djb

26in ? Passe and clearly old school
29er? Meh
27.5 in? What all the cool kids are wearing now......
but ya baby, a one-off Ti 36er dropbar gravel and washboard beater-- now we're talking ! ! !

https://bikepacking.com/bikes/curve-titanosaur-36er/

got a larf reading this this morning. Fun read and for any one who loves all stuff bike, pretty cool and wacky.
I've seen the odd 36er unicycle and I can tell you, these wheels are bonkers high, so this bike must be a real eye catcher.

shame the photo isn't beside a different bike for scale. I think my 26in dropbar Troll would look like a puppy beside a Great Dane mom or dad.

enjoy

Tourist in MSN

I would prefer racks and panniers over bikepacking setup. But the panniers might look a bit small on it. Rack would probably have to be custom made too.

elcruxio

That's a cool concept especially for someone as tall as me. I wonder if riding that thing would be like riding a normal gravel bike for someone 160cm or so tall.

For touring the one thing that does raise concerns for me is wheel durability. There are going to be bigger gaps between spokes on the rim. Spoke bracing angles are going to be steeper and the spokes are much longer. If this kind of thing were to become more common all things wheel would likely have to become bigger. Wider hubs with larger flanges, more spokes etc.

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BobG

30 years ago Bruce Gordon was the first to advocate for 700c wheels for gravel applications with his "Rock'n'Road" back when 26" was the standard. He liked to use the stagecoach analogy. From his interview in Bike Rumors ...

..."The tires… the tires… everything was 26in....the angle of attack on a bigger wheel is smaller. It is less. So it makes sense. The reason that I used to give was the same reason they made six foot diameter stagecoach wheels. It would have been much easier to make two foot diameter stagecoach wheels— but it wouldn’t have rolled over things as easy."

I guess 36" bike wheels takes it to a whole new level following the same reasoning!

saddlesores

as long as you're blowing 5 grand on a custom ride, why not special order a matching titanium 36'r extrawheel trailer?
and heck, money's no object, so throw in a pair of streamlined titanium-&-carbon cargo bins!

djb

for anyone who didnt read the article, this is a one off bike built with a specific thing in mind, but I just thought it was pretty darn cool.

elcruxio

I think I read somewhere that Trek was 'testing' larger wheel sizes and 36" was one size in the mix. Not sure if it'll go anywhere but it'll be interesting to see.

Tourist in MSN

When I was in Iceland, I stopped at a road side overlook and saw this cycle leaning against the sign. Took a photo. Then I went to take some scenery photos, unfortunately when I came back to where he (or she) had parked the cycle, had already left. So, did not have a chance to chat. I just looked at the original photo and blew it up, the tire is labeled 36 X 2.25, bead diameter 787mm. So, I have seen that size tire before.

djb

You gotta love those matching straps and rim colour--Leave it to Beaver 1950s house siding or Chevy teal or aqua or whatever that colour was called.

pretty awesome touring setup.
and in Iceland!

alan s 

https://bikepacking.com/bikes/curve-titanosaur-36er/

No need for one, as I will never go near the Outback. Want one? Of course.

robow

Looks like Bianchi Green

Tourist in MSN

Every bike trip I did by plane, brought either my folding bike or my S&S bike. Or, the bike was provided by the tour group.

Even if couplers were added to the frame, with that wheel size that bike will not fit into a case that meets most airline criteria for 62 inches.

Already own a titanium bike without couplers, don't need another one.

fourfa

Apparently it's an existing unicycle wheel size?

fietsbob

Yup, Uni types can roll at a good clip on a wheel that big..

djb

oui monsieur, read the article, it's interesting.
and they even say that they aren't the first to make a 36er bike.

djb

of course

tcs

Not the first, but another that's been around for a while: True 36er Bike.

https://truebikes.eu/

djb

very neat also.
Its pretty simple, if I had loads of disposable income, one of these 36ers would be in my garage beside my Penny Farthing.

Tourist in MSN

When I put the tire size in google a few days ago, this link came up:
https://www.cyclemonkey.com/blog/36-...edhub-50014-xl

And today when I put DirtySixer in google, this link came up:
https://dirtysixer.com/

I have no clue who was first and I do not really care, but apparently there are more companies than we realized that had dabbled in these big wheels.

I probably use 26 inch wheels a third of the time when I am riding near home, the rest mostly on 700c. But use 26 inch wheels for most of my touring with 700c touring a small minority. Based on that, I generally tour on smaller wheels than I use for riding around home. Thus, I see these big wheels as a novelty, not anything that would interest me for touring.

djb

re dirtysixer--I knew I had seen a photo somewhere of that basketball guy ONeal on a giant bike, and sure enough, there it is on this website.

Tourist in MSN

I have been surprised over the years that almost all companies use the same tube set for their smallest frames as they use for their biggest frames. Only rarely do you see a company change anything besides the geometry when they upsize things, tube diameters and wall thicknesses stay the same for the entire size range.

Since these companies that made the 36 inch wheel bikes to sell them do not dabble in the smaller frames, I am not including them in my generalization.

But seeing how some really big bikes are made for the big folks that are fully designed for the bigger folk, it does make me wonder if the people that ride the really small frames are burdened with bikes that are too stiff for them.

Pratt

The low gear is still a bit high for my old legs

DropBarFan

Last week I saw a bike that might have been 36" wheel, not sure. Titanosaur is very heavy, for bikepacking on bumpy roads/trails a dual-suspension MTB would be cheaper & lighter.

djb

ya I think these rad Aussies were up for an experiment, especially the larger wheel thing over ruts aspect and maintaining speed better to cover really long distances.Only they will know if it's worth it

tcs

The first 36er I saw some years ago was the Corker Red Monster cruiser.