26 ain't dead - but darned difficult to get intensive care

Tootyred":1ea6d9ew said:

I think people now expect to be able to do really silly stuff and get away with it! Chuck it crashing off a cliff in Utah....certainly sir, wont even know you have done it!

BITD, jumping off things with no suspension at all, no option but 26" and expecting NOT to get away with it, were all commonplace.

I never got up the courage to go much more than 10" sheer drop ( we used the local golf course who kindly provided manicured grass take off and landing pads for us) from the back of the driving platform thingies they have. (Dont understand or own a set of golf bats as you can tell).

Whilst i completly ununderstand the nice situation of having yours skills bolstered by technology............where's the fun in that.

Give me a bsa goldstar over an r1 anyday for a big smile, a feeling of being alive and having your life in YOUR hands......not the technology.

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+1 and agree with Greencat’s strategy. Retro top end 26ers are still as good or better than most of the modern stuff for most purposes, unless you are riding in Rampage. Also stockpiled a lot of consumables and bling which will see me until my riding days are over. The old bling and late 80s/early 90s Shimano is built to last.

I rode my 26 wheeled bicycle yesterday, shouting 'SEND IT!!!!' at every curbside and absolutely shredding it wherever I went

I went to the post office with a parcel full of cranks and said ‘SEND IT’.
So they did.

Gnarly dudes

Re:

No problems finding tyres, rims and even frames so far but long travel 26" forks with a straight steerer are becoming difficult to keep going.
A Talas needed 4 visits to Fox before they completely replaced the innards as they no longer had the parts. A set or Revelations needed 3 visits to R.S. and they're still not right. I was assured by TF Tuned that they held all of the parts so I sent them off to them only to be told that they didn't have the part and whilst they were repaired they couldn't warantee the repair.
I plan to keep riding my 26ers as long as I can but a shortage of good working forks is looking to be a problem in the future.
On the subject of limited production runs IMI in the form of Eley Cartidges used to give 6 months notice that they were going to have a limited production run of outdated 8 bore cartridges and that there wouldn't be another for a further 10 years.
Maybe an idea for an enterprising component manufacturer in the future?

In terms of tyres, they are moulded goods, so I'd expect that a large amount of capital is invested in making the tooling (tyre moulds). Provided the manufacturer doesn't dispose of the moulds (tooling), or the mould doesn't wear out or become damaged, it should be possible to manufacture more tyres at very little additional cost. Maybe it's just a temporary, COVID related, shortage.

M-Power":2ph0v39p said:

Retro top end 26ers are still as good or better than most of the modern stuff for most purposes.

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Nah, not if you have suspension. If nothing else forks and shocks have improved hugely since you could last buy decent 26" forks.

I guess it depends on your definition of good though. 26/27.5/29 are all ace and all have their place but I'm struggling to think of many areas of MTB outside dirt jump or the like where an old bike will be better than a current bike, especially at the top end. Even DH seems to be going over to bigger wheels and they held on more than most!

hookooekoo":312y9em5 said:

In terms of tyres, they are moulded goods, so I'd expect that a large amount of capital is invested in making the tooling (tyre moulds). Provided the manufacturer doesn't dispose of the moulds (tooling), or the mould doesn't wear out or become damaged, it should be possible to manufacture more tyres at very little additional cost. Maybe it's just a temporary, COVID related, shortage.

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Interesting this, I do know for fact that some old Michelin moulds have found there way to the "devolping world".

If you ever have problems finding 26" parts, just go to online German shops. Plenty of 26" bikes still around (people here like to get fancy bikes and KEEP them) so I've never had any issues finding spares. I'm not picky with a particular model or brand though, which helps.