FOR ME, I ditched the 26 and never looked back.  I ride steel 29'er hardtails, one geared, one SS.  Do what you want, just keep ridin'.

Sell the 26" bike complete and ride the 29er while you save up for a 27.5 bike.

29ers arent going anywhere for a while and you can do pretty much anything on a hardtail 29er short of full on downhill.

26" is dead unless you are into DJ or DH. Even most modern DH rigs are 27.5. Dont dump any money into a quickly-becoming-obsolete standard. Get shed of it before its too late and you can get some cash for it.

.02

Anyone know who's bike this is? (You need to Login or Register to view media files and links);  

Curious if they are a THTB member. Might be worth a drive to Asheville.

I'm faster on a 27.5 then on my 26. And have 0 issues hitting jumps with it. It gives better traction in corners and handles as well as my 26 ever did. You can keep riding 26 as long as you want, I'm not going knock ya but there definitely is something to 27.5

There is a reason none of the bike brands sell upper level 26" bikes anymore.  The same reason everyone can not unload their old 26" bikes fast enough.  The industry has moved on.  If you enjoy the bike by all means keep riding it as the 27.5" or 29" is not going to allow you to have any more or less fun on them.  I just personally wouldn't sink anymore money other than maintenance items into a wheel standard no one supports anymore.

Specialist wrote on 11/10/15 at 12:48am:


My SS is 29, my trail bike is 27.5 and my DH is 26.

I have no issue jumping the trail bike, quite the opposite.   

About your 26 FS, if you like it, ride it.  I just would not put money into it.  if it needs a fork and/or wheels get a 27.5 FS.  I reluctantly drank the 27.5 kool-aid, but clearly understand the benefit over both 26 and 29 for a trail bike.

I heart my 26".. I came from a bmx background so love the smaller bike. I also hate being told what to do so when I'm told I have to get a 27.5 I dig my heals in! Hopefully there are enough people who feel the same way and resist the marketing machine that pushes stuff that no-one asked for... like hub spacing "standards"

Seems like everyone skipped over 29er fs frame. Could be wrong but it doesn't sound like you plan on hucking off the side of a mountain or doing downhill so seems to me like that would be a good option.  And unless you are racing I really don't see the point in a geared hardtail and full suspension aside from having 2 bikes in case something happens to one. Unless you make the hardtail a single speed....at which point this topic would be mute since you would no longer want a geared bike. 

Reviewing the original post I did notice something that I must have read over the first time - you included "frame" in the list of parts that need upgrading. That, along with the "fork" and the "wheels" (I'm going to assume you actually mean wheels and not something much simpler like tires), is pretty much, well, the whole bike.

And while I still like my 26'' and don't feel the need to buy a 27.5 because industry marketing or internet forums say I should, I also don't see the point in completely rebuilding a 26'' at this juncture either. For better or worse (and who knows, I haven't demoed a 27.5 - it may be "better") the standard is, as Banjo points out, now obsolete. When mine wears out, I'll probably just ride a 29er.   

If you pretty much ride XC/Trail, and/or you ride a large or XL frame - then to answer your original question I would "upgrade my 29er to FS". 

If you are a smaller rider, or if you like to do a lot of DH or all mountain type stuff, then you should probably go with your inclination to save up some dough and buy a FS 27.5. 

However, if your 26'' frame doesn't really need to be scrapped, then I stand by my belief that you should give it some love and keep on riding it until you can get another bike you really enjoy riding. 

Carry on. 

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I was thinking Pink and Green myself