Are you ready for 32-inch wheels on mountain bikes? Well, they’re coming ready or not. Just when most of the global mountain bike market has settled on 29-inch wheels, which began to take over from 26-inch wheels 15 years ago, we need to brace ourselves for another three inches. Here’s what we know.
By Sean Badenhorst
It’s not really a secret. In fact, several cycling media have published articles in the past few months about the imminent arrival of 32-inch wheels on mountain bikes. Maxxis displayed a 32-inch tyre at the Taipei Show earlier this year, as reported by Bike Rumor and, on their Instagram account, DirtySixer Bikes published images of a gravel bike with 32×2.4 Maxxis Aspen tyres in February 2025. According to DirtySixer Bikes, which makes 32-inch and 36-inch wheel bikes, Vee Tire Co was the first tyre brand to make a 32-inch performance bike tyre.
In 2020, TREK, through an interview with Travis Brown, revealed it was trying different MTB wheel sizes, namely 32-inch and 36-inch. So, it’s also not entirely new and there are indeed some niche bike brands that have built 32-inch wheel off-road bikes, either mountain bike or gravel bike.
But now there’s talk that several of the big bike brands have been hard at work designing and testing 32-inch mountain bikes and that we’ll be seeing them launched in the next six to nine months on ‘mainstream model’ bikes. Most of the big bike brands own their own wheel brand, so the bigger rim manufacture isn’t difficult. Performance tyres are definitely needed and there’s no bigger tyre brand in mountain biking than Maxxis. So, if Maxxis and Vee Tire are making 32-inch tyres, you know they’re coming from other tyre brands soon too.
Fork accommodation for a bigger wheel? This definitely requires focus and testing. An additional 1.5-inches of radius makes a difference. RockShox was the first suspension brand to make 29-inch wheel suspension forks and has no doubt been working on a 32-inch wheel fork for the coming bigger wheel wave. Can a longer single-crown fork be stiff enough though?
The obvious question is why? Why is a 32-inch wheel needed on a mountain bike? Well, just as 29-inch wheels rolled better than 26-inch wheels over rough surfaces and trail features, so too does a 32-inch wheel roll better than a 29-inch wheel. It’s not that hard to accept this fact. What is hard to accept is the industry-wide embrace of a new wheel standard.
Because I have been a cycling media editor for more than 20 years, I have had the opportunity to ride most new developments early on. I recall riding a 29-inch Gary Fisher in 2004 and not really enjoying it. Gary Fisher was the first mainstream mountain bike brand to add 29-inch wheels. In 2009 I rode a 29-inch SCOTT and a 29-inch Specialized and loved both! That’s because engineers had clearly spent time designing frames to better accommodate the bigger wheels. Since then, 29-inch wheels have become by far the dominant wheel size in mountain biking.
The same frame design adjustments will need to be made for bike to accommodate 32-inch wheels. The difference is that technology has advanced significantly in the past decade and a half, which should make everything a bit easier from a manufacturing perspective. There was significant skepticism when 29-inch wheels arrived in force and at the time, I was a 29-inch wheel advocate. Not really sure how I feel now that 32-inch wheels are imminent.
I have ranged in height from 174cm to 170cm (four compressed vertebra are the reason for that change) and a feel very content on a 29-inch mountain bike. I mostly ride a Medium-sized frame. I can understand very tall riders finding greater comfort and speed on a 32-inch wheeled bike, but only really on the open straight sections of trail or road. A 32-inch wheeled bike will have a longer wheel base and be less nimble on tight singletrack, especially accelerating out of tight corners, surely?
Mountain biking disciplines are becoming more defined and events are catering for this. Gravel is growing and if you don’t want to tackle a 100-mile gravel race on a gravel bike, a 32-inch wheeled mountain bike could be the ideal option. Even an ultra-marathon like Attakwas Extreme isn’t really technical in terms of the route and could well be conquered on a 32-inch mountain bike. Personally, I don’t see myself needing a 32-inch wheeled mountain bike, but maybe that will change once I have ridden one…
Image from Bike Rumor article.
