I've actually found that 26" wheels are more fun on pavement and 700c feels better in the dirt....a complete turnaround from the orthodoxy 20 years ago!! I'm keen to try 650B/27.5 wheels but can't justify the expense right now. I'd love to try 27.5 off-road and I'd really love to convert my 700c street bike to 650B.

Expedition touring/bike camping is really taking off right now and companies like Surly (LHT), Rodriguez (UTB) and Co-Motion (Pangea) are putting out some fantastic 26" wheel bikes that are specifically designed for this activity (Surly a bit less than the other two but the LHT is still capable). This might be the saving grace for high quality 26" wheels and tires no disappearing completely.

As I wrote, I use Big Apples, which are great, durable, cushy road tires. So I'm not really concerned about 26" knobbies, but rather 26" road tires. It seems most of the so-called "comfort bikes" still use 26", so that size might be safe for road tires, if not mountain bike tires. I just hope the 26x2.35" Big Apple continues to be produced for the foreseeable future. I'd even settle for the 26x2.5" Maxxis Hookworm, even though it's heavier and slower.

I've been riding a set of 26" x 2.15 Big Apples and they are awesome. Good road tires are definately lacking for 26" wheels. Plenty of touring and MTB options but just a few high quality performance tires. Jan Heine has the 44mm Panaracer built tires on his website and in the last issue of BQ (or maybe it was the website) he made a comment that seems to indicate that he thinks there might be a market for a really high quality 26" road tire in 50mm or more. His 44mm is just a modified Pasela rather than the really high quality of his other tires. One of those in 26" might be a game changer.

How is your ride with 26" wheels. On my mountain bike i have 26" wheels. On that bike i have put road crank 52/42. And 7 speeds cassete 13-26. Today in one short steep hill is around 50 feet that hill i was in the 52 ring and the 26 cog and i do uphiil very comfortable. I tried again in the 52 ring and on the 23 cog and is do same think i felt is little harder to pedal but after that i do uphill comfortable again. I like 26" wheels

Some manufacturers have all but resigned from making them like Giant and Specialized.

Specialized still has a few...Demo and Status, as well as the P.series (and the P.street is one way to get an entry level 26" hardtail). And the Hardrock, which looks like it's down to only two models.

I'm starting to get the impression that even comfort/city bikes might not be safe. Noticed that Schwalbe did make a production run of their Big Ben model in 650b x 2.0 and it sold out at every online shop that stocked it.