Are there many people still running 26in wheels

MadfishJDM

As title, are these now outdated and unwanted? All new bikes seem to be 27.5, 29, 27.5+ etc...

Will I get laughed at for rocking up on a bike with 26in wheels?

cooldad

Yes.

JBA

There are still plenty of 26ers about. Just because they are not 'fashionable' does not mean they stop working.
Why would anybody laugh at you for having 26" wheels? If they do then they are twats and should be treated with contempt.

In our house we are still using 2 bikes with 26" wheels. There is nothing wrong with the bikes or the wheels so I am in no rush to change them for the sake of fashion. I am just as crap on 27.5" as 26" wheels.

steve_sordy

Nobody will laugh except arse'oles.

Sniper88 will tell you how many millions of 26ers are still being manufactured.

MadfishJDM

Cool

I was kinda of kidding about the laughing point... Not that bothered what other people think but I was genuinely curious if there were still 26ers out there.

slc123

I think there is still validity for running 26in wheels. One of the guys I ride with a lot much prefers the 26er for tight technical work as it handles really well. Obviously there are benefits to running 27.5 or 29 and everyone has their preference. I guess the biggest downside is less components are being built for 26 so it's slightly harder to get hold of stuff, although plenty of stuff floating around second hand.

I doubt most people could instantly tell the difference on a 27.5 or 26 wheel size, so I am sure you are safe from heckling!

swod1

yes my bike still has 26" wheels, they work fine and don't see any reason to change them at moment. frame and fork are 27.5 compatible and so i'll change over at some point.

billycool

I've ridden 26" since 1990 and won't change anytime soon as I have too much money invested in wheels and tyres.

HT is 2006 Spesh Stumpjumper - slightly older geometry but good for winter hacking and XC/road work.

FS is 2013 Norco Sight 140mm - I love my old school single track XC, so as above, I like 26" for the tight/twisty stuff and it suits how I ride. It's been to BPW, Afan, Peaks, Cannock etc and I love it.

I have friends who ride more long distance stuff and 29'ers suit them better as they are the preverbial mile munchers. When we did Afan last year, they both really struggled on some of the the tight switchbacks but stretched their legs on the flat/fast sections. It really is horses for courses. Personally, I'm not a fan of 29" because of what I ride but they are awesome on the right terrain. I've ridden a 27.5" recently and that would suit me better if I did finally change wheel size.

26" are still wheels and work perfectly well. You can still get wheels etc or build your own. My most recent set were built on Hope Pro 4 hubs with some nice WTB rims that were discounted from £69.99 to £19.99 each. There are still plenty of 26" tyre options as well. I won't run out of spares anytime soon.

The wheel size debate is partly a marketing thing to get you to buy newer stuff and is seen as `progression` over 26".
Sure, you can't buy most bikes in 26" anymore, but they still exist and aren't obsolete.

As long as you are getting out there and having fun - who cares!

swod1

yes same here billycool my 26er wheels are hope pro 2 evos on mavic en821 ust rims excellent quality no binning them off yet.

robertpb

Wheel size is nothing new on MTB's in the mid 80's our group rides had 24", 26", 650b (27.5) and 700c (29), I rode with a lot of frame builders.
At the time 26" and 650b were deemed to be the best compromise as 29" were quite a bit bigger for small turns, 24" were just a good laugh for twisty stuff.
These wheels should be called if you start from the basis that a 26" is 26", then 26", 27" and 28.5", that's why a 29" feels so much bigger that jump of 1.5" from a 650b.

I'm still rolling along on 26".

CitizenLee

My 2012 NukeProof Mega is 26" and I'll happily stick with that until I eventually need a new bike, then I'll probably go with 27.5"... not because I see any real benefit to it, more because of availability.

apreading

I finally gave in and got a 27.5 about a year ago. Bike feels very different because I moved from hardtail to full suss but wheelsize doesnt seem that noticeable. I am still rubbish at MTB. Didnt expect otherwise...

tom_howard

I reckon the vast majority of new MTBs sold today will still be 26"

(none of them will cost more than £300)

slc123

Tom Howard wrote:

I reckon the vast majority of new MTBs sold today will still be 26"

(none of them will cost more than £300)

Not so sure about this... not in the UK anyway. I could be wrong though.

swod1

Could be as what is the kids wheel size now 26 or still 24" etc?

A lot of cheap bikes are 27.5 or 29 unless you specifically look out for a 26" wheeled new bike.

tom_howard

I'm taking about your catalogue/supermarket/cheap Halfords/GO/decathlon bikes. Whatever happens in the enthusiast market pales into insignificance compared whats sold there.

Average new bike cost in the UK is about £250 iirc

MadfishJDM

Not sure if my frame and fork would accommodate a 27.5 wheel so I'll stick with this for now

It's light and nimble so that'll do for what I use it for at the moment

slc123

Interestingly...

Decathlon currently has 29 variants in 27.5 and only 3 in 26.
Halfords 59 in 27.5 and 37 in 26
GO 19 in 27.5 and 15 in 26

Decathlon actually state 27.5 is the "new standard" and 26 is the "previous standard". I am not suggesting that's accurate at all, but the average buyer would be easily led down that path as per the OPs original comments.

No disputes on the pricing though, the vast majority would be pretty cheap bikes I would imagine, especially as trickle down technology is making them cheaper.

sniper68

steve_sordy wrote:

Nobody will laugh except ars*'oles.
Sniper88 will tell you how many millions of 26ers are still being manufactured.

No he won't as he has had no interest in MTBs since selling his FS in 2015 and his HT in 2016.I've not looked at an MTB since and have absolutely no idea what's out there now.Apart from the Roady shop in Mallorca and a couple of trips to a local Roadshop/Cafe I've not been in a Bike shop that sells MTBs for almost 3 years I've not looked at a MTB magazine since cancelling my MBR subs in 2014.No interest whatsoever these days 8)
I don't even have a crafty glance when I pass MTBs on the trails now either.They're dead to me now

poah

got a cracking deal on brand new ex1501 wheels recently. Cost less than a pair of 240 hub.

transition suppressor 26



Dartmoor hornet 26



transition scout with 26 fork and 26 wheels

swod1

Get a good pair of 26inch wheels now and they'll last loads more years yet.

I wonder if to start stock piling tyres for them, can't see me changing any time soon unless there is a stupidly good offer on some hope pro4s in 27.5.

like the gold chain, KMC? It's reminded me I need to buy another one I've managed to stretch out a x10 superlight chain.

sniper68

POAH wrote:

got a cracking deal on brand new ex1501 wheels recently. Cost less than a pair of 240 hub.

transition suppressor 26



Dartmoor hornet 26



transition scout with 26 fork and 26 wheels

Nice!
My mate had a Transition Covert a few years ago.Lovely bike 8)

mattyfez

Yep...

swod1

Nice, was that a beer stop on way back from a ride lol.

Think it'll be a long while until I move to 27.5, 26er wheels work fine for my usage or run over them with the car oops excuse to buy something new.

croptonboy

When I joined this forum there was talk of 26" bikes dying, and while getting brand new forks and such may be a thing of the past, 26" bikes are far from dead even today

swod1

Croptonboy wrote:

When I joined this forum there was talk of 26" bikes dying, and while getting brand new forks and such may be a thing of the past, 26" bikes are far from dead even today

Exactly my hardtail frame and forks are 27.5 compatible but my 26er wheels are still working great. I'll have to do a comparison once I do move over 27.5 wheels, I doubt I'll notice any difference.

mattyfez

I wouldn't bother swapping wheel sizes just for the sake of it.. If you are 27.5 compatible and you find a wheelset at the right price that's better/lighter/better hubs etc then sure, but I wouldn't change for size alone.

swod1

mattyfez wrote:

I wouldn't bother swapping wheel sizes just for the sake of it.. If you are 27.5 compatible and you find a wheelset at the right price that's better/lighter/better hubs etc then sure, but I wouldn't change for size alone.

I'm not for the moment these hope pro 2 evos with mavic en821 ust rims are great but 26ers aren't the in thing anymore lol

bonzo_banana

On a world level 27.5" is still utterly insignificant as most markets are 26" and 700c/29"/28". 26" are by far the strongest large size wheel. Still getting stunt bikes with 26" wheels and of course budget bikes. High end touring bikes often have 26" wheels not just for strength but because it means while touring pretty much anywhere in the world you have supplies of tyres and tubes. 26" are good for creating lightweight mountain bikes.

27.5" is much more likely to disappear than 26" as 26" is a pretty much a world standard with only a tiny minority of bikes fitted with 27.5" wheels. The etrto 622 standard which depending on market and type of bike is sold as 700c, 29" or 28" is also a world standard. If I buy a 29" mountain bike and want tyres for the road I have an absolutely huge range of options because I can use 700c tyres same extensive range with 26" tyres but with 27.5" while there are road tyre options it is only a tiny fraction of those available for 26" and 700c/29" with far less competitive pricing.

Average factory door price of bicycles sold in the world is something very low like $40 obviously that includes bikes sold to Africa, South America, China, India etc but most markets are extremely price sensitive to say the least.

With maybe 100-200 million bicycles manufactured a year it wouldn't surprise me if 27.5" is utterly insignificant maybe less than 3 million maybe even less than 1% of production.

I guess it's easy to look at the mainstream quality mountain bike market and perceive 27.5" as the norm nowadays but I think the reality of the overall industry is it is a niche product.

I looked at Halfords to see if 27.5" had made inroads into the budget bike sector which is by far the most significant end of the market for units sold. As already pointed out the average retail price of a bike sold in the UK is £250 and that is data from the main bicycle retailers not the huge amount sold by Ebay and Amazon who sell many cheap bikes. That £250 price has to allow for the wide range of bicycles some of which sell for 5 figures at the high end of the market. Lets say the average price of a bike sold in a local bike shop was £800 but Argos sold 5 bikes at £130 average for every 1 bike sold at a local bike shop. That works out as an average of about £240. There has to be a huge amount of bikes sold at low end pricing to get an average of £250.

This bike is confusing it states both 700c and 27.5" wheels but clearly cannot be both.

https://www.halfords.com/cycling/bikes/ ... -22-frames

However generally looking around 26" seems to dominate budget adult bikes with 700c being by far the next most popular. Maybe 27.5" is starting to appear as per the Apollo Evade but that isn't a particular cheap budget bike at £180. I would think entry level pricing was £150 or maybe even £100 or less.

Ultimately cycling is part fashion and following trends. Almost like a bicycle is an extension of your clothes and if you are fashion conscious then I guess 26" is like wearing the wrong brand or wrong type of clothes to some people. In many uses 26" will be superior and provide better value but will still be seen as wrong by some. You see unfit and elderly cyclists riding very high end road carbon bikes who are easily beaten by younger fit riders riding £300 road bikes. The marginal gains of the high end bike are completely nullified by the extra power of younger or fitter riders. I quite like the fact that riding something less than state of the art takes the pressure off if you lose but makes it all the more sweeter if you actually win on it.

mattyfez

Main issue with 26ers is its hard to find chubby tires, Shwalbe stopped making rocket ron in 26x2.4 a fair while back, but i think they still do them in 2.25.

And forks.. Suntour still do Raidon and epixon straight steer.. Frames limited to straight rather than tapered steerer are pretty limited for fork choice.
Luckily my current frame is zs44 so will take any fork with the right headset.

swod1

mattyfez wrote:

Main issue with 26ers is its hard to find chubby tires, Shwalbe stopped making rocket ron in 26x2.4 a fair while back, but i think they still do them in 2.25.

And forks.. Suntour still do Raidon and epixon straight steer.. Frames limited to straight rather than tapered steerer are pretty limited for fork choice.
Luckily my current frame is zs44 so will take any fork with the right headset.

maxxis minions, high roller 2 etc are still available in 26. Never really used Schwalbe tyres.