Cycling UK Forum

How does the rim width affect ride quality?

I just changed the front wheel from 559x17 to a 559x19 rim. Just wondering what if any are the consequences.

narrow tyre on a wide rim will give a harsh ride and more pinch flats
2mm difference in rim width is unlikely to matter, unless you were "on the edge" of tyre/rim compatibility before.

so you may want a bigger tyre.
Try it out - you tell us

same tyre schwalbe marathon 559x1.75

seems less harsh over the bad London roads. but it could the spokes are tighter than in the original factory wheel?

1.75 is at the wider end of the range of suitable tyre widths, so the wider rim is more likely to be better than worse. I wouldn't expect the difference to be really noticeable, but since the tyre has been off & back on it's quite likely that the pressure is different and that's what you are feeling.

Unless the spokes were completely slack they shouldn't make any difference, the tyre is what gives the movement in a wheel.

And the width of the rim will subtly affect the overall shape of the tyre, so the sidewall response will be different - the air will do the same job (assuming the tyre still fits)

I agree. However if the bearings were slack in the old wheel this would make a difference.

The rim width affects the (fitted) tyre width and this affects the way the tyre absorbs the bumps.

However it is worse than that; the way the tyre sits on the rim may vary or indeed the bead seat diameter can vary a little too. I think that between all these things it is possible that the tyre carcass can be sheared slightly, so that the bias ply angle varies a little. This will make a difference in the way the tyre works and may even change the Crr value.

cheers

The spoke lacing pattern could alter the ride quality more than I would expect an extra 2mm rim width to do.

TimP wrote:The spoke lacing pattern could alter the ride quality more than I would expect an extra 2mm rim width to do.

I don't understand how that could happen unless the spokes were so slack as to allow the rim to give.

TimP wrote:The spoke lacing pattern could alter the ride quality more than I would expect an extra 2mm rim width to do.

Not unless your spokes aren't doing their job.


The pretensioned wheel is one of the strongest things in the modern world. Look up prince Rupert's drop on YouTube to see why...

[XAP]Bob wrote:The pretensioned wheel is one of the strongest things in the modern world. Look up prince Rupert's drop on YouTube to see why...

I didn’t find a relevant video with those terms. Would you mind posting a link?