Are 26er's still competitive?

[Allrounder]

If you can find tires for your 26" keep it.

 

I regred selling my 26' for a cheaper 29"

[Trance Dance]

I did some very basic research a while back. I downloaded finish times for the Karoo to coast race from 26er days and compared these times to recent 29er times. Interesting findings.

[Hairy]

I did some very basic research a while back. I downloaded finish times for the Karoo to coast race from 26er days and compared these times to recent 29er times. Interesting findings.

you discovered you were older when riding the 29'er

[Trance Dance]

you discovered you were older when riding the 29'er

Lol, the last time I did k2c I was on a 26er. I wasn't looking at my times though. Rather a comparison of top 10 times and variance in the mean.

[Sitting@89]

Don't buy upgrades, ride upgrades. - Eddy Merckx.

Nuff said.

[Hairy]

Don't buy upgrades, ride upgrades. - Eddy Merckx.

Nuff said.

in CT that would read, don't ride up grade, ride into the South Easter

[eddy]

Have you even read the article? It was a 29er....

 

Out of your own link : Nino Schurter (Switzerland) has spent the bulk of his UCI World Cup career on a Scott Scale hardtail with 27.5in wheels. However, Schurter recently switched to a 29er leading up to this year’s Games

 

 

So, just to be clear, it does not matter what size your wheels are, as long as your bike is a Scott.

 

Have I got that right ?

[eddy]

I did some very basic research a while back. I downloaded finish times for the Karoo to coast race from 26er days and compared these times to recent 29er times. Interesting findings.

 

 

Yip. my Best K2C was also on a 26" bike. But it was red, so maybe that balanced things out

[Sitting@89]

Yip. my Best K2C was also on a 26" bike. But it was red, so maybe that balanced things out

FACT red bikes are faster than other colour bikes always 78.35% of the time. Unless it's a spez, then it's faster than all other bikes no matter what. Also if rider of said spez is wearing matching all black spez kit it is 23.43% faster than any other spez.

[Rick Sanchez]

A family member rides a 3x9 26er, not a high end bike by any means, with a coil fork, and he was always faster than I was on my 29er,until he stopped training due to injury. So you can definitely still be competitive. The marginal differences might start to show if you ride at the front of the pack ,and on the flats  where the larger wheel sizes might be a bit faster.

 

Edit: and you say it's a high-end 26er, i.e. it will probably be rather light and nimble, with good components. A bike is only as good as its engine though

[Jase619]

So if you own a Red Scott 60% of the time you will be first all of the time?

[Riaan373]

Seems this debate will never end. Ride what you have. It's only as good as the person riding it.

[Mongoose!]

The OP should look at the possibility to fit 27.5 wheels in his 26 frame maybe.

[Long Wheel Base]

The OP should look at the possibility to fit 27.5 wheels in his 26 frame maybe.

Oooh another option. Now you've thrown a spanner in the works. 26 geometry with bigger wheels.......

 

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[porqui]

Red bikes are not the fastest anymore - so yesterday - as from today orange bikes are fastest especially if it is a spaz.

[andydude]

 

 

Edit: and you say it's a high-end 26er, i.e. it will probably be rather light and nimble, with good components. A bike is only as good as its engine though

I think an engine is against the rules [emoji3]