“As a side note, a friend of mine is a bike mechanic at REI.  He said supply shortages have gotten so bad that they are even out of some tubes. “

Karen thanks for the reply. It’s interesting, albeit slightly concerning, that even over your way there are component shortages. I was under the impression it was mostly an Australian issue because of our small market and remoteness. 

Not 26" but similar story. I really liked the Schwalbe Marathon Plus MTB 29 x 2.25 tires on my Ogre, but eventually they started to wear down. I wanted another pair of the same. Not easy to locate! I'm in the States, but the only place I could find them (online) was in the Channel Islands. Expensive tires. Expensive shipping. Probably would have been cheaper to fly over and pick them up.

Bill one solution (you can tell your family I suggested this) is to buy a new bike. That’s what I did when (after 35 years) 27” tyres became as rare as trees on The Nullarbor Plain. I moved on to 26” wheeled bikes, and now the bicycle industry seems to have moved onto and beyond 29er and other measurements I have to Google to understand. 

Graham, I also run 26 x 1.6" Supremes on my Raven.  Superb tires.  I've had good luck buying them from starbike.com in Germany.  Just checked, and they're available for €34.37. Price incls VAT, so the 19% discount goes some way to reducing shipping costs.  Didn't see any listed in the 26 x 2.00 size, tho' there's an array of other brands and Schwalbe variants.

(I also use 700 x 35mm Supremes on my Eclipse light-touring derailleur bike -- also bought from starbike.)

For future-proofing, if bikes fads & fashions don't change back to 26" wheels very quickly, you might measure your Sherpa's range of vertical brake-pad adjustment:  there may be enough to accept a 650B rim.

Cheers,  John

John thanks for all of these tips. Very helpful. 

I think I’ll be set now for at least a few years of tyres, depending on how much touring I do, and where I ride on the Thorn Sherpa. Like you and quite a few others on CB I also have other bikes I can use for certain types of tours. 

The Canberra-to-Perth ride convinced me that capability of doing a bit more off-seal riding is worthwhile, even if I won’t do so often. 

Hi Graham,

The bike industry's knack for constantly changing standards is frustrating. I have ridden Schwalbe 26x2.1 Big Bens on my LHT for years and love them. I hope the rumors about the demise of the 26" tire are wrong. 

Ron I doubt 26” tyres will disappear totally, however it seems the choice and availability is already waning. Can you still buy 26x2.1” Big Bens? 
 2.1” is a smidge too wide for my Thorn Sherpa. 

The Schwalbe website lists 26" Big Bens, but you're right, the sizes on most of their tires are 700, 27.5, 29, etc.  

Graham,

My lht is also 26", and my tyre of choice has long been the marathon Supreme 1.6" also. Though I have had some issues with them in the past, I have a "stash" of them squirreled away that at my current mileage could last me into my 60's....

I just this Eve took the bike out of its box to get it up and running again. Second vaccine is a week ago now, September vacation is booked for France, and ferry from Dublin to cherbourg is booked!

Looks like the 26's are going to get one more run around the block!

Emmet well done you setting the date and preparing to head off.

Since I started this thread I’ve scoured the interweb and found a few sources of 26” tyres and ordered enough to get me through to my 83rd birthday. And that’s not counting the ridiculously heavy 26”x 1.75”wired Marathon+ I bought on impulse.  They would last until I’m 106 if I ever get desperate enough to fit them. 

The current 1.6” Supremes I have look ok after 4000km so I’ll keep them for training rides.  

The other components I’m stocking up on at great expense from St John St Cyclery are 9 speed wide range cassettes / chains for my Thorn Sherpa. They seem to last about 5-6000 km. With 20:20 hindsight I probably should have bought a Rohloff equipped Thorn. They are extremely durable as I saw on my co-rider’s Thorn Nomad. I also saw first hand that Rohloffs can have problems but they are almost bomb proof.