Best rim widths for wide road tyres

With the current trend towards wider road tyres (and rims), Schwalbe have expanded the Pro One tubeless range to include 30mm and 34mm tyres. Since we just received our first deliveries of these monster road tyres we thought we had better try inflating some to see how they measure up in real life. We chose 3 of our carbon wheelsets most suitable for this type of riding with internal rim widths between 21mm and 25mm to look at.

The wheels used were from our Gecko, Mahi Mahi and Monitor ranges with widths of 21mm, 22mm and 25mm respectively. Tyres were inflated to 60psi.

As you can see, the 30mm tyre comes up wider than 30mm on all 3 rims, with the Monitor showing an increase of 1.2mm over the Gecko.

In terms of tyre profile, the 30mm tyre looks to be compatible with all of these rims. On the Gecko and Mahi Mahi it forms a nice rounded shape without pinching in too much at the bottom. The 25mm Monitor stretches the tyre out a bit more resulting in a flatter top which can affect handling, but it should be OK.

Schwalbe Pro One 30mm TLE tyre measurements on….

On the 21mm Gecko, the 34mm tyre is a bit lightbulb-shaped and bulging over the rim. On the wider rims the tyre profile is good, so we would recommend a 22mm – 25mm rim width for the 34mm tyre.

Schwalbe Pro One 34mm TLE tyre measurements on….