Unsurprisingly, yes… 32″ is the biggest standout trend we spotted walking around the Taipei Cycle show on day 1. But don’t worry, we’re also nerding out on alt drivetrains, kids’ bikes, aero bars, and solar-powered ebikes in the coming days. Please, be patient. You can buy most of it yet, anyway.
But on the mega big wheel front, we surveyed a dozen frames, 10 different complete bike builds with 32″ wheels, and surprisingly found a different fork installed on every one – both rigid and suspension. In fact, even though suspension forks have seemed to be the limiting factor so far in the bigger wheel push, the Taiwanese manufacturers delivered on a lot of what look like more affordable options.
But surprisingly, a year after Maxxis broke this all open, new 32″ tires were few and far between.
Let’s dive in…
Taipei Cycle’s 10 x 32″ bikes
Taiwan is known as the manufacturing hub for the industry, so finding a bunch of 32″ bikes at Taipei Cycle wasn’t a big shocker.
There are a lot of fast-moving contract manufacturers here, and many turned out with aluminum bikes, very often adapted from 29er/700c bikes already in their line-up. This aluminum short-travel Vaxes will fully handle your big-wheeled XC and marathon needs.
XC or gravel?
The bike industry can’t quite decide if they want to use these new 32″ wheels for XC mountain bikes or gravel bikes. Why choose when you can have both, like these from Arthur and Judy?
As a baseline, gravel gets around the need for new suspension forks, but those looking for high performance still need to make a carbon fork mold.
On the other hand, though, so far the majority of 32″ mountain bikes we’ve seen – both here at Taipei Cycle and elsewhere – are repurposing existing inverted or upside-down forks. That works, as you can just reduce travel to keep the higher ride height needed to clear the bigger wheel & tire.
This Lenz Leviathan on Maxxis’ booth is rocking the Wren fork that we’ve written about for a decade.
The made-in-Germany steel Sour Pasta Party hardtail is one of the very few 32″ bikes in the world to sport a conventional right-side-up fork. But a closer look confirms even that is an oddity.
More often than not, 32″ bikes at Taipei Cycle, like this alloy Totem hardtail, were fitted with low-end inverted forks that were presumably easy to convert to reduced travel for the 32″ front wheel.
These alloy hardtail mountain bikes from Fritz Jou & Sanfa are another reminder of the rapid development of Taiwanese aluminum bikes. Instead of waiting for tweaked suspension designs, both of these also get their own simple and straightforward rigid alloy forks.
What about mullets?
This 32/29″ mullet is the only extra-big-wheels bike we spotted at Taipei Cycle with a carbon frame. But it isn’t a new bike. Instead, it’s an existing X-Lab Nokota enduro bike, where KS has dialed back their inverted E36 fork to 150mm for travel to work with the bigger front wheel.
It’s not too surprising not to see any carbon 32″ bikes here just yet. This plastic mockup to display GW’s new alloy wheelset is about the closest you get.
We chatted off the record with frame makers, wheel manufacturers, and even pro racers… and there isn’t yet 100% consensus on what axle standard will make the most sense for the bike wheels. Maybe even different needs if you are looking at gravel vs. XC vs. trail. So a lot of the industry is still in wait-and-see mode.
Until then, the contract manufacturers are showing off alloy capabilities. Need a 32″ gravel bike or a 32″ eMTB hardtail with a Shimano motor? If so, Vaxes has got you covered.
Big 32″ forks on show
Manitou appears to be fast-tracking a 32″ fork for their XC racing needs. And while it takes time to get a new set of cast lowers made, in the meantime, they chopped a 29er fork’s legs in half, had their engineers stick a spacer in the middle to lengthen the legs, then wrapped it with carbon to hold it together and make it stiff enough to test.
And yes, these are ridable.
I’ll take one to my home trails in a few weeks!
(Maybe, I’ll wear a full-face just in case.)
But while a bunch of premium European brands have been putting almost 2k€ Intend forks on their bikes, the Taiwanese manufacturers have raided the OEM catalogs to round up a bunch of low-cost inverted fork options. The easiest way to spot them? Preload dials for the simple coil springs inside, instead of the more complicated but increased rider adjustability of an air spring fork.
But not everyone is going down-spec for 32″ forks at Taipei Cycle. RST has a solid-looking upside-down air fork with a nicely machined crown and upper tubes. We’ll be curious to see this one get to market.
RST does the bulk of its sales at more affordable OEM prices, too. But they’ve made a push in recent years to add a premium option to their line-up, as well.
The best way to keep your 32″ bike light & simple. Make it a gravel bike and give it a full carbon fork.
BlkTec has a couple to show off at Taipei Cycle. Both with full internal routing – even for lights and a dynamo, plus options with or without Anything-style cargo cage mounts.
32″ tires at Taipei Cycle
Back to where it all started.
9 out of 10 complete 32″ bikes in Taipei had the Aspen that sparked all this silliness. But Maxxis wasn’t showing off the other tires they’ve teased in the meantime – like the 32″ trail Dissector.
The Schwalbe Rick Race Pro we spotted a couple of weeks back on the Sour Pasta Party was the only other one that graced a complete bike.
Yet there were hints of more options – as long as we are talking 2.4″ XC tires. CST had its own new 32″ Patrol.
And Kenda had a 32″ Dagger.
We’ve got a test bike or two in the works, and plan to get a closer look at the different tires available to try them all out soon.
What’s next for 32″ bikes?
For now, our takeaway from Taipei Cycle on 32″ bikes is that there’s still a lot of design work left to be done. No need to rush into the new wheel size. We’re going to start testing some big bikes head-to-head, and then dive into reviewing a few individual components. And as soon as we have some real riding insights, we’ll report back on our first impressions.
