Abu Mahendra

well, there's that hassle if you run fenders. There's also the fact that these Swiss Army Knife dropouts cost more money to produce. This has been acknowledged by Surly itself with the release of the Bridge Club.

SHBR

Its looks like you are married to disk brakes, with that wheelset anyway.

With disks, you could run any size wheel that fits in the frame, not sure why you'd need to run 26" wheels if you had the clearance for 700C wheels.

Bigger wheels tend to roll over bumps better. (given the tire size is equal)

One reason for smaller wheels is smaller frame sizes, its why there are no 700C bikes for young children.

Abu Mahendra

well, yes. The whole discussion turns on the ability to swap wheel sizes afforded by disk brakes.

why run 26" wheels? For increased pneumatic suspension, traction and flotation. That's the point of 650b conversions. The same rationale applies to 559.

SHBR

My point is, if you have a frame that can clear 60MM 700C tires, I doubt you'd benefit much from a smaller wheel size, unless you can fit fatbike wheels.

fietsbob

math... smaller wheel-tire, drops the BB and pedal BDC clearance
by the difference in the radius of the wheels ..

alan s 

fietsbob

complete wheel includes tire .. but a really fat tire on a small rim is going to be a similar diameter

the whole 700c 23 tire wheel swap to , 26" MTB with a 2.125" tire , depends on that..

Abu Mahendra

you are late to the party, bob. We've covered that already, and determined that they are non-issues. Please stop pontificating on basic math (my first degree is actually in engineering).

Abu Mahendra

gotcha.

saddlesores

maybe with a coupled frame? smaller wheels might could make the difference between fitting in the luggage case, or paying the surcharge for oversize sporting goods.

can't say for shure....my maff ain't so good.

SHBR

This is the original rationale.

My Dahon with 20" wheels (406MM) just barely fits in a standard suitcase, even then it still requires major disassembly.

26" and 700C wheels won't fit in any standard suitcase that I know of. (the cases that do fit will be obvious that you are carrying a bike, or some sort of equipment that may prompt additional questions, and charges)

saddlesores

OP wants a doitall touring bike with big wheels. OP lives on an island so most likely gonna need to fly. buying a new bike, so want to factor in more, umm, factors.

wouldn't expect to use a standard suitcase. i mentioned "the luggage case" regarding a coupled frame. thought it would be (captain) obvious that would be a case made for bikes.

also, OP lives in bali, budget airlines like tiger and jetstar don't make a fuss over bikes in luggage, would be more of a concern if he needed to connect with some of the western carriers.

SHBR

Did the OP mention flying?

I missed that.

You have a valid point about flying with a big wheel bike, especially with major "US based airlines".

I'm fairly sure the OP has a fleet of folding bikes that would also be quite suitable for air travel.

Abu Mahendra

The All-road Utility Tourer would fly once in a while. Inside a bike box, with the front wheel off. But that's not a reason for smaller 26" wheels.

BTW & fyi, there are ferries spanning Indonesia's main islands. One could conceivably pedal from East Timor all the way onto mainland SEAsia to Singapore or Malaysia without having to fly.

SHBR

Good to know.

Regrettably I booked a flight to Tokyo from Shanghai in August, really wanted to take the boat, but JAL gave us a great price, and we can carry 40KG per person worth of checked luggage no extra charge.

Next time, maybe.

Abu Mahendra

...mind you, Indonesian inter-island ferries are not the most speedy, modern, or comfortable, and some have been known to sink at sea, but they get the basic job done for cheap.

SHBR

I could say the same about some airlines.

Rob_E

There are a lot of variables, but I can say that I have been unsuccessful fitting my my World Troller into its S&S case with my ET wheelset on 40mm WTB Scraper rims. I remember shortly after the WT was released Surly published a photo of the Wold Troller in a hard case with Rabbit Hole rims and said that it "almost fit."

That said, I can fit my i26 rim wheelset in, and I bet I could run the ETs on that set as well. I've never tried it because they fit so well on the Scrapers, and I use the i26 for my more bus-rack-friendly 2.15" tires. Might try when I fly up to ride the Katy this fall, since I'd rather ride the ETs. Another thought I had was to just get a 2nd S&S case. Half the bike in each case should allow me to pack whatever tires I wanted.

alan s 

djb

dont forget though that I set up my sks fenders on the troll and can remove rear tire easily, so it depends on the clearance you leave.

but yes, a moot point if a Bridge Club would be an option, yet still allowing a 700x47 or whatever they say, and up to 2.8 chubby chickens.

Rob_E

Same here. I swap wheels all the time and never mess with my fenders.

Rob_E

Always do. The issue is getting everything packed to not exceed the 10 inch deep limit of my S&S case. The wide rims make just enough difference that the case bulges too much, or at least too much for my comfort, knowing I'm going to be handing it over to TSA and the baggage handlers. I doubt it would fit at all in a hard-sided case.

alan s 

Rob_E

Cranks always come off, too. Problem is that I can shift things around to account for hub width, mainly by moving the widest part of the frame, the rear triangle, to the edge, meaning that I have my rear dropouts on top of one rim and the other rim on top of that. Maybe with a little more fiddling, it might fit, but I've never gotten it together in a package tight enough to be comfortable with. On the other hand, I often use a combination of transit options, and the wider tires also make it difficult to use bus bike racks and Amtrak's roll-on service. So my motivation to spend much more time trying to squeeze the tires into my case is low. But I do have a trip coming up where I'd love to have my ETs. Might have to take another look.