Our first podcast of 2026 was in fact a favorite gear of 2025 recap between our host Logan, as well as guests Drew, Cullen, and Stephen. The assignment was simple: Each person picked a favorite peice of gear from 2025 in four different categories, and then we pushed the record button.
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When Tyler told us that he wanted to create a pure road bike out of a TD4.2, we were instantly interested, but also paused. Could a Donkey really run with the race horses? Tyler’s vision for the project was unmatched, and the results amazed us.
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The Classified Powershift Hub, with its internal gearing that makes a 1x chainring work like a 2x, has always been a point of curiosity around the Lab. However, without a full groupset to give the shifting a proper home, there has always been hesitation. That is, until Logan got his hands on the brand new collaboration between the Belgian company and the brake specialists at TRP for a full review of the Vistar group at Cycling Weekly. From that testing, it was clear we needed to delve into it here. In this episode, Logan ceded the hosting chair to Stephen Fitzgerald, our Intern/CEO, and we brought Drew Van Kampen, our resident Always Trying New Things Guy, to pepper Logan with questions around the new groupset and explore a few tangents along the way.
Host: Stephen Fitzgerald
Guests: Drew Van Kampen and Logan Jones-Wilkins
Producer: Logan Jones-Wilkins
Flaanimal 1.0 was first created in 2015. 17 development framesets were made with various tubing specs, and then distributed to Rodeo team members who opted in to the project. We took what we learned on 1.0, eventually made only a couple of follow-up 2.0 frames, and ultimately launched the bike publicly with the 3.0 frameset. Our tribute 5.0 is based on this exact first 1.0 build below. This bike is now sold, but we’re posting this gallery so that it’s story is recorded here on our website.
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It’s been a year, hasn’t it? In the middle of one of the most challenging periods of the bike industry in recent memory, I’m proud to say that Rodeo didn’t stand idly by and “wait it out”, we leaned into the headwinds and continued to up our game in terms of the bikes and other products that we’ve brought to life. Our customer service people listened intently as new owners described their dream steeds, then worked with our in-house paint and build departments to turn those dreams into reality. Quite a large percentage of the bikes that ship from HQ go out with black frames and standard decals, and those bikes ride as well as any other bike we build, but the team here takes extra pride in the wild custom creations that we turn out. So, with that in mind, let’s dig into a cross-section of some of our favorite builds of 2024, in no particular order.
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It’s been more than a few years since Rodeo Labs has exhibited at the Sea Otter festival in Monterrey, California. With the demise of other large industry and consumer festivals, it’s safe to say that Sea Otter has risen to the most prominent position in the domestic US cycling expo scene. With that in mind, I decided to visit it for myself, and on behalf of Rodeo Labs. At the front of my mind the entire time was a simple question: What is the state of the industry, or bikes in general? After a weekend of conversations with so many of our partners, suppliers, and just general industry friends, my feeling is that we’re all wondering the same thing.
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We’ve been hard at work since last fall on a new round of RDO LAB clothing, and for once we’ve actually got it completed and ready for y’all in time for spring an summer. Perhaps the days of launching short sleeve jerseys in late September are past us? Dont’ hold your breath! Read along to see what we’ve cooked up!
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We’ve just launched our latest labor of love, the Rodeo Labs 3.0X wheels (and rims). I think it is safe to say that everyone here at The Lab is proud of the work that went into getting these right, and even more so, the performance of the final product. Having put more miles on these rims and wheels than anyone else so far, I thought it would be helpful and informative to share my personal thoughts and reflections on them. This journal entry isn’t intended to be a review. How could it be? I own the company and I’m undoubtedly biased. But at Rodeo we strive to maintain a high level of transparency and pragmatism about the products that we make, so everything that I share here will be absolutely genuine.
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Bike brands spend a lot of time obsessing over details that distinguish their product from others. They hire PR firms, bring in R&D to discuss and verify the finer points. They hire athletes to say they ride faster because my gear is better than other peoples, or something close to that. Comparison is important in a market place of ideas and products, after all.
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Lucas Clarke’s Unbound 200 single speed ride had us speechless, and the numbers tell the story impressively:
