26 in vs 700cc tires What does everyone think of this article?

[mmmmartin]

i'm a 26 inch chap. utterly. cos if you have 700c wheels and they break you are f****d. you cannot get the spokes long enough, ok you can carry two dozen spares, no problem. tyres? rims? with 26 inch wheels you can buy any old mountain bike in a patagonian village and cannibalise the bottom bracket/wheel/brakes etc. having said that, this bloke toured the world for three months every year for 40 years: wrong wheels, etc.

you can tour on anything: but if you have a mechanical (which you will one day) then 26 inch wheels are easier to fix. my other pro tip is to spend £100 on your front rack and £100 on your rear rack. Steel is real.

 

[dsutherland]

Road surfaces make the argument here. I feel a lot better on gravel roads and poorer surfaces on 26", and better roads I like 700c.

True, but what happens when you have a tour planed that may have both nice paved sections as well as some gravel portions. Would a hybrid type bike with 700c be best for this situation?

 

[vernon]

There's too many variables to take into account to come up with a definitive answer if you operate with the notion of 'if it can fail it will'.

Frames - steel, titanium or alloy frames?
Bottom bracket - square taper, octalink or BB30?
Wheels - 26" or 700c?
Environment - first world or third world? On road or off road? Sometimes on road is rougher than off road - Hungary springs to mind.
Gearing - SS/fixed, derailleur, or hub?

There's a gazzillion cycle tourers out there who have relatively trouble free tours. Nicking and mangling a phrase seen somewhere else, 'The echo chamber of the Internet amplifies the scale of problems by their repetition'. A well maintained and set up bike should see most people through but you can't plan for every eventuality though some people attempt to do so when you read the list of tools and spares that they carry with them on tour.

The article was written in 2007. The world has moved on.

The original problem - lack of 26" wheeled touring bikes has diminished and all the brouhaha of the article can be paraphrased to, '26" wheeled bikes are preferable if you intend to tour in third world countries because 700c spokes, rims and tyres are difficult if not impossible to get hold of if you damage your wheel.'

 

[vernon]

True, but what happens when you have a tour planed that may have both nice paved sections as well as some gravel portions. Would a hybrid type bike with 700c be best for this situation?

Don't sweat the small stuff. Either wheel size will do the job. I know so because I've done so. The original article deals with a situation that has extremes - duration, roughness of riding surface and bike loading.

If you're not touring in the third world either wheel size will do - I've had rims and spokes fail in both wheel sizes and had no difficulty in finding replacements/spare/repair facilities.

If you're touring in the third world 26" wheels are preferable if doing extended tours.

This is not a definitive answer.

 

[Gravity Aided]

True, but what happens when you have a tour planed that may have both nice paved sections as well as some gravel portions. Would a hybrid type bike with 700c be best for this situation?

That is a matter of personal preference. A 26" bicycle, with 1.5" tires and a hybrid with 37mm tires would have about the same width of tread. Perhaps the 26" wheel would be sturdier, due to shorter spokes, and have more spares available, but the difference may not be as great as it may seem. I looked at this some years ago, and determined that my speed on the mountain bike while touring(slow) and my speed on the hybrid bike while touring, were closely matched, and maintenance and wear were also quite the same. Upright riding position caused me to seek a better suited touring style bicycle, and I bought a Schwinn Impact in a church sale, converted it to drop bars, added fenders and a rack, and use that for commuting and touring. It has a very light frame, and was quite a sleeper of a bicycle, the frame being quite close to the specs. for a Surly 26" Long Haul Trucker. I did it this way so I could put a wide range of 26" tires on this bicycle. I sought reliability, and also found versatility. Your results may vary. It is easy to find a 26" mountain bike. It is quite another thing to find one that will take a drop bar conversion satisfactorily.

 

[Nigeyy]

Maybe it wasn't so much the size of wheel that was the problem in the article, but the wheel component quality, suitability and build quality? Seems like other people have chosen 700c wheels no problem in similar situations. Mind you, not that I'd know that much as I haven't done any really tough touring. FWIW, I do have a steel Sardar with 26" wheels and I'm very happy with that.

I was trying to think through the advantages/disadvantages of wheel sizes and thought "hey, at least if you were in a country where there was mainly 26" wheel sizes, you could just stick a wheel on -even at the back you could probably wangle a couple of gears with mismatched cassette/freewheel/number of gears". But then I also thought you could probably do the same with a 700C frame as well, even at the peril of losing a brake or a small amount of ground clearance (though not sure if there are 700c -> 26" brake adapters either, but maybe they would be good to have for this purpose!).

I think the biggest advantage to me for 26" wheels would be in the availability of tyres and inner tubes (though you could probably fit a 700c inner tube on a 26" wheel having said that and vice versa). Even in the USA you are guaranteed to find a 26" tyre at a Walmart or similar, 700C less so.

I suppose *if* I was going to go to some out of the place way where 700c wheels aren't common, then I'd certainly lean towards 26" wheels (I'm also not very tall, so maybe that helps as well, I'd also imagine someone who is very tall may not like 26" wheels?). However, bit of a moot point as my tourer is 26" already. But then again, if you have great quality wheels that are strong, well built and are high quality, maybe you don't get concerned...... and as someone else said, as soon as I saw the word "definitive" I became immediately skeptical!

 

[Nigeyy]

It is easy to find a 26" mountain bike. It is quite another thing to find one that will take a drop bar conversion satisfactorily.

I'm not sure about geometry, but the other issue with wanting an mtb to have drop bars is the cost; you've got to be prepared to spend the money doing so -I think its easy to find any mtb to convert to dropbars, its just the cost associated with it, e.g.:

-assuming you want STI/Ergo, it would be advantageous to have canti brakes or mini-vs on, otherwise you'd need brake adapters for existing v-brakes on an mtb (still, brake levers with integrated shifting, or adapters and/or new brakes add up).
-you'd probably also need a new front derailleur (and perhaps different cranks or crank rings) so the front der can cope with closer ratios
-you'll probably need a new stem/quill
-other miscellaneous stuff such as tape and new cables

All of these add up (yeah, don't ask me how I know). FWIW, to convert an mtb to dropbars I'd think the best and cheapest way to go is to is to use a non-STI/Ergo system, preserve the existing drivechain and buy road bike levers that are compatible with whatever brakes you already have on there.

 

[Gravity Aided]

You could probably do it with many frames, you would need a piece of hardware called a travel agent to make things come out right.
http://problemsolversbike.com/products/travel_agents/
I used road type brakes off an old Schwinn, which had a lot of travel and a large degree of adjustment, on an older(1992) Schwinn Impact mountain bike frame, basic, but lightweight, well made, and CrMo. What I came up was the rough equivalent of a Surly Long Haul Trucker. I'm 6'3", but this is an extended size frame. I bought it in a church sale for $20.00 American.

I added drop handlebars, new shifters and indexed derailleur, fenders, rack bar tape, and a decent saddle. I also had to recable the bicycle . Still, for less than 150.00 invested, I have a bicycle that takes from 1.5 to 3" tires, that can take a lot of gear and carry it smoothly. As a mountain bike, I think this frame missed its' true calling. A fantastic machine that thinks little of travelling 50 miles or more. I still need to add a Cree light.

 

[Nigeyy]

You could probably do it with many frames, you would need a piece of hardware called a travel agent to make things come out right.
http://problemsolversbike.com/products/travel_agents/
I used road type brakes off an old Schwinn, which had a lot of travel and a large degree of adjustment, on an older(1992) Schwinn Impact mountain bike frame, basic, but lightweight, well made, and CrMo. What I came up was the rough equivalent of a Surly Long Haul Trucker. I'm 6'3", but this is an extended size frame. I bought it in a church sale for $20.00 American.

Ooh, that looks nice, love the fact you bought the frame for $20! Nice going

 

[Gravity Aided]

It taught me a lesson. I would have had a Day 6 semi recumbent, if I'd only brought about five more dollars along. But then, I would have missed out on this one, and it's one of my favorite bicycles of all time. So it all worked out for the best.

 

[Tin Pot]

People should just stop using imperial measurements.

That's the definitive answer.

 

[Bodhbh]

700c - anything else is impractical and dangerous and should be banned and the owner arrested.

 

[Ajax Bay]

I found this article which I think both pertinent and cogent. Favours 26", and not just in far flung corners of the world. Draws on the experience of running a fleet of touring bikes as well as wide individual experience.

http://www.bretonbikes.com/homepage/cycling-article-blog/66-wheels-for-cyletouring-700c-vs-26

 

[Spoked Wheels]

I found this article which I think both pertinent and cogent. Favours 26", and not just in far flung corners of the world. Draws on the experience of running a fleet of touring bikes as well as wide individual experience.

http://www.bretonbikes.com/homepage/cycling-article-blog/66-wheels-for-cyletouring-700c-vs-26

What a good article this is.

From the wheel builder point of view the 26" wheel is a much stronger wheel and when it comes to heavy loaded / long touring then the difference between the 2 sizes should not be ignored.

Now, this gentleman has access to information that only those people touring around the world might experience.. wheels with thousands and thousands of miles. The average tourer will probably never experience this. Maybe this is the reason why the choice for building wheels to support very heavy loads are very limited nowadays. It's hard to find 700c rims that will take 40+ spokes, even when looking in tandem specialist stores.

Now, should the average tourer be worried about their 700c wheel being less reliable? I don't think so, most tourers I know don't exceed the load for their 700c wheels and they don't do the kind of mileage this gentleman was talking about. Although he did say that 700c wheels failed just after a few weeks but those wheels were factory built wheels with poor quality spokes.

Most tourers would go on relatively short tours, 1, 2 or even 3 weeks so as long as they have well built wheels I think they have little to worry about.

Tourers doing long tours, are experienced tourers and they have a pretty good idea of what is required, they carry the kitchen sink so..... they could not hope to do a tour like that on 700c wheels without risking serius problems.

Our Emma @SatNavSaysStraightOn and her husband did a long tour across continents, they are experienced tourers and they had the right equipment for that, expedition bikes with 26" wheels. I've seen one wheel and it looked like it just came off a tank

So, horses for courses.

 

[Arrowfoot]

What a good article this is.

From the wheel builder point of view the 26" wheel is a much stronger wheel and when it comes to heavy loaded / long touring then the difference between the 2 sizes should not be ignored.

Now, this gentleman has access to information that only those people touring around the world might experience.. wheels with thousands and thousands of miles. The average tourer will probably never experience this. Maybe this is the reason why the choice for building wheels to support very heavy loads are very limited nowadays. It's hard to find 700c rims that will take 40+ spokes, even when looking in tandem specialist stores.

Now, should the average tourer be worried about their 700c wheel being less reliable? I don't think so, most tourers I know don't exceed the load for their 700c wheels and they don't do the kind of mileage this gentleman was talking about. Although he did say that 700c wheels failed just after a few weeks but those wheels were factory built wheels with poor quality spokes.

Most tourers would go on relatively short tours, 1, 2 or even 3 weeks so as long as they have well built wheels I think they have little to worry about.

Tourers doing long tours, are experienced tourers and they have a pretty good idea of what is required, they carry the kitchen sink so..... they could not hope to do a tour like that on 700c wheels without risking serius problems.

Our Emma @SatNavSaysStraightOn and her husband did a long tour across continents, they are experienced tourers and they had the right equipment for that, expedition bikes with 26" wheels. I've seen one wheel and it looked like it just came off a tank

So, horses for courses.

It is indeed a great article and learnt a lot. Explains why I keep seeing 26" touring bikes often even in developed countries.