Surly Disc Trucker, 26" or 700C?

Hi,
I have an existing EZeeV2 + 50V battery from my recumbent trike that I am planning on installing on a new Surly Disc Trucker. The Disc Trucker comes in 26" and 700C, and they're not cross compatible (so I can't buy the 700C size and then use 26" wheels). My LBS says that 700c is the way to go... so does my wife. The only advantage of 26" that I can think of is that I can use a 29" rack and mount the controller on the underside of it.
Do any of you have experience with both sizes, and how they work on e-bikes? I'd like to get this ordered tomorrow...

Thanks,
fbl100

fbl100 said:

Hi,
I have an existing EZeeV2 + 50V battery from my recumbent trike that I am planning on installing on a new Surly Disc Trucker. The Disc Trucker comes in 26" and 700C, and they're not cross compatible (so I can't buy the 700C size and then use 26" wheels). My LBS says that 700c is the way to go... so does my wife. The only advantage of 26" that I can think of is that I can use a 29" rack and mount the controller on the underside of it.

Click to expand...

700c wheels give a nicer ride, offset somewhat by the fact that the 26" Trucker has room for fatter tires than the 700c version. If you were using the bike pedal-only, and not for loaded touring, I'd have no problem recommending the 700c over the 26" version.

But you're talking about an e-bike.

26" wheels are inherently stronger, and lighter, and available with beefier rims than 700c. And in this case you can fit fatter tires on the 26" version of the frame, which is appropriate for the higher than normal bike speeds you'll be seeing. To top it off, any hub motor will give you a (slightly) harder push, climb (slightly) steeper hills, and run more efficiently in the smaller diameter wheel. These are real advantages for an e-bike.

For your application, I'd definitely go for the 26" wheel version. You can use a 700c fork and front wheel if you want the attributes of each size in the most appropriate wheel. That would slacken the bike's angles just a bit, and increase its steering trail too, both of which give handling benefits at speed.

P.S. - if you want to use equally fat front and rear tires in different diameters-- for instance a 26 x 2.0" in the back and a 700 x 50 in front-- then get the Surly Straggler fork, which has all the mounting points of the Disc Trucker fork along with significantly more room for a fat tire.

Thanks for the feedback - I'm leaning toward the 26", though I'm holding off a few days to place the order.

Get a 29er... best of both worlds in my opinion. You can swap the rim/tires to thinner 700c. Additionally, a 29er built for MTB use usually has wider drops for the rear motor clearance.