HED tubs and 23c tires Q

[merckx]

How well do 23c (looking at Veloflex Criteriums) tubs fit onto HED tub rims? Is this size tire too narrow for this rim? I am just wondering if the rim sidewalls will be wider than the tire.

[RedRider]

I ran HED Stinger 6s with Conti Gran Prix 22mm tubulars and loved the ride. It looked odd at first since the tire was barely the width of the rim when glued.

[eBAUMANN]

How well do 23c (looking at Veloflex Criteriums) tubs fit onto HED tub rims? Is this size tire too narrow for this rim? I am just wondering if the rim sidewalls will be wider than the tire.

based on my experience with 23c veloflex tires (clinchers) on a standard width rim (vintage campy), they fill out to be quite a bit smaller than advertised.

that said, I would assume that a reputable brand like veloflex would produce tubulars that measure out to their advertised size.

THAT said, I would still go 25c on a 23mm wide rim, but thats just me ;)

note : i believe shimano (and maybe other wheel manufacturers) actually RECOMMENDS using a 25c tire on their wider tubular rims, a recommendation that a lot of pro teams followed this last season IIRC...

[carpediemracing]

I ran a pair of Stinger 6s in 2010 with 21 mm tires (EVO CX). Then I ran them with 22 mm tires (Bontrager) in 2012. Then finally I ran them with 23 mm tires (Bontrager) for a bit in 2013. I currently have the Stinger 6s, still with the Bontragers, and also have a Stinger 7 front (23mm EVO CX) and Stinger 9 rear (23mm EVO Tech), which is now my primary wheelset.

I worried with the 21mm of hitting the rim when cornering in crits but that never happened.

The 23mm tires are narrower than the widest part of the Stinger 6/7/9 rims, which I think are 28mm wide.

Other than not really wanting to ride a flat tire I don't see any problems with the 21/22/23 mm tires with the rims. With a normal rim (Reynolds DV46, older Zipp, Campy Record tubulars, Mavic, etc) I'd be willing to ride a flat tire for a while, like 10 miles or more, not on these. I actually walked the bike about 200 yards when I dropped out of a race with a flat tire.

The tire bed is curved and shaped for a tire like a 22-23 mm, at least in terms of what I've used. They cradle the tire well.

Remember that the width of the rim is for aerodynamics, not for comfort. Tires on these wide rims are not meant to be run at lower than normal pressures like the wide clinchers are. I made this mistake when I raced them in my first "important" crit and I almost took myself and others out when the bike refused to turn hard. I was running 90 psi instead of the 120-130 psi that I would normally run (21 mm tires). Back up to normal pressure and I had no problems turning. I'd been skeptical of the clinchers and had finally gotten down to the 85-90 psi range so I decided to try it on the Stingers. Oops.

I don't run 25mm tubulars but it would make sense that you could run lower pressures in them.

On the clinchers I normally run anywhere from 85-100 psi and I've ridden with as low as 65 psi. 700x23c tire on the 23mm Ardennes/Bastogne rims.

[merckx]

Thanks, seize-the-moment racing guy.

[11.4]

I ride Veloflex Record 22 mm tubs on Hed tubular rims. Beautiful, stable fit. As someone said above, the curvature of the tire bed (which is always critical) is shaped to fit about a 22-23 mm tire, so it actually gives more gripping surface and more "shoulder" to resist rolling. It's an amazing combination and on the track where there's a lot of lateral stress, the wheels are palpably better.