Is there any future at all for the 26 wheel?

[munkey_bwy]

Re:

I think that 26" will make a come back but only from the point of view that marketers will bring it back with some reason to drive sales, unfortunately.

Being the owner of 26 / 27.5 & 29" bikes there is one benefit of the 29er and that is purely the sheer breadth of tire choice. I can run, MTB, road, CX and any other 29 or 700c sized tire.

Yes you can say that you can do similar with 26", i used to love running Turbo S's on my 26" wheeled bikes on the road, but the 29" has that little bit more flexibility.

 

[stevet1]

26" won't come back, no reason to as pointed out 27.5 is too close to 26 to make it worthwhile. And I say that as an avid 26" fan, I have a stack of 26" rims and tyres stockpiled. It will stay around for kids bikes, and also for DJ bikes but as for coming back into the mainstream for MTB - forget it.
Personally, I have 2 26" bikes and used to have a third but wanted to change the frame and the only wheelsize available in my choice of frame was 27.5 (well there was a 29'er option but I'm not going there). I toyed with going custom via someone like BTR to stay with 26" but in my heart I know that 26" parts are now in the main defunct so went 27.5. Can't tell any difference, maybe a tiny % more inertia. My only hope is 27.5 doesn't go as well, as 29" now seems to be preferred by many.

 

[slomo]

Re:

Friend of mine uses 24'' wheels on his mountain bike (Giant NRS designed for 26'' wheels) because he just prefers how the bike handles like that.

My Marin B17 (with 26'' wheels) makes me grin from ear to ear every time i ride it.

If it makes you happy - it can't be that bad.....

I don't think we need to worry about the 26'' wheel just yet.

 

[Frankenorange]

Would lists be helpful of the available parts relevant to the 26" wheel i.e forks, rims/wheelsets, tyres with specs and where to get them? It would be modern kit for the most part but there are more 26" wheeled bikes being used daily than there are show bikes. There is a big choice out there with junior cx, touring , mtb and even a couple of modern 'gravel' bespoke bikes built around the 26" wheel and there are really expensive to very cheap parts to choose from.

Could lists of products work on this forum somehow?

 

[Woz]

^ Good points. A list would be useful as I'm in the dark ages. Who is building bespoke 26" gravel bikes then?

 

[velomaniac]

Re:

You can now get extender plates for your v-brakes so that the pads can now reach a 27.5 rim in a 26er frame. With that in mind who would need to stick with 26" wheels as even our retro bikes can be up/re graded. Sad but "progress" has forever left perfectly good far behind :-(

 

[Frankenorange]

^ Good points. A list would be useful as I'm in the dark ages. Who is building bespoke 26" gravel bikes then?

Over the last year i have seen a couple of builds by small scale builders on Radavist using 26" and not just bikes for shorter people. I cant remember the names so one would have to trawl through all the photo shoots.

 

[mk one]

26" won't come back, no reason to as pointed out 27.5 is too close to 26 to make it worthwhile. And I say that as an avid 26" fan, I have a stack of 26" rims and tyres stockpiled. It will stay around for kids bikes, and also for DJ bikes but as for coming back into the mainstream for MTB - forget it.
Personally, I have 2 26" bikes and used to have a third but wanted to change the frame and the only wheelsize available in my choice of frame was 27.5 (well there was a 29'er option but I'm not going there). I toyed with going custom via someone like BTR to stay with 26" but in my heart I know that 26" parts are now in the main defunct so went 27.5. Can't tell any difference, maybe a tiny % more inertia. My only hope is 27.5 doesn't go as well, as 29" now seems to be preferred by many.

That 1st sentence

 

[Barnard102]

29" is much better as a rider. Also, a lot of 29" bikes can take 27.5+ tyres too. I don't know any 26ers with this versatility. Retro look better though!

 

[brocklanders023]

Re:

Don’t think you all need to worry anyway, you can still buy every part you might need in 26” flavour.