[Closed] Is it worth moving from 26”?

Not for an xc hardtail, go straight to 29". No idea what a spicy is but I suspect its well out of date.

Not really, but best of luck buying a new 26” bike...

Don’t notice the difference between 650b and 26”, riding both back to back. Geometry l do notice on the modern bike but within 10 mins I’m used to either way.

If your forks and wheels are still tip top… I'd consider (biased opinion here) putting them on a new BFe26 frame. I've moved from 26" to 275 on my full sus… and… well… much of a muchness. Now my hardtail is getting amcient… and I'm looking at a 29er to replace it… the good ones I've tried have been a real step on from smaller wheels.

Yup keep the full sus for pure trails and buy a new 29er HT for XC. I've found the bigger wheels make a decent difference through the mud. Single ring the 26er if you haven't already.

There’s a whole lot more happened than wheel size since 2008.

id say you’d definitely notice the difference between a 2008 and a 2018 bike....

If it's rocky and steep where you live then yes, larger wheels make a big difference.  Not sure if 27.5 would be worth it, but 29 is.

26 is lighter, but not as good in the rocks.

It's pretty hard for anyone to say definitely cos most of us will have moved from a not-that-new 26" bike to a spangly new 27.5" bike. In my totally unscientific opinion there is a difference just from the wheel size, but not a massive one.

There’s a whole lot more [b](and more interesting/beneficial/important things)[/b] happened than wheel size since 2008.

TBH a 26er bike with today's geometry would suit me better than a 29er or 650b with 2008's geometry. But for me, 29er works really well.

And not in the "everything is easier" way that people talk about, I never really think "Oh that one root there felt smaller"- but it adds up over time. Best example i can think of is full prospacker at innerleithen, from the top of the minch- it starts out pedally and rough then goes steep halfway through and basically, I arrive at the hard bit less tired and more on it with the 29er than I ever did with smaller wheels. That's it, all the difference but it's actually pretty huge in practice.

Also, I decided if I was going to change wheel size, I wanted it to be a difference I could actually see.

This isn’t really an easy question to answer because there’s so much going on.

Geo has changed a lot since 2008.  By itself that’s a bit of a meh, but add it to things like Boost and bigger wheels and it becomes a potent mix - although I do understand why people are cynical about developments the sheer amount of stuff has changed in ten years.

Depending exactly what sort of riding and where you plan to do it, the various newer wheel formats all have upsides and downsides.

Possibly the biggest elephant though is the bike you’re moving from - a Spicy 916.   That’s an Alpine class 160mm trailbike that was pretty forward thinking before the longer/slacker thing really bit, one of the best of the first big wave of Enduro bikes from BITD.  It’s probably a bit short and steep by modern standards, but a slackset and offset bushings should help that a bit.   It’s also a 27lb, £4000 superbike with top of the range everything from ten years ago when there were far fewer £4000 bikes.  Unless it’s completely knackered, a 2k bike might well feel like quite a step down, and you aren’t going make much trying to sell your Spicy.

Personally, if the Spicy is still basically sound, then I’d be tempted to hang on to it and maybe slacken it a bit and look at a slack 29er HT like a  Sherpa, Honzo or maybe a Solaris.

Alternatively, something in the general region of a Hightower or Primer etc might be of interest.

I've got 27+ Kona unit and a 26 Orange AirO.  I much prefer the feel of 27+ over 26.  I rode a mates 29er cube and it feels OK but the bike was a bit big for me, so hard to tell.  I'm going to slap some 29er wheels on the Kona at some point too, just to see how it is.

Why not buy a second hand 29er.  You can get a top spec one second hand for a grand on ebay, or on this forum.

Then keep your current bike, try the 29er and if you dont like it sell it on for about the same price.  2nd hand bikes are bloody good value and there is a lot of choice, so you dont have to buy a crap worn out one.

The difference between a 26 and a 27.5 is too small to bother with.  A modern 29er with modern geometry will feel pretty damn good for racing / riding XC

Thanks everyone..Vincieup you’re spot on with you comments..although 10 years old the Spicy is still an excellent bike and way beyond my abilities in some regards. The Talas fork means I can bring travel down to 120 or 140 and its not too bad on xc. That said I miss the geo of the old Kona's for that sort of stuff. As some said the Spicy probably isn’t worth much second hand. ( I’m open to offers 😜)

decisions decisions.

A few years ago I back to back demo’d my 26” SC Blur Tr against its 650b replacement, the SC 5010; both bikes on same type of Maxxis tyres, same frame material and very similar weight drivetrain and wheels.  I really wanted to like the 5010 and expected to be blown away - it felt the same, or even very slightly slower than my Blur Tr.  I kept the Blur:)

As far as hardtails for XC go, as others have already mentioned, 29ers are hard to beat for that - and get a good one and you’ll be surprised at what they can do (As a challenge, I did a short black DH run on my Giant XTC29 and it really surprised me how well it coped (I did stick a dropper post on though:))

Personally, based on my happy memories of Lap Spicys from that era, I’d definitely keep your Spicy, and then try getting a SH 29er hardtail for the XC stuff.

HTH

Cheers right the Spicy is getting a makeover 😁. Plus will be scanning local ads for 29HT. Will need a bigger garage soon!

27.5 is in reality only slightly larger than 26 - it's a marketing exercise to try and differentiate.

For xc though - I'd be straight to 29ers - I have 3 and they all ride differently depending on geometry and build spec but i like them all much better than previous 26ers - a much more noticeable difference to 26.

I ‘went 650b’ a coupe of years ago, like lots of people of course.

I think the whole wheel size thing lasted about half a ride, rolls a tiny bit easier, turns a tiny bit slower - but your 10 year old 160mm bike is going to feel different to a current bike for lots more reasons that the wheels.

It would be worth checking the geometry of your bike against a newer bike. It may not actually be that different as the Soicy was quite “hard hitting” for its day and a modern 650B XC bike may be quite similar as geometry has really just got a bit more aggressive. A modern 650B bike is also probably a bit heavier as the Spicy was quite light.

I absolutely love 29 over 26.  I'm fairly tall at 6'3", so I don't know if this a factor, but I would pay the new bike premium to move sideways to an identical 29er.

This is me and you are you, so who knows what the answer is?!  Well, you do, I guess!

Tbh I'm lusting after a new bike. I keek trying them and few apart from the recerr crop of 29ers seem worth it.

I wanted a cotic rocket frame but it's juju not worth it imo.

I went straight from 26" to 29".

Partly because I just know I wouldn't have noticed any difference going to 27.5 personally.

Going straight to 29 was a revelation! Instantly liked it. <span style="font-size: 0.8rem;">Couldn't imagine riding anything else now unless forced to.</span>

Ymmv 😀

For me, the issue is finding spare parts, particularly forks. I've got a 2012 Ghost, which I love, but I killed the rear shock and fork through lack of maintenance and I couldn't find a new ones anywhere. Fortunately I found a magician of a mechanic who saved their lives. Cost me £400 though, but at the moment the cost of a new bike is out of the question.

I'm curious about the bigger wheel / modern geo thing, but I'm planning to get myself on a demo day in the Spring to see if I really notice enough difference to lust after a new bike. If I don't, I'll stick with the Ghost.

I had a 2012 ghost amr and recently moved on to a 2016 trek fuel. The trek is way ahead, efficiency of pedal, charging downhill, handling bigger drops. The game has moved on.

Let me have the rear end of your spicy if you give up on it! Parts are v hard to find,I have a 2013 zesty -great bike, tried a 27.5 yeti thinking it would be a big step up was v underwhelmed preferred the LP ,keep it going will have retro chic soon. If your leaning towards xc you may prefer the slightly steeper angles

I'm still on 26".
Tried one 27.5" an genuinely couldn't tell the difference, so can't see any point in changing to that just for the sake of it.
Tried a lot of 29" bikes and hated the vast majority, really don't handle well, the exceptions being Singular Swift and SC Tall-Boy which were both excellent.
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Problem I'm having now is getting tyres, can't just walk into a bike shop and get one nowadays. Last time I tried I went to every bike shop in Peebles, Innerleithen and Galashiels and between them they had two 26" tyres, both big DH ones. When the internet's supply runs out I'll have to go for bigger wheels but until then I'm staying put. I expect that the OP will run into similar issues soon, this is the only arguement I can see against refurbing the old bike.

We are moving all oab bikes over to 27.5 or 29 as they need replacing. We are also moving on from 3x9.

I'm finding good 26" good forks with straight steerer harder to find.

I'm aware that 9sp prices are rising, and 1x11 works for us (not perfect, but works).

I found the bigger change is geometry - slacker, lower, longer = faster, more stable, more pedal strikes..

That said, 27.5 definitely doesn't hook up as much on many bigger lumpy trails, and 29 does really make a difference in flattening out smaller trail bumps and not hooking up even more.

27.5 is in reality only slightly larger than 26 – it’s a marketing exercise to try and differentiate

This

and while we are it - if we are referring to 27" wheels as 27.5 can we please also refer to 26" wheels as 26.5

Just because you can put 2.5 in tyres on to any wheel to make them taller and there is only 25mm difference between the rim size.

Cheers

I've got two 26" bikes of a similar vintage to your Lapierre, OP: One XC weight weenie and one 160mm "enduro" bike. I've not tried 27.5" wheels, but I've had a few rides on a 2017 Pivot Mach 429c. If Strava is to be believed I am faster on the Pivot. I can't tell that I'm faster though, so I'm not sure how important that is. I also don't have noticeably more or less fun on one bike compared to the other. I've not come across anything that I would only attempt on the 29er either so for me personally there's no weight in the argument that bigger wheels mean it's easier to just bulldoze through stuff.

I think the only reason I'd change would be if I absolutely killed one of my bikes, in which case I'd be going 29".

Sell the lapierre, do not spend any more money on it.

I don't really know what XC means anymore. if you mean a capable mile muncher that does a bit of everything then I would be buying a short travel lightweight FS 650b or 29er avoiding any race geometry. Barely any difference between all the wheelsizes so forget about it
Soooo many really capable all rounders available now, why keep a bike if it doesn't suit what you like riding. You've had good value out of it after 10 years so does it matter if it's now worth £500

Sell the lapierre, do not spend any more money on it.

And if you do really want to spend money on it check every weld first 😉

Modern bikes are so far along, things like TALAS isn't much of a thing as angles and geo have improved climbing on longer forks.

I'd suggest a few demo's around the place to see what really suits you

Ooo.Look what i have in the stand.Don't get rid of it as they are a superb bike.Couple off offsets in it and they are hard to beat even with today's standards.Chuck the coil Lyriks and a custom dhx5 coil on it for big stuff and away it goes.:)
Old pick as now runs 1x

Can some kind sole fix the image for me as my brain hurts with flickr

Well I’ve got both 26 and 29 inch wheels to go on my new hardtail, so will post up my findings. (If it ever gets built/all parts arrive...)

4.8” tyres feel the same as 2.4” tyres, right?

4.8” tyres feel the same as 2.4” tyres, right?

Twice as alive.

Great discussion...every day I change my mind on this. In reality I’m the weakest link, fitness and off-road ability, and a new bike probably won’t change that 😂

I'd wait for metric wheels

I'm suprised your Spicy is still going, I thought all the Lapierres form that era had cracked or snapped by now.

Mine finally bit the dust 18 months ago, so I took the plunge and bought 27.5" replacement.

It's taken a while to decide what to do with all the parts from my Snappierre, but I'm now awaiting delivery of a BFe 26 frame to build me a hardtail!

Joking aside, the difference between 26 and 29 was very significant for me, and I never went back. Thoroughly worth it.

I've just (in the last week) moved from a 26" Cotic Soul (mkII) to a 27.5" Production Privee OKA.

Have ridden it twice now with friends.
I am climbing techy climbs I've not climbed for years - and can keep up with friends while working my way cross-country. Normally I'd be off the back within yards.

This only matters if you enjoy techy climbs and want to keep up with friends without them disappearing into the distance - otherwise I'd stick to the 26".

( I only changed because I had dead forks and was offered a deal on a 2nd-hand frame by a friend. )

Yes Akers has its not had a hard long life and I don’t ride very aggressively..I am overweight though!

@moderationmat 😀 My old 2011 Zesty 314 has  Spicy 516 chainstays due to an unfortunate accident that left me having to decide which frame lived.  The Zesty won due to the Spicy having a big dent in the top tube and being the wrong size for me really...

Production Privee- Another make I've not heard of - look nice

Kayak23 of this Parrish was looking to move a Production Privee Shan 917 in Medium last I heard...

Was about to say the same... http://singletrackmag.com/forum/topic/production-privee-shan-917-in-medium/

If I hadn't just ordered a new HT frame I would have been very tempted myself.