Gravel touring tyres

[rogger]

I am looking to put some wider tyres on my touring bike. The bike is a Kona Sutra from a few years ago. It came with some cheap narrow rims which I replaced with Mavic A719 36 hole rims. Mavic says the rims can take up to 47 mm tyres on their site but I don't think that is right as their internal width is only 19 mm.

The Sutra forks have plenty of clearance so I don't think they would have any problem with tyres up to 47 mm. I'm running disc breaks so the diameter of the rims shouldn't matter either. The problem is there don't appear to be any manufacturers making 36 hole rims in the wider sizes. I'm wondering if this is because the wider rims are stronger and don't need that many spokes? I'm a bit wary of going less than 36 holes because I will be using full panniers over some fairly rough terrain and I want the wheels to be bomb proof.

Does anyone know of some 36 hole rims which will take up to 47 mm tyres, or know of any super strong 32 hole rims that would be up to the task?

Thanks

[brumby33]

I know that the Kona Sutra is a very similar bike to my Vivente Patagonia and it has 36 spoked wheels with Swiss Rims
Mine is built primarily for touring and Commuting but these can also be done up with the same wheels and 50mm gravel tyres like a bike packing style with the fenders off.
They have enough clearance in the forks, rear stays for this sized tyre as I seen an example done up as a bikepacker at the Omafiets store.
My Rims were Swiss 545 Touring rims but I think they are using a different model of Swiss now so it can be used with tubless but i've never ventured down that path, maybe i will one day.

THis is from the Vivente website referring to touring wheels that you might be interested in reading. Noel McFarlane has spent many decades in Sydney building touring and road bikes and knows a thing or two about componentry.
https://viventebikes.com/considerations-2/wheels/

Cheers

brumby33

[RonK]

??????? You’re asking about rims, not tyres.

I reckon Mavic would know what that are talking about.

The rule of thumb is the internal rim width should be around 50-65% of tyre width. So a 19mm rim with a 47mm tyre is right on the money.

[Aushiker]

I have Mavic A719 rims on my Surly Long Trucker which has done probably 20,000 + km now and I have Schwalbe Marathon Mondial HS 428 47-622 fitted without any issues.

[rogger]

Sorry, I should have titled this post 'Gravel Touring Rims'.
Manufacturers do sometimes make mistakes on their websites. I make 47 mm tyres on 19 mm rims 40% which falls outside the 50-65% range.

20,000 km is fairly compelling though

[baabaa]

Well I use a couple of sets of dt swiss TK 540 (with 32 holes) for just that, gravel touring and yes, they do come in 36 spokes and are pretty full on touring rims, but, I am not sure if they will offer you any thing more than the Mavic ( which I have not used)

If it helps the widest I have are run on these are kenda karma 1.9 inch ( pro something like L3R ) which have softwall and small block 8 2.1 with a wire bead so hardwall.
Both work well enough but I prefer something around 37 /38 mm for what I do.
I tried some bontrager( XR something something) at 29/ 2.1 and they did not fit so snug.
Just give a few breeds of tyres on your current wheels. What do you have to loose other than gaining some good info?

[antigee]

looking at something similar building some 650B (disk) wheels to take around 45mm tyres as I don't have any but have two bikes that will take and have found running 700c 35mm great on rough stuff and bought some wheel building kit a while back but never used it ...I found that 36 hole rims are very very rare...in fact I cancelled an order for some nice Hope 36h hubs as realised pretty quick that 32h is nowadays considered an exception and 28h seems standard...I'm planning on buying some WTB 32h rims having picked up some 32h XT hubs (I like cup and cone)...their chart for their rims (at least how I read it) seems to suggest that 19mm to 25mm covers tyre widths 40 to 50mm which would seem to fit the Mavic comments ? will probably opt for 23mm as seem available from c r c

the WTB chart is here https://www.wtb.com/pages/tire-rim-fit-chart

[rifraf]

I am looking to put some wider tyres on my touring bike. The bike is a Kona Sutra from a few years ago. It came with some cheap narrow rims which I replaced with Mavic A719 36 hole rims. Mavic says the rims can take up to 47 mm tyres on their site but I don't think that is right as their internal width is only 19 mm.

The Sutra forks have plenty of clearance so I don't think they would have any problem with tyres up to 47 mm. I'm running disc breaks so the diameter of the rims shouldn't matter either. The problem is there don't appear to be any manufacturers making 36 hole rims in the wider sizes. I'm wondering if this is because the wider rims are stronger and don't need that many spokes? I'm a bit wary of going less than 36 holes because I will be using full panniers over some fairly rough terrain and I want the wheels to be bomb proof.

Does anyone know of some 36 hole rims which will take up to 47 mm tyres, or know of any super strong 32 hole rims that would be up to the task?

Thanks

I've had my Surly Ogre since circa 2012.
19mm is around what my 36H Velocity Dyads have as an internal dimension if memory serves.
The smallest tires I've run on it are 2" or 700c X 50 and the largest are 2.35 or 700 X 60.
Typically 35 psi.
Currently running a ghetto tubeless setup with 2.35"
A quick look at Velocity suggests 18.6mm
https://www.velocityusa.com/product/rims/dyad-622

My riding style is pretty staid and relaxed and the tires I've used include Big Apples, Supremes, Mondials and Exiwolfs

If you decide you really need wider, maybe check out the other 29er rims on Velocitys pages
I see there are Blunt SS, Cliffhanger, and Blunt 35 at a glance, that might appeal in 36H
https://www.velocityusa.com/product/rim ... s/Mountain

I suspect you really don't require new rims to put on 622/700c x 47 without issue

[Scintilla]

Super strong?

You will not go too far wrong with some Rigida Andra 30. CSS (carbide supersonic) if you want really looooong rim brake wear life, but you will need to use the Swissstop Blue brake pads or maybe Koolstop Carbide pads.

I am not sure if anyone in Australia sells Andras; they certainly are available from SJS Cycles in the UK.

https://www.sjscycles.co.uk/search/?term=Rigida%20andra

BTW, the Andra 30 has an internal width of 19mm and I have happily run Schwalbe Marathon Mondial 2.15” tyres (55mm) on them.