[Closed] So what were the ultimate 26ers then?

The very underrated Trance X.One great little trail bike

Ti hardtail : litespeed Kitsuma
Long travel f/s : Cotic Rocket
Medium travel f/s: Trek EX9

I am biased though 😆

Your never too old for a Chameleon, its a bit like an axe, every man should have one. Kevin rides ours most days and still gets a thrill from it. Its going to need some money spending on the gears soon. Seen as we won it in 2007 I think its worn well. You could say that they have aged together, cant see it ever been sold and doubt he will break it.

chambord - Member
I always wanted a Rock Lobster

Had one 05 through till 2012, with many updates. Great bike, partially replaced by a Soul

Surly 1x1

P7 just inspired confidence, although I also loved my Marin Muirwood a long long time ago

Evil Sovereign

Page 2 and no mention of a trailstar yet?...

LT hardtail- Ragley Ti. Not perfect but nothing is. Only ht I've ever ridden that could beat my Soul.

Deleted. Oops - wrong thread 🙂

The original enduro SX was an awesome trial bike but I snapped 2. Not a great pedaller either.

Currently riding a 26" wheeled bandit that is one of the most capable all round bikes I've ever had. Can smash it down DH tracks at not far off race pace, do all day XC epics and I'm taking it on a 10day bike packing tour of Iceland next month as well.

Stumpy Evo?
Another ASR-5 vote from me. I did own one so may be biased but had several other 26"ers both before and after. It's still the one.

Hardtail- nothing will ever beat the Evil Sovereign.

XC Race bike- Giant Anthem.

As for trail full suspension only things from the last couple of years would count and I don't really know- I ride a Stumpjumper Evo but it's not the greatest bike in the world. An Evil Uprising would sound ideal but I've not ridden one.

Specialized Pitch. Suddenly we could buy a 6 inch trail bike that would climb well, descend like a dh bike, you could do all day rides on it then take it to the Alps! Everyone raved about them, didn't they sell out and were hard to get hold of at one point and it seems that everyone who had one and sold it regretted selling it in the end, classic do it all bike... and all for £900! (I got mine for £900 😀 )

Best bike I ever owned and pedalled slowly

[url= http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/category/frames/mountain-bike/product/review-yeti-as-r-carbon-frame-08-28881/ ]Yeti ASR-C [/url]

Ultimate evolution?
I'd prob say something like the SB66c, Mojo HD, Nomadc etc. Carbon bikes strong enough to take a beating.
The 26ers which had loads of travel and still pedaled well. The capability of these bikes enabled enduro and prompted manufacturers to proclaim that they couldn't really find much more improvement (within the 26 wheelsize).

Obvious innit

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wrecker - Member

The capability of these bikes enabled enduro

Enduro's been around for ages, those bikes are great at it but they didn't enable it.

Nice to see the Bandit 26 getting some love. It's the only bike I've ridden which I preferred to my beloved 06 Marin Rocky Ridge. Just dropped a couple of offset bushes into it for some extra gnar 😆

I'd prob say something like the SB66c,

I was thinking maybe this bike, the Rocket or the Evil for AM riding. Or maybe the Transition Suppressor, which has ace geometry and looks very tasty.

Lot of love for the Yeti ASR5 - only had a quick pedal on one of those but it did feel really special. Owned a late model 26" Trek Fuel EX carbon myself and it was amazingly fast and fun but a bit short. Perhaps I should have got the next size up though.

ML7? Are you mad? Next up someone will suggest a Whyte PRS-T1!

Nah, the Whyte was too ugly to live… bag, rock, pond 😉

Enduro's been around for ages, those bikes are great at it but they didn't enable it.

Well that's settled then.

wrecker - Member

I stand by my point though. If we didn't have bikes like this, capable of climbing and hitting DH runs as they do, enduro would look a lot different (IMHO).

Sure, but "bikes like this" covers most decent long travel full sussers built for the last decade.

I'm probably being a bit arsy here though, on consideration.

Ultimate 26" XC trail-hardtail, has to be: Ibis Tranny

I railed this around Llandegla red/black yesterday evening just before the sun set. It rides like an over grown BMX - perfect for the table tops, drops and burms on the over-grown-BMX-track that is Llandegla.

Nothing can better this.. 😀

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Nice, but STW appears to have already picked the Soul for that spot.

😉

I waited for 26" bikes to die, then bought the best of the breed at a knocked down price:

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Very nice, is that on the Lyn Colwyd loop? I see Tryfan lurking in the background there.

Yep, Lyn Colwyd with Tom on one of the free guiding days 🙂

It makes me happy to see the 06 Rocky Ridge mentioned... ruddy awesome bike. I still have the frame and its getting rebuilt when I move back home again.

Been lucky to have what I thought was the best at the time

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Sure, but "bikes like this" covers most decent long travel full sussers built for the last decade.

I'd say that in the last 10-odd years improvements in long travel full suspension bikes has been the largest area of improvement (more so than DH or XC bikes).

"Kona Explosif (1997)" nope it was the 89/90 version (all green with orange splater paint) there were/are better bikes but at the time this and the Cinder Cone of the time really changed stuff.

Orange Prestige forerunner of P7

Pace RC200

Cotic Soul (with 27.2 seat tube), possible the most brilliant bike I have owned.

My '98 Kona Hei Hei. I still don't see any point in buying anything more modern for the general riding I do but changing standards are making it ever more difficult to keep 'Trigger's Broom' going.

26 isn't dead, it's just got very fat 😉

cookeaa - Member
Page 2 and no mention of a trailstar yet?...

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Re. the chicken-and-egg thing about enduro races and bikes, it seems to me that racing has directed the development of some bikes to have more efficient suspension and lighter frames - often carbon.

So an awesome all mountain bike like an Orange Alpine or NP Mega might not be the absolute best enduro race bike (though still very competitive in the right hands), but would be excellent as Alps bikes or for the Lakes/Scotland big mountain rides.

+1 for the Specialized Pitch

As mentioned on previous page. One of the first long travel, slack head angle long top tube trail bikes that'll ride all day. For me it is the for father of what most ride now. Some of the current bikes from other manufactures even look like it as well.

I've stil got mine and cannot find anything that is worth replacing it with. It's battered and bruised but still going strong.

Long Live The Pitch 🙂

It makes me happy to see the 06 Rocky Ridge mentioned... ruddy awesome bike. I still have the frame and its getting rebuilt when I move back home again.

Mines hung up in the garage, one day...
As a connoisseur of bikes may I recommend the Bandit 26 to you, everything you love about the RR but with a bit of squish and even more playful!

Is there any bike that really only worked as a 26er?

I still have a 26 Giant Anthem, didnt Giant struggle at first struggle to get the frame to work with clown wheels?

Got to be the Trailstar surely?
Honorable mention for the Charge Blender as well, such a fun bike. Not quite the legendary status of the Trailstar though. Shame that Charge are an awful niche company now, they used to be cool!

Is there any bike that really only worked as a 26er?

In the tradition of recommend what you ride, I'm going to nominate the venerable 26" Five (in it's latest incarnation). I don't know how it stacked up against all the other 26" bikes (although I preferred it to the 26" Trance X that was nominated earlier), but I do wonder whether Orange will ever make a better trail bike.

I've tried the (Mk1) 650B version and thought it was just a slightly heavier, slightly less fun version of the 26" bike. Not much worse, but no better in my mind.

The Alpine Five may be great in the alps but is possibly too big to be a versatile trail bike. Not sure about the Segment yet, but I tend to think that the single pivot design with that swing arm works better with smaller wheels. The bigger they get, the longer and more flexible the swingarm has to get. So the Five may be a bike that only really worked (or at least worked best) as a 26" bike.

FunkyDunc - Member

Is there any bike that really only worked as a 26er?

I still have a 26 Giant Anthem, didnt Giant struggle at first struggle to get the frame to work with clown wheels?

TBH I don't think there'll ever be a bike that only worked as 26, because 650b is so similiar. Whether the 650b versions will be as good or as popular is another question though.

I think Giant mostly struggled with longer travel maestro 29ers. The Anthem isn't the prettiest but it's bloomin brilliant. Giant decided that the best way to promote their 650b range was to slag off all their 29ers though, so it all went a bit weird after that.

I'm very pleased to see that both my Trailstar and Pitch are cropping up in this thread. The Pitch will be visiting the Alps with me next week. Ooh yeah.

Id be with the guys suggesting the '97 Explosif (ooh Max Light OR tubing) if I hadn't broken it an replaced it with a '98 Hei Hei (ti hardtail variant) which remained the best hardtail I'd ridden until my first foray into 650bness. The Chameleon also has a place in my heart.

Bouncy bike wise, the Heckler was an amazing step forward in terms of functionality, as was the Blur.

Both the Mojo and SB66 set a new tone with regard to ride and aesthetics.

An honourable mention to the RC-200 for being the bike most likely to spur me on after overtaking me during racing in the 90s.