Last weekend in Andorra, a 32in wheeled BMC prototype broke cover. Called Project Fahrenheit, it wasn’t actually spotted between the tape, instead the Swiss brand was gathering data. So there’s no need to worry, these monster truck wheels aren’t being raced in anger… yet.

But by now we’ve all seen the 32in wheeled mountain bikes making their rounds on the world wide web, and it does seem there’s a lot of momentum behind them… if you’ll pardon the shocking pun. Danny-not-an-XC-rider-Milner recently aired his views on why he thinks 32in wheels will never roll in mtb, but he said that about 29ers too.

But this isn’t about whether or not 32in wheels will have their place in mountain biking – racing or not. It’s about what we know of the latest BMC prototype, and for you to draw your own conclusions of the wheel’s suitability. Anyway, let’s take a closer look…

From afar, do the wheels look quite as ridiculous? Hmm

It’s getting hot in here…

After seeing pictures of the bike known as Project Fahrenheit and speaking to BMC, we know that the bike sadly isn’t destined for the shop floor… just yet. The aim of bringing the bike to Andorra was to test it out and provide data to the research and development teams at BMC.

We’ve been told that the bike is also not tied to the factory race team or any racing individual, and for the moment, it’s purely a “BMC R&D driven project”.

BMC has engineered a complete frame around the bigger wheel size, called Project Fahrenheit

The question for the brand remains, “is this something to work on more in the future?” Well, it should have a good idea of audience perception based on the comments we’ve read over the past week or so.

And by using the Andorra world cup track, it allows BMC to gather data on real-world tracks, which they can then presumably compare to a 29in-equipped bike to see where improvements may or may not be made. I’m betting there will be sections of the track where it’s faster…. and sections where it’s slower too.

Project Fahrenheit got to rip round the Andorra track over the weekend

So what about next steps? Well, all BMC will tell us for now is that it’s “under evaluation”. So keep your eyes peeled for more big-wheel spiel over the coming months, and maybe we’ll see a real XC race bike with these updates racing the world cups next season.

Will 32in wheels create speed? We’ll have to wait and see

bmc-switzerland.com