[Closed] Are 26ers really dead

Stop stirring RD 😀

Of course 26" bikes aren't dead. They're still hugely popular though no doubt the marketing will ensure that that changes to some extent over the next few years.

I was out on one of my 26" bikes this weekend, having only ridden my 29er for a while. I was reminded how much I enjoy certain aspects of 26" wheels. Same as I love certain aspects of my 29er. They're both great and fun to ride, just in different ways but I guess that's too mind-blowing a concept for some so they need to have the certainty of X wheel size is better in every way than Y wheel size...

A friend of mine is buying an entry-level bike, £600-750ish. So I thought, everyone's talking about how 650b and 29ers are the way forwards. How many competitive 29ers can I find at that price point? 1. 650bs? Absolutely none. I thought Specialized are the kings of the 29er, what do they have to offer- looked up the Rockhopper and laughed at the idea of paying £600 for a bike with Suntour XCMs and Acera gears.

As far as I can tell, 29ers are pretty dead and 650b is stillborn, in this most important market sector.

Not so sure of their conversational value, but I'd still like to breed with them. Or certainly just practice breeding.

😆

Back to the [s]troll[/s] question in hand: Consider car wheel sizes, motorbike wheel sizes, kayak shape/size, surfboard shape/size, etc etc. And anyway, I thought 27.5 was replacing 26"?

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All bikes are a compromise. Increasing wheel size by 10% just brings a different set of compromises, but it's no more significant than changing chainstay length, bottom bracket drop or head angle, all of which also tend to change with the larger wheel. If you compare a 26" bike and a 29er there will be a lot more that is different than just the wheel size and it's debatable whether the wheel size would even be the most significant difference.

So, the trick is just to pick the bike that's best suited to the type of riding that you do, regardless of wheel size. Unfortunately that's a lot harder than it sounds. I ride on trails that vary from smooth to really rather rough and go from pointing up at silly angles to pointing down at even more silly angles. I want a bike that rolls over bumps nicely, where the front wheel stays firmly planted on the trail no matter how steep the climb, but which can be lofted up with the greatest of ease when I want to. It needs to be comfortable but efficient, stable but playful etc. The problem is that such a bike doesn't exist and whatever I pick is going to be better than the alternatives on some bits of trail and worse on others. In fact it's almost impossible to decide what is best overall, particularly when you factor in variations due to weather, your fitness etc.

So, you have two choices: either just pick a bike you like the look of and ride the damn thing, or spend endless hours in pointless online discussions about what is best and what might ultimately prove more popular 🙂

Born & bred

Whoosh... 😉

At a well known trail centre yesterday, and i caught someone up, who was sort of going "medium fast", and after following them for a couple of hundred yards they shouted back "Are you on a 29er???"

Got to say i laughed my ass off! (especially as i was riding my 160mm Alps bike 😉

Alpine 160 26" at a trail centre?? Horrendously overbiked, no wonder he was shocked 😉

That was me! You reeled me in so easily and I was at my limits. I could only think that this bigger wheel just wouldn't slow down. I even thought 'this guys brakes must be overheating on this monster wheeled machine.. I better pull over as it just keeps picking up speed'

;O)

The exploding wheels are always a giveaway if a 29er is behind you...

Nothing wrong with popping in for the aforementioned market research. Are Mondays quiet in the classifieds then?

I pity the newcomers just picking up the their first mag, peering in to a forum here and there looking for info/advice.
It was much safer 5 years ago when all you had to think about was tubeless/tubes or maybe is it a crap year for zocchi forks? Or will these Avid brakes survive the journey home?

No wonder road bikes are so popular.

Somebody else just mentioned the specs on a bike (other than wheel size) and how that influenced their decision....this is about the most important thing for me when i look at a new bike....couldnt care less about wheel size.
If the bike is the right price, well specced and has 29 inch wheels then i'll happily buy it....if however the larger companies are taking the michael and selling 29ers as the must have machine but putting crappy components on them then i'll pass and find a better priced/spec bike...if it has 26 inch wheels then i couldnt care less.

the mtb market is dead, road bikes are where the money is. The manufacturers have to think of ways of shifting new bikes. For road bikes it is discs, for mtbs it is new wheel sizes.

I rode my bike with 26" wheels 2 days ago, and it wasnt dead, and I wasnt dead 🙂

Just anohter marketing thing to sell more bikes to the (gullable) informed, ill-informed.

There was a time when road bikes were dead... now look

650bs 😆 intentional or not it made me chuckle.

rOcKeTdOg
Alpine 160 26" at a trail centre?? Horrendously [s]overbiked[/s] [b] undertrailed [/b], no wonder he was shocked

EFA!

😉

27.5" is the new Italian standard

Where have you guys been??? Hiding in the shed or some really dark woods?

29er 😛

Comparing the front page poll results with forum posts is always good on here. IIRC, most people are still on 26" wheels, most don't have a dropper post, most are on 3x9 gearing.

I'm looking forward to the availability of lots of cheap 26er parts, as the fashion victims run to the Next Big Thing.

I'm looking forward to the availability of lots of cheap 26er parts, as the fashion victims run to the Next Big Thing.

This!!!

I quite like the idea of 650b as an option because I love my 26" bikes but have also been forced to agree that 29ers have their place after my riding pals changed over and I had a go. 650b 'could' be the perfect middle ground for me so I'm looking forward to trying out the new Orange 5 (I have a 5 now but no Audi).

Saying that, just found out I'm going to be a Dad for the first time so new bikes are out the window for the time being. This means I'm all for the quote above and picking up an unfashionable 26" 5 that's newer then mine for nowt. Win. 😀

rOcKeTdOg - Member
They've been dead to me for the last 5 years, still a place for them if you are short or buy your bikes from Tesco/sports direct/catalogue

Ahhhh man your so cool and trendy perhaps we should all follow suit and act 20 years younger than we are and wear hideous loud shorts and take plenty of self indulgent photos whilst riding along shit flat terrain like you

You iz my hero

Lapierre don't seem to think so.

Ahhhh man your so cool and trendy perhaps we should all follow suit and act 20 years younger than we are and wear hideous loud shorts and take plenty of self indulgent photos whilst riding along shit flat terrain like you

You iz my hero

Look everyone, I caught me a big one! Now where's my landing net?

I have not read anything about the thread but as working in the trade above the LBS, I can safely say that at least a gross 70% of the wheels we sale for mtb are 26. There are still millions of bikes with 26" wheels

Or was it^^^^ a double bluff and it is in fact you who has been caught????

😉

Depends if the net is "loud" enough I guess 🙂

....& now neither wants to reply for fear of being classed as the biter..........RESULT ! !
😉

EDIT - OK,so one does ..... 8)

Ahhhh man your so cool and trendy perhaps we should all follow suit and act 20 years younger than we are and wear hideous loud shorts and take plenty of self indulgent photos whilst riding along shit flat terrain like you
You iz my hero
Look everyone, I caught me a big one! Now where's my landing net?

Bait not taken, I know what you said was in jest/troll but mine wasn't

Good day!

Ahhhh man your so cool and trendy perhaps we should all follow suit and act 20 years younger than we are and wear hideous loud shorts and take plenty of self indulgent photos whilst riding along shit flat terrain like you

You iz my hero

He kind of has a point RD.

Just a thought, If you post your full details I will have my mate in immigration check your status. 😉

Lapierre don't seem to think so.

They do for 2014 spicys. Looks like ill be 650bing against my will...

They do for 2014 spicys.

[img] https://i.chzbgr.com/maxW500/613403904/h523964C4/ [/img]

Let's wait and see on that one, Nico's tried a lot of things that don't make it to the production line. Though i suppose 650b is more marketable than his love for flex, I'm sure if Lapierre could work out how to sell 10% bendier they'd do it.

Ahwiles
thanks for you tips you had best pass them on to the bike industry so they stop The foolish production of 29ers We can just struggle along with flat tyres instead.

But a simple lesson in mechanics is required for you on gears and ratios, if I have a 2:1 gear and I move one gear 2 revolutions to make the other gear move one revolution, if the one revolution gear is attached to a 26 inch wheel it will move 26 inches if its attached to a 29 wheel it will move 29 inches, with me so far. You can change gears but your wheel will still move the same distance per revolution, any questions so far.

Go tell your friends what you have learnt

Doesn't it take more effort to move the bigger wheel though, therefore the 26" rider will use less energy & be able to go further & have more energy at the end?

Have some back boobs
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My 26ers are still alive and kicking and they spend their nights sleeping next to a big, bad 29er. They all seem to get along well, even though they are different 😀

Love my 26" specialized stumpy expert 'last of the anodised frame', it's the control i like best, smaller wheels giving you much more of it! Was riding next to a 29er last wk & they just look a bit odd to me :-\

I think your talking about initial inertia there big dog which is heading in to physics and I may leave my self out gunned and embarrassed , but the way i think of it is if my 29 inch wheel weighed less than yours then no it wouldn't, if my tyres had a lower friction coefficient then that could also help, its the same with bearings, so you have to add those factors in to all wheel types.

matt22

But a simple lesson in mechanics is required for you on gears and ratios, if I have a 2:1 gear and I move one gear 2 revolutions to make the other gear move one revolution, if the one revolution gear is attached to a 26 inch wheel it will move 26 inches if its attached to a 29 wheel it will move 29 inches, with me so far. You can change gears but your wheel will still move the same distance per revolution, any questions so far.

Go tell your friends what you have learnt

I have learnt that while it could be possible to have your cake and eat it, it very much looks like some Pi(e) has been completely forgotten........ 😉

Mmn pie, now you're talking, but I'd much rather have a 29" pie than a 26 or 27.5" one 😉

I think the lady above may have beaten us to the pies 🙂

matt22 - Member

Ahwiles
thanks for you tips you had best pass them on to the bike industry so they stop The foolish production of 29ers We can just struggle along with flat tyres instead.

But a simple lesson in mechanics is required for you on gears and ratios, if I have a 2:1 gear and I move one gear 2 revolutions to make the other gear move one revolution, if the one revolution gear is attached to a 26 inch wheel it will move 26 inches if its attached to a 29 wheel it will move 29 inches, with me so far. You can change gears but your wheel will still move the same distance per revolution, any questions so far.

you're hilarious!

(you are kidding, right?...)

pie? - i'm having 2 for lunch!

🙂

Anyone visited India or China? The answer to the question may be found there...

The poll is showing 26" 72%, 29" 26%, and 650b 2%, for "my main bike".

So the answer is "not yet" I think.

Would be interesting to hear responses to "my next bike".

Oops, should of seen this coming from [url= http://www.lapierre-bikes.co.uk/2014-already-here ]lapierre[/url]

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