Meet Big Ben: Faction Studio\u2019s 32-inch wheel prototype<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n Initial rumours were that the often-reactive UCI would ban the new wheel size before it had a chance to spin up to speed. Now, according to reporting from Mountain Bike Action<\/a>, it seems that won\u2019t be the case.<\/p>\n Fabrice Tiano, Communications and Media Relations Senior Manager at UCI, told MBA that:<\/p>\n \u201cThe mountain bike commission always considered mountain bikes as the laboratory of cycling with very limited rules regarding equipment. That is the reason why 32-inch wheels will not be banned in mountain bikes.\u201d<\/p>\n Game on.<\/p>\n There are two reasons why this matters. One for mountain bikers, the other for everyone else.<\/p>\n Mountain bikers<\/p>\n For mountain bikers, racing tech may seem remote but can herald a change in what consumer bikes will look like down the road. A quarter-century ago, 29\u2033 wheels first ruffled feathers on cross country start lines. Initially, it was viewed as a race-only tech that would never spread. Waves of incredulity crashed out from XC to, eventually, downhill racing. Now almost every mountain bike has 29\u2033 wheels, or at least one.<\/p>\n That doesn\u2019t guarantee that 32 will have the same effect. It\u2019s just as hard to imagine a 32\u2033 downhill bike now as it was to imagine a 29\u2033 downhill bike in 2005.<\/p>\n But the promised benefits of 32\u2033 are quite similar to that 29\u2033 delivered. That is, better roll-over, more momentum in rough terrain, better traction climbing technical stuff and more stability. All things riders tend to like. What will remain to be seen is at what point the costs, less nimble and less fun to corner, outweigh those benefits.<\/p>\n XC rules do not allow for mixed wheel sizes, but any size is allowed. If this makes it to the world of enduro or, less likely, downhill, it could add 29\/32 mullets to the buffet of wheel size options available to riders.<\/p>\n Which brings us to the world outside mountain biking. Tiano\u2019s characterization of mountain biking as a mad scientists laboratory isn\u2019t just siloing it off as cycling\u2019s wild west. It also foreshadows the potential for 32\u2033 to expand beyond mountain biking.<\/p>\n It\u2019s worth noting that UCI also governs gravel as well as road cycling. It\u2019s unlikely the staid world of World Tour racing would accept such a wholesale change in tech (there are still the occasional grumble there about disc brakes, after more than a decade of use). Gravel, though, is a clear next stop for big wheels.<\/p>\n Gravel racers are already leaning heavily on mountain bike tech. Big tires, in the pro ranks, are already pushing 2.2\u2033 or 2.4\u2033 regularly (in 29\u2033). Suspension is widely accepted, if not always used. With gravel tech still very unsettled, it\u2019s a discipline ripe for this kind of tech intervention. And, with sharp, tight corners and tail whips being less of a thing in gravel, the drawbacks that could hold it back in mountain biking are less of a concern.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Ryder-Ritchey-1.jpg\")
<\/a>A very 90s race bike. Rigid, except for the stem, triple chainrings, 26\u2033 wheels and all, 100% speed metal, baby.
\nWhy it matters (beyond XC\u2026)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Maxxis-gravel-vs-xc-3.jpg\")
<\/a>Maxxis\u2019 Reaver gravel tire (in 40mm) and the mountain bike tire, Aspen ST that many pros are racing gravel on
\nEveryone else<\/p>\n
![\"Emily](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/AP-1WUCZPFXS2111_news.jpg\")
<\/a>Emily Batty raced 27.5\u2033 bikes well into the late 2010\u2019s, including when she earned a 2018 world championships bronze in Lenzerheide. Image: Bartek Wolinski \/ Red Bull Content Pool