Ideal Wheel Rim Width for 45-50MM Gravel Tires

[ABG]

Josh is running that set up now. The 32 tire measures 36 with a 29id.

I am also looking at the WG44 and there are so many marginal gains on that set up.

WG44 seems like it’s the best gravel wheel made

[oldandfast]

@Teddy_Focaccia

Here’s a key quote from Josh Poertner, former wheel designer for Zipp and now owner of Silca. Based on this I’m planning to run ~34mm gravel tires on hooked Light Bicycle WG44 rims for gravel races this season. Should end up with a ~38-40mm tire width with great ride feel and aerodynamics.

Very interesting. What is the final weight of the wheel set?

[ABG]

They come in under 1600g

Light bicycle wg44 has a number of hubs you can build it up with also

[Teddy_Focaccia]

There’s a big thread on both the WG44 and the Nextie AGX 45, which has similar dimension, over on Weight Weenies: Nextie 40mm wide gravelrim! NXT45AGX - Weight Weenies

They state ~1450g for these rims on DT 240s with CX Ray spokes. Nexties are ~$1200 shipped, LBs are ~$1450. I’m curious if anyone has a strong view on Nextie vs. LB in terms of quality, response to warranty issues etc. Doesn’t seem like a huge difference in any obvious performance metric w the wheels.

3T Discus are also available on sale at the moment, but even on sale they’re both heavier and more expensive than the Chinese options.

[ABG]

Anyone test them like chung method or wintunnel?

[oldandfast]

Hard to stomach coming from Berd’s 1080g

[ABG]

I’m 9000g

1080g is a light wheel set

[Teddy_Focaccia]

For my use cases (fast gravel with some paved sections and ~6k-8k’ climbing per 100 miles) I’d take the 1450g aero wheels over 1080g non-aero every time. I have some lighter shallower rims that I’ll use for slower gravel events that include single track and no pavement.

[ABG]

I agree it’s 1.8w for 42mm vs 25mm rims on gravel set up.

Dylan Johnson is going to run a 2.1 mtb tire next year

[oldandfast]

My rides are usually 1000 ft of climbing per 10 miles. Road, Gravel, Singletrack. I found myself losing time in the chunky descends, hence the Berd choice, paired with 51mm Thunder Bolts. My whole bike is under 18lbs with tools, cages, bike computer.

When I’m doing flatter and less technical gravel I use a different, aero bike with 303 Firecrest and 35’s or 38’s.

[Teddy_Focaccia]

Bet those 35s would be faster on an even wider rim!

But I wouldn’t run the super wide rims on anything very chunk or with single track. I think the sidewalls and rims would be too exposed to damage; I prefer the tread to wrap around the tire a bit more and the tire to extend beyond the rim in such conditions.

[ABG]

I would still want to run a wide tire with a wide rim

Like a 45 or 42 on that 30id

[webdev511]

I just mounted up a set of 700x50 Maxxis Ramblers on my 30mm iw mtb wheels. They measure out at 50. 5mm and don’t have the bulgey sidewalls that 2.1" WTB Nanos have.

Probably going to run them for the Rock Cobbler on Feb 10th.

[teddygram]

@Teddy_Focaccia

I posted this on another thread, but there’s a very interesting article on Slowtwitch discussing the advantages and caveats of very wide rims.

Here’s a key quote from Josh Poertner, former wheel designer for Zipp and now owner of Silca. Based on this I’m planning to run ~34mm gravel tires on hooked Light Bicycle WG44 rims for gravel races this season. Should end up with a ~38-40mm tire width with great ride feel and aerodynamics.

“Case in point, the setup that has most excited me in the last few years is a 32mm Continental GP5000TR on the 3T Discus 45/40 rim. This is a 32mm tire on 29mm hooked bead with 40mm outer rim width, totally in violation of ETRTO, but exceeds the blowoff pressure of the same tire on an ETRTO approved 25mm hookless bead. In this setup the tire measures 35.5mm wide and produces a near seamless toroidal rim/tire shape which tests lower drag than most any traditional road racing wheel with 25 or 28mm tire while also showing some of the most neutral aero steering torque values of any setup I’ve ever seen.”

I have been running the NXT45AGX rims (which the WG44 looks very similar) since they came out with a 35mm tire primarily. A 35mm tire generally blows out to 38-39mm on that rim and they have always felt amazing.

I built them with DT240 hubs and IIRC the wheelset on my scale was 1415grams???

Anyway, I will be moving to a 40mm tire this season to see how it performs on the wheelset, but I honestly cant think it will be better than a 35mm from the fact the 35mm just fits the profile well from an aerodynamic perspective (via eye and Vernier) and picking up weight also.

If you search my name on this thread I have shared various different tires and how the measure out on these rims.

[Teddy_Focaccia]

Thanks for the feedback. I’m definitely torn between the Nextie and the LB options; Nextie is a few hundred bucks cheaper but otherwise they seem pretty equivalent. If anyone had takes I’d love to hear em.

[ABG]

I feel like this design in the best.

Any down side?

[Teddy_Focaccia]

I’ll definitely get a hooked rim, based on that slowtwitch article I think that makes sense as insurance until tire standards get fully on board with wider rims.

[ABG]

Light bike are hybridhook what ever that is

[teddygram]

@Teddy_Focaccia

Thanks for the feedback. I’m definitely torn between the Nextie and the LB options; Nextie is a few hundred bucks cheaper but otherwise they seem pretty equivalent. If anyone had takes I’d love to hear em.

I have (3) sets of Nextie wheels and have not had issues as of yet, I know of about 8 total sets in my area and have not heard anything bad about them.

@ABG

I feel like this design in the best.

Any down side?

The only downside I have seen is with a hookless version running Rene Herse tires (see this thread)

They have these rims in a hooked version, honestly the only downside I see with the rims being this wide is running a narrow tire. I would not recommend anything less than 35mm IMO.

@Teddy_Focaccia

I’ll definitely get a hooked rim, based on that slowtwitch article I think that makes sense as insurance until tire standards get fully on board with wider rims.

The AGX rims can be hooked or hookless

[ddetch]

@Nicholas

I was in a similar position about 2 months ago - trying to decide between the LB AR25 or a wider rim exclusively for gravel use.

I ended up going with the AR25 for a few reasons:

1. For the gravel I’ll be riding (Australia) I wanted to run 35mm-45mm tires, and will start off with the 42mm S-Works Pathfinder. The internal width of the AR25 better suits that range
2. I liked that the AR25s came with a Hybrid Hook design. I’m not completely sold on hookless for non-MTB wheels/pressures (yet) and like the added security from the HH
3. Weight - I have spec’d the wheel set from LB with DT180 hubs and the total wheel set weight is 1022g (about 110g less than the XC930s)

Wheelset has been built and waiting on its arrival:

Can I just say that the whole ordering process with LightBicycle has been flawless - great customer service and ability to customise everything to your liking. You have an option (free) when ordering of getting photos of the wheels sent to you after they’re built, and they sent through 10x HQ photos similar to those you see above.

Will let you know what the quality / trueness is like after they’ve arrived

Do you still like your wheel choice? I’m deciding between these lightweight rims or the super wide LB or Nextie rims.