BIKEPGH MESSAGE BOARD ARCHIVE

« Back to Archive
5

What makes a rim v-brake/cantilever specific?

I'm looking to do some shuffling around, and would like to put the wheels that are on my cantilever-equipped bike over to my caliper-equipped road bike. Since they are both 700c, and wheel goes in just fine, I don't think it will be a problem. But I was looking at the site of the rim maker and saw that they deemed it "v-brake" specific.


http://www.wtb.com/products/wheels/rims/xc/dx23/


What makes the rim v-brake specific? Any reason why I shouldn't switch them around? Sorry, I'm pretty new at this stuff, so maybe this is a stupid question, but I couldn't find an answer to it online. I see cyclocross bikes with Mavic Open Pro rims all the time...so I don't know why it would matter the other way around.


Lastly, for that rim (which is 23mm wide) what is the thinnest tire I should put on it? It doesn't say. Can I go as low as 23? 25? Clearly it's meant for wider tires...but just thought I'd ask.


Thank you in advance for any help you can give.


sleeper
2010-01-08 01:57:50

Sorry, probably should have posted this on the DIY section. Just realized that.


sleeper
2010-01-08 01:59:12

Nothing makes it more v-brake or other caliper brake specific. Maybe a marketing department, and one may argue that the width of the brake track can make a rim better suited to one sort of rim brake than another. Switch them around at will, you will have to adjust your brakes for the difference in width of the rim as compared to what is currently on it.


You should probably run no thinner than a 28mm tire or so on that. At least, I don't think I would. This may be the hitch in your plan, as your caliper road bike may not accept larger tires.


bradq
2010-01-08 04:29:50

They almost surely mean v-brake specific as opposed to disc brake. I suppose they could have put "rim brake specific" or "caliper specific" but then you're just getting specific. Primarily they just wanted to indicated whether or not it had a brake track on it.


mayhew
2010-01-08 13:55:41

Thank you guys!


sleeper
2010-01-08 16:56:56