The death of the 26" wheel « CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum

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The death of the 26" wheel

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Started 4 years ago by Cyclingmollie
Latest reply from AS
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Cyclingmollie
Member

The bike shop in St Andrews had no 26" tyres in stock. I assumed this was a supply issue caused by the lockdown. However I was told by the bike shop person at Dobbies that 26" wheels are now only put on children's or beginners' bikes. They had none and hadn't sold a 26" bike for over five years. So I tried the Bike Co-op today and got one. They hadn't many. Yes, the salesperson explained, they are obsolete and tyres won't be available for them five years from now.

Is my ten year old bike obsolete, along with millions of others? Or am I missing something? Has anyone questioned the sustainability of this within the industry? Am I a Luddite fool for keeping a bike more than three years?

Posted 4 years ago #
amir
Member

The cycling industry is nuts sometimes.

I have 26 inch wheels on my toure (as well as my aged snow bike). I had thought that 26inch wheels were good for touring because of the ease of replacing parts due to the ubiquity of 26 inch wheels. Plus that they are stronger than larger wheels. But ....

Posted 4 years ago #
Murun Buchstansangur
Member

I'm sure you'll be able to both tyres and wheels for years to come, in fact probably indefinitely. Probably not from your local (or indeed non-local) physical bike shop though.

Posted 4 years ago #
chdot
Admin

“obsolete and tyres won't be available for them five years from now”

I guarantee that’s not true, though likely less choice.

Schwalbe still lists 135 26” (including wheelchair ones)!!

https://www.schwalbe.com/en/reifensuche

Posted 4 years ago #
gembo
Member

I never liked them

Posted 4 years ago #
chdot
Admin

You stick to 27 x 1 1/4

Posted 4 years ago #
gembo
Member

You know me so old school I am back in fashion though this post is not sticking, rather going in a slowdown you move to fast loop

Posted 4 years ago #
steveo
Member

Decathlon usually have decent stock of 26" tyres. I don't think they're going anywhere but I suspect getting high end ones are going to be uncommon.

Posted 4 years ago #
crowriver
Member

Obsolete? No.
Out of fashion? Quite possibly.

Posted 4 years ago #
acsimpson
Member

26" wheels are now only put on children's or beginners' bikes...the salesperson explained, they are obsolete

That doesn't seem like a sustainable business model.

Posted 4 years ago #
crowriver
Member

Reminded me of this somehow:

[+] Embed the video | Video Download Get the Flash Video

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Posted 4 years ago #
chdot
Admin

“Obsolete? No.
Out of fashion? Quite possibly.“

That sums it up quite well.

Don’t forget, ironically, 650B really was ‘obsolete’ until relatively recently.

Only found on retro French bikes (and a few modern imitators) plus niche American tourers.

Very limited selection of tyres (and rims).

Posted 4 years ago #
jss
Member

Lots of recumbents ,trikes and velomobiles use 26 inch
Schwalbe continues to have a good range including high end tubeless Pro ones in 26(presumably for the laid back market mainly)
But annoyingly not most of their gravel tyres but I think all their Marathon range is available
26 inch also still dominant in third world -seems a lot of world tourers use 26 inch due to availability of tyres in far flung corners of the globe
Sadly for bike shops , tyre are so much cheaper online and a much wider range
SJS always good for weird sizes

Posted 4 years ago #
nobrakes
Member

3 of my 4 recumbents use some combination of 26 inch and 20 inch wheels. I place my faith in Schwalbe to keep me in tyres.

Posted 4 years ago #
I were right about that saddle
Member

I place my faith in Schwalbe

The CCE Profession of Faith.

Also, @nobrakes, the rack retaining bracket on this bike is made from a strip of stainless off that MTB frame with the welded-in forks you gave me. Madame rides those forks to this day.

Posted 4 years ago #
Cyclingmollie
Member

@crowriver yes, the experience was a bit like that.

Posted 4 years ago #
nobrakes
Member

@IWRATS looks sweet.

Glad the forks are still seeing use!

Posted 4 years ago #
Arellcat
Moderator

I suspect that all it took was an outfit like Specialized's skunkworks to build a frame designed for a pair of 700c knobblies that they found on the internet. "Hey man, this bike is cool, we should build these!" And before you know it, 29 is the new 26, and inevitably marketed to kingdom come because now your competitor has got a new product that you don't. "Oh, but 29ers look…kinda dorky, we should make something in between."

http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=16218#post-215432

Posted 4 years ago #
steveo
Member

Having now owned a 29er for a few months I can see the advantages, it just rolls over stuff that my old 26" would have required manipulation to get over and when its upto speed it is faster/less effort. However it is enormous, probably too cumbersome for a fast ride at Glentress whilst my little mtb just snapped round stuff.

I had a ride of a 650 ebike last year but the whole thing was so different I couldn't proffer an oppinion.

Though I must admit to being tempted by some 27x3+ sized tyres for the pentlands in winter!

Posted 4 years ago #
I were right about that saddle
Member

I keep banging the pedals of Madame's 26er on the deck. Just too wee.

Posted 4 years ago #
gembo
Member

that's cause you a roadie now bruv

Posted 4 years ago #
LaidBack
Member

29'ers rock as they say. Don't fit in ScotRail hanging bike storage on Highland Line IC trains though!

26" wheels used on rear of most cargo bikes. Trying to get lightweight Mavic XC rims now tricky.

Posted 4 years ago #
unhurt
Member

Don't stress me out like this. My Surly disc trucker has 26" wheels (two frame sizes up and it's into 700cc) and she should last pretty much forever (I hope).

Posted 4 years ago #
wingpig
Member

If you're not having to rely on the rims being at a particular distance from the hub to be in the right place to act as a braking surface then you could still use the bike with smaller wheels if 26" become unavailable, as long as they're still big enough to keep the pedals off the ground at their lowest point.

Posted 4 years ago #
chdot
Admin

You’ll ‘always’ be able to get 26” tyres.

Less choice, but that might be a good thing...

Posted 4 years ago #
I were right about that saddle
Member

@unhurt

Buy the best 26" rims you can and a stash of spokes and hubs? Good rims will last forever barring crashes. And there will be second hand 26" wheels for the rest of our lives.

Posted 4 years ago #
chdot
Admin

For anyone worried about ‘endangered’ tyre sizes -

https://www.sjscycles.co.uk/tyres-17-369

(Rumour has it there may be a second choice coming.)

Posted 4 years ago #
Arellcat
Moderator

My Surly disc trucker has 26" wheels (two frame sizes up and it's into 700cc)

700cc? Ah, you must be thinking of the surly, motor trucker. Goes around in open shirt and flares and is the cousin of Long Distance Clara.

Posted 4 years ago #
Cyclingmollie
Member

@iwrats Good point. I kept a Fiat 127 on the road for years using parts from all the other 127s in the scrappy's in Kirkcaldy.

Posted 4 years ago #
AS
Member

26" (559) is largely considered to be obsolete for 'proper' mtbs etc - but so are (eg) 7 speed freewheels. Neither finds their way onto higher end bicycles, but remain in very common use.
..26" stuff will be around for a good bit yet, even if the only users are folk with commuter hybrids.

Posted 4 years ago #

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