Can I put gravel tires on a mtb rim? Tubeless?

wonderturtle

Well-Known Member
So the rear wheel on my gravel bike is getting beat up and will need to be replaced soon. I have a number of extra mtb wheels (eg, Stan’s flow Ex). I am pretty sure they will fit the bike, but will the mtb rim work with a tubeless gravel tire (35 or 38)?
 

Pearl

THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING
Yes, I run this currently. My singlespeed wheelset doubles as my gravel “fast” wheelset.

Someone can correct me if I’m wrong, but I think the only issue is running too high of a pressure. The mtb wheels aren’t made to deal with that.
 

jShort

2018 Fantasy Football Toilet Bowl Lead Technician
Team MTBNJ Halter's
I think a flow might be too wide for a gravel tire/bike. How wide is the rim? Mm?
 

The Kalmyk

Well-Known Member
I run a 29mm internal rim with a 38c gravel tire and its dope.

I took notice of rather wide rims on gravel bikes at a recent event. A very quick search brought up a slew of opinions on internal rim width to tire width. It’s very interesting to see where this all goes.

I know im not keen enough to know if I was riding on 25mm or 29mm.
 

RNG1

Well-Known Member
I hope so, just got a pair of gravel tires for my stock wheels that came with my Blur. I’m told it’s fine and made sure tires are tubeless ready. Plan to use this setup for that Dirty Apple event 10/13
 

Magic

Formerly 1sh0t1b33r
Team MTBNJ Halter's
Yes, MTB wheels work fine for cross/low-psi gravel. A Flow is on the wider side, but the EX is narrower than the MK3 at least, so you should be ok. Just go for the wider tire if you have an option. Something like the 40c Kenda Happy Medium would be great. Fast rolling center with some knobs and would only need like 30-40psi.

As Pearl said, MTB wheels generally aren't built for high pressures. I've usually seen like 45-60psi max ratings on some aluminum MTB hoops. That being said, I did put road tires on a MTB wheels once in a pinch and survived at ~80psi. I took it easy over bumps and cracks though in case it blew the rim wall off. 45-60psi is probably more to cover their ass though, kind of like expiration dates on food. Everyone knows you can eat a Twinkie years past the printer date.
 
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