Thirty-two

I remember what it was like riding a 29er for the first time. I was racing the 12 hours of Winter Park in the early 2000’s and a friend had a new tractor green Spot singlespeed. I was riding my beloved Ionic Johnny Rotten single with 26” wheels. Both had rigid forks and similar gearing. It’s not super scientific but i remember not being that surprised that the lap I did on the 29er was 2 min faster than my previous laps on my 26er – even being more fatigued. It felt faster and smoother and I almost blew through some turns (partially because i was going faster but also because i wasn’t used to the increased centrifugal force). I knew that this new “wagon” wheel size was for me.

Fast forward to 2019, I vividly remember riding a 36er for the first time. It blew my mind even with not great heavy wire bead tires. The bike had its own momentum, it wanted to roll, it accelerated without much input. The front tire was nearly impossible to wash out around corners and there was none of that wheel flop or dive when leaning into a corner. It is definitely a quiver bike, i don’t think many would want it as their only bike. But if you’re reading this you likely have several bikes that have different purposes. The 36er was almost a novelty bike for me and while i rode it a lot i ended up selling it since i didn’t see any interest from other tire manufacturers. The market is so small, mostly unicyclists. There were issues with the build that are hard to avoid unless you are truly very tall and have long legs. I’m 6′ 1″ and don’t have long legs but by using flat bars and a negative 15 deg stem i could get my position where i liked it. The inside of my knee hit the bend in the seatstays since the tire is so close to the seat tube which is only mildly annoying and i’m a bit knock-kneed anyway. My calf would rub the top of the tire when I was dismounting and sometimes almost caused me to fall if I wasn’t balanced, but i just got used to lifting my leg a bit more to clear the tire. The complete lack of being able to manual and wheelie the bike (at least for me) made it less playful of a bike to ride but it had its own personality and was an incredibly fun smile-inducing machine. The rollover, the push forward, the cornering and climbing traction, it has to be experienced to believe.

As expected, the 32 is all of those but less extreme. More than a 29er and it’s way more manageable for more body sizes and riding styles. It’s a true XC machine. I can see it being very popular for my style of “gravel” riding with 2.1 or 2.2’s (dirt-drop/monstercross/drop-bar mtb). I’m hoping they make a 2.6 with bigger knobs for trail riding and bikepacking. I honestly think that this wheel size is gonna stick. There’s no way it’ll take over 29 but i also don’t believe it’ll fizz out like Plus tires. It’ll take time for suspension forks and more tire options to materialize but if you can’t wait hit up your favorite small builder!

My bike is built with XT 12-speed but with an e13 cassette. It has a Ti 50mm stem clamping my Ti bars with 15 deg of sweep. It’s 27lbs as seen including pedals, Hayes Dominion A4 brakes, and no carbon parts. The fork is a Type II – influenced (sleeved) steel unicrown with a tapered steerer so it’s a bit beefy. I built the fork around 10 years ago so it’s 485m axle to crown (100mm suspension corrected) with 51mm of offset. It’s been around the block so i’ll likely make another fork with more offset someday. While it doesn’t handle poorly, i think more offset would help the bike by adding front center and lengthening the wheelbase a bit but also lowering trail below 100mm. In experimentation with 36ers we liked how the bikes rode when the fork had more offset, likely because of the added front center to smooth out bumps and quicken steering by lowering trail.

These are just my impressions at this time. I’m an XC rider that loves how this bike climbs and descends, it’s still responsive and doesn’t feel sluggish at all. I’m running about 14-18 PSI in the tires which feels safe but i’ve heard others are going down to 12 in the front. The rims are Nextie carbon with a 30mm inner rim width and the tires measure almost 2.5″ (63mm). While i like the Maxxis Aspens i would love a Forekaster, Schwalbe Rocket Ron, or something that still rolls fast but is more of a trail tire. I haven’t washed out on corners but the rear tire has slipped while climbing a few times. Could be rider error and me used to having shorter chainstays but the tread on the Aspen is a bit low profile for me. But this tire in a 2.1 would be pretty ideal for a gravel bike.

Speaking of…gravel bikes in smaller sizes may experience toe overlap. But smaller riders for years have had to deal with that on 700c wheels so we may just have to be ok with that for the benefits it provides elsewhere. I haven’t yet sat down to design myself a gravel bike using 32” wheels but I imagine it will look a lot like my current 29×2.25” Ponderosa but with a bit longer front center, shorter stem, and some additional fork offset. This leads me to this: The Philosophy of New Things, bike and otherwise. We sometimes judge a new thing by previous standards and traditions that have been accepted by most. We may forget this happens each time a new thing comes around. It happened with 29” wheels and designers tried to make them fit into the 26” geometry “canon.” Experimentation ensued and we realized longer front centers from longer top tubes, slacker head tube angles was ok, in fact it was preferred for the style of riding people were starting to do with the onslaught of suspension. Long and slack seemed stupid at the start, now it’s the norm in MTB geometry. Nobody can know where we are in the pendulum swing, but let’s not knock a new thing until we try it and find where it’s good and where it’s less than ideal. There will likely be other new wheel sizes in the future, and new bits and bobs for bikes that aren’t necessarily needed but add to the diversity of the experience. And how cool is that? This simple two wheeled utilitarian fun device can morph into so many things for so many people! In my experience riding through the 80’s and 90’s with nearly the same geometry on every bike and 26″ tires that maxed out at 2.1, it’s much better to have all these options than none at all.

Compared to my 36er….

…the 32 looks pretty normal!