23mm tyres on 19mm rims?

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I have a specialized tri-cross with 19mm rims. Am I ok to ride 23mm gatorskin tyres on those wheels?
It originally had 35mm cyclocross tyres but I don't really get off-road so it's pointless using them. Ideally I need a new bike but I can't afford it at the moment. Cheers
 

MacB

Lover of things that come in 3's
might be pushing it a bit though I have read claims that it works fine. The various charts about what works with what are a little confusing. The manufacturers information has also updated as well via technological advances or plain weight of evidence.

On the old style charts then a 622-19 rim would be good for 28-45mm tyres and ideal around 32-35. This changed, mainly via MTBing, for much wider tyres being permissible so 622-19 rims will often state they go from 28-60mm now. The other thing I've seen mentioned more recently is a trend to wider rims for road use and in this area the rule of thumb I'm picking up is that the tyre shouldn't be narrower than the external rim width. This would actually bear out what my rim stickers actually state, which is different from the official Mavic website until you dig into their supporting documentation.

I use Mavic TN719 rims which will be the same size as yours and are 622-19 with an external width of about 24.5mm. The Mavic blurb states 28-60mm but the rim stickers themselves are 1"-2.4" or 25-60mm. This tallies with the idea that you shouldn't use a tyre that is narrower than the rims external size.

That's a long way of saying I wouldn't personally go less than a 25mm tyre and I reckon a 28mm would be comfier for no loss of speed. You can get 700x28 tyres as light as about 235g which is pretty darn light.
 

Banjo

Fuelled with Jelly Babies
Location
South Wales
Riding on slick tyres will give you much less rolling resistance even without going down to skinny tyre sizes. I put 32 mm bontrager racelight slicks on my tourer and it now rolls much easier than on touring tyres the same size.
 
U

User6179

Guest
I have a specialized tri-cross with 19mm rims. Am I ok to ride 23mm gatorskin tyres on those wheels?
It originally had 35mm cyclocross tyres but I don't really get off-road so it's pointless using them. Ideally I need a new bike but I can't afford it at the moment. Cheers

Are you sure 19mm is the internal size of the rim as tri cross and the secteur used to come with the same wheels and a 23mm tyre would be ok.
 

accountantpete

Brexiteer
I don't get the debate? 23mm tyre on 19mm rim? Isn't that pretty standard?


The 19mm is the internal width of the rim. For a standard 23mm tyre most rims are 13-15mm so that the tyre beads have a firm grip. The bigger the width the less grip a 23mm tyre will have.
 

tigger

Über Member
The 19mm is the internal width of the rim. For a standard 23mm tyre most rims are 13-15mm so that the tyre beads have a firm grip. The bigger the width the less grip a 23mm tyre will have.

Ah right, but that said I don't think these are 19mm internal, they're 17mm internal and about 23mm external (judging from a bit if google searching). Which is pretty much bang on a Hed C2 rim. So 23mm tyre will be the perfect mating, at least according to the current school of thought!?
 
I've put 28's on a tricross. It was abit tight but ok. I reckon 25's would be ok too. You'd get 23's on but like said before I think performance wise 25ish would be optimal due to flattening of tyre profile with fat rim/narrow tyre.
 

GrasB

Veteran
Location
Nr Cambridge
Ah right, but that said I don't think these are 19mm internal, they're 17mm internal and about 23mm external (judging from a bit if google searching). Which is pretty much bang on a Hed C2 rim. So 23mm tyre will be the perfect mating, at least according to the current school of thought!?
The HED, Zipp, et al wide rims are designed with fitting narrow tyres on. At high pressure normal parallel side rims may have problems.
 

tigger

Über Member
The HED, Zipp, et al wide rims are designed with fitting narrow tyres on. At high pressure normal parallel side rims may have problems.

Where did you hear that? I'd be interested to see the article. I understand the toroidal rims only effect the shape of the braking tracks (on Zipps) and the trailing edges of the rim. The actual design of the shoulders on my C2 rims appear to be the same as standard rims
 

accountantpete

Brexiteer
Where did you hear that? I'd be interested to see the article. I understand the toroidal rims only effect the shape of the braking tracks (on Zipps) and the trailing edges of the rim. The actual design of the shoulders on my C2 rims appear to be the same as standard rims


I think they made the depth of the rim shallower to accommodate the bigger width. In other words - they were designed to run a thin tyre on a wide rim.
 
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