Azriel

what is the norm for mountain bike tire sizes these days? I know back then it was like 26in right.

Rolla

Mostly 29” now. Some 27.5”. They’ve also gotten wider, with 2.4” - 2.6” being pretty standard, all the way up to 3”.

50PlusCycling

Upgrading an old MTB is getting a little more difficult. I was recently looking for a new set of wheels with more modern hubs to upgrade to a 12 speed driveline, and found that 26” options are getting hard to find. 650B (27.5) used to hard to find even at large bike shops, and now you can get them at Walmart.

Herzlos

Cheaper ones are usually still 26", but the higher end ones are usually 29" for cross-country ability or 27.5" for agility.

beng1

Every so many years they have to change the tire-sizes or some other feature so they can tell everyone that their current bike is outdated and they have to buy a new one to remain "competitive" and current. This is complete hogwash as 90% of riding a bike in fast or technical challenges is the rider, the bike makes little difference as long as it is in good shape. Records were set on MTB courses with 26" wheels back in the 1990s that 99.999% of the riding population will never be able to get close to even if they are riding a $15,000 E-MTB.

prj71

LOL.

You couldn't be more wrong.

Rolla

Uh huh, and just who are “they” in this conspiracy theory? The Council of Bikes? Big Gravel?

beng1

A number of my threads have been deleted from this forum which talked about manufacturers of bicycling equipment and how they market items to the public along with warnings from moderators. So I am gagged from mentioning who "they" are unless I want to be banned from the forum altogether. For some reason moderators don't consider discussing the entities which manufacture bicycles and parts and how they function in our society and economy relevant to cycling and ban it by calling it "politics". So keep an eye on this post to see if it, and maybe even I, am disappeared.....

Ironfish653

Not surprising; 12-sp arrived over a decade after 26" had been superceded by 29/27.5. Doubtful that anyone developed a wheelset that's backwards-compatible with 15+ year-old bikes. (10-is pretty easily done, though)
MTBs went through a huge seismic shift in design and development, particularly 2005-2015, from 26ers to the "big wheel" era; far more than road bikes have (up to the disk/Di-2 shift) there's very little left from the classic bikes of the NORBA era.


​​​​​​WRT the OP's question on tires; there's still lots of legacy support; Schwalbe, Conti, Maxxis and Panaracer still have substantial lineups of "proper" 26 MTB tires (Panaracer even still makes the Smoke/Dart if you want to ride old -school) You just won't find them in an average LBS, online/boutiques are the way to go.

Rolla

Ah. The forum is probably in on the Council of Bikes’ diabolical scheme. Thank goodness for tinfoil hats.

veganbikes

It is a the Bildabike Council and the Coastal Elites, I swear The Schwinn Excelsior and a big tub of grease is the best mountain bike ever. Technology is silly and it is certainly a conspiracy to hide that news. I bet the mods here also shot JFK and landed on the moon.

Look the mods here sometimes aren't always perfect, they are unpaid volunteers who are dealing with a bunch of YAAAA-HOOOS (to quote Bill Hicks) but they aren't covering anything up, if you are going to be banned it is probably for violating the rules and without those rules this forum is chaos and unusable and I for one don't want that to happen.

Sometimes yes technology is a little crazy but without it we wouldn't move forward and be able to do some of the great stuff we can do and get more people into the sport. I love vintage bikes and vintage tech but there is some excellent modern stuff I would not want to be without. High Wheel bikes look cool but there is a lot you can't do on it and yes I get that many people have done some crazy things on some bikes a lot of people wouldn't consider on that bike but opening up the ability to more folks and allow you to get rowdier and have more fun is great.

I love wider tires and a bit more suspension and if you don't like that well I am sorry bud but comfort is key to me. I got a bad back and if I can be more comfortable and have less flats and all of that I will take it.

prj71

What kind of phone do you own?

A.) Tin Can with String
B.) Alexander Graham Bell's telegraph or phone inventions
C.) Rotary Dial Phone
D.) Push button dial phone
E.) Cell phone

Also, do you still drive a car from the 1970s and use appliances that were made in the 1970's?

Darth Lefty 

You are having a difficult time a) differentiating technology from fashion and b) admitting that fashion is OK.

big john

Are you thinking about buying a bike? Tire technology has changed a lot and there are many options now even within sizes. Many tires are tubeless compatible, too.

Within a given wheel diameter you can get anything from lightweight XC race tires to extra heavy casing downhill tires. Modern tires can also be run at low pressures to improve traction. I run 15 psi in my front tire.

big john

Best bike for Repack Road.

Darth Lefty 

I mean, how else but fashion can you seriously explain this?

Ironfish653

Nobody needs a bike like that; we should all be perfectly content riding chromoly Marin ATBs from 1989. It can do anything that bike can do, just slower, heavier and harder. It’s the riders who need to HTFU, not the bikes.

I mean, Beng even won an MTB race on his 30-year-old bike, by riding the course the morning before the event and crossing the finish line while everyone else was still in the parking lot.

Also, that yellow is horrible

big john

I found one of his videos.

beng1

/
Phone is push-button dial on the kitchen wall, my van is an 85' GMC 3/4 ton cargo which some deceased friends of mine bought brand new, GM sold the same van-body from 71' through I think 1996, but I would not want one later than mine because it still has a Rochester Quadrajet carb and a distributor ignition, both of which I have many decades of experience with and can take apart and assemble blindfolded. When EFI/ignition computers go bad, there is no repair but throwing the computer out and installing a new one. My van does have HEI ignition, but I have procured a points distributor from the pre-74' model which will swap in easily so it will be 100% chip-free. I am no hurry, but someday if I am lucky I may inherit my father's 70' Impala. This is what I haul my MTB in if the single-track is too far away for a 60 year-old to ride to.

m.c. 

This sounds like me. I still have a rotary phone and managed to get service on an old startac, my wife has a car from 1981. My old condo had appliances from the late 70s, in my house they're from the early 80s.

m.c. 

I'm having 26" wheels built using velocity cliffhanger rims and a Rivendell Silver rear hub. I don't know if it will take a 12 speed cassette but I think 11 is possible. I will probably go with less gears.

Canker

A 12 speed cassette will fit your current old 26er inch wheel fine as long as it starts with an 11 tooth cog. What won't fit your current HG freehub body are the cassettes that start with a 10 or smaller tooth cog. Shimano and Sram made their own fancy freehub bodies to fit those 10 tooth cog cassettes but sunrance still makes normal HG freehub based casssettes all the way up to 12 speed.
https://www.jensonusa.com/Sunrace-MZ...SPEED-Cassette
like that for example

big john

What about the shifter?

m.c. 

I’m not sure what to use for 11 or 12 speed. I was going to go with an IGH but because of the dropout width I am using the silver hub and I’m pretty sure I’m going to use the 7 speed cassette they sell. I’m not sure which derailleur I will use yet but I plan on using the Rivendell friction shifter, it is good for up to 9 gears.

big john

I've used old bar end friction and thumb friction shifters with 7 to 10 speed cassettes. Also old long cage derailleurs seem pretty versatile.
Will the bike be for trail riding? Lots of climbing?

Also, I have modern XT shifter on my 11 speed mtb and it shifts as well as anything I've ever used. It's as close to perfect as possible, I think.