So, after spending a few days in among the latest new products, with glimpses of next year’s stuff at the Sea Otter, it is quite obvious that there’s something going on with this 27.5in thing.
So much so, that I can make a prediction: The 26in wheeled bikes on sale now are as good as they’re ever going to get.
Every bike manufacturer currently offering 26in wheeled bikes is actively redesigning their entire range for 27.5in wheels. Companies that mainly do 29in wheels are still looking at 27.5in wheels for their enduro and trail bike models, and even their full World Cup DH bikes. Companies that only do 29in wheels, like Niner, are looking on with interest and puzzlement. The 26in wheel, I’m afraid, is suddenly, inexplicably, going to disappear virtually overnight on production bikes of any quality. This is not conjecture. This is going to happen.
Every wheel company I visited at the Sea Otter, had a 27.5in wheel. Every tyre company. Every fork company. They were all ready for the revolution. “But what about all those great, existing 26in wheel bikes?” you ask. Well, they’re carrying on just fine. Take Turner for example. He just showed his new 29in carbon bike, the Czar. He also had his staple bikes like the 5Spot (26in) and the Sultan (29in) and the Burner (27.5in). Will there be a 26in carbon 5Spot. “Never” apparently. Even if he’d been considering it, to come out with a new 26in model at a time when everyone is promoting 27.5in (and clearing out their 26in models) would be suicide.
Is it a fashion thing? Or is there a real advantage? The less hype-prone riders and journos who’ve ridden both will all agree that there’s not a great deal of appreciable difference. However, they’re bigger wheels and bigger wheels are in. Imagine trying to sell a 26in suspension bike to a customer with a 29in hardtail. They know that they like the bike wheel rolling feel, but not many people can make a long travel 29er that isn’t tandem length. So what’s the shopkeeper to do? How about trying this new inbetween size. It can still behave like a 26in bike, yet it’s an nth better at rolling over stuff.
And what about racers? We know what a fickle, results-driven lot they are. All it will take is for a single race to be won on 27.5in and there’ll be an overnight switch. Teams are already testing 27.5in wheels for World Cup downhills. By Fort William in June, most factory racers will have a 27.5in bike available to them to ride. On the XC side, where many riders are still on 29in hardtails, it’ll be less pronounced. Although Nino Schurter raced (very successfully) on a 27.5in Scott all season, everyone else seems happy on 29ers. However, smaller riders will make the switch, and anyone else lured by the thought of a lighter bike with lighter wheels. Scott reckons the system weight is only 5% more than 26in, whereas a 29er is something like 11% more. It doesn’t alter the fact that 26in wheels will always be the lightest option, but despite that, racers have gone bigger.
The 26in wheel seems set for overnight obscurity. At least, looking around the Sea Otter. I saw one single new 26in bike (a carbon Kona Operator DH bike). Obviously, the UK has always been a bit different. You can buy 26in steel hardtails with 5in forks here – something you’d struggle to find in the US. So the small wheel flame will be held aloft on our little island, especially with the smaller builders. However, the big companies are all, ALL, working on 27.5in bikes. Next year, or the year after at most, I doubt that a company like Scott, or even Santa Cruz or Turner, will have a 26in bike in their range. They’re certainly not going to be launching any new ones in future. Santa Cruz admits that it’s made the new 27.5in 6in travel Bronson purely due to customer demand. And I reckon that when the current Chameleon, or Nomad, sells out, then it’ll be replaced with a 27.5in version. I might be wrong – and I’m not privy to much that any of the bike companies are planning. But I really don’t think I am.
It doesn’t make 26in wheels less great. And you’re going to still be able to enjoy riding your bike as you’ve always done. The simple fact is that when you come to buy a new bike in a few years, it won’t have 26in wheels, that’s all.
It’s going to be very interesting…
Chipps
4%
That’s how much bigger a 27in wheel is than a 26in, so there’s really not much in it. I spent 5 hours today on a 27in Turner Burner and it felt pretty darn good. Is it measurably better than the 26in Maverick Durance or BMC Trailfox in the garage? I’d have to say no. When the time comes to replace either one, I have to agree- there won’t be many 26in to choose from. But the 27s are close enough that I won’t mind.
Time to start wearing down the tire cache…
“And I reckon that when the current Chameleon,..sells out”
Shame innit? I tried a one man campaign to get SC to make a carbon Cham, was never going to happen, I got an email back more or less saying there’s going to be some “amazing” changes to the frame soon…It’s got to be bigger wheels.
I’m seriously thinking of buying all the 26″ tyre mouldsI can can, and set up a “niche” company…
of course you can always run 26″ wheel on a 27.5 frame if you want it to be lighter, and cheaper.
I now have 26, 27.5 and 29er bikes, the 29er is a great bike for eating the miles, but in the tight and twisty stuff it can be a little bit of a struggle, but compared to earlier 29ers its light years different in terms of performance and handling. I have a custom made 27.5 hardtail and I ride that mostly when I’m not on the 29er. The 26 bikes are now relegated to tight and twisty trail centre/alpine riding and soon they will be replaced by a long travel 27.5, prbably a bronson. I’ll retain a pair of 26 inch wheels to run in the 27.5 framed bikes but the 26 bikes are going on ebay very soon, just as soon as getting forks becomes slightly easier.
I used to ride a Muddfox bigfoot2 with 24″ wheels it was fantastic off road and amazing on fireroads but horrible on road – great bike wish i still had it ? i got 2 x 26″ now hmm its also 17 years between bikes for my 2 so i reckon things might settle before i purchase another one ?
@mlbasiliere It must be measurably better than a Maverick Durance! ;]
“The 26in wheeled bikes on sale now are as good as they’re ever going to get.”
Glad i’ve just bought one then. Oh and ill be buying tyres and tubes and other old school bits for many years to come. I just don’t see how it can become obsolete in a short space of time. Sure maybe in 10 years time 27.5 will be the norm but when you go out into the woods the majority of bikes are 26″, and the majority of people don’t have the money to just discard all these great bikes they already have, and for something that may give a small gain. I see it as the industry scrambling around to join in on the latest craze. Of course there weren’t any new 26ers at Sea Otter, they need to be seen in the 650B club to be cool.
Eh, why change it. I don’t race, I ride to have fun, of which I have lots of on 26″, I didn’t much care for Carbon Fibre, I don’t care much about 10 speed, and 650b is heading for same list. Enjoy what you have, ride what you want, and have fun doing it.
It’s just sales as far as I see. If they convince you enough to buy a bike with larger wheels and you have large pockets people will probably go and change bikes/ buy one just so they can say the roll better or whatever. It’s the same with any type of product not just bikes. I’ve never had a problem riding anything in Scotland where I live on a 26in.
Personnally I think this is really fascinating now – I have a 26′ wheeled bike that I really enjoy riding and will keep for some time but I can easliy imagine myself replacing it with a 650b bike. I have one MTB which must be a true all-rounder, I suspect my next bike will be something like a Santa Cruz Bronson or a Specialized Enduro 650b if they get around to making one in XL… But its all good and its all bikes, I like it.
You can run 27.5 wheels in a lot of 26 frames and forks, so unless you want huge tyres I don’t think you need to run out and buy a whole 27.5 bike. I switch wheels in a couple of my frames and have no issues, but I do run skinny tyres, anything over 2.2″ might be trickier
“And what about racers? We know what a fickle, results-driven lot they are.”
As has always been the case, they’ll use whatever they’re paid to use.
I love my 29er to bits, but my two 26ers (both Surlys, a 1×1 and a Pugsley) ain’t going anywhere soon, although admittedly the Pugsley is a bit of an edge case 😉
“Santa Cruz admits that it’s made the new 27.5in 6in travel Bronson purely due to customer demand” eh?
We want 27.5 and we want it now, we don’t know whether it’s any good but we damn well want it.
hmmm.
@Singletrackmatt,
You’d be surprised: with a rebuilt fork, some light wheels and spangly new XX1 kit, the Durance is getting all the love lately. 😀
In any case, my takeaway was that the 650B Turner felt like it sat right between the 26in Durance and 26in Trailfox handling, efficiency, and suspension-wise. I’ve felt more acceleration, cornering, and rolling difference when swapping tires. The 650 isn’t ‘better’ enough to rush out and buy one- but certainly I won’t grumble when it’s our only option.
This is as big as (or as small as!) the switch from 9spd to 10spd in my opinion:
It is probably better, and you probably won’t be able to buy a new bike next year with 26″ wheels much like you can’t get a new 9 spd XT equipped bike. But no reason until the shops stop selling 26″ tubes/tyres/rims to rush out and buy one.. well no more than the old n+1 bike buying rule.
The pain will be when you do buy a new bike, and bust a rim, you won’t be able to get by using an old spare wheel… and what about all those semi worn tyres? But then your old spare rear wheel is probably QR, and your current bike is a 142.5 bolt thru.. and were you ever going to re-use those tyres? really?
I won’t be buying one just yet, but only because I got a new bike 9 months ago that I love.
On the plus side, there’s sure to be some real bargains come september when the bike shops are struggling to shift these antiquated 26ers..
“Santa Cruz admits that it’s made the new 27.5in 6in travel Bronson purely due to customer demand” …
Utter crap!
This all sounds like the new ‘Fashion’ in bikes as there is no real reason to change if you look at all the comparisons ride-for-ride between 27.5 and 26. In my humble opinion, and I was seriously considering purchasing a 27.5 intense tracer 275 instead of my new 26 inch Canyon Strive, i think this is just another reason to sell more and more bikes. I cannot see any real step up in performance and at the moment I think the bike companies have simply exhausted / run out of ideas for new serious improvements to the 26 inch wheelset. But, I guess in the future I may be forced into that option, but I kinda hope not! “29’ers are super cool, no there not there super gay!”
The industry has been struggling for a while under the combined weight of a global downturn and the fact that for the last 5 years its been cheap as chips to get a sorted geo, light, well damped and robust 140mm bike secondhand. Obivously its not going to be a binary event but I think this lurch to 27.5 will be poorly recieved and when reviewed thru the rear view mirror, the catalyst for a fair amount of change and outright decline in the mtb industry.
“Utter crap!”
How so? Disagreement is absolutely fine so long as you explain yourself a bit. Otherwise you’ve just accused someone of lying. So, consider this an opportunity to expand on that comment before I delete it.
I’m struggling to figure out why 26″ is going to die, it’s still the most popular wheel size in the world isn’t it? I can’t see that a random western fashion wave is going to change the world overnight.
The poll on the frontpage shows that a whopping 1% of riders use 27.5 wheels, after a good couple of years of it being pushed on everyone? 29ers caught on quicker than this didn’t they?
I’ll be intruiged to see what happens to be honest.