Bike Ahead is known for its unique offerings. Lately, that has been in the 32” world, with their six-spoked BiTurbo 32” wheels. Now, they are teaming up with Maxxis and Raderei Bautzen, a German bike shop.
With Max Noack of Raderei Bautzen spearheading concept and design, bit by bit, a 32” gravel bike was pieced together. It features a steel-lugged frame with carbon tubes manufactured by Rotor Leipzig and, of course, Bike Ahead’s BiTurbo wheels.
The special build also included a custom Bike Ahead cockpit and the latest Shimano groupset offerings. Rounding out the build are 32 x 2.4 Maxxis Aspen tires and an incredibly unique paint job by XS Design Chemnitz.
Design inspiration
Big wheels have been at the forefront of Bike Ahead since Maxxis unveiled its 32” Aspen tires. Since then, they have been toying with and experimenting with bikes equipped with 32” wheels. According to the partners, test and practical experience showed how much potential the larger wheels have.
So, Bike Ahead, working with Maxxis and Raderei Bautzen, built an experimental bike and wheels and featured them at Eurobike 2025. The design, testing, and discussion surrounding the build reminded those involved of the transition from 26” to 29” wheels. And so began the Size Matters Project.
The frame is handmade by Rotor Bikes, drawing inspiration from early bike makers who used steel lugs and carbon. Initially, the entire frame was steel, with the main tubes removed and replaced with carbon. Carbon specialist Ingo Barthe is responsible for the carbon tubing, including the marbled look.
As standard nowadays, the frame is equipped with a UDH (milled) dropout and internal cable routing.
The Columbus Futura Adventure fork is actually designed for 29” wheels. However, there is enough room to squeeze in the larger wheel and tire (not sure about rub), and it looks damn cool.
If the frame isn’t the star of the show, the Bike Ahead BiTurbo wheels are. These 32”, six-spoked beauties feature single-piece monocoque construction, providing significant advantages for larger wheels. Where a “normal” wheel’s spokes exert a tremendous amount of tension on the rim, Bike Ahead’s design doesn’t, allowing rim construction to be around 30% lighter.
The BiTurbo wheels weigh 1,495g.
Bike Ahead is also responsible for the cockpit. They use an innovative molding tool to design a cockpit to a customer’s preferred geometry. Similar to the wheels, the cockpit features monocoque construction, has fully integrated cable routing, and weighs only 299g.
The Size Matters Project will be on display from March 20-22 at Cycling World in Düsseldorf, located at the Maxxis booth.
