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I'm looking for a new frame. My only requisite is that the frame should be able to take 700x35 wheels (the type of wheel I want).

How can I know if a frame is suitable or not for these kind of wheels?

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  • In general you shouldn't expect to go much larger than the tires the bike shipped with. Most can tolerate another 5mm or so in width, but you can get into clearance problems much beyond that. (And note that there's a major difference between tire width and rim width.) Apr 10, 2014 at 21:25
  • 5mm is a decent interval, especially taking different tread or studding patterns. I still think the best way to know is that you look it up - any frame manufacturer should at least provide that as a guideline (and then go a bit smaller if you're running studs/aggressive tread).
    – Batman
    Apr 10, 2014 at 23:50
  • A lot of "29'er" MTB frames will take 60mm or fatter tyres despite being sold with 40mm-ish tyres. The way to find out is to look at it and ask the staff.
    – Móż
    Apr 13, 2014 at 3:03

1 Answer 1

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When you buy a frame, they state the wheel type (it should have the right hub spacing for frame, braking surface (disc/rim brake) and rim size for the type of wheel the frame was intended to run and the size of tire you are intending to run) and tire clearance with it. Note that the tread pattern also affects clearance - if you have very aggressive tread or studded tires, you may not be able to fit the tire even if its the size they state. If its not stated, all you can do is get the frame and test a wheel+tire combination you want to use (your LBS will be helpful for this).

Some brands are known to have big clearance for tires, such as Surly (they market it as "FFF" - Fatties fit fine). Generally, the type of bike also affects clearance (fat bikes > mountain bikes > touring road bikes or cross bikes > road racers, for example). Most road racers won't clear a 700x35 tire, but most touring bikes and cross bikes will have no problem. A lot of 700c hybrids will also fit the 700x35 tire size, so the types of bikes which fit this tire size are pretty wide.

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  • I see, what happens when you are buying it from ebay? is there a rule of thumb or a certain measurement I could ask to the seller in order to know what I'm going to be able to fit in the frame? (e.g. hub length)
    – zom-pro
    Apr 10, 2014 at 12:53
  • Be careful with going with a frame that take tires that are too big, as it will affect how large chainrings you can put on the bike. The FFF bikes often have smaller than average chainrings from what I've seen. Most touring frames should be able to fit 700/35 tires, especially if you don't have a need for fenders, but even then, they should fit.
    – Kibbee
    Apr 10, 2014 at 12:58
  • Generally, road bikes use 130mm spacing, mountain bikes use 135 mm spacing these days for the hubs, so if its a modern frame you don't need to worry. The brake type should be obvious. And you just need to ask the seller what kind of wheels and tire clearance it has. If they can't tell you, chances are you shouldn't be buying the frame from them anyway. As for FFF having smaller chainrings, they aren't so small that they cause problems (crosscheck complete ships with 48t/36t which seems fine relative to a road compact or regular double for most uses).
    – Batman
    Apr 10, 2014 at 13:03
  • It may also be good to visit your LBS to buy a frame - note that you need to get the bike fit down, which is hard from a bike geometry table even for someone with a decent amount of experience (you also need to deal with the other parts you're speccing in so they can probably help you with that, along with installing the parts for things you may not have tools to do, such as cutting forks with a pipe cutter rather than a hacksaw). Another alternative is to just buy a complete bike based on a frame you like and replace parts that you don't want.
    – Batman
    Apr 10, 2014 at 13:07
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    @JorgePM apart from tourers, if you want flat bars but not MTBs most hybrids will have sufficient clearance - it's only really road bikes where the tyre would touch something it shouldn't, as long as the wheel diameter is right of course.
    – Chris H
    Apr 10, 2014 at 13:44

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