The 32″ hype is inching closer to reality every week. But this week will be arguably the biggest test yet for the big (but not biggest) wheels. Half of the Honeycomb 226ers team will race on the Stoll P32.
Yes, half. Cape Epic is the iconic mountain bike stage race that is always raced as a duo. Stoll’s P32, while gaining notoriety as the first production 32″ bike, is still so rare that only half of the team gets to ride one. Also, we can’t go any further in this story without noting the irony of a team with 26ers in their name being the first to race a 32″ bike. Anyway, on with the news…
The big wheels aren’t the only interesting thing about Felix Stehli’s race rig. The Stoll is outfitted with an 100mm Intend Samurai fork, also one of the first official 32″ compatible components. But that fork has the digital burl of RockShox Flight Attendant hanging off its crown. While Intend does make the Samurai compatible with some RockShox damping cartridges, this is the first we’ve seen with Flight Attendant hanging off of it.
Cape Epic’s obviously quite excited to say that it is the first major race to play host to the 29 vs. (and with) 32″ debate. A French publication did have a 32″ prototype at a UCI race in Spain this spring, but Honeycomb is the first professional team to take the big wheels to a big race. And eight days of South African singletrack is a big race. So big that Stoll’s founder travelled from Switzerland to the Cape to support the team. Hopefully Stehli has some spare tires and spokes with him.
Can a 32″ bike get rad? Cape Epic follow cam finds out
Cape Epic’s so excited to have the Stoll that organisers couldn’t wait until the race started. They crept up behind Honeycomb’s Stehli and Marc Pritzen, who is racing on a 29″ Stoll, to follow the team for a practice lap on the South African singletrack.
We’ll let you dissect that follow cam footage below to try decide whether 32″ are worth it or not. Armchair engineers ready. Set. Go!