Originally Posted by
carlosponti
26 is an older thing. new bikes in carbon with disk brakes wont come with 26 inch wheels. what you are asking for is a custom build from the ground up. starting with a carbon fiber hard tail 27.5 then custom building 26 inch wheels with disk brake hubs and putting drop bars on it. you will need to find a frame that already has mounts for panniers, you cant braze onto a carbon fiber frame, but I have a feeling you wont find a frame with those mounts.
Buying a 650b bike, and converting to 26" is an idea, and might work. It will drop the BB slightly, but that may well be fine for converting an offroad bike to road touring.
You'll have less BB drop if you can fit larger 26" tires on the bike.
Of course, the alternative might be if one is out in the bush with 650b bike, and gets stuck, then ride whatever wheels you can fit onto the bike to limp out to where you can order the parts you need.
In some cases, you might even choose to go brakeless on one wheel????
Quick Release vs Thru Axle?
Of course, one can also carry spares (spokes, tires, tubes, etc). I'm currently using a 700c tube in a 20" tire on one bike.
