Kenda backs the 32-inch wave and rewrites its tyre strategy

With an award-winning cross-country tyre in a new 32-inch format and a reshaped product line-up, the Taiwanese manufacturer is making calculated bets on where mountain biking is heading. Werner Müller-Schell writes from Taipei…

Wheel size debates have a way of resurfacing in cycling from time to time — as they did when 27.5-inch wheels appeared, and again with 29ers. At Taipei Cycle 2026, Taiwanese bicycle tyre specialist Kenda made a pointed contribution to the latest chapter: the Dagger XC, a new cross-country tyre built around an entirely new tread pattern, won a Taipei Cycle Award — and its 32-inch version was among the most talked about products on the show floor.

“The 32-inch format’s physical logic is borrowed from motocross: a larger wheel rolls over obstacles more easily, reducing resistance and improving momentum,” explains Alexander Mai, Sales Director Europe for Kenda’s bicycle tyre division, during our visit to the Kenda booth. Two 32-inch models are in development: one XC, one gravel, the latter arriving slightly earlier, given the absence of suspension components to tune around.

Interestingly, getting to 32 inches required genuine manufacturing investment in the Taiwanese company’s factories. New moulds, a new building drum – the machinery used to construct 29-inch tyres simply couldn’t accommodate the larger format. “At some point, you have to believe in an innovation enough to invest,” Mai said. Kenda has made that call. Mai’s three-year market forecast for 32-inch tyres remains measured: 29-inch holding at roughly 65%, 27.5 inch at 20%, and 32-inch carving out around 15% – meaningful, but not a revolution.

Wheel size debates, as history shows, rarely resolve cleanly – they simply find their level. According to his prognosis, Mai is not predicting that 32 inches will replace 29, and Kenda is not betting on it either. But with the investment made, the moulds cut and the first tyres heading to (the now underway) Eurobike, the question is no longer whether the format is real. It is whether the rest of the industry is ready to follow where the physics already point – and Kenda, for one, has already decided.”

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