32" Wheels?!
 

How is it possible that WALMART is the first I've ever encountered a bike with a 32" wheel?

http://www.walmart.com/search/search...onstraint=4171

It can't be possible that they were first to market with anything -- what actual cycling innovator got there first?

32" wheels and 32" frame! That's one BIG bike.

The frames themselves aren't 32" -- Wal-Mart is perpetuating the horrible and misleading ractice of using wheel sizes to denote the scale of the frame -- 24" bikes for kids, 26" bikes for bigger kids and adults, 29ers for larger adults, etc. My guess is that since the 36" wheel size is somewhat impractical, they're trying to find out if there's a market for something in between 29" and 36".

My point is, why Wal-Mart? These things are branded "Genesis" -- is that really Wal-Mart per se (like Kirkland=Costco?) or is it an actual (low-end) bike company that's innovating here?

If 32" does somehow take off (like 29'ers have), are we going to be stuck with decisions about standards that are already in place because of Wal-Mart?

Coker Tire has sold a big (maybe bigger) wheeled bike like that for many years. Roger

36" wheels have been made for some time.. Unicycles with that wheel can keep up with Traffic, I've seen it.

Is the "32" just a marketing name for something with a real and common ISO rim size designation or is it unique to these things?

Just what we need, another wheel size for the industry to support with spares for X number of years. OTOH, it could be a short term fad that will blow over soon enough, leaving the lucky owners hunting for spares a few years from now.

Wheel size is a matter of balancing tradeoffs. Over a century of experience has lead to the clear winners being somewhere between 26" and 700c. (26-29" overall diameter). Going larger improves handling on rough pavements, but increases weight, lowers (somewhat) wheel strength and rigidity, and most important can create clearance and geometry issues on all but the largest frames.

Other than being different for the sake of being different, it just doesn't make any sense to design out of the box creating all manor of new "standards" whenever marketing simply wants something to talk about.

Doubtful that it will catch on because there is some level of impracticality. I've seen a few 36" unicycles running up and down the road. One day I was passed by one at a light. We ran together for maybe 3/4 of a mile. It was all I wanted to do to keep up with him.

Jeff Wills provided this link http://mtobikes.com/black-sheep-bike...n-bike-review/. I saw this also doing a search after my encounter with the unicyclist. Looked interesting- but not practical.


Walmart and 32"? I saw those there and thought at first the tire size may have some merit in some conditions. It might if the supply for lightweight tires, and rims became available. I wouldn't have any concern about Walmart 32s becoming another standard for rim and tire sizing. Gotta give someone credit though for trying a different marketing approach.


BTW- Anyone went out and hefted one of those buggers? No way you'd want to ride it!

It's just another item to appeal to the too-large population of "look-at-me" types that are more interested in the amount of attention they attract rather than the quality.

I dunno. Somehow I don't thing the posers and the trendy-types shop at Walmart. These things are more likely to sell to the bicycle unknowing and ignorant.

No, the Wal-Mart crowd would be included in my comment. Every seen Jerry Springer or Maury talk shows?

I've never sat and watched them but I've walked by enough TV's with them on to realize what they do (and been pretty much disgusted by it).

The sad irony is that the bikes I most often see ridden are the so-called BSOs sold by big Walmart and the like. Yes, those of us who fancy ourselves as real cyclists would never own these. But these low end bikes are all that many people who use bicycles as daily transport can afford.

On weekends I'll see folks out riding nice bicycles for sport, but every day I see many people riding pretty crappy bikes on 5-10 mile daily commutes, rain or shine (though some take the bus if it rains). Much as we love to deride these bikes, I'll venture that many of these BSO's see more miles per year than most $3k+ bikes do.

The real beauty of the bicycle is how little it takes for one to serve fundamental needs.

I do not seek nor much relish the attention given me by most everyone, but at 6'6" riding a 68.5cm frame bike,it is difficult NOT to stand out in a crowd,especially of cyclists...
Too large??Maybe, but there ain't nuttin' I can do about it!

just google 32" bicycle wheel

I once proffered the notion that there should exist bikes for the taller riders that were proportionately larger in all dimensions, including wheel size.
It was pointed out to me that the energy required to accelerate and maintain speed of a larger (say, 32") wheel would be far greater than that for the 700c wheel. Kind of a rotational mass problem. Thus the rationale for tri-guys turning the 650c setups.
Anybody for 20" sew-ups??

Uh, meant the population of such folks is too large, not a slam on large people.

Uggh...another tire spec...two more Tylenol please!

Here in the bay area, someone is importing bikes from China as-is - trying to start their own "business". Unfortunately, they are not very "standards" savy as they brought in a bunch of:

22 x 1 3/8
24 x 1 3/8 or 1 1/4
26 x 1 3/8 (Which is not too bad - tires and tubes are still available...)

...for a year or so before they realized they were putting their customers in a bind.

And that's besides the fact the rims and spokes themselves were crappy to begin with requiring a rebuild.

=8-(

Yup. I understood that.....just having a bit of fun (at least I thought it to be funny....... ;-) )

The fact is that they are the real bikers. For us the bike is a toy or exercise tool.

So true. It kills me every time I see some poor (literally) guy lugging himself to work on a 45 lb. full suspension BSO that functions most effectively as a pogo stick. No wonder these guys buy cars the minute they can afford them.

The same money properly applied could have purchased a semi-decent commuter, if mainstream America even knew what a proper commuter bicycle looks like. I was just in Germany. Almost every bike I saw had fenders, racks, and lights. Many had generators and IGHs. Why aren't there fleets of these things in U.S. cities?

I've got enough problems trying to start on a 29" wheel unicycle. It would be very amusing to watch me try with 36" wheel...

The problem is that we have a split market place. The big box stores want to market "bargain" look-like-better bikes to the general casual riding public, and the bike shop marketplace has too large a premium on niche bikes such as commuters. The commuter bikes are too over featured and expensive for the kind of people I'm talking about.

There's no reason that we can't produce and market a well designed basic commuter priced affordably and targeted to the working class. Problem is that the client base sees dealers as too expensive, and big boxes don't know how to sell them. The other issue is that the numbers of customers is still fairly small, and they tend to keep bikes a long time, spending only the minimum possible, so dealers don't see them as high revenue potential.

Look around, the US bike industry is now built around a "consumable" bike with a short life cycle, and frequent replacement. Working class commuters just don't fit the model well.