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I have a cyclocross bike with Alex ATD 470 Disc rim with TCS (Tubeless Compatible System) currently mounted with Vittoria, Cross XN, 700 x 32c tires. However tires are a bit worn out and I want to be driving a bit off road during the winter.

My question is whether the 700x32 tires would be interchangeable with 700x35 for winter and with 700x28 for summer?

Thanks in advance. I understand that technically this should be possible, but whether it is okey to do that, since I believe that in certain occasion I would have to overinflate tire ( 700x28 ), right?

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  • What's your bike frame? Based on my experience, the biggest problem would be the frame can accommodate fatter tires or not...
    – azer89
    Jul 28, 2015 at 15:32
  • It will work. Cyclocross bikes have wide tyre passages, think mud packed wheels! For mine I have two sets of wheels: one with Vittoria 28mm road tyres and one to take 32 to 35 knobbly tyres.
    – Carel
    Jul 28, 2015 at 15:52
  • Why would you over inflate? What do you mean by interchangeable? Clearly you can change tires on the bike winter to summer. It is not clear to me what you are asking. Batman did not answer your question?
    – paparazzo
    Jul 28, 2015 at 15:55
  • Thanks guys. @Carel is right, i have wide forks in my cyclocross bike thus i will fit i guess up to 37... :)
    – nerijusgood
    Jul 29, 2015 at 16:10

3 Answers 3

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You can (theoretically) mount any 700x(something) tire on any 700c (ISO 622) rim. However, you need to make sure the frame (and brakes if rim brakes are used) can clear the tire without rubbing.

You generally want to match the rim width to the tire though -- too narrow or too wide of a tire on a rim can lead to tire/rim damage or bad handling.

In your case, the rim width is 17 mm and the chart linked above says 25-37 should all be fine.

As for overinflating, why would you overinflate? You will use a higher pressure with a narrower tire, but overinflating means putting too much air in. And this can be bad for the rim. The right tire pressure is not whats written on the sidewall of the tire -- in fact, you'll almost never use that much pressure. We have many questions on tire pressure setup, so I encourage you to use the search feature to look at some of them.

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  • A side point to this answer: Tires can have some variance in sizing; some 700x32's might be closer to 700x35 really and vice versa. So, if you're looking at a size that might be a close call, the particular tire model can matter.
    – Batman
    Nov 12, 2017 at 15:16
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Are you running the wheels as tubeless?

If you are you'll want to be sure that the rims and tires are rated for sufficient pressure. Last time I was looking at tubeless (early-2015) I wasn't having much luck finding road rims and tires. I think that the issue was the pressures that need to be run to support the narrower tires.

But if you're running tubes, then @Batman pretty much said it all.

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  • I don't think you looked very hard: I have been running Hutchinson tubeless road tyres since 2010. Have a look at the range here: hutchinsontires.com/en/7-road Schwalbe One also comes in a tubeless model, but I didn't like it as much as the Hutchinson Atom.
    – brendan
    Jul 29, 2015 at 4:06
  • I was looking for a wider tire 32 or 35 mm and a 36 hole rim. I think I saw those, but the widest seems to be 28 mm.
    – dlu
    Jul 29, 2015 at 6:48
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I run on Alex ATD 470 rims with 700x48 Vittoria Randonneurs. This works fine and it produces an amazing ride. The only question is frame clearance, which in fine on my Novara Mazama (even with SKS longboards). I run pressures from 35psi to 60 psi without any sidewall or rim damage. The capacity of the rims to accommodate wide tires has not given me any trouble. The Novara Mazama, favorably reviewed by Patrick O'Grady in Adventure Cycling in May 2015,is sold with ATD 470 rims with Clement X-Plor 700x40 tires. The very popular Novara Safari comes with the same wheels with the 700x48 Vittoria Randonneurs.

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  • While this link may answer the question, it is better to include the essential parts of the answer here and provide the link for reference. Link-only answers can become invalid if the linked page changes. - From Review
    – L.Dutch
    Nov 12, 2017 at 20:13
  • @L.Dutch But its not a link-only answer ? Not overly useful, but not a terrible answer either. It does state that these rims work okay with both 40mm and 48mm tyres and that frame clearance is the limiting factor.
    – Criggie ♦
    Nov 12, 2017 at 21:38

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