The MADE Show starts today, and beautiful bike overload is already well underway. First Taipei Show, then Eurobike, and now, 32″ wheels look to be big at MADE. One of the first bikes that caught our eye was this Falconer hardtail at the White Industries booth. It’s notable not only because it’s a 32″ MTB, but it also has a number of prototypes on it from White Industries and Astral that could hint at a 32″ future.
Not your average wheel build
Outfits like Astral and White Industries know their way around building quality wheels, but when it comes to 32″ wheels, it’s not that simple. Even just finding spokes the right length is a real challenge, and something that caused Astral to build these prototypes up as 2x instead of 3x. The longest commercially available spokes that they could get in time were 315mm, which were long enough for a 2x build, but not long enough for a 3x build.
The other consideration is rolling the rim itself. This bike rolls on their Outback rim which at an internal width of 25mm, is a little narrow for modern MTB tires. But they chose the Outback rim because it would be the easiest rim profile in their lineup to roll into a 32″ rim for the prototype, and make proof of concept.
Prototype Astral by White Industries Cassette Single Speed Hub
There’s been a lot of talk about how 32″ wheels will need wider hub spacing for better spoke triangulation, but this build was meant to highlight the prototype White Industries Cassette single speed hub, so they stuck with normal Boost spacing.
The bike is running a 30/22t gear ratio that was picked to equal the gear ratio Alec White is currently running on his 29er. The gear ratio includes a new prototype single speed cog for the cassette freehub as well.
Other new White Industries bits include the seat post collar. These will be coming soon, and available in colors to match the their headsets.
The same goes for the rotor lockrings seen here in polished.
The remainder of the build includes a beautiful BTCHN’ Bikes bar, Intend brakes and a dedicated 32″ suspension fork, Maxxis Aspen 32″ tires, and a Paul Dropper lever with an SDG dropper post and saddle.
