Are 32-inch wheels going mainstream? LeBron James just got one

Whether you’re for or against 32-inch wheels, the cycling industry seems to be making the push towards them. MADE was full of them. The next case in point? LeBron James just got one. Canyon just delivered a custom Grizl CF for the 6-foot-9 NBA superstar and company investor. Sure Dirty Sixer has been building 32-and 36-inch wheels for tall people for years, but when someone like LeBron James gets on a big-wheeled bike, the world is gonna notice.

This one-of-one fully custom 3XL Grizl is a functional gravel bike. It’s not a concept or a display model. Canyon engineered it specifically for James’ over-sized proportions. That involved a custom carbon layup, CNC-machined thru-axles and other custom components.

“Creating this bike was not merely a case of taking the current frame design and making it bigger,” said Wolfgang Kohl, Canyon’s lead engineer for gravel. “The geometry might land in the right place, but the loads don’t scale the way the dimensions do. Everything needed to get re-engineered or the bike simply wouldn’t function as a responsive system to the rider.”

The custom carbon layup is built for the loads James puts through the bike. Reinforcement is added throughout the frame. It was designed and built in southern Germany.

The wheels on James’ Grizl are 32-inch DT Swiss XR1700s with Schwalbe G-One RX tires.

And if you want to nerd out on the dimensions check these stats: the 3XL frame has a 625-mm seat tube, 642-mm top tube, 680-mm stack and 470-mm reach. Chainstays measure 476 mm. And the wheelbase is a massive 1,201-mm.

This isn’t the first time Canyon has played with 32-inch wheels. Their concept bike earlier this year featured 32s. And you can be sure that building James a massive bike wasn’t a waste of time.

“This was an opportunity to make something genuinely cutting edge and it took a full engineering team to do it,” Kohl said. “Every part we made for him taught us something we’ll use again.”

So with one of the world’s most famous athletes rocking wagon wheels, are 32-inch wheels officially mainstream?

Maybe. Maybe not. But they have LeBron now, which feels like progress (if you’re pro-32 of course).

If you’re thinking this is just some random publicity stunt, you’re probably mostly right. But the NBA superstar’s connection to bicycles is real. Before he was a household name, he used to ride around Akron, Ohio. He rode to basketaball practise. And apparently he has continued to ride throughout his life.

He’s also an investor in Canyon. James’ LRMR Ventures group took an equity stake in the German bike company in 2022.

Before every tall rider starts searching the Canyon website for the 3XL Grizl, we’ve got some bad news. This is a one-off. Canyon says it is not for sale.

But it’s a safe bet to think that everything learned while making this big-wheeld bike will be used in the future. So maybe one day you’ll be able to get a 3XL Griz? Just not yet.

This is probably more an enginnering/marketing exercise than product launch. But it puts a lot of eyes on a 32-inch bike. And if you’re waiting for the wheel size to go mainstream, having LeBron James rolling around on 32s is probably a good start.