My 32 cents on 32 inch wheels

I haven't posted in a long time, but I thought I'd come out of hibernation to share my thoughts on the 32" revolution that's definitely, maybe, probably coming soon. A month ago, I got my hands on a pair of Velocity Blunt 35 from Jorrit at Munro Wheels together with some custom length Sapim spokes, I laced the wheels to some DT swiss 350 hubs (Boost 110mm in the front and SuperBoost 157mm in the back) and found some Maxxis 32x2.4 tires on R2-Bike. Finding the wheels was the prerequisite, the rest followed.

I decided from the get-go that I wouldn't even try to get a suspension fork, I love a simple bike and suspensions are something I would love to do without. I tried building a fat bike a few years back and hoped the big volumes tires would provide enough plush and they did, I loved the BMX sort of vibe, the big grip, monster truck kinda feeling but the Q-factor of the cranks and the heavy/sluggish drag of the fat wheels kinda killed the fun.

When I came across the 32" wheels, it triggered that idea again. What if those bigger wheels that were also used on stagecoaches before tires and suspensions were invented could soften the ride enough to go full rigid. I have to admit, I was skeptical, but still very curious, but hey, that's why I started a workshop in the first place, to try out stuff, to tinker.

I built a complete bike, I took it for a ride on my local singletracks (in Hareskov for the locals) and there is definitely something to it, it's very interesting and I'm still processing it, but I want to let it rest over the weekend to try and explain what I like about it, stay tuned for an update :-)

coming soon...