Another New Wheel Size? Ride the Bike You’ve Got

The Muckers Big Idea, Thursday 12 November 2026

Just when you’d got your head round 700c, 650b and the 32-inch wheels everyone’s been arguing about, along comes another one. As Cycling Weekly’s November tech round-up reports, Newmen’s new G48 gravel wheelset comes in 28-inch, 32-inch and, yes, 30.5-inch. Same month, bike computers learned to take voice commands. You can now ask your head unit to find the nearest café. Brilliant. Your legs still have to get you there.

The big idea: the best upgrade is the ride you actually do

We’re not anti-tech. Shiny kit is fun, and somebody has to test the 30.5-inch life so the rest of us don’t have to. But every new standard comes with the same quiet whisper: your bike’s out of date, and so are you. It isn’t. And you aren’t.

The rider who gets out three times a week on a ten-year-old bike with dodgy bar tape will beat the rider waiting for the “right” wheel size, every single time. Fitness doesn’t care what diameter your rims are.

How to get faster without buying new kit

• Consistency beats kit. A winter of steady miles does more for your speed than any wheelset. No catalogue sells that.
• Look after what you’ve got. Clean chain, fresh tyres, decent brake pads. Boring, cheap and properly fast.
• Spend on riding, not just on bikes. An entry fee, a café stop with mates, a night on the trainer with the Muckers. That’s money well spent.

Why it matters for Muckers

Nobody in the Muckers peloton has ever been dropped for having the wrong wheel size. People get dropped for not turning up, and even then we wait at the top. Our Tuesday races and Sunday hill climbs are full of riders on all sorts of setups, and the only spec that matters is showing up and having a go.

So here’s the challenge this week: don’t buy anything. Pump your tyres, oil your chain and go and ride the bike you’ve already got. Then tell us about it.

Over to you, Muckers. What’s the oldest bit of kit you still swear by? Let us know, and give it the credit it’s owed.

Ride with us on ROUVY: our weekly Muckers races and group rides run all winter on ROUVY, and any bike on any trainer is welcome. Join a Muckers event on ROUVY and grab a wheel.

Love Muckers? Join the peloton from £3/month – buymeacoffee.com/muckersworldwide

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