{"id":604573,"date":"2026-05-26T10:19:15","date_gmt":"2026-05-26T10:19:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/604573\/"},"modified":"2026-05-26T10:19:15","modified_gmt":"2026-05-26T10:19:15","slug":"im-genuinely-scared-cameron-jones-to-race-unbound-gravel-on-scott-bike-with-32in-wheels","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/604573\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cI’m genuinely scared\u201d: Cameron Jones to race Unbound Gravel on Scott bike with 32in wheels"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cameron Jones won the 2025 Unbound Gravel race in a record-breaking time, and he could be set to go even faster at this year\u2019s edition.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s because the New Zealander is set to take to the Flint Hills of Kansas, and the world\u2019s premiere gravel race, onboard a prototype Scott bike with 32in wheels<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Jones says the bike makes him feel as if he’s \u201clevitating over the surface\u201d and highlights the advantages of the larger wheel size.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe driving traction and cornering grip is revolutionary. I’m genuinely scared how fast I’ll be able to corner once on a course with proper descents,\u201d he says.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"PrototypeThe 32in wheels are shod in 50mm tyres. Lukas Schumacher \/ Scott Bikes<\/p>\n

Jones will be racing the 200-mile event on the bike from Scott\u2019s Racing Concept, which develops products and tests them in competition, alongside Robin Gemperle, winner of the 2025 Tour Divide and Silk Road Mountain Race. The two athletes have been testing the 32in gravel bike since last year.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Gemperle says: \u201cWe started by riding an unfinished bike, with crucial parts still developing. But ever since, I\u2019ve known that even if there wouldn\u2019t be a single additional test ride, I\u2019d immediately take it to racing once granted permission.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Scott says Unbound Gravel<\/a>, which runs from Thursday 28 May to Sunday 31 May, pushes riders and equipment to the limit.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cUnbound Gravel has proven to be the perfect proving ground to take innovation out of the lab and into real-world racing conditions,\u201d it says.<\/p>\n

Pure prototypes
\n\"PrototypeThe bike won’t be available commercially. Lukas Schumacher \/ Scott Bikes<\/p>\n

Scott adds that the bikes ridden by Jones and Gemperle are \u201cpure prototypes\u201d that will never be released on the market. Maybe predictably, it has shared few details about the project beyond the wheel size.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This fits in with other mainstream cycling brands that have said they are developing prototypes but have remained secretive about plans to release 32in bikes to the market.<\/p>\n

BMC athletes raced a 32in prototype<\/a> at the Andorran round of the XC World Cup in July 2025 and the Swiss company later told BikeRadar it had no plans to release a bike with the oversized wheels.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A few weeks ago, Warren Rossiter tested a steel gravel bike with 32in wheels<\/a> made by Mercx Bikes \u2013 but that too is a prototype.\u00a0<\/p>\n

However, this doesn\u2019t mean bikes with 32in wheels aren\u2019t coming. Merida\u2019s Stephan Seitz said the company is developing gravel bikes and cross-country mountain bikes with the wheel size.<\/p>\n

Although he didn\u2019t say when Merida would release its bikes, he said we can expect the wheel size to be the performance standard around the spring of 2027.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But even if larger brands are yet to release 32in bikes, the standard has already become a popular choice for bespoke bicycle builders<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cameron Jones won the 2025 Unbound Gravel race in a record-breaking time, and he could be set to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":604574,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[4985,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-604573","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-cycling","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/604573","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=604573"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/604573\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/604574"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=604573"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=604573"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=604573"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}