Selecting the Right 26-Inch Bike Rims for Your Needs
Whether youre buying rims for a mountain bike, a BMX, a road racing bicycle, or a cruiser style, youll want a high level of quality to keep your ride smooth. There are options for different spoke hole amounts, types, materials, and brands as well as compatibility with brakes. When youre ready to upgrade your bicycles aluminum, carbon, alloy, or steel rims, there are a wide variety of options on eBay to choose from in conditions such as new, used, and pre-owned.
How do you determine the proper number of spoke holes?Your ideal number of spoke holes will depend on a few factors, such as:
- Weight of the rider - Heavier riders will want to lean toward wheels with more support and heavier materials. Carbon and alloy bicycle rims with 36 to 48 spoke holes provide more support than aluminum rims with lower numbers of spokes.
- Holes in the hub - If you already have the hub, the simple solution is to match the number of holes in the rim to the holes in the hub.
- Efficiency - The more holes and spokes you have, the more resistance youll notice.
- Durability - If you use your bicycle for commuting on a daily basis, youll want rims that will hold up as long as possible. Youll want as many holes as possible in the bikes hubs and rims.
The most essential category youll need to look at when selecting new or used 26-inch bike rims is what kind of bike youll need them for. Here are some additional categories eBay offers to help with your choice:
- Bike type - Options include mountain bikes, cruisers, road bikes, cyclocross bikes, hybrid/comfort bikes, or BMX bikes.
- Spoke holes - You can select 20 holes, 24 holes, 28 holes, 32 holes, or 36 holes.
- Color - Different colors are available, too. Color options include black, blue, red, silver, or white.
If you use your bike on a regular basis, youll want a rim style that will allow you to change a flat efficiently. Options include:
- Clincher - Wheels with the clincher style use an inner tube with the tire. When necessary, simply change out the tube and ride on.
- Rim tape - This is a protective accessory designed to prevent the inner tube from being damaged by holes in the spoke. Mountain bikes as well as bikes used on hard terrain will greatly benefit from this protection.
- Tubeless - This wheels style does not have an inner tube but instead has integrated ribs in the tires bead, creating the pressure that seals the air inside of the tire.
- Tubular - Also known as a sew-up, a tubular wheel is specially designed to handle specific bike tires. These parts are sewn together with the inner tube.
Bicycle rim brands that are specially designed for road races include MTB, Sun Ringle, Shimano, and Mavic. Make sure you have enough spokes to keep the rim strong but not so many that you slow down.