I know you all are really excited about this!
And before you type in a comment with an April Fools reference, this is actually a wheel size you can already buy. It exists, and I found a bike HERE.
I know...I know. It isn't something you'd likely buy because of the unknown brand, but apparently the industry is gearing up to bring this alternative wheel size to fruition. The "Escape Collective" ran an article on Schwalbe's intentions to bring out this size wheel/tire and if they are doing this, again - you know an OE contract is behind this. In fact, the article pretty much says this straight up.
Supposedly this size sits perfectly between 29" and 32". The obvious thing here is this would fit more people than 32" bikes could. The other obvious thing is we already have this wheel size.
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| This bike with 29" x 3.0 tires would be effectively a 30.5"er. |
But this should point out to many of us that 30.5" is possibly a more viable alternative to a "bigger wheel" than 32" because we already know 29+ fits a lot of people out there.
I also get how this will only enrage the already stirred up hornets nest of negativity over the bicycle industry. The perception is already that things like 32" wheels and "gravel bikes" are inventions we do not need.
Thirty-Point-Five? Yeah.....That's going to help that right along! I don't know how all of this might play out, but whether or not it is just a play to garner more interest and create sales is a fair argument. Do we really need this?
It is fun to think about, but.....yeah. I don't think we need this.
3 comments:
Yeah, no… I’ll just stick with my 29ers and eventually will build up a 32er. Not gonna mess with the ‘mama bear’ size.
That Chinese bike must be a "if you order 300 we'll figure it out" thing. The (probably fake) tire image shows 642 BSD which is 700A. Schwalbe's 30.5 is 654 according to the catalog screen shot, but who knows, maybe the graphic design intern guessed on that one. WTB's 750D (let's follow tradition and call it "thirty and one half) is 660 and is the only one that's actually in production. Now we have to wait to see if the bike industry is really going to split the difference and give us two sizes only a pencil width apart.
It seems to me that 26"/559, 29"/622, and 32"/686 should be enough for almost all adult bikes. I see no reason to add in-between sizes.
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