Thrown in the deep end: 32 Inch wheels

One Step Closer - The Samples
32” Thrown In The Deep End
New Süfur Tee “The Magic Touch”

Bringing this production bike to life has, in all honesty, taken a lot longer than I anticipated.

I get regular messages asking when it will be available, how much it will cost, what the final features will be. Fair enough I say! The urge to call it done and put it out there is real, I know that if I rush things now I will pay the price later. With that in mind we are inching closer.

With the general design locked in, I always knew it would take at least two samples to get everything exactly right. I recently completed the first sample. Its main objective was simple:

- Confirm tolerances on all the 3D-printed parts
- Ensure they could be post-machined accurately
- Check comfortable welding access

- Make sure the entire process is repeatable and consistent

As a side quest there were a few other features I was interested in testing which wouldn’t affect the main objective. The obvious one being 32” wheels, but more on that later.

The other was what many of you called the “speed hole”, “mole hole”, or “skyhook”. It was a two-finger port on the downtube, just forward of the bottom bracket. Since that section needed to be 3D printed anyway, I started wondering what else it could do.

Positioned right at the bike’s centre of gravity, it seemed like the perfect portage handle protected from mud and ideally placed for lifting the bike over trees, rivers, and whatever else gets in the way. In reality, lifting a fully loaded bike across a 30-metre river crossing with two fingers gets tiring. After a while, I just went back to wrapping my hand around the downtube.

It looked cool but it added complexity, it added weight and so it didn’t earn its place.

That’s the process. Ideas get tested. Most don’t make it.

With the first sample complete, a book full of notes, everything measured, and adjustments made, we now move on to the final sample.

If no bugs appear, this will represent the production-ready model.

We’re inching closer.

And when it does land, it’ll be right.

Who isn’t curious about the big wheels? With Tour Te Waipounamu on the horizon, it felt like the perfect opportunity to kill two birds with one stone: real-world testing of the pre-production bike, and forming my own impressions of the emerging 32” wheel size.

First, a few things to make clear:
-My conclusions are perspective-based, for now. I plan to run proper analysis and collect data later.
-I’m 6’3”, which matters when you’re talking about larger wheels.
-My views are very much based around a bikepacking environment
-lastly, I’m not trying to sell you anything, people have asked my opinion and this is what I think.

Unsurprisingly, the same rules apply as when many of us first tried 29” wheels, just on a bigger scale.

Smoother ride / more grip VS slower handling / added weight.

Do I like it? Yes. Very much so.

Technical climbs where you’re constantly managing weight distribution and scanning the trail to keep the power down without breaking traction became noticeably calmer. The bigger wheels smoothed out the chaos and made maintaining momentum and traction far easier. Additionally rolling terrain was a breeze. Once those wheels are up to speed, they want to stay there and oh so stable! Tight corners caught me out at first. But just like the early days of 29ers, it required an adjustment in approach and setup. Once I adapted, it felt natural.

Where the big wheels tanked were in slow speed situations, the bigger wheels really needed some speed to keep handling in check. The front wheel would flop side to side more as you kept your balance and when the trail was narrow this meant a lot of stop-starting, with the added rotational mass this meant it took more to get going again. Not to mention all the hike’a’bikeing over fallen trees, up mountains and over rivers which to be fair the Tour Te Waipunamu has a lot more of than a typical bike packing race.

All in, I think 32” wheels are pushing us close to the tipping point of wheel size.

If we look at 29ers being somewhat the standard these days with shorter people having 27.5” as an option I see 32” as the same option for taller people.

Further on that note 29” wheels have firmly embedded themselves across nearly every discipline of mountain biking. I suspect 32” will have a far more defined use case. Bikepacking, cross-country and possibly gravel.

Move further toward aggressive riding and I think the need for heavier tread and reinforced sidewalls will quickly make 32” tyres too heavy with the negatives outweighing the positives.

But for covering big distances efficiently?

They’re very, very interesting.