NEWMEN has joined the hype, with its first 32-inch wheelset, a larger version of its Streem G.62 gravel race wheel. The wheels carried Leon Kaiser to victory in the men's elite race at Sea Otter Europe Girona on September 19.
The appeal of 32-inch wheels is the promise of better rollover on rough ground, but the format is still finding its feet, and at times dividing the cycling world. Scott has raced a prototype gravel bike, Mosaic offers a made-to-order model and Canyon has built a one-off Grizl for LeBron James. Bigger wheels also bring extra weight and stiffness challenges, and need frames and forks designed to accommodate them.
The carbon-spoke G.62 CS weighs a claimed 1,670g per set, 140g more than the 28-inch version. The steel-spoke build is 1,760g, 160g heavier than its smaller equivalent. Both are initially available only to original-equipment manufacturers. NEWMEN, a German wheel and component brand, still lists suggested retail prices of €1,690 for the carbon-spoke set and €1,390 for the steel-spoke set.
Apart from the 686mm diameter, the rim dimensions match the 28-inch G.62 launched in June. It is 62mm deep, 45mm wide externally and 27mm internally, and NEWMEN has designed it around 45-50mm tyres. The carbon rim is hooked and tubeless-ready. The wheels use Center Lock rotors, come with Shimano HG, Shimano MS or SRAM XDR freehubs, and use NEWMEN's three-pawl Fade R hub.
Stiffness and spacing
NEWMEN is open about the fact that a bigger wheel bends more easily from side to side, and it’s own 32-inch technical paper calculates that an otherwise identical 32-inch wheel is 31.36% softer laterally than a 29-inch one. It says moving from 12x100mm and 12x142mm gravel spacing to Boost 12x110mm and 12x148mm recovers 15.5% of lateral stiffness at the front and 11.5% at the rear.
The new G.62 uses Boost spacing. NEWMEN says the wider flanges keep stiffness close to the 28-inch wheel without adding spokes, so the 32-inch set keeps the same counts: 21 VONOA carbon spokes or 24 Sapim CX Rays per wheel.
Kaiser won a four-rider sprint after 109km, beating Paul Voss, with Fabian Rabensteiner third and Georg Egger fourth. It was his first UCI Gravel World Series victory. NEWMEN says he named rollover and cornering grip as the main advantages of the larger wheels.
NEWMEN calls the result the "first-ever 32" gravel race victory". Though Robin Gemperle’s Unbound Gravel XL win in May, on a prototype Scott with 32-inch wheels, may tell another story.
Schwalbe's 32-inch G-One RS Pro and G-One RX Pro gravel tyres, in 50mm and 55mm widths, are due in April 2027. Canyon's 32-inch Grizl built for LeBron James remains a one-off that the brand said it would not sell. NEWMEN's OEM-first release means the G.62 will likely reach riders on complete bikes before it goes on sale as an aftermarket wheelset.
