Are 26ers dead and whats the new 'economical' persons standard

[redefined_cycles]

Got the OnOne Fatty. Turns out it wont actually do for me what i was hoping it would (be the young uns main bike and fit me aswell) and due to costs of ownership over the long term and the fact that he wants something with a bit of suspension and its quite a chore riding DH. Riding uphill and up massive rocks is lovely though...

Anyway, so am in the market for a used bike. Don't wanna be fighting with Reg everytime something 26er pops up on tinternet for sale....

Anyway, just a bit of discussion before I make my next move. Am thinking a 29er hardtail seems here to stay as it would appear the 27.5 plus is also seeing a similar fate as the other standards...

[chrisjones]

What's your definition of economical?

[redefined_cycles]

What's your definition of economical?

Decent parts easily available enough widely that its not £100 per tyre for example... I'm on the Sonder Transmitter which is rated for 3.0 tyres. Seems the 'plus' bike concept almost took of but then died/is dying. Getting a decent tyre thats 2.6 or 2.8 for example you're talking about £50. Not too much a problem though as its just the one bike...

Second/spare bike which the kids will grow up on (well the biggest kids bike) is gonna be a medium framed affair but couldn't really afford £50 per tyre over the long term. Ebay prices dont look to promising either nowadays (Boardman Pro mtb 26er going for £600 to £900) what the heck... Tried looking for a Cannondale F800 26er and again prices are just rediculous...

Anyway, just a general discussion really and hopefully might help inform what we end up with eventually

[Bearbonesnorm]

Surely, the answer is yer bog standard 650b.

[redefined_cycles]

Surely, the answer is yer bog standard 650b.

So you reckon thats here to stay Stu... dont mind saving and paying a bit extra for the inital outlay. Dont get me wrong the fatty is absolutely ace but the way I'd like to run it (even lower pressures than the 8psi currently to give slightly more squirm on the DH and thus hopefully comfort), I'd/we'd probably shred tyres pretty quickly and on a fatty thats not ideal I suppose...

Like someone said before, I'm too getting totally sick of these $*!tt* standards they keep trying to sell us (fat bikes jot included I guess as thats a totally unique weapon for something that no other bike can do)... press fit then standard hollowtech and everything in between... tapered and full fat (steerers) and all sorts of other crappetyCrap in between. Wasn't doing to badly for many years and slowly accrued about 8 BB tools over the years and am happy with that. But these 'standards' makers just dont seem to give up do they...

[Bearbonesnorm]

so I think the danger is that you can overthink things.

You only have to look at what's on the average shop floor Shaf. The industry won't return wholesale to 26" for some time and by my reckoning, there's not as many 29ers about at the lower end of the price scale.

[Chew]

I'm too getting totally sick of these $*!tt* standards they keep trying to sell us

They only keep trying to sell them, because people keep buying them


I've (generally) only bought frames that work to old school standards.

Threaded BB's, old fashioned hub spacing and 1,1/8 steerers, IS brake mounts etc....
Lots of parts about, plus lots of things are interchangeable (currently splitting down my old 456, for parts that switch over)


I'd just wait for a few months for things to settle down, as currently its a sellers market.
More people are buying new bikes to get around on or fixing bikes that they are digging out from the back of the shed. Added to that is the supply of new parts is coming over from china is limited, meaning things are going for full RRP.

[lune ranger]

I'm too getting totally sick of these $*!tt* standards they keep trying to sell us

They only keep trying to sell them, because people keep buying them


I've (generally) only bought frames that work to old school standards.

Threaded BB's, old fashioned hub spacing and 1,1/8 steerers, IS brake mounts etc....
Lots of parts about, plus lots of things are interchangeable.

This is me too.
The only big switch i’ve done over the years is go from 26er to 29/29+
I’ve always looked to buy stuff that’s designed to last. So I’ve got Rohloff/SON/Royce hubs, King headsets, Royce BB, Middlburn cranks etc. All old standards and none of it about to give up.
I hate built in obsolescence, lack of backwards compatibility and throw away engineering.
As Chew says ‘they’ keep making it ‘cause we keep buying it.
Don’t be like Zammo.... just say no!

[ScotRoutes]

Given you can still get 7,8 and 9 speed parts, 26" wheels and tyres, square taper BBs, and V brakes, I'm struggling to see where the problem lies. If you want to constrain yourself to older tech then you have the choice. I like choice. The only trick is not being mesmerised by it. By luck, I'm a prevaricator. I tend not to jump at every shiny bauble I see (in fact, things often move on or become unavailable while I'm still thinking about them).

So, my suggestion would be to slow down a bit, think a bit more about your requirements, and then spend the money.

[redefined_cycles]

I'm too getting totally sick of these $*!tt* standards they keep trying to sell us

They only keep trying to sell them, because people keep buying them


I've (generally) only bought frames that work to old school standards.

Threaded BB's, old fashioned hub spacing and 1,1/8 steerers, IS brake mounts etc....
Lots of parts about, plus lots of things are interchangeable.

This is me too.
The only big switch i’ve done over the years is go from 26er to 29/29+
I’ve always looked to buy stuff that’s designed to last. So I’ve got Rohloff/SON/Royce hubs, King headsets, Royce BB, Middlburn cranks etc. All old standards and none of it about to give up.
I hate built in obsolescence, lack of backwards compatibility and throw away engineering.
As Chew says ‘they’ keep making it ‘cause we keep buying it.
Don’t be like Zammo.... just say no!

Me too. Am firmly in this boat too and was on 26er until about 2 years ago when I bought my first new (like totally new) frame... the Sonder... Just wanna future proof my/families next purchase a little

9 speed and the older tech when I left it (take for example non tapered fork steerers) were becoming more expensive to acquire...

[lune ranger]

Yeah, getting more expensive and hard to find, but....
What I mean to say is if you buy something fairly standard now - 650/29er, tapered steerer, ?boost - you’re likely to be able to get replacement parts for some years to come.

[chrisjones]

I only made the move away from 26" wheels about 4-5 years ago when I bought the Solaris. I've got 8 fully built up 26" wheeled mountain bikes of vaying ages from the mid '80s up to the early 2000s that I've restored & built up over the years & they all still get used to varying degrees.

I agree with much of what has been said and try to stick with technology that I know I'm going to be ale to get hold of pretty simply from an average bike shop.

One thing I would suggest: beware of some of the older standards as they're getting harder to source (especially in reasonable quality kit). Good examples of this are QR 135 rear hubs, 26" rubber and straight 1-1/8" forks.

If I was looking at a 'future proof' build now, I'd source a 29" frame with 142 through axle rear and a tapered headtube.

[Lazarus]

Given you can still get 7,8 and 9 speed parts, 26" wheels and tyres, square taper BBs, and V brakes, I'm struggling to see where the problem lies. I

1/1/8 suspension forks
Decent tyres
Non OS bars

The selection is becoming pretty limited and the prices are getting more expensive
You cannot get a 9 speed MTB rear mech from most suppliers - I gave up looking and had to get one second hand in the end

I used to own four bikes and everything fitted any bike
i now own 4 bikes and nothing is interchangable - they are not massively different from what I did own [ and they were old and worn out]
26 er FS 1/18 135 Qr rear - 100 m x 15 front
29 er FS maxle rear non boost front
650 b + QR rear Boost front
CX bike - 142 rear 100 front
I think I have thee sizes of cranks in that as well as 3 different BB's

IMHO there are no standards, this is deliberate, and the bike industry will vary them for ever to force you to buy new bikes rather than swap parts over - your choice is to either get new bikes or have obsolete ones with some parts being difficult to source
In 10 years time there will be other new standards - 35 mm bars becoming more common for reasons no one understands for example

[PaulB2]

It's probably about time spindles on pedals changed sizes so that everyone needs to get new cranks to be uptodate. You've got to love the bike industry.

[redefined_cycles]

It's probably about time spindles on pedals changed sizes so that everyone needs to get new cranks to be uptodate. You've got to love the bike industry.

Lol... why didn't I think of that. You got got the number for Cannondale (they seem to be the first with some of the stupid ideas of old... Lefty... oversized headtubes....)

[Lazarus]

then , next year , we will need bigger cranks to cope with the extra stress of the new pedals- i like your thinking
dont forget every problem we solve creates another one to solve

[ScotRoutes]

https://bike.shimano.com/en-EU/product/ ... M2000.html

[redefined_cycles]

https://bike.shimano.com/en-EU/product/ ... M2000.html

Haha... seems they're running out of ideas

[composite]

Given you can still get 7,8 and 9 speed parts, 26" wheels and tyres, square taper BBs, and V brakes, I'm struggling to see where the problem lies.

This is what I was going to say. I run 9 speed on my steel CX bike and not finding it difficult to get parts. I run 2 26" mountain bikes and can still get everything I might need for those. Just cause the bikes on the shop floor have lots of new standards doesn't mean you can't get parts for the old standards any more.

[thenorthwind]

Seems the 'plus' bike concept almost took of but then died/is dying.

Is this true?

Plus tyres were always expensive, but then I guess you'd expect the prices to come down a bit of they got really popular. Although it was always going to be a bit niche.

[PaulB2]

Modern 29ers are a semi-skimmed 2.9 x 2.6 rather full-fat

[whitestone]

Part of the problem with plus and fat tyres is their undamped suspension effect. There's a lot of work that goes into getting the rebound sorted on suspension forks. Basically you need the "system" to return as quickly as possible to the initial state without overshooting - hard to describe without diagrams.

There's a lot of work done on car tyres and suspension to avoid this but car tyres have a lot of built-in stiffness that is undesirable on a bike tyre, partly due to the large increase in weight in precisely the wrong place with regards to its effect on handling.

[redefined_cycles]

Seems the 'plus' bike concept almost took of but then died/is dying.

Is this true?

Dunno other peoples experiences but I've always felt it ever since I got the Sonder 2 years ago. At that time and now, doesn't seem tyre manufacturers have really bothered making much more for this market. Can't even find a Maxxis High Roller in that size...

Anyway, this where I read the story but could be just that https://www.singletracks.com/mtb-news/t ... e-picture/

[Bearbonesnorm]

Perhaps the trouble is that nothing is actually 'in' nor is anything 'out'. Your view of what's popular will be heavily effected by where you look. I don't see that B+ is any less popular than it was or 29ers for that matter, so any talk of standards with regard to wheel size is largely mute.

Stuff like steerer size and boost are really the things that will effect for how long, how readily (or more likely) how expensive spares are to obtain and using those as a deciding factor probably makes more sense than wheel size. If you want suspension forks, 1 x drive and a good selection of rubber, then buying a bike with a tapered steerer and boost spacing makes a lot of sense. You'll also have a far greater selection of bikes to choose from over a wider price range but if you really want to be in front of the wave ... buy an ebike.

[redefined_cycles]

Or a Sonder Broken Road...