26 inch wheels - continued availability?

[Blue Hills]

A fair few folks in another nice place seem to think that these might be on the way out.

Which would be alarming for me as I love my only recently bought Ridgeback Expedition.

Views on?

Am interested in 26 inch wheels and rims with tough rims for rim braking. 36 hole.

For touring carrying a ton of junk.

 

[KneesUp]

Spa seem to be the go to place for 26" rims for touring. They might be harder to find in 'racy' downhill styles, especially with a braking surface, but there will be touring options for a long time to come I'm sure.

 

[Blue Hills]

yes Spa still do 26 inch sputniks in 36H at the mo.

But I had the idea that Spa used to do a 26 inch wheel bike?

But no more?

If so, and the traditional Spa are moving away from bikes with those wheels that could be a tad worrying?

Long Haul Trucker still in a 26 inch variant I think?

 

[Slick]

I was talking to the owner of my Lbs today who told me he was considering taking this a bit further by pulling out the analogue mountain bike market altogether favouring the e-bike side of the business. How serious he was, I don't know.

 

[Blue Hills]

I was talking to the owner of my Lbs today who told me he was considering taking this a bit further by pulling out the analogue mountain bike market altogether favouring the e-bike side of the business. How serious he was, I don't know.

That could be for other reasons though. And a separate subject (pedalpower- ebikes) - tough time for bike shops and many clearly see more money/margin in ebikes.

 

[SkipdiverJohn]

The other approach to secure long-term spares is to salvage any dumped 26" MTB you encounter and also try to pick up cheapo donors to strip for spares. Most budget 26" MTB wheels will be 36 hole and oddly, full-sus BSO's are the best source since the bikes are so horrible to ride they often get disposed of with very low mileages. Although the wheels might be cheap & cheerful they are unlikely to have much rim wear. Some of my spares that came off £1 donor bikes are almost new condition, plus you get the tyres and tubes included!

 

[Blue Hills]

Interesting point skipdiver but I seriously wonder whether those wheels, spokes etc, will be what I need for my purposes (heavily loaded long distance touring) and I would also worry about the hubs.

 

[tyred]

There would be nothing to stop you lacing the rims from the cheap wheels on to your quality hubs. The rims will perfectly serviceable, possibly not the lightest rims in the world but definitely perfectly usable.

 

[Slick]

That could be for other reasons though. And a separate subject (pedalpower- ebikes) - tough time for bike shops and many clearly see more money/margin in ebikes.

Possibly or possibly just evolution.

 

[Blue Hills]

Possibly possibly.

If he has views on 36 hole 26 inch rim braked wheels on whatever bikes let me know.

 

[Vantage]

The Spa Touring steel in 48cm size runs on 26" wheels.
They built mine using 26" Sputniks, an LX rear and XT dynamo front hub.
The designer I think cocked up on the clearances on the frame and forks though as it's limited to 1.75" tyres which severely limits the range of tyres that can be used. Most are sized for mountain bikes.

 

[derrick]

When everyone has bought there 29ers 26ers will be the new thing, It's like all fashions it will go full circle.

 

[Drago]

They'll be freely available long after I'm gone. Knowing the fickle trends of the MTB world as I do it would surprise me not if they came back into fashion again in 5 or 10 years as a manufacturer tries to create a new trend to cash in on.

 

[Blue Hills]

When everyone has bought there 29ers 26ers will be the new thing, It's like all fashions it will go full circle.

Am counting on this. After all steel made a comeback.

 

[DCBassman]

Still getting good stuff from Taylor Wheels in Germany. 36 hole 559 wheels are not obviously a rarity with them. Will be repeating my recent purchase soon in order to upgrade my Claud Butler mtb to freehub and 8-speed.