So after a little bit of a disastrous crash at this weekend's tweedlove race, looking back at race footage it seems like my gangly long travel 29er has made me lazy on the line choices which is fine 95% of the time, but that other 5% hurts... a lot!
So whilst my shock is going off for a warranty claim (not caused by, or the cause of the crash I might add) I'm going back to trusty 26" hardtails to try and unlearn some of these bad habits. The trouble is, although I love(d) my little NS surge hardtail, compared to the 470mm reach on my full squish, the 387mm reach feels like I'm almost folded in half now!
Question is, are there any longer reach 26" hardtails out there apart from the brand new Cotic? Although I'm not expecting anything near the super-long new breed of bikes, somewhere in the mid 400's (430, 440mm?) would be probably ideal. Any thoughts anyone? I used to ride a medium at a gargantuan 5'9" tall, but tend to favour larger bikes now for the reach.
26" works fine in 650B frames if you wanted to broaden your scope 🙂 I had an old shape BFe275 with 26" wheels and now I've got a mk1 Switchback on 26". No death has ensued, not even a little bit.
i run 26" wheels in a (2017, assume the 2018 is the same) dartmoor hornet. Works well, long enough and slack enough (450mm reach, 65deg head angle). it's probably a little 'too' low, but 165mm cranks have helped with that.
its worth remembering that when you sit on a full sus bike the reach shortens a little, but on a hardtail it lengthens a little (due to sag)
I've bought an orange clockwork 120 frame to hang my 26" bits on. Hopefully it will fit my135mm rear wheel
Got a nice Mk 1 alpine - not massively long but was ok relative to other HT.
its a smaller size of the 2 so might be ok for you at 5'9.
Let me know if this of interest.
Probably not what I'm after as looking for something a bit longer in the TT. Cheers anyways. The 650 idea might be worth exploring. U saw things like the production privee oka or stanton slackline do conversions for 26 too, didn't think I'd be looking at ever buying 26" gear again!
I have an old Sanderson breathe. You might be able to find the measurements online. The frame suits my gibbon length arms so might be good for you.
Crash footage first then I'll give you a recommendation on a frame....
Tall martin what forks on the orange clockwork?
Crash footage first then I’ll give you a recommendation on a frame….
Sorry man no footage of the crash luckily, but you can see some pictures of the very broken helmet on my latest blog post at www.bramblescratch.com - most shameless plug ever!
^^
Good read there mate, will keep an eye on the blog.
Glad you survived the crash better than the lid. Could have been nasty.😊
dukeduvet- the frame arrives on Tuesday! I'm going with what I have so either some marzocchi rc3 ti 44 at 140mm or some z1 anniversaries that can be adjusted from 130 to 150mm with the travel adjuster from a am1.
The 44 are probably lighter, the Z1 are orange still deciding 😉
26″ works fine in 650B frames if you wanted to broaden your scope I had an old shape BFe275 with 26″ wheels and now I’ve got a mk1 Switchback on 26″. No death has ensued, not even a little bit.
I've got 26in wheels and forks in a BFe 275 and have been killed to death twice in firey explosive detonation. Don't do it!!!
What fork length would you be running mbqwerty?
A medium BFe 275 must be close to 430 reach. I really like mine with the 26 bits on, more pedal strikes than when it had 650b wheels and fork but i think it climbs better when standing. A 70mm stem would add some length.
140mm - Trying to avoid going too long on the forks or else it just get a bit daft. I don't mind if the front end is a bit wandery on the climbs, I'm used to it on the surge, especially with the back wheel slammed as short as possible!
I'm 5'10" and ride a large 26er Scott scale (with a short stem) for this reason. It seems to be a good compromise
I had mine at 140mm with a 35mm stem when in 650b form. It was a bit wandery, but could be kept under control by shifting weight forward. Now in 26 form it has 100mm forks and a 50mm stem and I really like it for general and xc riding. I just need some less noodly forks as discussed elsewhere. 70mm stem was a bit too long for me at 5'8, which is why I suggested it.
The main problem is that "reach" wasn't put on geometry charts for most 26in bikes.
I have fond memories of a 19in Saracen Zen that felt very long and stable for me at 5ft 8in four years ago (I had a Surge before it), but it might feel short now.
I've seen the staton slackline looks pretty spot on actually. Looks like they can take the 26" wheel adapters and single speed if the fancy takes me, and lovely steel frame but £600 is a bit over my limit at the minute. Damn shame though as that candy red looks spectacular. Would be future-proofed too as can swap it over to 27.5 if the fancy takes me! (I need to stop talking myself into this!). Maybe if one comes along second hand...
the geo of the slackline with 27.5" wheels (and thus smaller wheels + adapters, assuming the point is that they keep the geo the same) is almost exactly the same as the hornet running 26" wheels in the 27.5" frame - 35mm bb drop vs 50ish, same reach, similar head angle. Oh and the hornet is 1/2 the price 😛
AH yes but is it made of lovely tarty Reynolds haha... I will investigate more though
Tall_martin thanks for that. 44s are a good fork but the z1s will look the part!