26" carbon frame with drop handle bars
 

I am looking for an off road and on road touring bike

Would like a 26" mtn bike
Carbon frame
No shocks
hydraulic disc brakes
Braze ons for panniers and fenders
DROP HANDLEBAR

I like the Salsa Cutthroat but it is a 29er

any ideas?
do I need to go custom?

Thanks,

26 is dead

why is it dead?

Because 29 and 27.5 is better.

For touring bikes, it's not at all dead. Should you find yourself in Timbuktu needing a couple of spokes or a new wheel, you'll be glad you aren't running 650B or 700c.

OP said " Would like a 26" mtn bike"

26 is dead unless you buy a cheapo Walmart department store mountain bike.

And the majority of touring bikes will have 700c(29er) wheels. I really can't say I know of any with 26" wheels other than 2 offered from Surly but those will be steel frame and not carbon like the OP is looking for.

In the general sense 26 is dead.

Are we at heavy touring bikes in carbon yet?

REI has the ARD 1.4 (700c), but don't seem to display it loaded for touring.

https://www.rei.com/product/892430/c...es-ard-14-bike

Walmart makes a 26" Carbon Fiber MTB, all with very low end components. But, you could potentially rebuild it to suit your own needs.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Hyper-26-...reen/215471947

Looks like more than a few 26" CF frames on Alibaba.
https://www.alibaba.com/showroom/car...me-mtb-26.html

It looks like Amazon also has at least 1 CF MTB in 26".
https://www.amazon.com/SAVADECK-Moun.../dp/B01MDP9O66

I suppose I'm left questioning. You want to go with 26" because it is "bombproof", but wish to go with Carbon Fiber that is relatively new and unproven for your application? :foo:

Uh, more precisely: because having flooded the market with 26" wheels for many years, the industry has to sell you something new.

The first bike only takes 28c tires so not sure one would want that for gravel/touring.

The rest of the bikes you linked to are junk.

Carbon is proven. Only when it's designed incorrectly are there flaws.

No.

27.5 and 29er roll over uneven terrain better due to the circumference of the tire, more distance is covered per pedal revolution and the ride is smoother.

The distance covered per revolution of the pedal is a matter of gearing, and assuming that any bike can be geared any way you like, it is not related to rim or tire size.

Your other points are perfectly true; for off road riding, there is some marginal benefit for those of us who are tall enough to take advantage of it. The benefit to the bicycling industry is in a different kind of margin.

For smaller riders, even 26" wheels --assuming fairly large tires and suspension-- are much too big, resulting in a handlebar that is too high relative to the seat. This is very common. To them, the larger rim size has no advantage at all.

I've tried looking for a carbon frame suitable for a drop bar mtb and there are none. NONE. The ETT are always waaaaaay too long. The only cool 26er frame from China is a red or black steel touring model from Tsunami on aliexpress. It weighs 8 pounds but it's well-designed and attractive. It would make a great drop bar mtb/tourer but remember you need a shorter ETT to run drops.

The current crop of carbon 650b gravelbike frames have inadequate BB clearance for singletrack. Gonna stick with my old vintage boat anchor mtb with its classic square geometry and 25mm BB drop because everything modern sucks by comparison. If you want lightweight but crappy geometry everyone has that for sale.

The OP has asked for a carbon frame drop bar bike with 26" wheels. Something that really is not a mainstream bike, and thus there would be the expectation to find a frame that one likes and rebuild to suit one's own needs.

I still like 700c, and haven't found a need for really wide tires for most of my own riding.

Have they gotten longer? I have a vintage Litespeed Titanium that I converted to drops. I like a little longer TT, so it works nice.

Thinking of vintage bikes, I'd certainly encourage the OP to consider something like a vintage Titanium MTB as a basis to build up.

There may be a few vintage CF MTBs. For example, Giant CADEX lugged carbon fiber frames. But, I think I'd avoid that generation.

Perhaps there is something from the early 2000's???? Before the geometry started going really wonky.

It still could give a person fits with the build assuming one wants a high capacity rack on the bike. Front and rear?

A frame that is

• -26"
• -carbon fiber
• -with mounts for fenders/racks
• -designed with a stack/reach to accommodate drop bars

Is going to be next to impossible to find. I think it is going to be a matter of what you are willing to compromise on:

If you can go with larger wheels, their are a ton of options, I am sure you are aware of many already.

If you can go with steel instead of CF, look at the Cromotion Pangea: https://co-motion.com/bikes/pangea.

There are custom carbon fiber frame builders. They aren't cheap, but it would certainly be a possibility, and could build to spec.

Calfee and Parlee come to the top of my mind, but there are likely others, probably even in Europe.

Of course, also custom Titanium builders.

I'm partial to the vintage lines. And, as [MENTION=142994]Clem von Jones[/MENTION] mentioned, they may fit better for a drop bar conversion.

Perhaps a late 90's or early 2000's Trek?
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Tre...e/202501690173
https://www.ebay.com/itm/used-16-5-T...t/382562528713

Mostly carbon monocoque, but with aluminum dropouts. You mentioned disc brakes (hydraulic). But, going vintage, you'll be using canti/v-brakes, at least on the rear. You could do cantis on the rear, and discs on the front, commonly done on some of the cheaper bikes, and not a bad compromise as the front is often the stronger brake. I don't know about mixing hydraulic and cable.

I wouldn't modify a rim brake carbon fiber frame to use disc brakes, but you might be able to do so with a titanium frame, and save a little over a new build.

The Trek frames above have aluminum dropouts and lower rack eyelets. You would have to mount the upper rack mount to either the brake bridge or the seatpost, both should be OK. Hmmm, I don't see a canti bridge, so that might have to hang off the seat post, or use V-Brakes.

You'll have to decide if a 10 to 20 year old used carbon fiber frame suits your needs.

2 bikes geared the same...one with 26" tire and one with 29" tire....You will cover more distance with the 29er.

In summary what the OP is asking for is pretty much unicorn status.

ok regardless of whether 26 is dead blah blah you have a remarkable set of guidelines you are looking for. carbon fiber frame is a relatively new thing( its been around for a couple of decades but wasn't as common). disk brakes are a relatively new thing( its been around for a couple of decades but wasn't as common). 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. there really isn't a bike available with the specs you are asking for stock. dirt jumpers still come in 26 and have disk brakes but I am not aware of any frames that are carbon fiber. Would be nice to explain why you are stuck on the idea of 26? that salsa cutthroat looks like an ideal bike.

should have just said this from the start.

The way you are using the word "geared" makes perfect sense, but it's not what it usually means in this context. If you go to any bicycle gearing calculator, you will find that any calculation is based on wheel size (rim size and tire size), chain ring size, and cog size. But this is a matter of semantics and really beside the point.

Yup.

I did. I said 26 is dead. That's the first clue.

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. :)

It may be true if you land in the high gear on both bikes.

However, assuming you don't top out your gearing, it won't make a big difference. Just select the gear that is comfortable.

One issue, of course, is that MTBs often are not geared with road gearing. You may need a little lower gearing for touring depending on road quality, terrain, loads, etc. But, it can be difficult to get larger chainrings mounted on the MTBs.

The low gearing from a MTB might be nice for loaded climbing.

Of course, a lot is made up by using 11T on the rear.

ah so you could go fat bike (26 inch wheels) and just put a set of drop bars on them. :)

Here's a frame. There are a couple of fork options to be had, might be tough to find a 26er carbon fork with lowrider mounts, if you want that kinda touring rig. Also looks like you'd have to go with p-clamps for rear rack.

https://www.randombikeparts.com/coll...e-frame-26-new

I saw those on E-Bay. I don't think those frames have rear rack mounts.

They also place the disc calipers above the seatstays (as was common a few years ago), but that means trouble for racks.

As far as front rack mounts, I've been wanting to experiment with building up a custom 29er touring bike for riding railroad ballast. I'll probably end up with a suspension front fork + hardtail, and have been considering building custom rack mounts for the lower half of the suspension fork (the load doesn't need the suspension). With some tinkering, it should be possible.