Will the 32" XCO win the next Olympics?

Last weekend we saw a mountain bike that seemed impossible until recently. BMC showed off its first fully functional 32" prototype in Andorra. In fact, Titouan Carod was training with it on the World Cup circuit. For those who still believe it was just an exhibition, we have something to tell you.

32" wheels arrive in XCO: the future is already rolling

For months there were rumors that Maxxis was working on a tire for 32" wheels, but it was at the 2025 Eurobike, held at the end of June, when the Taiwanese brand officially announced what was until then just an open secret: the Maxxis Aspen 32x2.4", the first specific tire for cross-country mountain biking with this new and colossal size.

The surprise was not only the tire itself, but the explanation offered by Maxxis. According to their statement, they received simultaneous orders from several bike brands interested in testing this new size, and the original plan was to present it at the Paris 2024 Olympics. However, we believe that market instability in recent years delayed the project until now. Because the future, literally, is already rolling.

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The bombshell came a few weeks after Eurobike. At the XCO World Cup in Andorra, we saw the first 32" bike rolling on one of the most media-covered circuits on the calendar. It was a prototype based on the BMC Fourstroke, secretly (or not so secretly) adapted by the Swiss brand's R&D department, the Impec Lab.

The one in charge of riding this beast was the Frenchman Titouan Carod, one of the references of the BMC Factory Racing team. The curious thing is that he did it not in the shadows, but in broad daylight and in front of all the teams, brands, and media present in Andorra. The commotion was immediate, social media exploded, and the comments—mostly skeptical—were in the thousands.

But while many wondered if it was just a marketing strategy or an experiment with no future, other industry sources assure us that this is just the beginning, and that other brands already have their own prototypes ready that could be seen even this year.

Adopting a 32" wheel is not just a size increase. It represents a total revolution in bike design: a different geometry is needed, new forks, redesigned frames, specific rims, brakes, suspensions... It is not an isolated movement, but an orchestrated evolution in which several manufacturers may have been silently working for some time.

BMC, for example, had to radically modify a standard carbon frame, machine new aluminum joints to maintain an acceptable geometry, create a completely new stem, and modify a DT Swiss fork to adapt to the wheel's height and diameter.

The engineers at their Impec Lab have made it clear: this is not a market product (for now), but it is serious research. So much so that they did not want to wait any longer to test it in real race conditions. And the initial data point to clear advantages: more traction, greater support in technical areas, and smoother riding on rough terrain.

Are we at the beginning of a new era?

The 32" will not be for all cyclists, or will they. Initially, they seem designed for medium to large-sized riders, due to the physical limitations of the frame and riding position. But if evolution continues, we could be facing the next big revolution in XCO, as happened with the jump from 26" to 29" just over a decade ago. Initially, the 29" did not seem for everyone, and today it is standardized.

The truth is that as of today there are no official dates or confirmations, but if this market has taught us anything, it is that great innovations come without asking for permission. Will we see 32" bikes at the next Olympics? Nothing is certain, but it no longer seems like a crazy idea.

And you, how do you see it? Are we ready to take another leap in XCO? We read you on our social networks.