almost zero difference I bet.