If you haven’t caught on yet, today is April 1st – better known as April Fool’s Day. For the bike world, it’s a day of fake product releases, often humorous takes on the absurdities of the cycling industry. Things like Pinkbike’s announcement of a new industry plan for 30.5″ wheels.
Only, this seems to be more real than we’d like to believe. Before Pinkbike ever supposedly “intercepted an email,” we heard from two completely different sources that 30.5″ wheels were at least in discussion by one major tire brand, and rejected by a second.
In fact, we’ve already kind of talked about 30.5″ wheels – just under the label of 750d. 750d is said to be about 1.5″ bigger in diameter than a 700c wheel, so it may be safe to assume that this is what 30.5″ is referring to (32″ BSD is 686mm, 750d is 660mm, and 29″ is 622mm). After WTB introduced the standard with a Moots prototype at MADE, the size seemed to disappear, likely in favor of the coming wave of 32″ wheels.
But why would we even consider another wheel size? It seems much like the 29″ revolution, not everyone is sold on the (even) bigger 32″ wheels and a smaller leap from 29″ would make more sense for more riders.
We’ve heard this story before, right? That was the same rationale for 27.5″ at a time where 29″ wheels were a hard sell for many riders (myself included). Inevitably, once the geometry was worked out on 29ers for the majority of riders, 27.5″ wheels lost their appeal short of the rear component of MX wheeled bikes, or wheels for very small riders.
Will the same thing happen with 32/30.5″? Realistically, it seems unlikely. While there may be some discussions around a 30.5″ wheel size, it seems like it may only be that – discussions (except for the few 750d prototypes out there). I think most would argue that a 1.5″ increase in wheel size wouldn’t be worth obsoleting your current 29″ bikes. Even 32″ seems like a questionable proposition for many, but then again, that’s what we thought about 29″.
More than anything, with the current state of the bicycle industry, it seems that wildly opening new tire molds and bicycle and wheel production lines to take a gamble on yet another tire size would be a risky bet. Based on what we’ve seen so far, it appears that most of the industry has decided that 32″ wheels will happen, and 30.5″ wheels will remain in obscurity… at least until the 32″/30.5″ mullet builds gain popularity…
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