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

[ScotRoutes]

Tyre size is an interesting one.....

If we forgot all about Repack for a while and invented a mountain bike today, does anyone think we'd be using 26" wheels? Even at the time, some voices were saying 650 was the better standard. Look at the RSF and the various other European groups. Everyone knew the benefits of bigger wheels.

[Cheeky Monkey]

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.

I think there's a lot of sense in this.

Don't forget a bike is just few tubes and a dozen or so components lashed together to make an effective and efficient toy for most people, in reality. Any of these toys would probably serve the owner for a decade or two so long as there was a reasonable supply of consumable bits.

They're easy things for designers and marketers to twiddle with and, frankly, they're a consumable as far as bike brands are concerned. They need to keep finding (apparent) incremental gains to drive sales and create a "next-great-thing" environment so sales keep going.

Practically speaking for Shaf I'd just get something that'll take 650B / 29, over-sized HT and bolt through (and a threaded BB). I bet itll last for as long as you decide to keep it ;-)

[Lazarus]

@scots Intersting low grade budget bike shimano offering but I was after a sram one

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.

with 4 26 er in the house running 1 1/8 I just dont agree that options and choices are not somewhat limited eg with tyres you can get them but the choices are still limited. As for forks Merlin has none CRC has 11- mainly Dhill boost type v 113 tapered [ in stock] with the only fox non Qr option giving you change from £ 1200 , just.

Its harder to get parts for a traditional 26 er than any other tyoe of bike currently available, I dont see how you can argue otherwise, You can get parts, just with limited choices [ often to that or nothing] that seem to do nothing but dwindle each year so it can only get worse.

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

15 years ago you could hardly argue 29 er and 650B was in and 26 ers were out just as its hard to argue against this now. The industry has changed this much is obvious.
on your broaderpoint i am sure i can still get threaded 1 inch sterrer forks and headsets if i look hard enough. I would not call it "in" though.

[Lazarus]

Practically speaking for Shaf I'd just get something that'll take 650B / 29, over-sized HT and bolt through (and a threaded BB)

A frame that will take both and 650 b + and a tapered steerer with a 142 rear end would be my choice. I imagine ina decade you will still easily get parts and a good choice with this set up

[mikejd]

on your broaderpoint i am sure i can still get threaded 1 inch sterrer forks and headsets if i look hard enough. I would not call it "in" though./quote]

I'm currently trying to find a 1" integrated threaded headset with some difficulty. It's for a cheap kids bike so don't want to pay silly money.

[ssnowman]

If buying now, I would and did go for 650B+, boost spacing and tapered steerer.

Interestingly though, I went out a couple of weeks ago on a C. 2003 Kona MTB with V brakes, a long stem and very different geometry to today's standards. The biggest difference by far was the width of the tyres at only 2", the rest still felt great.