Let the discourse on 32-inch tires begin. I would not be surprised if they never fully catch on, thanks to UCI creating a rule banning them. So on the road, I expect they won’t not to be popular.
I see no real reason for them to not blow up on Gravel. They seem to test faster. It’s gravel, so handling is not that important. Rolling over rocks is. It can’t be that much less aero. I will go as far as to say, I will be an early adopter of it (assuming the wallet allows). I reckon it will probably take over MTB as well, but I do not really have a dog in that fight. What are y’all’s thoughts? We might as well debate it because its coming weather you like it or not.
My initial reaction is it seems crazy, but it wasn’t long ago people were all swearing they’d never ride a 29er, carbon wheels would explode, and people would be slicing off limbs because they used disc brakes.
After chatting with a friend who has one and hearing John Karasch on the Bonk Bros Podcast, I have a Ti Vassago Maximus on the way. We’ll see what’s what.
I agree on the gravel front. If 32’s roll significantly faster on most terrain, I can’t see a small compromise in handling (if there is one) offsetting the speed advantage.
I think it will be interesting to see how a larger diameter wheel affects preferred tire width. In reality, we’ve already been indirectly increasing the effective diameter of gravel wheels for the past 5 years through larger tire sizes. A 2.2 on a 700/29 wheel has got to be a ~2" taller than a 38 on the same rim. So adding another 3" for this new wheel size for people running high volume tires, it’s basically a ~5" diameter increase since ~2020 when tire sizes really started growing.
One thing I don’t see people talking much about is gearing. It’s going to be a big difference. Adding 3" of diameter with a similar sized tire means dropping chainring size by about 3 teeth to get equivalent gearing. So, the standard bikes that ship with a 40 or 42 today will be going 38t and still be a higher gear than folks coming from a 40t. Not a big problem for gravel, but could be a real issue on the MTB side. I have zero desire to run a chainring bigger than 32t at a race like leadville and I’m a reasonably strong rider for my age. But my PM spindle can only go down to a 32t ring. And what is a mid/back of pack rider going to do who is already struggling on a 28? I’d anticipate some fundamental changes in standard gearing and new groupsets to support the bigger wheels.
And if 32 does become a standard for MTB and gravel, I sure wish they would use this as a catalyst to go MTB standards for Hub spacing, BB width, and chainline on 1x gravel bikes. If the industry wants to keep the adventure gravel vs. race gravel categories, let them use road standards on the “race” bikes and mtb standards on the “adventure” bikes. I know that’s a pipe dream and doesn’t please everyone, but I see a lot more upside than downside to that approach. Not the least of which is buying 2 wheelsets instead of 4 if I add a 32" MTB and Gravel bike. I guess it could still be 3 wheelsets depending on use, but would just be nice to be able to share wheels between my gravel bike and XC MTB.
Industry doesn’t sell a new bike to you year over year without some kind of gimmick to keep you coming back. The industry is in a tall spin after executive short sighted business decisions during the Covid boom, this is just the newest iteration…
I’m going to buy running shoes, build a home gym, and sell all my bikes… Mentally exhausting trying to keep up with all the “newer better faster” tech.
I’ve put ~1,500 miles of pavement, gravel, and single-track on my rigid Nova 32, setup drop bar and flat bar. Comparing it on hundreds of strava segments (power/speed/weather/etc) to a handful of other bikes (ranging from racey gravel rigs to full suspension smashers) its generally about 15w faster on almost all terrain.
what a beauty! Is this handlebar a Ritchey comp beacon? I ordered one. It looks sick. After all wheel size doesn’t matter. What do Matter is having fun and being healthy.
@jkarrasch - Didn’t you say on the podcast you did that the 32’s weren’t even an issue for you from a handling perspective? Did you have them on any tight / twisty stuff where you might see a difference?
Agree that gearing could be an issue at certain events. I can get away with a 34T ring now at Leadville and similar courses, but definitely not my choice (And, I’ve been in the 4.3-4.4 w/kg ballpark on race day). Would love to see some 32" frames that support 30T / 28T…
So far we have two solid sources coming up with different conclusions (they’re faster/they’re no faster) and I don’t understand why. Not that this will stand in the way of it becoming a thing either way.
It doesn’t have to be.. many people enjoy reading and learning about new tech in their hobbies, even if they don’t plan to spring out and purchase every one of them.
In the last 2 years I’ve bought a custom titanium mosaic gravel bike and S-works epic 8. If 32" tires take off I’ll probably be all for it in a few years, but I don’t have the least bit of worry over it today.
Heck - I even have two wahoo v6’s. I don’t think those would work with 32’s either
