Heya
New to the posting world, but a reader for the past few months or so.

Was curious to know if there were any old (or older style) steel touring frames that accommodated 26 inch wheels. I've seen them on Surly's LHT, Rivendell's Atlantis, and Bridgestone's XO (mmm...maybe it's not really touring), but I don't know of many others. Thoughts?

Thanks

Lots of them and were designated as "touring bikes", but it's not what we think today of a touring bike: Pretty much most pre-bike boom (and in the 70s as well) Touring bikes had 26 inch wheels (but flat handlebars and a 3 sp hub; some had 5sp later). Think Raleigh Sports

I think the XO is gonna be the closest to what you want...

There's a long history of french touring bikes with 26" wheels as well.

most all of the earlier mountain bikes came with rack mounts and double eyelets front and back.... the angles might be a bit more slack but throw on some drop bars/fenders/racks and you have a solid loaded tourer

When you mean 26", do you mean mtn(559 mmERTO), or English Roadster 26" (590mm ERTO)? There is also the 650B (584mm ERTO); the tires for this size are marked 26" also . ERTO refers to the rim, or bead seat diameter. I believe Raliegh made a model called the Portage that came with 650B wheels. There were lots of French touring bikes made for the 650B size, but not a lot of them made it to the US.

A lot of older Mtn bikes make fine tourers because they have braze-ons for cantilevers and racks. Furthermore they are oftn dirt cheap. Many early "mountain" bikes were just beefed up touring bikes with components adapted from touring components. If you go to the Touring sub forum, you can see a thread of mtn bikes adapted for touring.

Like this:

I fully endorse old MTBs as touring bikes: cheap to acquire; easy to convert; sturdy as a stain; huge cool factor.

+1 Rigid frame mountain bikes: plentiful, cheap, many with high quality parts.

I also had a 1997 XS REI Novarra Randonne. It came with 26 inch wheels, and was the smallest adult touring bike I have seen. I bought it for my 5-3 wife, but it was small for her.

https://www.bikepedia.com/QuickBike/B...1%29&Type=bike

There were also the early stumpjumpers, which had the benefit of being lugged and double butted steel. Eyelets (only single, though), rear rack mounts, canti studs, 2 bottle cages.

The Raleigh Sport is a good idea, there are even some 531 versions out there if you dig hard enough.
FWIW, here's a 1938 Shelby Traveler. It even has a gear for going up hills and another one for going down them.

holy smokes - first of all, thanks for so many replies so fast. it sounds like converting an old mountain bike is a good cheap way to go. 3 questions on that -

1. do they hold up well under load? I plan to primarily use this as a lug-stuff-around bike
2. any particular models to look for (or ones I should avoid)? I know of the Specialized Stumpjumper (just missed one on CL!), any other ones that are especially suited to a touring conversion?
3. is geometry/riding position the only main difference b/w a 90's mtb and a touring rig?

ironwood - I meant mountain bike tires. 650B's seem much harder to find =\. do you have a link to the article in the touring sub-forum? I'd like to read up on that.

oh, found the mountain bike article in the touring section. nvm