Befitter

Hello Bike Forums,
Do any of you know or recommend 26" rims and/or tires???

Eds0123

Nope, no, we have never ever heard of 26" tires or rims, . . . . . . why do you ask? why are you interested in 26" tires or rims?

Ironfish653

Are you sure you know what you're asking for? Tubulars, also known as "Sew-Ups" consist of a lightweight casing that has literally been stitched closed around an equally lightweight inner tube, forming a single piece, that is then glued onto a specially -profiled rim.
Tubular tires are really only found in the realm of high-end road racing and cyclocross bikes, and predominantly the 700c size.
There was a 650c (571 ERTO?) in the 1990-y2k era that saw use on low-pro time-trial bikes, but is an obsolete size today. These tires were often given the 26" designation, because tire manufacturer Continental is German, and under the traditional German naming scheme, 650c are called 26"

If you're looking for a Tubular tire for a 26" MTB / cruiser (559 ERTO) they just don't exist.



* I'm seeing a lot of new riders referring to non-Tubeless tire-and-tube setups as "Tubular".
I think probably because the traditional tire-and-tube setup was so predominant for so long, and Sew-Ups became such a niche; that the "Clincher" name has fallen into the realm of the gray-bearded (silver-brazed?) traditionalist

veganbikes

For MTB:
https://www.tufo.com/en/mtb1/?pl_art_gsegr5=1588 (they also make 26 for artistic cycling)
https://www.a-dugast.com/winkel?Coll...inbike&lang=en
I believe Challenge made some as well though couldn't easily find it on their website

For Road:
https://www.vittoria.com/us/en/tires...tires/juniores
Dugast also makes them for road bikes but 26" was not a common size unless talking 650c which was semi common)
I am sure others make them for road uses as well I want to say Continental did it and probably others I just cannot recall.

However Ironfish653 had some good advice minus the "they just don't exist" part as they do they just aren't common..

Nino Schurter rode tubulars for a while and of course won so there is some provenance there. Though honestly unless I was a professional racer I would not want 26" tubulars and really wouldn't want tubulars on anything but a more dated rim size (I am purely talking 559 ISO here because the others are super dated) just seems silly as finding tubular rims is super tough and tires aren't hard but aren't easy to find. Better off with clinchers or tubeless assuming of course you actually wanted sew ups.

In the future though if you are looking for help you should post as much info as you can so we can actually help you. There are many different 26" sizes and you could be needing it for road or MTB or something different and maybe again you aren't looking for sew ups like IF mentioned.

icemilkcoffee 

First of all, the OP is correct in referring to 26" tubular tires as 26". They were always labeled as 26" by tire manufacturers.
Secondly, 26" tubulars are nominally same diameter as 650c, which is 571 ETRTO.

Ironfish653

No offense, guys, but when someone comes in asking a really non-specific question about a really niche product (and 26" tubs are a niche within a niche) it's hard not to wonder if they really know what they're asking for.

Outrider1

I've got 20 inch blades on the Impala. Sorry, wrong forum.

veganbikes

Except when not, as shown in my post above. 26" can also refer to ISO 559 for mountain bike usage. In typical road usage yes 26" is likely ISO 571 at least in this context but some companies have made ISO 559 road bikes. Though tubulars wouldn't be super common for that as they were generally made for consumers and not professional racers who would be likely to use tubulars.

Also we don't know what the OP is referring to as they haven't really been clear yes they could actually be referring to sew ups but they aren't clear about which ISO they need as technically there are 7 different 26" sizes according to Sheldon Brown . However lets say even in the case of actual sew ups we have two sizes to contend with because they didn't list road or mountain and just weren't clear.

Trakhak

Looked at previous posts from Befitter. OP is rebuilding a Specialized Hard Rock (26"/559 wheels). Therefore, not tubulars/sewups/sprints, etc.

JohnDThompson 

650C tubular tires are still available for wheelchair racing athletes, from the same companies that make tubular tires for bicycles, e.g.:

https://www.sportaid.com/26-jr-vitto...ular-tire.html
https://www.sportaid.com/26-continen...ular-tire.html
https://howirollsports.com/shop/tufo...-tubular-650c/

Ironfish653

Nope, no way.
The OP is obviously building a 559-wheeled high -racer. Or a 650c TT bike. Or a racing wheelchair. Or an exact replica of Rolf Hammerdog's 1997 UCI World Championship winning XC bike.
Has to be, or everyone in this thread is wrong.

How dare you question the Keepers of the Isoterica?

icemilkcoffee 

I specifically said 26" tubulars, which are 650c diameter. This is a well established nomenclature. Just as a 28" or 27" tubular refers to 700c ISO 622 , not 27" ISO630. The OP asked about 26" tubulars, and those would be ISO571 650c diameter. Now maybe the OP meant to ask a different question, but I am just answering the simple question he posted.

veganbikes

Again, tubular tires, exist for 26" Mountain bikes in ISO 559.

63rickert

Talk to FMB and they will make you any size tubular you want.

Get rim blanks, roll and plug them yourself, drill as many spoke holes as you need. I can't do that myself, a fair number of mechanics have done it over the years.

icemilkcoffee 

You are right! I did not know these existed.

veganbikes

Not super common, I know Nino Schruter raced with them but I don't know others who did (but only for ignorance not because I have researched it). I think it does kinda make sense and now have been seeing tubeless tubulars which are really neat in that context as they can't come off the rim and are tubeless so you can run lower pressures with fewer flat risks. I don't see it being practical for everyday users but it is a neat concept.

davidB1

There are some weird-ass rim/tire sizes out there. I personally have 24, 26, and 27/28 inch tubulars.
(that's 600,650c, & 700c.
Vittoria, Conti, Tufo, Gommitalia all make affordable small tubulars.
Challenge, Dugast, FMB, etc make pricy ones('course, compared to fancy wired-ons, not so bad...)

georges1

I have seen in my younger years of road bike racing often people using tubulars mostly from Vittoria, Hutchinson and Conti whereas I always used clinchers. Tubulars in the MTB world came in 2010's.

veganbikes

Just as an FYI I don't think Befitter ever came back to clarify anything or contribute further.