[Closed] so, which company is going to cash in on the 26" ?

Lets hope so.

Santa Cruz seem to be keeping the Nomad & Blur TR (now just the Blur), seem to be some 456's out there and Nicoli don't seem to have jumped right in yet. Nukeproof are still there but it does take them a very very long time to release a new model. Rocky Mtn still have the slayer and 99% of the worlds DH bikes are 26".

Isla are still making kids bikes.

Transition, Knolly, Yeti, Devinci, Foes, Nicolai.
Still plenty of choice at the moment but Giant (and perhaps Trek) going 650B could be the tipping point.

What happens if you put 26" wheels in a 27.5 frame?

Surely that is the key compromise of 27.5?

A big Tyre on a 26 how much different from a normal size tyre on a 27.5?

Cotic and Cy to the forum 🙂

I think one of Transition's owners is using a 650b Bandit on the World Enduro Series, so they may not be 26" for too much longer.

I am just looking forward to all the 26" wheels in the sales 🙂

I found this when deciding on my Cotic Soul a few months ago :

Member
got an email from cy talking about wheel sizes and he says that cotic will continue to support 26ers for many years yet . This is good news to me as I love my soul and wouldnt want anything else TBH but its LBS that tell a different story and get me thinking ! Long live the 26er !!

Posted 4 months ago # Report-Post

It'll probably be Niner, the way things are going

So out of all those mentioned, only Nukeproof have Mountain Bikes ONLY in 26er flavour. Blimey.

Drac - Moderator
Isla are still making kids bikes.

Rumour has it they too are about to make a 650ber

I am just looking forward to all the 26" wheels in the sales

honourablegeorge - Member
It'll probably be Niner, the way things are going

POSTED 9 MINUTES AGO # REPORT-POST

Pacenti, now that his personal niche has been spoiled.

So out of all those mentioned, only Nukeproof have Mountain Bikes ONLY in 26er flavour. Blimey.

Knolly only have 26 at present.

Any others?

Rumour has it they too are about to make a 650ber

Whooooooooosh!

I predict X-Fusion are going to find a particular niche here, with Fox et al. disappearing evermore up their tech-obsessed bum-holes, dropping 26" and pushing fork prices to the limit, X-fusion could step up to the mark and produce nice forks at a nice price that people want to use on their nice bikes.

Now, if they could only sort that logo out a bit, I might be in.. 😉

It's an interesting idea. Would it actually make good business sense for a manufacturer to say that they are going to stick exclusively with 26"? Not for a big player obviously, as they need big numbers and have to follow (or, if they are clever, set) trends. But for a smaller player it might make sense. There are probably enough people pi$$sed off with the whole wheel size debacle to make it work. Cotic came close with the "we will continue to support 26" statement, but that's not the same as saying that they will only make 26" bikes.

I thought Orange, with their gritty northerners image may have held out against the 650b tide a bit longer to be honest.

2nd hand prices for 26" stuff has lowered considerably. I got my dream 26" Titanium inbred frame off ebay recently for very little. I can see other 26" stuff for sale at the old prices that just isn't selling. Such as the Ti yeti ARC frame on the bay for a grand that has been there months. People are thinking twice before buying 26" now. Im not anti 29 or 650b. Im still having fun on 26" so if prices are comming down then great.

Given that 99.99% of mountain bikes that exist in the world today have 26" wheels, you guys waiting for the fires sales to start are going to waiting a while

If any major manufacturer of forks or wheels drops 26" stuff from their catalogue they will die a horrible painful sales death.

Next years model- you'll always go with what sells/what is selling otherwise you are committing financial suicide. The thing is 650B WILL be around for a longtime, just like standard steerers, tapered are but the introduced 1.5 is dying out. New things come, some disapear and some stay but there is always the original way that stays.

Suspension forks came out, were made brilliant and light yet...

Why is there a market for a decent rigid forks...still?

Stop blatting on instead of 26" there is now also 650b,

Having gotten all hot under the collar about this initially I've come to the conclusion that all [I]"The Industry"[/I] are really going to be flogging are 26" frames and forks with a bit more mud clearance, it's not actually an issue really, but they just can't say that outright or the Swizz is up...

X-fusion, as mentioned above, already started labeling their forks as dual 26/650b compatible ages ago as the A-C dimension can be the same from one to the other, so why not just make a single variant, Job done.
Frames with Swapouts rule here, if you really need to tweek the rear axle position between 26" and 650b it's not a massive change, but more than likely you can just flog one frame for both sizes, people were already cramming 650b wheels in to certain 26" frames anyway, the difference is marginal enough that you may already own a frame able to take 27.5" and just not know it...

A sensible company would simply support both wheel sizes in one pretty straight forward product, rather than support only 26" or adopt 650b exclusively and basically bin any share of the other market...
It's have your cake and eat it O'Clock, you can flog it as [I]27.5" compatible[/I] to the car park Bitches, and [I]26" compatible[/I] to the old stick in the Mud types, and not affect your cost of goods one jot...

Hurrah for [I]"Change[/I]!

Well said cookea, aka banshee rune v2, spitfire etc.. swap out drop outs for both sizes 🙂 everyones a winner

What is the difference in fork offset between 26" and 650b forks?

Well in theory its ~19mm radially, except 27.5" ain't quite 27.5" in diameter, and many 26" tyres now come up a bit bigger than 26", so the gap is marginal...

[img] [/img]

I stand corrected ~25mm apparently

edit:
Duh...

673 - 698 = 25

25/2 = 12.5

so radially there is 12.5mm difference...

ad half an inch to the A-C and the same to the lower crown clearance and you have a [I]"Dual 26/27.5 compatible"[/I] fork... Winner!

Not sure if that's in response to my question, but I was asking about the offset on the fork (usually the amount the dropouts sit in front of the legs). I know that when 29ers first came out the fork manufacturers just used the same offset that they had used with 26" forks (to save cash), which meant that the trail increased and head angles had to get steeper to compensate. Now we have 29er forks with more offset, so the head angles can return to normal. But what about 650b. Do 650b specific forks have a different offset to 26" forks and is it enough to worry about?

Very good point roverpig, and completely glossed over by most people, worth going away to look at... I shall interweb it...

I hate to say, I've seen so many pics of 29ers and 650b bikes, that some pics of 26er long travel full sus bikes are starting to look a bit odd.

[quote=AlexSimon ]I hate to say, I've seen so many pics of 29ers and 650b bikes, that some pics of 26er long travel full sus bikes are starting to look a bit odd.

just as well you don't see it when your riding it 🙂

What happens if you put 26" wheels in a 27.5 frame?

One geometry chart I was looking at suggests a 6mm lower BB.

The thing is 650B WILL be around for a longtime, just like standard steerers, tapered are but the introduced 1.5 is dying out

You sure about 1 1/8 steerers? Try finding a decent 140mm+ single crown fork in "not a taper" steerer.

Fox have the 32 noodle, or the 36 behemoth, the 34 is taper only.

Rockshox have dropped standard steerers on the Revs and the new Pike is Taper only.

Marzocchi are taper only on the high end 55 models.

X-Fusion are taper only for their longer travel forks.

Who does that leave? White Bros, Manitou, BOS, Suntour errrrr

BillOddie - Member

Rockshox have dropped standard steerers on the Revs and the new Pike is Taper only.

Sektor, though.

(is it not more that Fishers aren't importing them, than that Rockshox have dropped them?)

I think optimum will be a 26er rear and a 650b front. means your old 26er frame will still work re seat and chainstay length and clearance, new fork with a slightly slacker head angle for the same travel, and uber nicheness.

Sektor, though.

(is it not more that Fishers aren't importing them, than that Rockshox have dropped them?)