26" or 24" wheels?

[vrooom]

Which handle better? for dirt jumping and downhill, mostly on downhill.

Which one you would go for and why?

What is 24" parts availablity like? like hubs, rims, tyres, etc

at the moment I ride on 26" wheels.
less rotational mass would be better on 24"

Jay

[skinnyboy]

early Cannondales had a 24" back rim and a 26" upfront.

[Trooper2]

24" wheels will lower the bikes center of gravity and a well built 24" wheel will be slightly stronger than a well built 26" wheel. You will have to pedal more revolutions to cover the same ground on the 24s but that doesn't really sound like a big concern for your planned use.

Are you think of getting a set of 24" downhill rims? They are very heavy but will take loads of punishment. They are also so wide that you need to make sure that you will still have acceptable frame and fork clearance once tires are fitted.

[Trooper2]

skinnyboy said:

early Cannondales had a 24" back rim and a 26" upfront.

That is supposed to be a good set-up for manueverabilty. Off-road motorcycles run a smaller rear than front and I've seen BMXers do it as well.

[skinnyboy]

its a crap setup for cross country, but down hill its perfect. In my yoof i used to run a 24" on the downhill after seeing it on the old cannondales. In these days of disk brakes its would be a doddle, back then i had to have custom brakes for the back machined up.

[Rednut05]

24s accelerate faster and 26s have the better top end on a whole.

24s can be and normally are the stronger wheel.

Hub wise they are built on the same ones as 26s. You just need to think about tubes and tyres. Also brake wise its easier to run disc's are rim brakes can't always accommodate 24 inch rims.

[mr_c]

Trooper2 said:

skinnyboy said:

early Cannondales had a 24" back rim and a 26" upfront.

That is supposed to be a good set-up for manueverabilty. Off-road motorcycles run a smaller rear than front and I've seen BMXers do it as well.

on my Monty trials bike I run a 20 x 1.9 on the front and an 18 x 2.6 on the back. it means you can run a fatter back tyre for you get more shock absorbancy and it's wider for better grip

[rico]

I'd go with 26in for DH personally. The vast majority of riders do. More DH specific tyres available too.

For dirt jumping, its tempting to go 24 as it makes the bike more easy to throw about.