My "Old" 26er

[Ashchest]

I am going to take her for another spin now -  so lekker to get back on the pedals again     

[DJR]

Don't stress about finding 26er specific parts in future, there are some of us crazies who like riding ancient road bikes from the 1970s and 80s and we manage just fine when replacing parts and restoring them. Six, 7, 8 speed bits? Just about under every bush! I even have one bike dating from the 1920s/30s and if you know where to search, you can even find parts for that! Must say that one is so hard to ride, its' current parts will NEVER wear out, but I did find new 28 inch tyres for it last year, without any issue, from my local bike shop around the corner.

 

I bought a new 650B Trance, but kept my old 26er Trance. I borrow it from my son every now and then and then I'm pleasantly reminded of what a great bike it still is!

Edited April 22, 2019 by DJR

[Vetseun]

Keep her.

She is a beaut.

[madmarc]

Def keep it - Don't let the marketing hype convince you to spend money you don't have, or on the other hand its always lekka to buy another bike.

 

I built this TREK 26er a few years back as a fun bike for Red Barn, now my daughters boyfriend has claimed it. He rides it more than me and loves it. His mates with 29ers all think its a kick ass bike.

 

 

Last week my boet asked me to bleed the brakes on some bike his daughters BF was given by his boss. He arrived with a full carbon Bianche 26er HT with full XX1 2 X 10 SRAM Gruppo, Magura brakes and front suspension, was top of the range in its time - His boss said he did the Epic on it.

 

If you wanna spend a bit of money on it, I would do a 1 X 10 conversion and maybe a dropper post. Leave the rest as is.  

 

 

[Ashchest]

Went for another ride today and managed to pull off 20km's.   Will try to do 25 tomorrow.  The bike is in such good condition -  apart from a cracked Stem (USE) but luckily I had a spare to replace it.    Is it possible that my feet grew bigger, because both my cycle shoe pares feels tight?

 

So after searching around in my house I found a lot of spares and stuff.  Completely forgot about my XC 717's on Xt hubs and discs which I bought way back to put slicks on exclusively for road  & 94.7  -  so they are also as good as new.  

My Ay Up light system in the Ay Pod , a spare rizer handlebar,  loads of other goodies, original saddle. I even found a set of new brake pads for the formula disks brakes.  Spare Crank Brother eggbeaters never used.   My Sigma Rox 9.0 appeared and after getting new batteries it still works 100% with all the transmitters.  I know there was also a very fancy cycle glasses kit with interchangeable lenses and it must be somewhere.  I never knew that  I had 2 shock pumps and loads of little bits of spacers and spare cables and stuff  -     This last week felt like christmas!  

 

- the only thing I now need is time in the saddle.     

[Ashchest]

So it has been 3 months since I took my Old MTB off the wall for a clean-up and service and decided to get on the bike again.

 

It has been so awesome to start cycling again and also to go through the process of gaining better fitness levels again.   I have cycled just over 1 100 km's during the 3 months and try to get 3 rides in per week with some longer routes on Saturdays or Sundays.    In the beginning I was so tired just after 10 km's and slowly increased the distances to the point where I can now  do 60 km's on a single weekend ride without being sore and too tired to function.   I will still increase my distances and time in the saddle and would like to get back to point where I do longer rides comfortably - it just feels so good.

 

I have done a couple of trails and some gravel roads, but about 75% of the riding is on road (therefore my road / slick wheelset is permanently on) and therefore I feel that the MTB is probably going to cost me too much on maintenance on the long run due to the Fox full suspension.   The bike rides super nice and is so smooth, but I recently discovered that there is some minor play on the rear shock bushes and they will need replacement along with a shock service front and back.   The only part that I had to replace since riding again was the chain.

 

So my thinking is that I am going to keep the MTB for the odd trail fun and as a second play bike and then I am going to invest in an entry level Gravel Bike for the road / gravel adventure rides over weekends and perhaps for some road / gravel events.

 

Best decision ever to get my MTB cleaned up and to start riding again after so long!  And to think that there was a time not so long ago that I wanted to sell my MTB

 

[Mr. G]

Welcome back, enjoy.

[Knersboy]

IMO You never ever sell your old bike, unless you change bikes every two years the money you get for it is not worth the emotional loss. Bikes are inanimate objects, but they also aren’t.

 

Funny thing is that my wife, who doesn’t give a rats ass about bikes, has told me that I am not allowed to get rid of my kids balance bike, which has been through two boys. Although I will probably give it away so another kid can enjoy it, I reckon she can handle that.

[Knersboy]

Went for another ride today and managed to pull off 20km's. Will try to do 25 tomorrow. The bike is in such good condition - apart from a cracked Stem (USE) but luckily I had a spare to replace it. Is it possible that my feet grew bigger, because both my cycle shoe pares feels tight?

 

So after searching around in my house I found a lot of spares and stuff. Completely forgot about my XC 717's on Xt hubs and discs which I bought way back to put slicks on exclusively for road & 94.7 - so they are also as good as new.

My Ay Up light system in the Ay Pod , a spare rizer handlebar, loads of other goodies, original saddle. I even found a set of new brake pads for the formula disks brakes. Spare Crank Brother eggbeaters never used. My Sigma Rox 9.0 appeared and after getting new batteries it still works 100% with all the transmitters. I know there was also a very fancy cycle glasses kit with interchangeable lenses and it must be somewhere. I never knew that I had 2 shock pumps and loads of little bits of spacers and spare cables and stuff - This last week felt like christmas!

 

- the only thing I now need is time in the saddle.

I swear that my feet are also getting bigger

Edited July 24, 2019 by Knersboy

[Coolspin]

Got one of these, still ride it, still dig it.

 

(Mines got pedals though)

 

 

[scotty]

Still have my 26" which I use for going to shops and general neighborhood cruising. 

[SwissVan]

Still have my 26" which I use for going to shops and general neighborhood cruising.

 

Shame on you, 26er’s also have feelings you know!!

At least take it for a spin around stadium track

[RobertWhitehead]

My 26er has close to or possibly 30 000km on it at the moment and is currently being used on the indoor trainer. I bought it back in 2011 and it has undergone lots of face lifts during that time  . No need to sell an old bike unless you need the cash for an upgrade

[edkin]

I nearly sold my KTM 26" because I was running out of bike space. Between myself and my wife we have 5 bikes.

 

My wife stopped me, so I i decided to refurbish it and made it my commute bike. I love it. Its so nippy and playful compared to the full sus 29". 

 

I have just recently bought a small frame 26" Merida for my daughter to use. I converted it to a 1 X and now looking for a reasonable priced dropper post.

 

My fleet of bikes has now grown to 6 and I'm stressing for storage space. 

Don't sell that bike. You'll always have a use for it.

 

Prepare your wallet for the onslaught. It can become an expensive game 

 

If it was a Makro bike. sell immediately

Edited July 25, 2019 by edkin

[TheJ]

Same situation, but never really stopped riding. Also manged to have 2 kids in the last 8 or so years, and keep them alive.

 

This is my 26er, this was purchased just when 29ers became mainstream (around 2011), but I convinced myself a 29er was overrated and I've still got a stack of very good 26er parts to upgrade the bike with.

 

So it was bought new, and pimped it. And then in late 2012 I got my first 29er hardtail. And since then, albeit for maybe 5 rides, this bike has been on the wall since. In the meantime two more 29er dual sus bikes joined the family so the Merida is now 4th in line.

 

Pretty much as pimp as a 26er can be (My wife took ownership of the X0 jockey, so I replaced it with an X7). Unused. But with 26ers being essentially worthless these days on the open market, there is no way to get even a 3rd for it compared to what I paid. So... its worth more to me by being on the wall gathering dust.