2 Flaanimals - 2 Staff Builds | Rodeo Labs Flaanimal 5.0 Breakdown

This winter, there was something in the air. Maybe it was the long Zwift rides, Silca wax fumes, or the bike market slowly collapsing before our eyes, but we had an idea that involved buying a new bike. Crazy right? I convinced my co-worker that purchasing a steel Rodeo Labs Flaanimal frame would be a good idea, and we both built up something unique and purposeful. This "review" will cover what we put on our bikes and why. Then provide our thoughts on the bike.

  Josh's "daadimal" Build

What inspired me to build a new bike can be summarized with one word - 'Dad'. I had my very own daughter this past summer, and I've wanted to build a fun little bike I can tow her around in while also fulfilling my selfish need to own a Rodeo Labs. I've been obsessed with them since 2019 and finally added one to my collection. I had an idea of what to do with this size 56 frame, and I was even more stoked with how it came out.

I wanted to make a comfortable "MTB" inspired gravel bike. This meant specking the bike with flat bars and a mountain bike groupset. It has an AXS GX gropuset with a 10-50t gear ratio and an oval 36-38t chain ring. Short cranks are always a good time, coming in at 167.5mm. I also threw on a baby 50m dropper post with a Raceface lever, which makes it easier for my wife to ride and helps me get a little rowdy when the baby carrier is off. I also may have made the ugliest cockpit known to man by tossing on a Red Shift stem to help the wrists, Ergon GS3 Grips, and Togs. The only thing the cockpit has going for is the flat ENVE bars. The two-piston SRAM Guide brakes give me plenty of stopping power as well, even with a loaded bike. I had to find some huge adapters to fit these 160m rotors and a flat-mount brake.

This bike can haul STUFF. My rear rack is a Tubus Vega, which has a 40—lb capacity—perfect for carrying my daughter in her Thule Yepp Maxi until she wants to ride her own bike. It can also haul a fair amount of gear for bikepacking trips. I'll throw on some Rock Geist Microwave Panniers for those trips. In the front, I put on a Nitto M18 rack with a simple Wald 137 race basket. Depending on the trip, I'll toss on a Swift Sugarloaf basket bag or keep it on the Blue Lug x Swift basket net. I'll never be dehydrated on this bike as it can carry two Nalgene bottles with the two Widefoot Fork mounts and two full-size water bottles inside the frame with our Custom Thread+Spoke Kai Venture Half Frame bag. I could do this by utilizing the Wolf Tooth RAD bottle mounting system.

This frame can handle tires up to 700cc x 2.2" and 650 x 2.4". I put on the DT Swiss GR600 wheels with Victoria gravel inserts and WTB Venture 50mm tires. This tire setup gives me some good clearance but still has plenty of rubber to be comfortable on mixed terrain. This wheelset is pretty lightweight for being alloy and also has those crazy white/black DT Swiss 350 hubs. I always install the Reserve Fillmore valves onto all my bikes. Never had em' clog, worth every penny. Other small things: I worked with Rodeo Labs to send over some custom frame decals to match the Thread+Spoke colors. They were so lovely and easy to work with. Mismatching Crankborthers Stamp pedals. Flipped the Flaanimal head badge. VRNCLR safety pizza. Radavist "shred lightly" stem cap. Random stuff, but thought you'd like to know.

Here are my thoughts on the Rodeo Labs Flaanimal Frame + my overall build. The Flaanimal frame is the perfect option if you want to build a capable, lightweight, and fun bike. I am confident that this bike would be a good time on any trial, whether that's road, gravel, or singletrack. I love having a bike that is easy to toss a baby carrier on and have a good time with my family. Then, I can take it over the weekend on a bikepacking S24O. The frame is super comfortable to ride. I was worried that steel would be too rigid, but it was smooth as butter. As the winter dragged on, I threw more unnecessary things on the bike. Once CX season comes around, I'll take off most of this stuff and race cross on this bike. But as of right now, it's super functional, fun, and unlike anything else I have in my garage. The Daddimal was a successful project.

Grant's Mini Ripper

This was my first experience buying a frame and building it from the ground up. After looking at my junk box of cycling parts collecting dust in my garage, I realized I needed a few small components to assemble a complete bike. My goal was to construct a rig capable of bike packing and some of my local easy mountain bike trails. After almost 20 years of mountain biking, I wanted to build a bike I had never tried before, somewhat of a mix between gravel and mountain bike while still feeling familiar. What I put together was just that. Working from the ground up, I went with a 2.1 Specialized Fast Trac tire on a set of pre-existing WTB wheels. These wheels are typically used for XC bikes, which was perfect for my build, handling wide tires and larger hits. I have a mix of SRAM GX and Rival parts 40t chainring and a 10x52 for my cassette. I wanted a significant gear range with a big granny gear to help with a loaded bikepacking kit. Another unique part of this build is my 125mm dropper. Most gravel bikes can hardly fit a 50mm, so it's pretty sweet to run such a large dropper on a "gravel" bike. For brakes, I have a pair of SRAM G2 RSC brakes that were pulled off my buddy's old bike. These provide enough stopping power for my local green, blue, and occasionally black trails if I turn wrong. One personalized touch I put on this bike is silver Ritchey bars in reference to some of my old favorite BMX bikes growing up. It pairs quite nicely with the "Quiet-Nice" rodeo labs headset.

When bikepacking, I run a Tumbleweed Pannier Rack with some dry bags voile strapped to the back. On longer days, I'll toss on the Ortlieb Gravel-Pack Panniers. Being a tall guy, I do occasionally have some heel touch with the panniers and will be searching for a better solution soon. Up front, I bolt on the Salsa EXP bar cradle, which makes it easy to carry a large dry bag with flat bars. The cradle also prevents the bike from rubbing and gives you a reasonable distance to run a head unit, lights, and other bar attachments. The Rodeo Labs Spork also has two mounts that can carry an array of gear, but I typically use them to carry additional water when out in the desert.

I'm very pleased with my decision to set this bike up with flat bars. It's the perfect compromise between my gravel and enduro bikes and helps spice up some of my local easy trails. I also look forward to participating in some local cyclocross races on this bike. #dropbarsaredead 

SUMMARY

You know, after seeing them side by side maybe they're not so different. (it's almost like we work together, ride the same trails, and have the same hobbies) Rodeo Labs has an array of builds you can see on their Instagram. But to us, these are the perfect steel flat bar machines that we needed to build-up during the off-season for our sanity. Rodeo Labs is an awesome bike manufacturer, and we love to support small local businesses that make beautiful frames. Check them out by heading over to their website - https://www.rodeo-labs.com/

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