If you had told me years ago that Rodeo would be sponsoring a gravel racing team in the future I would have laughed in your face. For a long time I was very anti sponsorship. I didn’t believe in “paying people to ride our bikes”. I also didn’t like the attitudes that I had seen in sponsored athletes in previous experiences I had had with some high level racing teams. I had seen a very offputting sense of entitlement on display in those teams and it bummed me out. More than once I’ve heard sponsored athletes telling me or a fan: “I don’t really like this product, I just get paid to ride it”. It made it seem like some racers had attitudes of entitlement, and few attitudes are a bigger turnoff for me.
Continue readingGeorgia Rodeo Rally – Vogel Springs – May 15
If you are in the Georgia vicinity or within distance of the drive we highly recommend the Georgia Rodeo Rally events that one of our O.G. Rodeoers Mike Smith has been putting on and hosting. Mike is super passionate about community building and puts on these terrific, challenging, and inclusive rides to which all are welcome. He often builds multiple courses per event so that people can dial in the challenge for themselves. Even if you aren’t in the local area it is worth keeping an eye on the Georgia Rodeo Rally Facebook group as he has ideas for expanding the territory of where the rides take place and he is working on ideas with partners as well. Check it out and sign up here.
Continue readingPassing the torch: A Kokopelli Trail do-over
Kokopelli trail for a second time? How did we get here? Rodeo has such an unpredictable trajectory. All it was ever intended to be was a way to bikes with friends. That was the start of it in 2014. A half dozen people said “if you’re starting a bike team I’ll throw my hat in”. Everyone in the first days of it all knew each other. We were all just friends here in Denver, road racing, mountain bike racing, cyclocross racing, group riding, and goofing off. It was all very simple for a hot minute, right up until the point when Rodeo went crazy and dismantled my predictable life. I have been overwhelmed ever since. It has not slowed down. It has not even for a second gotten less complex, it has only gotten moreso. A team became a community, the community became a larger community, and then it became a bike company. It’s been an incredible ride, one that I am very grateful for, but quite often I miss the simplicity of the early days of what we were doing: The just riding bikes with friends part.
Continue readingThe Leadville 100 Podcast: TD3 vs LT100
The hosts of the Leadville 100 podcasts were super kind to invite Stephen Fitzgerald onto their show to discuss a question they’ve been hearing more and more from their audience: Can a gravel bike be raced successfully at the Leadville 100 mountain bike race? And even if it CAN be raced, SHOULD it?
Continue readingMatt’s Flaanimal 5.0 Rat Rod masterpiece
It’s no secret around here that we’re good friends with Matt Hawkins, the owner of the venerable Ridge Supply sock-and-rad-merchandise stoke company. We’ve done a special Ridge x Rodeo Traildonkey with Matt in the past, and Matt currently owns three Donkeys in different configurations which makes him a preeminent collector of Rodeo bikes. So I guess it came as no surprise that when Matt saw the Flaanimal 5.0 prototype at Philly Bike Expo in late 2019 he quickly said “I want one”. What did come as a surprise was just how long it took us to build and deliver the bike that he had in his head.
Continue readingWhite Rim solo on Drop Bars: a Flaanimal Ti adventure
Utah’s White Rim Trail seems to be enjoying a bit of a popularity boom in recent years thanks in large part to repeated attempts to set new Fastest Known Time records by a non-stop stream of world class riders. While those efforts are incredible from a human achievement point of view they don’t resonate much with me as it relates to my relationship with this beautiful and incredibly unique part of the world. I come to White Rim with slower times in mind, and with thoughts of long miles spent undisturbed by life’s complexities.
Continue reading“Where is my bike?” Rodeo Q1 2021 Production update
In what seems to have become a ritual around here it has come time to write a transparent and in-depth update on the status of our frames, forks, and complete bikes for 2021. I’ve penned updates like this regularly over the years as one challenge or another seems to regularly interfere with our best laid plans to get our bikes out the door at earlier and earlier dates every year. With each year that passes we get increasingly good at logistics here at Rodeo, but we also discover more things that can derail or delay our plans.
Continue readingMontanus: The Wolf’s Lair Bikepacking Film
The Wolf’s Lair is a 400-kilometer bikepacking route that winds through medieval castles, alpine scenery, and ancient italian villages in the Apennines Mountains. The Montanus duo originally traced the route in 2016 after they felt the need to explore the Abruzzo region to learn more about their culture and origins. Giorgio went back to The Wolf’s Lair to film the experience.
Continue readingConor’s aviation inspired custom TD3
Conor is a professional pilot who has always been a fan of vintage airplanes. He finds inspiration in the the colors and graphics that are found on those planes and he wanted to work those themes into a custom TD3.1 frameset. The design collaboration went through a few rounds of revisions with Drew here at the Lab finding ways to lay graphics across our frame in a way that invoked those earlier airplanes without coming on too strong.
Continue readingFlaanimal 5.0 // PSL Finish
The Pumpkin Spice Latte Flaanimal 5.0 is working out to be the most rare color. Having just built two in the most recent batch of builds we’re pretty close to saying that we think it’s the best color we currently offer. The orange Cerakote has an almost pearlescent finish, and the chocolate brown accent color accents the layout nicely.
For so long we are only able to look at renderings of these color options, and we’re thrilled to finally have these out in the wild in real life.