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The only geared MTB I have at the moment is my Seven Sola which is a few years old now and with 26 inch wheels. I mainly ride my 29er SS bike these days as I am quite tall and the size suits me. Now there are a few MTB marathons that I need to run gears in this year and the question is do I spend a lot upgrading the Seven (rims, crankset/gears , brakes etc) when it is most likely I won't be able to get any high end stuff for it in the future? (thinking mainly forks and tyres) Or say sod it and sell it, the problem being that I wouldn't get a good price for it as no one wants 26 inch wheels anymore. What would you do?
Build some nice 700C disk wheels, add 700x40 tyres and have a really nice commuter.
As you say, 26" bikes are worth so little it would be difficult to justify selling it. There was something similar in the classifieds last month for a criminally low amount and it didn't sell (AFAIK).
I recently sold my Cotic Soda – that was a nice build – for £1.2k. It had cost me over £3k to build and in many ways I wished that I'd kept hold of it. That said, it was gathering dust and taking up valuable 29er space. I ride with lots of people on 26ers and the smaller wheels don't seem to slow them down.
[i]I ride with lots of people on 26ers and the smaller wheels don't seem to slow them down.[/i]
I actually won a Strava KOM for a popular downhill segment last summer on this bike but that may have been because of the brakes not working! It's not so much that I feel the bike is slower it's more the lack of high end parts in the future.
I was thinking that perhaps I could convert the bike to 27.5 but after trying it in the LBS we realized the BB would be too high, even thóugh the wheel fits in the frame.