Biggest Tire for My Size Rims?

[Velocivixen]

Hello,

I have googled this and cannot find what I am looking for. My Surly CC has Alex , DA16 rims (32h x 700C) and the spokes are DT Swiss, stainless steel, 14g/2.0mm w/12mm silver brass nipples. Not sure what all those numbers mean. I do know that I have 700C wheels and my current tires are 32x700c tires (Panaracer Pasela with kevlar belt). So....my question is: how wide is the widest tires I can safely put on this wheel? One cyclist I met suggested at least up to 38x700c. Does this sound right?

Are there any reputable online resources for this information? I have read somewhere that if your tires get too wide for the rim there are potential "issues" esp. with cornering. I don't recall what the issues are though.

Thanks for taking the time to answer this.
Happy cycling.

[Becky]

I like Sheldon's chart, the red and green one near the bottom of the page: http://sheldonbrown.com/tire-sizing.html

[Velocivixen]

Thanks so much Becky. I really enjoy reading Sheldon Brown's site and I'm not sure why I wasn't able to find that page. I have bookmarked it so now I have it. Thanks so much!

[Velocivixen]

UPDATE: I read Sheldon Browns site posted above, and what I cannot figure out is what is the inner rim measurement of my wheel? I do not want to remove the tire & tube and measure it, which I would have to to do in order to use his chart. Are there numbers which I have provided above which will tell me the width of the rim?

Thanks.

[Becky]

Nope, and I don't know of any way to estimate inner rim width from outer rim width since the actual wall thickness would have an effect.

I guess it's possible that model designation "DA16" refers in some way to the rim width, but I don't know enough about Alex's nomenclature to make a guess. Maybe Google the rim model and see if you can find better specs?

[radacrider]

UPDATE: I read Sheldon Browns site posted above, and what I cannot figure out is what is the inner rim measurement of my wheel? I do not want to remove the tire & tube and measure it, which I would have to to do in order to use his chart. Are there numbers which I have provided above which will tell me the width of the rim?

Thanks.

Here's a page with the specs on the Alex wheel for 700c:
http://www.kstoerz.com/freespoke/rim/119