26 Inch Mountain Bikes Made For Bicycle Touring

Posted on by Darren Alff
07
Dec

The following is a list of touring bikes with 26 inch wheels. The biggest advantage of a touring bike with 26″ wheels vs. 700c wheels is that 26 inch wheels are easier to repair and find replacement parts for no matter where you are in the world. 700c wheels can typically only be found in North America, Europe, and other large cities around the world.

Additionally, 26″ wheels are typically wider than 700c wheels and therefore handle off-road conditions much better than a traditional touring bike. For this reason, 26 inch wheeled touring bikes are often the choice of bicycle travelers who are cycling around the world and through a diverse range of road conditions.

You can get more information about each of these bicycles on their corresponding company websites or by reading about them in greater detail inside ” The Essential Guide To Touring Bicycles.”

[button_black url=”http://bicycletouringpro.com/touring-bicycles-buyers-guide/” target=”_blank”]The Touring Bicycle Buyer’s Guide[/button_black] [button_yellow url=”http://bicycletouringpro.com/touring-bicycles-buyers-guide/” target=”_blank”]Find The Best Touring Bicycle For You![/button_yellow]

The touring bikes shown below have been listed in alphabetical order according to their manufacturer. Some of these bicycles can be ordered with either 700c or 26″ wheels.

Bilenky

Hedgehog – www.bilenky.com

bilenky-hedgehog

Midlands – www.bilenky.com

bilenky-midlands

Nor’Easter – www.bilenky.com

bilenky-norester

Tourlite 26″ – www.bilenky.com

bilenky-tourlite-26

Bruce Gordon

BLT-X – www.bgcycles.com

bruce-gordon-bltx-26 inch touring bike

Co-Motion

Pangea – www.co-motion.com

co-motion pangea touring bike

Koga-Miyata

WorldTraveller – www.koga.com

Kross

Navigo – www.kross.pl

kross-navigo-touring-bike

Novara

Safari – www.rei.com

novara-safari-touring-bike

Important Notice:

This page is no longer being updated. To see more touring bicycles, please click here.

[button_black url=”http://bicycletouringpro.com/touring-bicycles-buyers-guide/” target=”_blank”]The Touring Bicycle Buyer’s Guide[/button_black] [button_yellow url=”http://bicycletouringpro.com/touring-bicycles-buyers-guide/” target=”_blank”]Find The Best Touring Bicycle For You![/button_yellow]

To view more than 200 different touring bicycles and learn how to select the right touring bicycle for you, please see: The Essential Guide To Touring Bicycles.

Have I missed any? I’m sure I have!

If you know of a 26 inch wheeled bicycle made specifically for touring that you think should be on this list, please leave a comment below with the name of the company, the bike model, and a link to the appropriate website. The bike should be a complete bicycle with wheels, components, and front and rear braze-ons for the placement of racks and panniers.

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Darren Alff

My goal as the "Bicycle Touring Pro" is to give you the confidence and inspiration you need to travel by bicycle anywhere in the world. I'm here to help you plan, prepare for, and execute your first bike tour and remove all the guesswork, wasted time and frustration that plagues so many first-time bicycle travelers.

25 thoughts on “26 Inch Mountain Bikes Made For Bicycle Touring”

  1. Jim says:

    Lots of really nice rides here! The R&M Intercontinental is my dream bike…and costs as much as a low-end motorcycle. I do know that the R&M (as well as, Tout Terrain, Surly, etc.) are available in frame-only kits…if one wanted to build the ultimate touring bike from scratch. As far as I know, the R&M Inter & TT Panamericana are the only touring bikes that have full-suspension + disc brakes (optional) + Rohloff 14-speed hub (optional) These features put these bikes into very exclusive category with the high price to match…

    Re: Gunnar Rock Tour (Front Rack)…There’s several companies (OMM, Tubus, Axiom) that make front racks for most suspension forks. (usually mount to the axle & brake bosses)

  2. hungry cyclist says:

    thorn raven tour get ny thumbs up – mine has clocked over 6 years of happy rides all over the globe and still going string – touch wood. adding the drop handle bars makes a difference to comfort…

  4. Brian Offord says:

    Roberts Cycles of Croydon in the UK there bike named roughstuff
    is a suberb touring bike built to your own requiremeants I have this model with a Rohloff great stuff also Josie Dew the travel writer rides a roughstuff.
    Brian.

  5. Steve says:

    You asked about Rodcycle. Presumably you mean Rodriguez. Yes, they have a 26-inch wheel touring bike, the Rodriguez W2 – UTB (Ultimate Travel Bike), comes stock with S&S couplers, though they can also build a 26-inch wheel bike without the couplers.

  6. Harry, BikeTravellers.com says:

    Hey Darren. Nice list, but you forgot the Santos TravelMaster, many times voted bike of the year and the 26″ version (available in Alu & ChroMo), i sthe most popular.

    More importantly, it has carried us to Colombia from Alaska (and counting..), 14k km without any problems!
    See https://worldonabike.com/our-gear/our-bikes-santos-travelmaster-with-rohloff-gearhub/

    Also, James Bowthorpe on the new beltdrive version has just broke the around the world record..

    Cheers, Harry

  9. doug haywood says:

    trek 520 is it a good bike for asia [first touring bike] can it be fitted with 26in wheels leaving in march so time and living in australia limits me to what i can buy

  13. Connie says:

    I was at the new Performance Bicycle store, in NW Portland, OR on Alder Street and 19th, picking up Access PBS Toesties, Access PBS Earband, Clear Rain Jacket, Third Eye Mirror, and a few bicycle maintenance tools for my upcoming bicycle tour.

    I was really favorably impressed by the excellent value for the price of the 26″ GT Traffic 1.0 set up with road touring geometry, braze ons for panniers and “stealth camping” colors. The disc brakes are out of the way. The handlebar stem and seat post stem require a special fastener tool, provided with the bicycle. Schwalbe tires mounted up. https://www.gtbicycles.com/us/eng/Bikes/Road/Fitness-Commuter/Details/6017-G10TRAF1-Traffic-1.0

    Of course, I started my road touring with a Centurion Pro Tour modified with Columbus oval fork, fork crown and steerer tube fabricated by Fred Merz, Portland, OR.

    My idea of a touring bike is a road model with “touring geometry”.

    Does this under $800 USD bicycle rate your list?

  17. Mike Langsdale says:

    The 58, 60, and 62 cm frames of the 2010 surly long-haul trucker can fit both 700c and 26 inch wheels, perhaps allowing the best of both worlds, depending on where, exactly, you want to travel. Not sure about previous years.

  18. Peter Brother says:

    I am presently in final stages of preparing to ride from Whitehorse in the Yukon to Ushuaia Argentina – 26,000 km tour. The bike I have chosen is a 26″ Surly Long Haul Trucker. It has bar end shifters that convert to friction if indexing fails and all steel frame and racks.

  19. Dan Towle says:

    Came across this site while surfing. Thought I should send a photo of the Rodriguez W2 (Willie Weir) UTB for inclusion. I noticed that a few folks asked about the bike. We’ve been building it since 1996, and it has really evolved into a lightweight, rugged, affordable 26″ wheel custom bike. It’s one of our best sellers.

    Thanks
    [img]http://bicycletouringpro.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/w2_big.jpg[/img]

    • Bicycle Touring Pro says:

      Yes Julius, finding any type of touring bicycle can be difficult. It is even more difficult in a place like Tanzania. You will probably have to contact a dealer in Australia and then have the bicycle specially delivered to you. Just find the bike you are most interested in, then contact the closest dealer you can find and see if they can help you.

  21. steve says:

    road 52,000km across the usa, uk, brazil, and more on a carbon cyclocross frame from china. Lighter, faster, and cheaper than all your bike mentioned here!

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