Earlier this week, LeBron James teased his newest Canyon bike on social media, and eagle-eyed observers were quick to note how proportional the 6-ft 9-in, 250-lb basketball star looked on it. That could mean only one thing: 32-inch wheels.
And indeed, Canyon Bicycles has now confirmed that it has made a custom Grizl for James, pairing a custom 3XL frame with 32-inch DT Swiss wheels. It is Canyon’s first gravel bike built around the emerging wheel size, and James could hardly be better suited to testing it.
“Big wheels, big tyres, let’s roll!” James said as he set out for a group ride on the new steed.
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“On most bikes I’ve ridden, I was aware of the bike, where it didn’t fit me, what I was working around. This is the first one that I didn’t have to think about. That’s what I love most about riding. It’s just you out there and everything else is gone.”
Despite its experimental construction, Canyon stated that the Grizl is “neither a prototype nor a display model.”
Instead, Canyon calls it a custom bike “engineered from the ground up for a 6’9” athlete whose size very few production frames are designed to accommodate.”
Canyon’s engineers eagerly welcomed the opportunity to design something specifically for the NBA star.
“It was the perfect excuse to explore the use of 32-inch wheels on an adventure bike,” said Grizl Design Engineer Matej Sömen.
(Image credit: Canyon Bicycles)
The bike is based on Canyon’s Grizl adventure platform, which James selected after what the company described as extensive deliberation, some “late night scrolling,” and real-world testing.
“Gravel doesn’t have to be Unbound. You don’t need a 200-mile race to enjoy a gravel ride,” said Riley, referencing the bike’s versatility.
“Still, at the end of the day, the Grizl is a high-performance machine that perfectly supports where and how LeBron actually rides.”
Creating a performance gravel bike for an athlete of James’ proportions presented Canyon’s engineers with an unusual set of demands. Rather than stretching an existing Grizl frame, which tops out at size 2XL, the company developed new geometry and redesigned its carbon construction.
Simply extending the tubes would have introduced too much flex, Sömen explained. Canyon instead worked with specialist manufacturing partners in southern Germany, giving its engineers access to manufacturing methods that had not previously been available to them.
“This was an opportunity to make something genuinely cutting edge, and it took a full engineering team to do it,” said Wolfgang Kohl, Canyon’s Lead Engineer, Gravel.
The frameset was manufactured using a high-pressure autoclave, with the main triangle and rear stays moulded as a single structure without bonded sections.
“The parts came out so pristine that they required zero putty, zero grinding and no cosmetic paint,” Sömen said.
That construction is reflected in the bike’s finish. Raw carbon remains visible along the top tube and through the Canyon logo on the downtube.
Canyon also manufactured custom CNC-machined Boost thru-axles and an in-house CNC-machined seat clamp, configured specifically to handle James’ power. For functionality, the bike features custom mounts throughout the bike, including the fork, to provide carrying capacity for equipment or additional hydration. At hand off, the bike was built up with a small front rack, just big enough to carry a basketball.
A test of the 32-inch platform
(Image credit: Canyon Bicycles)
James’ new bike arrives as 32-inch wheels become one of the cycling industry’s most discussed developments. Built around a 686mm rim diameter, the format has appeared on a growing collection of gravel and mountain bikes. Scott showcased its 32-inch RC Gravel prototype at Unbound Gravel, while Salsa, Stinner, BTCHN’ and Mosaic have also released gravel bikes around the larger platform this season.
Component manufacturers are beginning to respond with dedicated tyres, wheels and inner tubes. James’ bike adds another significant piece to that emerging ecosystem, with Schwalbe’s yet-to-be-released 32″ G-One RX gravel tyres wrapped around DT Swiss wheels.
Proponents of the larger diameter point to its speed and ability to roll more easily over rocks, ruts and washboard surfaces. While the trade-offs include additional weight and rotational mass, as well as significant geometry challenges.
For an exceptionally tall rider such as James, the biggest gain may be proportionality. Very tall cyclists can find themselves squeezed onto the largest conventional frame available, even when its wheelbase and front centre remain too short to distribute their weight optimally. Designing a custom frame around 32-inch wheels allows those dimensions to grow with the rider, potentially producing a bike that looks, fits and handles more naturally.
James’ Grizl has a massive 680mm stack, 470mm reach and 1,201mm wheelbase, with 476mm chainstays – dimension you rarely see in mass produced bikes.
Canyon says it’s using the one-off build to evaluate new construction processes intended to shorten development timelines for future projects and refine the way it develops bikes for professional athletes and the wider public.
“We have a true Canyon innovation story,” Sömen added. “We have Canyon’s first 32-inch gravel bike. We have awesome features, we have a killer aesthetic, and we have a rider who has the right bike for the riding he does.”
Canyon was quick to note, however, that James’ bike is a one-of-one and not available for sale.
James has been involved with Canyon since 2022 and is a minority shareholder in the German company. In 2024, the two launched “Find Your Freedom,” a cycling advocacy campaign intended to encourage more people to ride. Canyon also began providing bicycles to the LeBron James Family Foundation’s I PROMISE Program in Akron, Ohio.
The partnership builds on James’ lifelong connection to bicycles. Growing up in Akron, he rode to basketball practice, visited friends and explored the city on two wheels.
LeBron James’ 3XL Grizl
(Image credit: Canyon Bicycles)
- Drivetrain: SRAM Red AXS XPLR, 38T chainring, 10-46T cassette
- Wheels: DT Swiss XR1700 32“
- Tyres: Schwalbe G-ONE RX
- Handlebar: Canyon Gravel Cockpit CP0039, 16 deg. flare
- Frame size: 3XL
Geometry:
- Seat tube length: 625 mm
- Top tube length: 642 mm
- Stack height: 680 mm
- Reach: 470 mm
- Head tube length: 194 mm
- Chain stay length: 476 mm
- Wheelbase: 1201 mm
- Head tube angle: 71.2 deg.
