[gravityryder26]

This thread reminds me of this song....

I'm Faster Than You...IFHT Films

 

[BrocLuno]

Depends on terrain and budget.

Try to buy a nice used FS bike in newer wheel sizes for reasonable $$ ...

I just got a K2 alum frame, carbon swing arm with air on both ends, Deore, Mavic, even a Ti seat post for $100 and a few days work to straighten out. I bought it to convert to a eMTB, but it was/is so nice, I just couldn't do it ... It's my new favorite trail cruiser

I bough a Hardrock Sport (used) to convert. Added a Manitou R7 fork in place of that god awful RST fork and it's a sweet ride too. It'll be even better with a Thudbuster and a mid drive kit

All in for both bikes (not including the conversion kit) I'm in for less than 1 large.

If I spent that same budget on one MTB, I'd not reach my goals (MTB and eMTB) and I'd be one one bike for a long time, for everything ...

Used 26'ers give me options and diversity and fun

 

[HollyBoni]

Try to buy a nice used FS bike in newer wheel sizes for reasonable $$ ...

I just got a K2 alum frame, carbon swing arm with air on both ends, Deore, Mavic, even a Ti seat post for $100 and a few days work to straighten out. I bought it to convert to a eMTB, but it was/is so nice, I just couldn't do it ... It's my new favorite trail cruiser :

Just my opinion, but personally i'd rather have lower end but newer components than old but higher end stuff.
Yeah, Mavic and Deore sounds cool, but how old and how beat up are those components? That technology might have trickled down to the most basic stuff by now.
Air on both ends is cool too, but how good do they work after all these years? Can you still service them and get parts for them? How much more abuse will that old carbon swing arm take?
What about oldschool geometry? What about all the old standards and compatibility? If you want to buy something for the bike, do you have to hunt down old used parts?

Old and cheap stuff has it's charm for sure, but I wouldn't say it's always an alternative to modern stuff. Again just my opinion of course and I probably sound a bit ranty. I worked in a shop where we mainly dealt with old and vintages bikes and i've had a horrible boss that thought every modern component sucked and for him a hydraulic brake was the devil itself. I've heard him say such bulls**t to clueless customers so many times.

 

[IPunchCholla]

Just my opinion, but personally i'd rather have lower end but newer components than old but higher end stuff.
Yeah, Mavic and Deore sounds cool, but how old and how beat up are those components? That technology might have trickled down to the most basic stuff by now.
Air on both ends is cool too, but how good do they work after all these years? Can you still service them and get parts for them? How much more abuse will that old carbon swing arm take?
What about oldschool geometry? What about all the old standards and compatibility? If you want to buy something for the bike, do you have to hunt down old used parts?

Old and cheap stuff has it's charm for sure, but I wouldn't say it's always an alternative to modern stuff. Again just my opinion of course and I probably sound a bit ranty. I worked in a shop where we mainly dealt with old and vintages bikes and i've had a horrible boss that thought every modern component sucked and for him a hydraulic brake was the devil itself. I've heard him say such bulls**t to clueless customers so many times.

It really depends on the components and bike. I bought a used 2012 Jedi with a 2011 boxxer with a charger damper, code brakes, ccdb air shock (2016), Stan's wheels, saint drive train, for about 1/3 what the equivalent setup would have cost. Just because it was 26. For DH bikes, if you not racing, the geometry had only changed incrementally. If I was buying today and buying new and money wasn't an issue, I would go 29 but just because that is where the industry is headed, not because I think it will make much difference in my riding.

Sent from my moto x4 using Tapatalk

 

[BrocLuno]

Agreed 100% If you are cruising and just exploring around; 26 will do most, if not all. It has for decades. If you want to race, or even just to maintain race pace, yeah, you'll have to go bigger or split sizes.

26 semi fat on rear and bigger up front might work out best ... Been that way on MX and Enduro (18~21) motorcycles for a long time

 

[HollyBoni]

I didn't mention the wheelsize on purpose, my comment was about all the other components. Probably off topic. Sorry!

 

[BrocLuno]

26 is good basis for conversion

I get that. But, in my case all the parts were in decent/OK shape. Was owned by a Marin County resident who spent serious bank going weight weenie and then sold it on to one of his buds who let the air run down on the Marzocchi forks and decided it was broke ... So he sold it for $100

I got it home and realized they had reversed the lower shock mounting plate so the rear was all jacked up. A new used Fox shock w/o piggy back boost chamber (the part that created the mounting dilemma) and a reset on the plate with new SS screws and JB Weld under (onto clean slightly abraded carbon/epoxy), and it was sorted.

I emailed the PO owner requesting owners manuals or service guides, and the adapter for the air fork? He wrote back that he did not have any lit, AND did not even know you could pump up the forks ... Needless to say, there was not that much total time on the bike

I'll buy rich posers cast-offs any day. I don't feel bad about it. And yes, you can get seal kits for the fork from Dr Marzocchi in the EU. Fox will recondition any shock sent in so what's to loose ... Carbon stress? Well it has to be ridden for that to be a thing ... Clueless owners are a good thing - for me

Used parts all over eBay. Just gotta know what you are looking for, and try alternate listings and spellings

Once you rescue an older MTB, it can be pressed into general trail riding service, passed on down the line to the next generation, get blinged out as a white-walled cruiser, or converted to an eBike.

26" MTB's are the best choice for all these things as they are tough, have interchangeable parts, can be re-geared easy enough, usually have wide enough rear triangles to accept + tires, etc. Fork swaps are not that tough. Getting a whole package under 30 lbs is doable. Under 25 lbs is spendy, but also doable.

How cush is it to ride along with your buds down the RxR right-of-way with no jarring while they are cussing big sharp rocks and rough ground ... I don't need a 29'er to do that - just decent suspension

That K2 is now my favorite cruiser and play trail rider. The Hardrock Sport is becoming a MTB eBike. My old Trek is still going off road, just not as often now that the K2 is here

Will I get a full carbon 29'er with suspension on both ends, maybe ... I have trails that could demand it (Mt Tamalpias & Mt St Helena). But I'm not convinced that it is needed. If the speed and the jumps are dialed back a bit, it's not a problem until you get to dbl Black Diamond stuff ...

 

[Fuelish]

I'm a shorter guy, so 26 "fits" me better, not to mention the bikes are paid for, adjusted/tuned to my liking, and I feel like I'm not missing out on anything. Not to mention I prefer to run my guitars through tube amps, and I drive a 6 speed manual car......guess I'm a Luddite, or something

 

[str8edgMTBMXer]

I'm a shorter guy, so 26 "fits" me better, not to mention the bikes are paid for, adjusted/tuned to my liking, and I feel like I'm not missing out on anything. Not to mention I prefer to run my guitars through tube amps, and I drive a 6 speed manual car......guess I'm a Luddite, or something

hmmm...tube amps!! Love it! I record (bass) with tube amps, but use SS live...sort of like my old 26er is now my commuter/ rec trail bike, and my 29+ gets all beat up. Nothing like having multiple tools!!!

 

[supersedona]

Agreed 100% If you are cruising and just exploring around; 26 will do most, if not all. It has for decades. If you want to race, or even just to maintain race pace, yeah, you'll have to go bigger or split sizes.

26 semi fat on rear and bigger up front might work out best ... Been that way on MX and Enduro (18~21) motorcycles for a long time

Actually I took a couple years off for finances and did a couple trail races this year with the ol 26" steed. This year on 2.23" tires and still got 3rd and 2nd in two of them. Lots of remarks about being old school, but in a tight technical maneuvering trail race I like the second nature of a well practiced setup.

 

[Pedalon2018]

hmmm...tube amps!! Love it! I record (bass) with tube amps, but use SS live...sort of like my old 26er is now my commuter/ rec trail bike, and my 29+ gets all beat up. Nothing like having multiple tools!!!

Well I use both a tube pre amp and two mono block tube amp, drive two different cars with manuals and ride 29ers. They just roll over stuff better. I still rode my 1998 Trek 8900 til earlier this year I gave her away. Just saying...Yeti Yeti Yada Yada Yada

 

[fokof]

Still love my 26

 

[chelboed]

Cross-post-warning

I fell in love with my 2005 Komodo when I built it ground-up in 2006. It's began life as a freeride hardtail:

View attachment 1228257

Moved to an even more freeride hardtail:

View attachment 1228258

Then put on a 5lbs diet as a trail bike:

View attachment 1228261

Then to an all mountain shredder:

View attachment 1228262

To a rigid all mountain hardtail:

View attachment 1228264

Finally back to a 5" All Mountain hardtail:

View attachment 1228265

There wasn't any configuration that this bike couldn't do well.

It's been pretty greasy with the freeze and thaw weather. It was finally cold enough to freeze the ground hard. Finally, I could get off the gravel and hit some singletrack again!

I fired up the truck and headed out watching my house disappear through the back glass of my truck...eyeballing my 12 year old Komodo behind me as the exhaust billowed out...stark white into the crisp 20 degree air instantly seeming to freeze completely still, hovering over the road.

The trail head is only 3 miles from my front door...I was there in minutes and on the bike only seconds later.

10 minutes into my ride, tragedy strikes. My saddle falls like a tree in the forest...and I knew it was over.

View attachment 1228269

I rode back to the truck standing the entire way...knowing how much trouble I'm in...my nearly new 135mm rear Hope hub clacking at me reminding me of the planned obsolescence of 135mm dropouts on my 12 year old frame.

My barely broken-in 150mm fork damper swishing as the suspension compresses and rebounds as if it was whispering to me..."my steerer is just 1 1/8" straight."

My 26" tires crunching on the frozen ground crying out to me as if to say..."hey... it's been a good long run & 26 ain't dead yet...but good luck finding a suitable replacement!"

Well my friends...the only thing that could have made this size large Kinesis-built freerided hardtail frame any better would have been offering it in a size XL for people my height, with a seat tube/top tube gusset on top instead of on bottom, and a slightly bigger reach, stack, & head tube.

The very next day, I scored a brand new in box XL Mullet frame that meets all of those desires!!

It's on the way and my old friend has already gone through organ donor surgery.

View attachment 1228270

26 ain't dead!!!

 

[blaklabl]

I just love my 26" wheels.

Listen, I have had them all. 26 (more than I care to count), 27.5 (1), 29 (probably 5). At 5'8" and a 30" inseam, I am not especially tall - really not tall at all. I have also spent more than I care to think about on bicycles over the years than I care to think about, always chasing the next best thing and whatever riding discipline was en vogue.

As it turns out, I REALLY like single speeding, and I like the way 26" wheels handle FOR ME. I am more financially secure than I have ever been in my life at this point, and can really afford t get myself whatever I'd like if the mood struck, but so far it hasn't. Every time I throw my leg over my bike and go for a ride, I catch myself wondering "well what if I got this thing" or "I wonder if that would make this better"...and then I run up on a rock-strewn, uphill pitch covered in baby heads that I am able to just pick my way up through and keep momentum as I crest it, and that usually silences the chatter. I can't even begin to imagine trying to do that stuff on a 29 or 29+, what with my short legs trying to turn over cranks and all...

Sure, my rigid titanium SS 26"er is a beautiful pile of compromises and standards for the not too distant past, but I love it and it does whatever I ask it to without hesitation.

One day, when I do have to get a new frame I will move to 27.5 for the parts availability, disc brakes, etc...but for now I'm pretty content with what I am rolling.

 

[291748]

Those chrome bars...nice...

Had a set of old Profiles super similar; I miss those things.

 

[MikeyMK]

Rims were usually wider back in the 80s when 26s were the size to have - maybe part of the problems people have had with 26s in modern times has something to do with the ever narrowing of rims down to a typical 17/19mm.

 

[Squeeze]

I drive a 6 speed manual car......guess I'm a Luddite, or something

If you were a true Luddite, you'd drive a three on the tree!

 

[HollyBoni]

Rims were usually wider back in the 80s when 26s were the size to have - maybe part of the problems people have had with 26s in modern times has something to do with the ever narrowing of rims down to a typical 17/19mm.

Rims were wider (and steel) back in the 50s-60s too when a 28 x 1 1/2er was the size to have.

 

[JonathanGennick]

Sure, my rigid titanium SS 26"er is a beautiful pile of compromises and standards for the not too distant past, but I love it and it does whatever I ask it to without hesitation.

I also have a 26er rigid that for a few years was my main ride, and still I'm on it a lot. My SS is a 650b though, for no particular reason than that's how the parts fell together. Your Titanium bike, wow, it looks really nice. I like the little touches of red that you have going on. Or is that purple, that I see centered around the crank-arm bolt? Your bike looks nice, that's for sure.

 

[blaklabl]

Those chrome bars...nice...

Had a set of old Profiles super similar; I miss those things.

They are titanium, made by Defiance Frameworks in Homer, Alaska