[Closed] 26+ What are the options?

colournoise - Member
...Or would I be better off keeping 27.5 rims and going 2.6?

Probably whatever gives the most volume.

Bump. Just in case it's not only me that thinks this might be a good idea...

You're bit non specific.

Have you already got a frame?

If not, the possibilities are endless - including proper 26+ with a Surly 1x1 (they have been doing 26+ for almost 20 years, it's just taken until now for the rest to catch up).

Casting around for any ideas TBH.

Wanting to try and squeeze 26+ into an existing 27.5 frame and forks (if they'll go). Intrigued if it will work in the same way as the swappable 27.5+/29er frames around at the minute.

Just seems to be not many components around in the UK to do this with. All the searches seem to throw up US based stockists.

I had 26 x 2.8 Rangers on my (650B) Flare which worked well. I got the tyres from Chain Reaction. The wheels also (just) fit into my 26" Soul and go in my 26" Sunn Tzar with room to spare. I reckon both frames would take 650B wheels too.

[url= http://surlybikes.com/uploads/downloads/13827_Update_Tire_Geo_Chart_v2.pdf ]This Surly tyre size chart may prove useful.[/url]

I suspect you're get 26+ into most 650B frames, but the chart will help you decide. It's a shame more manufacturers don't provide this info.

Hiya - I've tried various combinations on a recent Surly 1x1 and on Instigators 1 and 2.

26 inch Sun MTX33 rims work fine with 2.7 Dirt Wizards, but Spank Stiffee rims felt much better at 40mm (external). MTXs are available at Chain Reaction.

The MTXs were too narrow for a 26" 3.0 inch Knard.

The 1x1 was fine with either combo on the front, but there is lots of mud around here and clearance with the Dirt Wizard wasn't really adequate at the rear so I used a 2.4 Chunky Monkey out back. This came up pretty large on the 40mm rim, but not too large. This combination wouldn't fit on the original Instigator, but fits with masses of room on Instigator 2.

A 650b 2.8 WTB Ranger on i29 rim doesn't fit in an On-One 29er slot dropout frame, but does fit the rear on Insigator 2.

A 26" Dirt Wizard on a Stiffee rim doesn't fit with sufficient clearance in the rear of a Cotic BFe 650b frame.

Tyres much over 2.5 on wide rims don't play well with older (non-boost) chainsets & rear hubs (chain runs too close to the tyre on low gears). For 1x11 run a narrower tyre, like a 2.4".

Chain reaction do seem to be bringing in WTB 26+ rims and tyres. The tyres are way cheaper than the Surly ones, but the Surlys have lasted me really well and are great in my local mud.

Hope this all helps.

David

Thanks MrTricky. Good info and food for thought.

Thinking I might just start with the front trying a Ranger 2.8 on whatever 30/35mm internal rim I can get hold of?

MrTricky - Member
26 inch Sun MTX33 rims work fine with 2.7 Dirt Wizards,

Thinking about Flow mk3 rim-wise at 29mm internal to run 2.8 tyres.

My 'plus' rims are just Sun DH rims, 29mm internal, with 2.8 Rangers on them. The rims weigh nearly as much as the tyres so lighter rims are on my 'would like' list.

And they shape up OK?

Yeah, they're fine.

I've just bought a wheelset for my cotic rocket using alex volar 3.0/chosen probuild from Raleigh and mounted some ranger 2.8's .Clearance isn't massive but more than adequate .

ryu1720 - Member
I've just bought a wheelset for my cotic rocket using alex volar 3.0/chosen probuild from Raleigh and mounted some ranger 2.8's .Clearance isn't massive but more than adequate .

It's a Rocket I'm looking at fitting the wheels to. Might go for the exact same set up as you - those wheels look OK and decent value for trying the idea out with (even down to weight - within a few grams of my current Superstar/Flow EX 27.5 wheels).

Where did you get the Rangers from? Cheapest I've seen is from Germany on eBay for about 65 quid.

got mine from bike components.de £53 each delivered

Cheers!

Tyre shape would be better on 29 internal rim than on the MTXs, but they are about as cheap as you go and still get away with it and are rather borderline. Remember that narrower rims will make the tyre narrower which may help if clearances are tight.

CRC had them in 26+ for £30-odd each but they look to be out of stock now 😕

edit- in a Flare

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I've just ordered some of those 2.8 rangers, going to try them on Arch Mk3 (26mm internal) on a Flare so will report back in a week or so once set up...

My advice would be to get as wide a rim as you can, unless you're going to be fitting normal tyres on there as well.

A 2.75" Dirt Wizard on a Crest comes up only barely bigger than a 2.4 Conti. On a Hugo, you get its true 2.75"

The space in the Flare limits the width of the rim and tyre you can use. I had the Rangers on 41mm internal rims and they were fine but the 29mm internal rims are better for clearance - yes, I know they're (Flares & Rockets) not [i]meant[/i] to be 26+.

My advice would be to get as wide a rim as you can, unless you're going to be fitting normal tyres on there as well.

That's exactly the plan, the 2.8s are just an experiment, if they don't work well on there they can move to another bike and a wider rim...

A 2.75" Dirt Wizard on a Crest comes up only barely bigger than a 2.4 Conti

Old Crest or new Mk3? THe new ones are only 23mm, the old ones 21mm? Not surprised they weren't ideal.

Old. I knew it wasn't ideal, it was a bit of a try out before I splurged £200 on a hub, spokes and rim. The tyre worked OK, I was just surprised how little difference there was between a "2.4" and a "2.75" on an identical rim.

Raises the question of whether you can just slap a 2.4 on a Dually/Hugo. I've seen it done. Looked good, wasn't holding the rider up any. Just need to look at tyre profile. Some are going to work better than others.

Lifted from a thread a while ago:

Front "2.75" Dirt Wizard on Crest. 20 psi
Width (digital calipers) - 2.35 in
height from rim hook (d.c.) - 2.05 in
circumference (thread and tape measure) - 6.5 in

Rear "2.4" X-King on Crest 20 psi
Width - 2.33 in
height from rim hook - 1.91 in
circumference - 6.25 in

Dirt Wizard is 850g in the light weight version and costs £65
X King is 560g in light weight version, costs £35
Admittedly the tread is chunkier and is going to take a lot of that extra weight.

A 39 mm (internal) Velocity Dually is 610g
21mm internal Crest is 340g

interesting measurements, by any chance did you repeat those on a wider rim to see how different it was?

Not for the X King, but the DW is 2.83" on the Hugo, casing and shoulders pretty much the same. Guessing the X King would be not much less, but casing would be wider than shoulder knobs.

Here's a Ranger 2.8 on a 41mm internal rim-

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66mm ish.

Well reporting back after Rangers arrived.... they fit* in a Flare on Arch Mk3s with clearance basically the same as per Kaylas pics, will l them settle for a night and then measure width.

Went for a Tough Fast on the back, and a Light Fast on the front. Will report back on Sunday eve after I've given them a battering round Afan.

*Fit on the front too with a [b]26 inch [/b]DT Swiss XMM , fully deflated and checked under bottom out, loads of room all round, Also tried in a 26 inch DT Swiss OPM and same again.

Cool.

Still umming and arring over wheel choice. Think it will end up being Flow mk3s on XT/Zee. Cheap enough (250 quid for a pair from Merlin/CRC) to not be a complete disaster if I don't like them.

Yup, I'd go with the flows, if I get on with these tyres I'll be getting some Flows (or similar) as I think the 26mm internal Arch Mk3s are just a smidge too small for 2.8s, will be fine to try them out though 😀

Bitten the bullet. 26" Flow mk3s on Zee rear and XT front, and 2.8 Rangers are on the way...

Look forward to hearing how you get on

So my trip to Wales fell apart for various reasons so went for a local ride instead (which was also cut short due to mechanical!), anyway verdit so far on the Ranger is good!

They feel very grippy fro such s small knobbled tyre, roll really well and actually have a fairly decent shape even on 26mm internal rims, I do like a fairly rounded tyre anyway and it still might be better on wider rims (I've got some on order) but overall I'm impressed.

It wasn't a 'transformation' of the bike in any way but it did give the feeling of more leeway if that makes sense, bit more grip, less breaking away and slips even on corners that I know normally would, and it does give noticeably more cushion/comfort. I did notice the extra weight...for about 5 minutes, then as normal it's just irrelevant.

Pressure wise* I was running about 15psi in the front with a Light/Fast casing, and about 18-20 in the rear with a Tough/Fast casing, I do think I could go lower but was wary about going too low with eh 26mm rims in case of roll and flop but I didn't feel any at all so next ride I'm going to go a bit lower again.

I think it was definitely the right decision to use a Tough/Fast casing on the rear though, the Light/Fast casing feels like it would be a bit thin and floppy for the back even on wider rims.

Will report back in a few weeks or so when I've put some more miles on them and tried them on Flows as well, so far so good though 🙂

* For ref, I'm 74Kg, and normally ride 2.2-2.3 tyres at about 20-25f/28-35r, any lower than that and I'll start having issues with flop and roll and my rims get too much of a battering anytime I go anywhere rocky (Dartmooor)

Also, anyone know of a [b]26[/b]er rim with an internal of ~35mm that doesn't weigh a ton?

I've gone with Flows (29mm) internal as they seem to be the only option near 30mm at sensible weight, I know about the WTB Scraper but at 40mm wide and a bit more heft I think it's more than I'll need and probably rules out using normal tyres, I can't find anything in the middle though that's not 650B, am I missing an obvious choice?

Lb do a carbon 26 rim with 31.6mm internal width.

[url= https://www.lightbicycle.com/carbon-mountain-bike/carbon-mountain-bike-rim/26er ]https://www.lightbicycle.com/carbon-mountain-bike/carbon-mountain-bike-rim/26er[/url]

EDIT - additional requirement of 'not carbon' 😉

I'm grumpy enough at having to pay >£40 for a rim let alone £150+

Have you had a look at trials rims?

http://www.tartybikes.co.uk/26_inch_rear_rims/c25.html

Yup (ex-trials rider and still have some wheels knocking about), but they're normally 600-700g for anything wide/rear, and the front rims normally top out at 25-30mm internal.

Although...have just spotted the new Inspired V2 26, listed as 34mm but I assumed that was external...will do some digging

Inspired answered my email...34mm external, 30mm internal.

And the Rocket+ is born.

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26" WTB Ranger 2.8s (light/fast on rear, light/high grip on front) easy to set up tubeless on Flow mk3 - shape looks fine to my eyes but don't think I'll be running silly low pressures as sidewalls feel a bit thin and roll-y.

Wheels plus tyres are maybe 3mm or 4mm smaller diameter than the 650b Spesh Butcher/Purgatory that were on there, so pretty negligible IMO.

Clearance looks fine at both ends. Only issues are at the back the tyre catches on a flappy bit of the chainstay protector velcro but a bit of trimming will sort that, and the flared shape of the fork arch means that the mudguard rubs the front tyre a little - yet to work out what to do about that (switch the guard for a neoprene or downtube one, mod it to pull closer to the arch or ditch it altogether?).

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Next step in mutating the Rocket is likely to be a slackset...

I've got this set up tubeless, but will need a tube or two to carry just in case.

Can I risk stretching 26 x up to 2.5 tube or do I need to hunt out specialist + size tubes? Do such things even exist?

Now in its natural habitat...

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Have been off the bike injured for 8 weeks so it was just a gentle pootle today, but it did feel like the smaller + tyres offer more grip and roll just as well as the 'standard' 650b that they replaced.

Has no-one got an answer to the + sized inner tube question?

the fat bike crowd use dh inner tubes, so i imagine you'd be alright with something similar.

Same position as you, tubeless but carrying a 2.5in tube and hoping it'll fit if needed 🙂 I have worms with me anyway so they're first option, tubes is a last resort.

I'm still trying to settle on pressures, I've let them down a bit now they're on the Flows instead of Arch and they are feeling better.

26x2.4 VS 27.5x2.2

[img] https://imgur.com/gallery/Gl5Ko [/img]

Try again

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Found some tubes that aren't DH ones...

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/hutchinson-mtb-tube-2017/rp-prod143278

mattyfez - still can't see anything. 🙁