etrto standards and databooks for tire size

More specifically, our friends at ENVE called out a handful of things about which they were happy to see.ġ. We’re not there yet with road, but my hope is that clarification of standards will be another step in the right direction. As many of you know, tubeless started with mountain bikes, and went through about a decade of evolution and fuss before settling in to what we have today – which is largely a situation of confidence that any major wheel will work with any major tire, without a significant hassle or mess in your garage. The biggest news is that the long-time ‘ATB’ standard (All Terrain Bike, or mountain bike) for tubeless has been updated to include road and gravel sizes. To sum up my feelings: I prefer a slow-moving standard to no standard, and I think you should, too. As of today, ETRTO is the big game in town for wheel and tire standards, and I am glad to see these updates. The focus ought to be on making products that work safely, work every time, and work in concert with products from other brands (in other words, making products that function reliably in the messy reality of the real world). My opinion is that – on the whole – bicycle innovation moves plenty fast, and both the average consumer and the entire wholesale and retail marketplace would benefit from moderating the pace of new products and standards. People whine and complain about the lack of standardization in the bicycle industry (myself included), but some also lament the slow-moving nature of organizations such as ETRTO. In fact, it was the folks at ENVE that tipped us off to the fact that ETRTO has taken action to update and clarify their standards for 2020, as they relate to tubeless, hookless, and other modern technologies.Īs someone that has had his finger on the pulse of the bicycle wheel and tire business for over 15 years, I can confidently tell you that this is a big deal. We also took a tour through the ENVE test lab and detailed their efforts at creating and updating safety standards for tubeless wheels and tires. We have covered various aspects of ETRTO standards over the years, including the complications that have arisen from the advent of tubeless technology and hookless rims.

the tire comes off the wheel, and bad things follow). If a tire was manufactured to be too large and mounted to a wheel that was manufactured to be too small, it’s easy to imagine the resulting catastrophe (i.e. In order to ensure safety and compatibility across different brands, manufacturers must create products that fit within the allowable ETRTO tolerance ranges. Based in Brussels, Belgium, the European Tyre and Rim Technical Organization (ETRTO) oversees standardization for many types of pneumatic tires and wheels, including those used for bicycles.

Etrto standards and databooks for tire size