Originally Posted by
steve-in-kville
...
Now to make things complicated: If I go to a 26" wheelsize, should I order a frame that is a bit bigger? I've been riding a 43cm Tourist for the past 6+ years. If the wheels are smaller, my standover would be shorter.
The bottom bracket height off of the ground on both a 26 inch wheel bike and a 700c bike would be about the same. Thus, standover height would be about the same for both frame sizes.
Originally Posted by
Doug64
... My observation is that there is no disadvantage with 26" wheels. It is a little harder to find good narrow size road tires for 26" wheels, but that should not be a deal breaker.....
Agree.
Wide variety of tires at 40mm and wider are available for 26 inch tires. For touring, that is just fine. But if you want a skinny tire bike with that wheel diameter, tire selection is limited.
I have toured on 700c and on 26 inch. I got rid of my 700c frame which had a bad shimmy. Now for touring have two 26 inch touring bikes, one Rohloff and one derailleur gearing. Quite happy with that wheel size and expect to use both of those two bikes in the future for touring. I have no plans to buy another 700c touring bike.
For tires, I have toured on mostly pavement with Schwalbe Marathon (with Greengard) in 40mm tire width. On mixed gravel and pavement have used 50mm Schwalbe Dureme tires (discontinued model) and on both 50mm and 57mm wide Schwalbe Extreme tires (also now discontinued).
I bought a Vittoria Randonee Pro tire to carry as a spare, but have not used it. But others on this forum spoke highly of that tire.
As noted by Doug64, factor in top tube length if you get a LHT. You might need a pretty short stem with a LHT.