36er bikes

No, gear inches are just the equivalent wheel diameter, carried over from penny farthings.

Ah, gotcha! Thanks!

I’ve seen pictures of you. You’re too old for that sort of childishness!

It’s not the age, it’s the.. er.. something.. ah, I dunno any more 🙂

I remember seeing a guy called Dylan Thomas, who had a bike shop in York, riding one. He told me I could have a go sometime but it never happened, sadly.

Fun article on building a 36er for the Australian Outback here:

The Curve Titanosaur is the 36er They Hope No One Will Buy

A friend of mine has one, its an amazing machine. He’s well over 6ft and looks quite normal on it, against me the seats about chest height!

Hi Steve never had any issues mounting or dismounting my 36er. The stand over height of the bike/bar is around 36.5 inches (rising to 38inches at the front) so around the same as the wheel size height.
if you were short legged I would imagine your crown jewels may be in danger riding a 36er.
Like all bikes, how often have you hit the bar when suddenly needing to dismount/falling off a bike, I never have in all my years cycling now 60 years old.
The fun riding this bike is fantastic, number of other cyclists who wish to know about the bike, some have taken for a short test ride, probably 1/2 every ride I go on.

Hi 40MPG your friend has good taste buying his Trubike, hopefully he has let you have a ride on it. What did you think if you had a ride and were you tempted to buy one yourself?
hopefully he gets as much fun from the 36er as I do.

Thanks for your comments agree is currently a niche market/bike for 36er’s.
They do also produce 32 inch wheels which I have seen advertised for other manufacturers.
To answer a few questions raised:
Standard Nimbus Stealth rims 36 holes, tyres Nimbus Nightrider 36” X 2.25. Inner tubes FOSS special plastic 36” 1.75-2.5 weight 224 grammes. All parts readily available. They do now also make a carbon rims if you have deep pockets!
Shimano XT cranks 175mm 2 X 11 ratio 36/26 and rear cassette 11 cogs ratio’s range 11-42
Total bike weight around 21kg/47lbs so not lightweight, though lighter than my old Trek Mountain Bike. Had slightly longer steerer tube at 250mm which increased weight slightly.
My old trek has shock absorbers of 100mm comparing to the 36inch wheel absorbs and rolls over obstacles easily, the size, width with volume of air gives a lot of absorption and eats up the ground.
Like another rider states never needed to dismount over my rear wheel sound very interesting technique, only been over handle bars in past, but not on this bike. The length of my Trubike is 2194mm so very stable.
Website for Trubike http://www.truebikes.eu

I’d love a go on one, looks ace.

Hi Mr Sparkle, Dylan’s company I believe is Motion Cycles in York, he stopped making the 36er’s as was very busy with his main business and simply did not have the time to continue which was a shame.

Hi Funkmasterp depending where you are in the country, I am in Surrey, happy for friends to take for a spin, a few have already done this. All enjoyed and some tempted to buy one.
Hopefully the 36ers will in time become more mainstream and readily available in the UK currently all bikes have to be imported, not overly complicated once the HMRC requirements are met. Treated as a personal import making it more straight forward.

Look at them:

My 1st thought was how you could further the benefits of a mullet with a 36er front wheel, but on balance we must be getting to the stage where wheel size evolution stagnates; it’d take some pretty fancy engineering if you wanted gnarpoon levels of suspension travel without noodle forks and chopper riding position

That contact patch diagram I remember from the wheelsize wars.

Its a bit simplistic.

The contact parch will be longer, but thinner for a larger wheel diameter, assuming a constant tyre pressure. Whether people maintained the pressure, or adjusted it based on the wheel size (and tyre width) was never really discussed.

I’m not sure we ever got to the bottom of what sort of contact patch was preferrable for rolling resistnace or handling

Hi Mr Sparkle, Dylan’s company I believe is Motion Cycles in York, he stopped making the 36er’s as was very busy with his main business and simply did not have the time to continue which was a shame.

Thanks for the update johnny h

The total bike weight, XL size frame, is around 21kg/46lbs. The front wheel alone rim/tyre/inner tube weighs 4.25kg/9.4lbs so around 40% of the total weight are the wheels.
To reduce weight there are carbon rim options, would have cost an extra £800 (£400 per rim) reducing weight for the two wheels by around 1kg/2.2lbs so decided against this extra expense as minimal impact on the overall weight of the bike.

Wheels: Standard Nimbus Stealth rims 36 holes, tyres Nimbus Nightrider 36” X 2.25. Inner tubes FOSS special plastic 36” 1.75-2.5 weight 224 grammes.