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  "description": "The jump from 29\" to 32\" is forcing brands to rethink everything from standards to testing, even as the industry has yet to make a convincing case for the benefits.",
  "path": "/the-32-revolution-requires-reinventing-more-than-the-wheel/",
  "publishedAt": "2026-04-22T20:04:13.000Z",
  "site": "https://escapecollective.com",
  "tags": [
    "BMC’s prototype cross-country bike",
    "Subscribe now"
  ],
  "textContent": "Suvi Loponen, Josh Weinberg, Dave Rome, Piper Albrecht, KTM\n\nMountain biking has lived through one wheel revolution, and now we are on the verge of another, but switching to bigger hoops is anything but straightforward.\n\nThe sport has seen standards change time and again: thru-axles, Boost spacing and UDH dropouts, to name a few. But now a new wheel size is looming on the horizon: 32\". Just as the 29\" wheel was to the 26\" wheel, the new wheel size adds three inches to the rim diameter, but beyond that surface-level familiarity, the comparison between them quickly falls apart.\n\nThe idea has already appeared in the wild at races multiple times. BMC’s prototype cross-country bike was rolled out at the Andorran round of the XC World Cup last year, KTM debuted a 32\" hardtail at Lenzerheide, and most recently, Stroll claimed a stage win at the Cape Epic with its 32” prototype. And this isn’t something reserved for the pros. As the explosion of products – a complete tyre line from Maxxis, new forks from Fox and others, and a plethora of frames – at the recent Sea Otter Classic shows, momentum is rapidly building.\n\nBMC was the first mainstream brand to tease the new wheel size back at the Andorra round of the XC World Cup last year.\n\nThe jump from 26 to 29 inches unified standards across road and mountain bikes, reshaped geometry, and ultimately altered the off-road riding experience. Moving from 29 to 32 inches, however, is far from a guaranteed continuation of that arc. The reality is that 32\" is a departure from long-standing norms, demanding a structural rethink of the wheel system, whole-bike geometry, and even how to transport the new generation of big-wheeled bikes. All of this comes with an added cost, too. As Manuel Berschandy, a product line manager at Mavic, put it, “It’s not just taking the recipe of what we know today for 29 and making the same for 32. We need to rethink everything.”\n\nSure, the wheel gets bigger, but this calls into question just about every other element of the wheel, frame, and associated components design. From hub width to rim profile, spoke patterns, and even bearing placement, all have to be reconsidered.\n\nTo understand the fundamental challenges of developing a larger wheel, we spoke with Todd Tanner, director of wheel development at Hayes Bicycle Group, the company behind Reynolds and Sun Ringle. Additionally, we spoke with Tommy Marin, director of communications and marketing at Duke, the brand that developed the 32\" wheel used on BMC’s prototype XC bike, as well as Berschandy and Vincent Collombet from Mavic, who supplied the 32\" wheels used on KTM’s hardtail.\n\n## The core engineering challenge: Lateral stiffness\n\nThe first engineering problem standing in the path of 32\" wheels, particularly in mountain biking, is lateral stiffness. Before considering rollover, contact patch, or any other performance benefits, the stiffness of the wheel under side loads could limit how far the trend can go, for now at least.\n\n“One of the big challenges is lateral stiffness in the complete wheel system,” Tanner explained. Sticking within the constraints set out by 29\" wheels – such as hub spacing and flange diameters – while increasing spoke length results in a reduction in stiffness. Tanner reports that Hayes is seeing “anywhere from a 12–16% decrease in lateral stiffness” in 32\" prototype wheels compared to comparable 29\" models.\n\n### This post is for subscribers only\n\nBecome a member to get access to all content\n\nSubscribe now",
  "title": "The 32\" revolution requires reinventing more than the wheel",
  "updatedAt": "2026-04-22T20:04:16.286Z"
}