Maximum safe tyre width for a 17mm rim

Stu 74

Just got the missus a new bike. The wheels on this bike have 17mm wide rims and come with Specialized Captain 2.00 tyres. Her previous bike had 22mm wide rims and we used to run 2.35" Kenda Nevegals on these which she really liked because of the additional suspension effect of the higher volume tyres.

I would like to put the Nevegals on the new bike but I have read somewhere that there is a maximum safe limit of tyre width for a given rim width and for 17mm it is 2.1". Is this because there is a danger of the bigger tyres bulging out and being forced off the rim?

Can't seem to find much info on the net about this?

The Nevegals are wire bead and we run the tyres at low pressure (about 20 psi) as she is only about 7 stone if that makes any difference.

I really want the missus to get into biking and I know that having the right tyres can be very confidence inspiring.

Any help much appreciated.

Cheers

Stu

3110neil

Hi stu
my wheels have 17mm rims ,sent an email to manufacture got a reply back that they did not recommend anything bigger than 2.1 tyres ,so i stuck with that had asked on this site same question generall feed back was you could go bigger ,but tyre will bulge
hope this helps

Dirtydog11

The Nevegals are wire bead and we run the tyres at low pressure (about 20 psi) as she is only about 7 stone if that makes any difference.

Anything wider than a 2.1 at those pressures might cause them to roll off the rim.

nicklouse

what are the rims?

Stu 74

They are 'Specialized Alex Rims Stout SL'

Cheers

Stu