[Closed] Are people still riding 26" Who buys that sort of tripe?!

At least 26er bikes have a correctly sized axle spacing. All your big wheelers will need to be changed next year to the new wider axle standard to stop them flopping around everywhere.

I would buy a 26" bike.

I kept my 26" 2010 Zesty, second hand bike values arent good. Makes a great bike for trail/easy stuff. Made sense to keep it and even upgrade to 1 x 11 for value for money. I ride my 27 mostly.

lol @

Who buys that sort of tripe?

Not sure if this is a troll, but I only have 26" still. Thought about getting a 29er last year when the old 26" bike (bought in 2000/1) broke but it's fixed now and better than ever - just did the off-road circuit of Whernside yesterday in fact. Bit boggy in parts but the trail was certainly alive!

i have a 26 inch bike and enjoy riding it. im happy not spending money on marketing bullsheet.

Not sure if this is a troll

Certainly not, A very genuine post!

Well we were due another one but you're trying too hard.

I took my 26er out for a ride earlier this week (first time in almost a year) I didn't die. In fact, I really rather enjoyed it. I think I'll try to ride it a lot more in 2015.

Mind you, I reckon it would be pretty worthless now if I were to try to sell it.

I bought a new 26' bike recently http://www.paulscycles.co.uk/m1b4s1p4945/GIANT-ANTHEM-X-2-2013 Bargaintastic!

I get your dilemna.

I've got two really nice 26" bikes: a 5 Spot and a Superlight.

If I ever went to sell them on they would be worth buttons.

So I'll just ride them until they die.

As heart broken as I was, the insurance paid out

tracked down the PA and we eventually returned it home

Question is, What to do with the bike?

Your insurance company paid out, therefore if its now recovered that particular piece of tripe is not actually yours to do anything with 😉

I have an awesome 26" bike. I will probably hang on to it as long as I can find wheels and tyres for it.

I just stuck 650b decals on my 26" rims and the trails came alive. It was amazing and far from the marginal difference some naysayers would have you believe. Best of all, the new decals only set me back a fiver or so, a lot cheaper than a new frame, fork and wheel-set and with identical results.

Plus I've supported the UK decal-printing industry, thus making a small but significant contribution to our thriving economy.

The only bike I've sold in recent years was 27.5 (didn't like it enough to ride it enough). I only sold that as it was new enough and "current" enough to get something decent for it. As others have said, I rarely find it worth selling bikes, but then I do have plenty of space to store them 😉

Only got 26" now. Some people like tripe.

Your insurance company paid out, therefore if its now recovered that particular piece of tripe is not actually yours to do anything with

True but I did the correct thing in letting them know, I purchased the bike back from them.

I just stuck 650b decals on my 26" rims and the trails came alive. It was amazing and far from the marginal difference some naysayers would have you believe. Best of all, the new decals only set me back a fiver or so, a lot cheaper than a new frame, fork and wheel-set and with identical results.

Plus I've supported the UK decal-printing industry, thus making a small but significant contribution to our thriving economy.

Vitus dee 29

Who buys that sort of tripe?!

😆

At exactly 150cm tall, I can't imagine buying any other wheel size !

[quote=hels ]At exactly 150cm tall, I can't imagine buying any other wheel size !
Want to buy a bike? 😆

Is this one of those - "would someone like to buy my bike" type threads?

People still do readily buy 26" bikes, yes values have taken a hit, but Spesh aside not many mainstream high-end 26" bikes have hit the shelves since when? 2013? which of course in MTB terms means Sept/Oct 2012.

Even the best 26" bikes are now 3 generations old - they're not going to be super money anyway.

Vitus dee is actually a nice ride, purchased with the idea of putting slicks on but works pretty well around local trails!

Is this one of those - "would someone like to buy my bike" type threads?

Subconsciously, maybe
😳

Normally I'd say keep it. One day you'll decide that your new bikes aren't actually better than this old one, just different and that there are things you still love about the PA. However, if that hasn't happened in a year then maybe it wont. It doesn't really matter whether 27 is any better than 26. If you think you need that extra inch then you do. So, stick it on the classifieds and let somebody else enjoy it.

Still riding a 26er does this make me an inferior bike rider...

Still riding a 26er does this make me an inferior bike rider

A bad workman blames his tools.

I bought my first 26" wheel since 2008 last week, it's still alive barely

Vitus dee is actually a nice ride, purchased with the idea of putting slicks on but works pretty well around local trails!

I bought a 26" Vitus Dee last year. So I buy this kind of crap. I've got so many 26" tyres and bits and pieces knocking about it made lot more sense than the 29er. I've got another 29er, and it is also a bike and fun to ride.

Anyway, who's got some kittens needing mangled?

26er all the way ... gave up being a fashion victim when i turned 25 😉

my rigid tinbred is still lovely to ride!

Where are all these 26" bikes going for buttons? I feel like I need to stock up!

I've a shedfull of 26" bits. Tempted to get some of the built up.

Sure they're not as fast as 29ers, but unless your racing who cares?

The only downside is the mass market never really nailed the long/low geometry before switching wheel sizes. Which means there aren't many 26" FS bikes I'd actualy want (a DMR Bolt XL, an orange 5 with a XL TT and 17" seatube?). The rocket is probably close if they start showing up s/h.

All this ' nobody wants a 26er' stuff really seems nonsense to me.
There must be thousands of perfectly good ( well they were until some believed all the hype) 26 wheeled bikes out there, some very high end , very well maintained perfectly functional ones too.
There must also be many folk who simply can't afford, or didn't think they could, who enjoy riding and possibly have given their all in pursuit of a sport they want to progress in, but have had to do so on their BSO or possibly ( say ) Carrerra or similar ' beginners ' bike, who are only to happy to progress onto something ' better' irrespective of wheel size.
In the extended group of seventeen,folk who I often ride with, most of who, ride at least once a week, a few two or three times and one or two maybe once a month, there are two guys on 29 ers, three on 27.5 and fourteen ( inc myself) on 26,
Ability levels vary, but most will ride , for want of a better way of putting it, at least at red trail centre level and some much more techy stuff. Ages vary from 16 to 55.
Clearly all love their riding ( mostly non trail centre, hilly, forest stuff, but with bigger rides and longer breaks in more challenging terrain thrown in.)
The biggest considerations for most , are time and money.
We have a proper broad church of backgrounds ; company director, househusband, working single mum, builders, forest worker, retail managers.......you name it we've probably got one !
There is little correlation between , bikes and income, or riding 'ability', or, as we are discussing it, wheel size.
Everyone keeps their bike in a good state of maintenance , everyone has a grin on their face after a good day out.

I've been on my much upgraded 26er now for about 7 years. I have been very short of cash, but kept it running perfectly.

I'll shortly be in a position, to buy a new bike, I'm actually concerned that I might be making the wrong move and hate the new one, but because I can, I'm simply going to treat myself
There is way too much choice out there at the moment and a whole load of marketing and media bollocks to wade through.
However, new bike it is.
Meantime, one of our keenest riders, who is currently trying to save for his first own home and to marry, really can't afford to upgrade his bike, or even buy it the new wheels and drive train it needs. So, when I get my new one I'm giving my current bike to him.
In turn his bike is going to a lad he works ( happy to buy the parts it needs) with to get him into riding.
Another guy in our group has a year old 26" SB66c and frankly couldn't care less that it's a small wheeler.

So, sure, the industry and hype might have reduced the cash value of 26 ers, but please, let's not write em off.

There must be a great many folk, happy to buy them, simply to start them on the road to proper mountain biking.

I'm not suggesting they all become ' karma' bikes , but 26 ain't ( totally) dead.

Edit...Oh Lordy , sorry, I did bang on a bit !

Where are all these 26" bikes going for buttons?

I may know of a lovely Prince Albert going at a fair price 😉

I may know of a lovely Prince Albert going at a fair price

Already got an Alpine! Fancy a Soul, but they seem to be about the same price s/h they've always been.

Bought some 29" rigid forks for my recently retired Prince Albert frame & built up a 26" heap from the spares box - absolutely love it 🙂 - was thinking of getting 29" rigid but won't be bothering now

Oh Lordy , sorry, I did bang on a bit !

Not at all!

I too have struggled to finance my habit, the PA was a evolution of bike parts that I could afford as and when I needed to replace parts.

I've no doubt the industry has had it's part in the 26" downfall but I'm purely making decisions on what I like riding,
The PA stays, until summer at least!
it deserves my attention on some dry trails, Who knows, I might fall in love again.

I can forsee people like me buying 26" kit for spares soon. I'd advise against binning it.

[i]26" bikes are now 3 generations old[/i]

Three iterations perhaps.

I go past guys on racing bikes on my 26 incher so they can't be all that bad. Been training on road on my mountain bike all through the winter months. Go off road a bit too, never tried a 27.5 or 29er but surely they must be less manoeuvrable on tight turns?

never tried a 27.5 or 29er but surely they must be less manoeuvrable on tight turns?

Bingo! What do I win? 🙂

It might just be my imagination but people seem to treat wheelsize in a different way to other standards and I'm not sure why. I think my approach to it is pretty much the same. I'll upgrade my bike/frame when there is something new that I want and that I can't fit to my existing bike. When I do it will naturally have whatever the popular standards are at the time.

So, I recently "upgraded" to a set of Pikes as I thought they felt better than what I had. If my frame had a straight steerer I might have used that as an excuse for a new bike/frame, but it didn't. I fitted a reverb as I preferred it to my old gravity dropper. If my frame had a 27.2 seat tube I might have used that as an excuse for a new bike/frame, but it didn't.

I've ridden the 650B version of my bike (Five) and to me it just felt like a slightly heavier slightly less fun version of the same bike. So, I doubt I'd upgrade just to get bigger wheels as they don't seem to offer anything I want. But when I do upgrade (because something comes along that I do want) I dare say the new bike will have whatever the fashionable wheelsize is at the time, in much the same way that it will use whatever hub, headset, brake etc standard is in vogue.

I go past guys on racing bikes on my 26 incher so they can't be all that bad

they must be less manoeuvrable on tight turns?

* if true they may have been in zone 2 building base miles but more likely they were cycling home form work

The difference from 26 to 29 is large, but not so much to 650B - maybe some grip increase.

However the difference to 650B bikes can be a lot more as more modern bikes have slacker HA, shorter stems, wider bars, different geo, etc.

I rode a 650B flux and the difference to my 26 flux with 120mm forks (so slacker), wide bars and shorter stem just was very small, and certainly not worth the financial cost of changing.

So the manufacturers produced a wheel size that was the next new thing after 29er,650b or what ever you wish to call it .. the devil reincarnated with such hate from 26" owners... scorn poured up on it urghh I will never buy one & all that palarver, I sold a 5 month old snappierre Zesty 914 2013 because of continual crack issues & having had enough of it & the timing was right as SC launched the Bronson, I swiftly imported one late 2013 saved a lot of hard earned pennies & from many people I had very negative comments, it'll never replace 26, what's the point, hardly any difference in tyre size blah blah I could go on, well if you've ridden a 650b bike long enough to understand it then the benefits are real, yes there are still some cracking 26" bikes out there but sadly the value of them is plummeting, & I have to say we are victim to market forces & manufacturers but it's here to stay so either embrace it try & get a fair price soon or get really pissed of at getting nowt for your 26' bike. And I thought the wheel debate call it what you may had been done to death on here.

I'll look forward to the scornfull replies & no doubt how shite Bronson's are.

I have a 26" for the techie, tight, fun stuff and a 29er for the fast long open stuff. If I had to compromise and could only afford one bike, maybe I would just have a 27.5 as a jack of all trades 🙂

Truth is, if I could afford one I would have a 27.5 if my stable too 😉