steve-in-kville 

Good morning, folks. As some have followed some of my other threads elsewhere on the forums, I am looking to upgrade from my Windsor Tourist sometime in the next 3 months. This project has been on the radar for quite some time. The Tourist has served me well, but I really need (want!) disc brakes, as I pull a BOB for heavy commuting duties.

I am a shorter rider, 5' 2". I am taking a hard look at wheelsizes smaller than the standard 700c. I've considered the 650b size and I took notice that the Surly LHT is available in 26". I would love to hear opinions on the pro's and con's of this size for road travel. Do you feel its slower? Is the bike harder to handle?

Thanks.

prairiepedaler

26" wheelsize is far more common worldwide than 700c. I too was looking at an LHT with 26" wheels for that reason. Although, I take a 64cm frame and 26" wheels seem disproportionately out of place to the eye, who cares really when performance and ease of spares is what matters. The smaller wheelsize is going to be the stronger too. What I'm doing right now (besides typing) is turning an old steel, long wheelbase hardtail Raleigh mountain bike into a quasi touring / packmule hauler. It's a practical and economical way (I believe) of achieving most of what an expensive dedicating touring bike can do, minus the expense.

saddlesores

go with whatever bike size fits you.
bigger wheels are not necessarily faster, it's the weight of the
bike and the tires that makes the difference.
(i read an article in bicycling magazine in the 80's i think
that proved 24" wheels were the "fastest" for road bikes...
something about optimal reduced rotational mass maybe.)

Fact or Fiction? Big Wheels = Fast Wheels?

i've pulled a bob many miles with both 700 and 26. as far as my
untrained memory recalls, no real speed difference that could
not be traced back to how much gear in the trailer, and what
type tires.

get the 26 with some 1.5 slicks.

antokelly

good tyres is the trick look at compass tyres expensive but from what i've read they roll like a pro tubular tyre (tire) .check out there website some great info on it.

steve-in-kville 

Thanks for the replies.

Now to make things complicated: If I go to a 26" wheelsize, should I order a frame that is a bit bigger? I've been riding a 43cm Tourist for the past 6+ years. If the wheels are smaller, my standover would be shorter.

antokelly

NO wheels have nothing to do with size.

fietsbob

No, "size" is a measured distance For Seat tube length Axis to top
Wheel radius may drop but the BB to ground distance
remains the same. Not lower .. Only drops in cases where the 27" wheel frame simply has someone put in 26" wheels

[& measured diameter of a 23 tire 700c and a 2" tire 26" is not that different,( measure for yourself to confirm) ]



just to mention... Even smaller wheel and an advantage is the 406 .. 20 " Touring travel bikes
made in Eugene OR Bike friday that 20 & the 26" are very common tire sizes.. + 20 even stronger than 26

BF has a further advantage , for the traveling cyclist, They made them to pack into A suitcase, so the Airline travel fee for Bikes is Cut.





./.

steve-in-kville 

Ah, makes sense. Thanks.

Doug64

Just for reference: our 4'11" daughter rides a 42 cm Long Haul Trucker, and our 5'5" daughter rides a 50 cm LHT. Both bike sizes only come with 26" wheels. I'd suggest trying to test ride the 46 cm bike.

Riding on 26" wheels has not slowed either of them down. As the other folks have said, speed has more to do with wheel weight and tires. Both of the 26" bikes are set up with a tough, relatively lightweight wheelset, and medium weight 32 mm (1.25") tires. My observation is that there is no disadvantage with 26" wheels. It is a little harder to find good narrow size road tires for 26" wheels, but that should not be a deal breaker.

The top tubes on Surly touring bikes tends to be a little on the long side relative to some other brands.

bikemig 

This is a bit of a no brainer choice. In a small frame, there is a lot to be said for 26 inch wheels. If the top tube length doesn't work right for you on the surly, the soma saga is also designed for 26 inch wheels in smaller sizes.

steve-in-kville 

Thanks for the reference. I really do not have the option of test riding. There are no stocking dealers within driving distance. My LBS can get me any Surly I want, though.

HTupolev

Not particularly. The main issue people run into with 26ers on pavement is that the choices for fast road tires are very limited. If you were planning on getting a thick touring tire anyway, this isn't a problem. And if you were planning on getting a supple high-performance tire... well, there's Compass. My bike with 26x2.3" Compass tires seems perform about the same as my Emonda ALR 5, at least cruising on level ground (it's a much heavier bike on the whole).

A bike that's been designed for 26" wheels should handle fine with 26" wheels.

Actually, since 26ers are usually built up with massively wider tires, if anything they can corner significantly better. Bigger contact patch gives more confident, consistent grip.

Tourist in MSN

The bottom bracket height off of the ground on both a 26 inch wheel bike and a 700c bike would be about the same. Thus, standover height would be about the same for both frame sizes.

Agree.

Wide variety of tires at 40mm and wider are available for 26 inch tires. For touring, that is just fine. But if you want a skinny tire bike with that wheel diameter, tire selection is limited.

I have toured on 700c and on 26 inch. I got rid of my 700c frame which had a bad shimmy. Now for touring have two 26 inch touring bikes, one Rohloff and one derailleur gearing. Quite happy with that wheel size and expect to use both of those two bikes in the future for touring. I have no plans to buy another 700c touring bike.

For tires, I have toured on mostly pavement with Schwalbe Marathon (with Greengard) in 40mm tire width. On mixed gravel and pavement have used 50mm Schwalbe Dureme tires (discontinued model) and on both 50mm and 57mm wide Schwalbe Extreme tires (also now discontinued).

I bought a Vittoria Randonee Pro tire to carry as a spare, but have not used it. But others on this forum spoke highly of that tire.

As noted by Doug64, factor in top tube length if you get a LHT. You might need a pretty short stem with a LHT.

kingston 

You're all over the place @steve-in-kville. I thought you wanted a rando bike?

steve-in-kville 

I want everything!!

Seriously... I'm weighing all my options. Trying to find something that will check all the boxes. It's a wheel size issue, pure an simple. If I could find a rando bike that can pull the trailer, I'd be set. But that's easier said than done.

Yeah, your right. I've down so many rabbit holes the last week over this. I'm about burned out thinking it over.

Time to go ride my bike!

alan s 

I took my World Troller all over Switzerland last summer, and never felt like the wheel size was holding me back. Mountains were holding me back, for sure. BTW, I'm 6'0". In some things, size matters, but this is not one of them.

bradtx

Steve, For a small framed bike the 26", or 650B wheel size makes a lot of sense. Tires are nowhere as hard as 27" to source.

Brad

Chris Pringle

Unless you go custom with a Rodriguez UTB or Co-Motion Pangea (both built with 26" wheels) where you can specify most or all of your requirements, the Surly LHT/Disc Trucker is a great option for touring and even randonneuring. Besides getting the engine in tip top shape, careful tire selection for randonneuring will make the most significant impact on speed. For touring where speed is less of a concern, choose a sturdy (given the extra load) puncture-resistant tire like the very popular Schwalbe Marathon Plus.

Chris Pringle

I just happened to click on the Touring marketplace and found this CoMotion 26" wheel bike that happens to be in your size and not too far from your neck of the woods. It is a great deal with S&S couplers.

https://www.bikeforums.net/touring-bi...illy-area.html

Tourist in MSN

The frame size is too small for me. I am bummed.

DropBarFan

I'd definitely recommend 559 wheels for a smaller frame; you can buy tires (I read) as narrow as 25 mm/1" if you have the need for speed. 559 might look more proportional there also. 559 gives one the option to have S&S couplers; 622 mm/700C wheels don't fit into the case easily. BTW while I haven't tried hydraulic disc brakes, you might consider them since Pennsylvania has hills & rain.

I'm riding 56 cm Surly Disc Trucker with 559 mm (26") wheels. I recently bought the 50 mm Supremes on recommendation from another poster: they are light for the size, roll surprisingly fast, handle confidently & are the most comfy tire I've used on a touring bike.

That Pangea has a kewl paint job but no discs anyway.

djb

I have toured and ridden both a 700 and 26" bike for years, the 700 a drop bar bike with 28s and the 26" bike a mtn bike with 1.5 slicks. Both ride very well and in this case, the mtn bike with 1.5 slicks steers quicker than my dropbar bike, at all speeds (but that is really more to do wth the frame etc, not the wheel size)
I recently have setup another 26" bike with dropbars , a Surly Troll, with a very short stem, 60mm, with wide tires 26x50mm and with a very similar setup to my 700 dropbar bike, it rides rather the same way. The speed might be a bit lower overall but then that I feel is due to the fact that it is a bit heavier and the 50mm tires are a bit slower than the 28 slicks--but really it is not a large amount, and could be very easily changed by narrower tires. In my past experience, tire choices can change how a bike steers, but that said, I like how the Troll rides.

As mentioned, 26 will give you more room for toe overlap and fenders issues, and one of the bonuses is that a 26in wheel compared to a similarly built 700 wheel is slightly stronger due to teh shorter spokes, but given that you want to pull a trailer, its probably not an issue.

Timequake

26" wheels look cooler. /thread

MassiveD

Someone mentioned that there will be no difference in stand over. There may be, it just won't be predictable on wheel size. Some 26s may assume bigger tires than you would run on the road, so you could loose there also, but not significantly.

I run Schwalbe marathon slicks in 1.5". There are plenty of choices, you don't want to go skinnier than that, even the racers are drifting back to fatter tires since it turns out they are fast. Maybe not 1.5, but for what touring involves even 42 mm may be an uptick.

Why wider tires offer less rolling resistance - Canadian Cycling Magazine

https://janheine.wordpress.com/2014/...nd-fast-tires/

https://janheine.wordpress.com/2014/...e-is-too-wide/

Philly Tandem

FS: Co-Motion Pangea S&S 44cm Touring Bike Philly area

That's my bike (well, my wife's). She is 5'2" and it fits her perfectly. If you get over to the Philly area you are welcome to take it for a ride and see how it fits (even if you don't think you want to buy it). What size frames are you looking at?

I have both 26" and 700c wheels on my various touring bikes. The 700c "feels" a bit faster, but I'm perfectly happy with my 26" wheels for touring too (I also have a 26" Pangea in about a 50cm size; I'm 5'8").

My opinion is to go with the 26" wheel, whichever bike you get. You can do a 700c in a smaller frame, but there are a lot of tradeoffs (like toe overlap with front wheel, for one). There are myriad choices in 26" tires, and they are readily sourced around the world, including in the middle of nowhere in the USA (Walmarts, etc.).