26” ain’t dead - maybe?

[Attempted Mustache]

This certainly won’t be to everyone’s taste, but is interesting to see the continued interest in classic era mtbs in some circles produce new variants on the ‘modern 26er’;

https://theradavist.com/squid-bikes-maybe-dead-26-rigid-mtb/

 

[bikeworkshop]

That's quite sweet, but I'd say the disadvantages of an Eccentric bb outweigh the advantage of a thru axle, especially on a city bike.
A 26" wheel would only really offer an advantage over 27.5 for a smaller rider or heavier load - given the poor rim and tyre choice these days.

Bristol Evans and halfords have been telling their customers you can't buy 26" tyres any more

 

[JCS]

That looks great. Steel, nice fade paint job, tan wall tryres. Ticks a lot of boxes.
Really good to see there is interest in bikes like this. Cycling would be boring if everyone rode the same type of bike.

 

[clubby]

Why oh why didn’t they cut the mech hanger off? All that effort and left that. Replacements are pennies if you ever wanted to run gears, especially compared to a new wheel build. Completely ruins it for me.

 

[bikeworkshop]

Any bike that offers multiple gearing style options looks a little odd to me.
I understand why from a manufacturing and marketing perspective, but anyone with enough money to buy a singlespeed of this quality will have a different frame for dérailleurs.

But at least it doesn't have a belt- drive split Chainstay.
That drives me up the wall.

Some soma frames have it

 

[Attempted Mustache]

Why oh why didn’t they cut the mech hanger off? All that effort and left that. Replacements are pennies if you ever wanted to run gears, especially compared to a new wheel build. Completely ruins it for me.

Erm… that’s kind of the point - these frames are UDH (Universal Derailleur Hanger) specific, so the hanger is easily replaceable/removable.

 

[brocklanders023]

Seems to me that it's actually 27.5 that's dead, killed off by the very people who created it. I reckon 26" could have a second coming due to there being far more of those still about compared to 650b.

I'll be riding 29" though.

 

[slackboy]

Thats a lot of pennies for a rigid frame.

• $2,100 frame and fork
• Double-butted tubing throughout
• 12×142 rear and 12×100 front spacing
• UDH dropout allows for T-TYPE derailleurs
• 27.2 seatpost
• 73mm PF30 bottom bracket (ONER ready for single speeding)
• 26×2.4 Tire Clearance
• 34/34EC headset (not included)
• Made in USA by PRANDUS

 

[clubby]

Erm… that’s kind of the point - these frames are UDH (Universal Derailleur Hanger) specific, so the hanger is easily replaceable/removable.

That was exactly my point. They could have trimmed the threaded hanger off and left it much neater looking. They went to all the trouble of a custom paint job etc and left a vestigial hanger. Singlespeed frames with a hanger left dangling always look awful.
When I had my Jones, it had a single speed specific drop out that could be quickly swapped for a geared one. Granted, that frame had other aesthetic challenges but at least the drop outs looked neat.

 

[bikeworkshop]

A bike should look like it's meant to be doing what it's doing.