OddSlug wrote:
I'm not sure how to manage it in a thread but one way a group could be useful is flagging good/bad tire and wheel combinations. My understanding is that there are small differences in sizes that mean for some combinations it is extremely hard to get the tire on. I'm not sure exactly what the problem would be with a larger tire/smaller wheel combo but presumably there is one or the variance wouldn't exist. Harder to seal? More likely to blow off? That may just be a list of combos with a rating/vote for ease of setup. With enough info you could presumably work out where each tire/wheel is on the smaller/larger scale and make an educated guess about how an unlisted combo might work.
Or that may already exist somewhere and someone replies with a link to it.
We've looked into doing a database for this. Tough part is pulling it off in a reasonably time-efficient manner.
"I'm not sure exactly what the problem would be with a larger tire/smaller wheel combo but presumably there is one or the variance wouldn't exist. Harder to seal? More likely to blow off? "
The loose-fitting combos require an air compressor or CO2 to install the tires. You have to blast the beads quickly into place, or all of the air rushes out. I suppose you could say they're more likely to blow off, but I've never heard of this. Tubeless beads are made to be pretty robust. The exception may be with hookless rim beads. This has been around for fat bikes and MTB for a little while now, and it's making its way to road/gravel for some brands. We're looking more in to this. It seems that you may not be able to run tubed tires on these, because the beads aren't strong enough and need the bead hooks for retention.
EDIT: Confirmed - at least for the ENVE SES AR 4.5... you can ONLY run a tubeless-ready tire on them (yes, you could put a tube inside if you really want). You need the strong tubeless-ready tire beads.