There were many, many 32″ bikes at the 2026 edition of MADE. So many that we’ll have a dedicated roundup to the big wheels coming soon (that might have to be split into two parts!).

But few brands seemed to thoroughly embrace the concept like Rare Earth Cycle. All three of the Rare Earth show bikes were built around the big wheels and seem to have elevated Brian Hall’s designs to another level with a fantastic blend of modern design elements creatively interpreted in steel.

Rare Berd

When Berd Spokes approached Brian to create a show-stopping build for their booth, Brian thought a 32″ aero gravel race bike would be the perfect subject. Why not?

Of course, this wouldn’t be your average gravel race bike. From a distance, you might think this is a composite frame with plenty of deep aero cross sections. But it’s actually all steel. Brian explained that to get this effect, he utilized thin 4130 sheet metal that is then stretched around steel tubing like a skin-on-frame aircraft.

Brian also built his own fork, because as he points out, the existing forks didn’t have the right offset. That’s something we heard from a lot of builders who also gave credit to Mosaic for introducing a fork with a more 32″-friendly offset. In this case, Brian’s fork runs a 62mm offset.

In spite of all that steel, the big wheels and tires, pedals, bottles, tools, and bags, the Rare Bird felt lighter than expected. That weight is certainly helped by details like what is possibly the lightest frame bag in the world – just 17g. Made by San Util, the bag is actually taped to the frame around the edges to ensure it is as aerodynamic as possible.

Crazy Cloud Full Suspension

The Crazy Cloud full suspension bike takes some of that skin-on-frame steel construction and pairs it with a modern-looking suspension design and thin tubing to make what looks to be a lightweight full-suspension endurance bikepacking race bike. With ‘Doom 2026’ on the downtube, Brian raced this one at the 2026 edition of the race in Hot Springs, Arkansas.

It looks serious, but maybe not that serious since it does have a flask holder for one of the bottle cages after all.

With most of Brian’s work in steel, the handlebar/stem combo is one of the few places where titanium has been mixed in. It looks incredible, and probably delivers excellent compliance for a one-piece bar/stem, which tend to be on the rigid side

Gunni Flyer Bikepacking Bike

Last up is the Gunni Flyer, a build for Bikepacking.com editor Neil Beltchenko. Again, no ready-made forks on the market had the right specs so Brian made a custom semi-truss fork with plenty of mounts and what appears to be routing for a dynamo hub that pokes out just below the headset on the right side of the fork.

Further details include an integrated portage handle, Rare Earth’s signature twin top tube with adjustable bag rails, and a rear brake caliper that is tucked inside the seat stay, presumably to keep it away from bags and gear on the rear rack.

rareearthcycle.com