Since being spotted on a prototype BMC, the widespread adoption of 32-inch wheels in mountain biking has been the talk of the town for at least the past year. I’ve had the opportunity to ride the wheelsize, and since then, I’ve decided that there’s a much bigger picture to consider, one that extends well beyond mountain biking.

Before spending a bit of time on Starling’s mega mullet, Big Bird, a bike that runs a 32” wheel up front paired with a 29” hoop at the rear, I was sceptical about the new tech but excited to see what all the fuss is about. When riding that bike, the advantages became instantly clear, but I was left with one lasting impression – 32-inch wheels aren’t just for mountain bikes.

During that time with Starling’s mahoosive-wheeled trail bike, I rode a bit of gravel, and a bit of trail centre tracks, leaning more towards the latter. And I’ll say that the big wheel does provide some tangible advantages. Mostly, it makes the ride of the 120mm Big Bird ridiculously smooth. That boost in smoothness ups the bike’s general composure, making it feel a lot more comfortable than I would expect of a short-travel trail bike when tackling technical terrain. In the hands of the average Joe, they might not be faster, but more comfortable and composed through lumpy trails.

2026 starling big bird tyre
2026 starling big bird tyre (Image Credit: Liam Mercer)

It’s also incredibly stable. There are a lot of forces at play with the 32-inch wheel, and because there’s a larger mass spinning further away from its centre, the level of stability it produced was seriously impressive. Additionally, because there’s a fairly sizable contact patch with the big wheel, I found grip to be plentiful, despite riding on the frighteningly low-treaded Maxxis Aspen.

Another key benefit of the big wheel is that because there’s an increase in inertia compared to 29in wheels, for 27.5, the wheel wants to stay upright much more. While that doesn’t sound like all that great, and in some respects, it’s not, I found that rolling through thick mud was much more doable. Rather than get taken and swept away by the quick loss in traction, the forces at work helped the bike stay on line and upright, as it glided over the slop, despite the bike being equipped with the frighteningly low-treaded Maxxis Aspen.

Of course, the 32-inch wheel wasn’t without its downsides. As you’ll expect, it’s not as maneuverable as smaller wheels, as forcing it away from the plane it’s rolling in (I mean turning), takes a noticeably higher level of effort. We’re also not going to see such large wheels on bikes with more suspension travel, at least not any time soon, unless those bikes are going to be especially large. Check out Dirty Sixer’s MonsterEnduro. It’s a big old thing, but although it dons ‘enduro’ in the title, it runs 140mm of rear suspension. That said, the brand says that the big wheels don’t need tonnes of travel, and I would agree, thanks to the 32-inch wheel’s smoother roll over.

But to progress my ramblings, the one trait that the Big Bird’s 32-inch wheel has left me pondering is how it pedals. It takes a little more effort to get up to speed, but once at speed, it feels as if it’s rolling faster with less effort. It’s not too dissimilar to aero road or gravel bikes, which are more efficient at higher speeds.

So while the bigger wheel will bring benefits to cross-country mountain bikes with some clear disadvantages, I reckon those benefits are a match made in heaven for gravel. And because of how gravel bikes are ridden, the downsides won’t be as detrimental.

2026 Genesis 32-inch drop bar prototype full bike 3
2026 Genesis 32-inch drop bar prototype full bike 3 (Image Credit: Jack Sexty)

Now, we have seen the odd 32-inch gravel bike, namely Genesis’s prototype Vagabond, and the bike at Schwalbe’s Velofollies stand. But 32-inch wheels on gravel bikes is a potential that’s seriously overlooked, for now, at least.

I say that because gravel bikes typically ride at consistently higher speeds, and they’re not often threading the needle through trees and such. So they’ll benefit from that efficiency at speed, but not become such a victim to the wheel’s lesser agility.

There has also been a lot of technology built to make gravel bikes grippier and more comfortable. I mean, suspension forks, elastomer-clad seat posts, and of course, gravel bikes are, more recently, adopting large-volume mountain bike tyres. Bigger wheels solve all of the things that these products are aimed at achieving.

Although there are very few about, tyres to fit 32-inch tyres are just higher in volume, so you can run lower pressures, revel in more comfort, and take full advantage of a boost in grip. That doesn’t mean that we’ll stop seeing more comfort-inducing flexy frames and bouncy seat posts, however.

Now, as a bit of a disclaimer, I’m not especially tall at 5’10”. And I’m not a complete believer that certain wheel sizes are height-specific, to a point, of course. Smaller wheels allow for smaller frame sizes, which allow smaller people to fit on more bikes. So, we’re not likely to see 32-inch wheels on small mountain bike frames, apart from a few that cater only for the sharp end of XC. I believe that a wheel size’s performance is more relative to the rider, and importantly, personal choice.

On mountain bikes, 32-inch wheels are going to go one of two ways. They might be the flash in the pan that plus tyres were, or they’re going to become commonplace on the XC circuit. However, having ridden a 32-inch wheeled bike (granted, mega mullet), I predict that the bigger wheels bring all of the advantages without such harsh downsides to gravel. So… over to you, bike industry.

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