26 inch wheels - advantages?

[I like Skol]

Hee hee !!! What's the metric for 26ers ? 600B ?

Carry on and you'll be getting a stick in your front wheel next time we're out

 

[HobbesOnTour]

Carry on and you'll be getting a stick in your front wheel next time we're out

In their 26er wheel?

 

[kayakerles]

Makes for a more sensible sized bike for shorter people.

Funny, Ming, I never thought of that. Perhaps that’s a reason that at 5’8”, my 1997 Bianchi MTB (17.5 frame) with 26” wheels (or course) has always impressed me as the absolute best fitting bike I’ve ever had. My Trek hybrid cost me twice as much and fits me great, but my MTB is my glove, it rides like I was born with it as part of me. This is what it looked like when I first got it with knobby tires. I now have 1.5 inch Schwalbe marathon semi road tires on it, a rack on the back, and more comfy hand grips, but I LOVE my old Ocelot!

 

[Arrowfoot]

I don't think the issue was ever the wheel size or that BS marketing pushed the 26 out.

More people especially in the developed World took to road bikes for competition, fitness and pleasure. Also for commuting. Road bikes came with 700 because they are faster. To get speed, we lost a bit of manoeuvrability and ended up with toe overlap on smaller frames. It made sense.

Tourers are still with 26 because it is tougher with shorter spokes, better to handle with loaded gear and technology did not force it to become lighter unlike road bikes with weight weenie demands. And more importantly it is the most readily available wheel and tyre size in the developing world.

If we had not switched to road bikes, we will still be with the 26 as the popular wheel size. Nothing ever was wrong with it in the first place.

 

[Blue Hills]

I think 26ers are faster uphill and off road than the 27.5 and probably therefore the 29ers.

I ride a 27.5 and my mate, who is only a bit less fit than me, a 26. On the flat in any terrain and uphill on road I usually have little trouble catching and going past him or just riding off into the distance if ahead. Off road however and uphill and its the very devil to try and keep pace and deep into the red (if I had powermetre) to get ahead of him.

This thread has me thinking about my long retired Marin Bear Valley in the garage :hmmm: smaller, nippier... more fun?

may be true - I recently did a ride I often make fully loaded to Preston station through some very lumpy, lots of uphill, lancashire countryside. Usually it takes me 2 hours of riding. I may have got fitter but to my amazement I seemed to do it in 1.5 hours on the 26 inch exped bike. Apart from the just possible increased fitness, I can only put this down to maybe getting less fagged on the many uphill bits (there are three at least drops to rivers with climbs out) and therefore being in better shape for the rest. The switches between chain rings (triple) also seemed smoother into other gears - in short I just seemed to breeze along.

 

[Blue Hills]

Also more convenient on trains because of is smaller size.

Yep - occurred to me the other day after another of my train assisted loaded rides - on some British trains you can get some very substantial vertical gaps between platform and train (Avanti west coast are better than many in that a small step pops out to help you into the bike area) and the smaller wheel size helps a fair bit, particularly if loaded with a ton of junk as I often am. With a 700 wheel bike I am often worried about bashing a chain ring as I struggle aboard. Also, UK Northern Rail trains - generally very accommodating with bikes, but their variable train stock often means there is some tight manoeuvring to do to get a bike through the doors and into a bike area.

 

[yophie]

I’m a rather short man myself, it’s very convenient when I need to pop to the shops in style!