I’m going to remain adamant about my belief that it is the bicycle’s core concept and not it’s small technicalities that make it great. But me, writing this just after celebrating dropping my single speed set-up in lieu of gears, also can concede that a bike with less limitations invites more fun. Any tool, and a bicycle especially, works best when you think less and less about it until the tool becomes an extension of yourself.
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I’m gonna be honest, I keep bikes.
I’m not a bike breaker. I don’t bunny hop curbs with the flair of a younger, wavy-haired data scientist. I’m not one to cross chain with the stubborn resilience of a corn-fed Doctor, hiding his midwestern roots behind the precision of german engineered toys. I pick my bikes for their simplicity OR for a future proof(ish) design that will allow me to smile for miles. Here’s my stable of bikes to prove it:
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In a world as growingly divisive as our own it’s easy to mistake any binary decision as exactly that. If you’re offered two boxes to choose from surely one must bring promise and fortune and the other misery and solemnity. So you’re here on this beautiful website and you’re thinking of buying a bike and you get that all familiar decision between two evils. Surely one box must bring enlightenment and joy. The other an awful ride and buyers remorse.
But we’re here to reassure you that regardless of what wheel size you select, enlightenment and joy are still mere pedal strokes away. ±50c is not the barrier between you and the wind, wheelies, an escape, or that dang KOM you’re 6 seconds off and only, JUST only(!) would that other wheel size get you that trophy to prove the worth of all those hours lying about your weight on Zwift. We’re here to reassure you this – both wheel sizes are great. They both have their benefits and drawbacks. But you want the best, right? Then carry on.
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Hi Y’all. How’s everybody doing? That’s an absurd question of course. The world is crazy right now. But that is also a question we also get a lot from all of you:
“Hey guys! How’s it going at Rodeo? You hanging in there?”
I definitely appreciate people asking and checking in. For the record Rodeo is doing well. We’re here, or more accurately we’re not here, we’re mostly working remotely whenever possible but we are “here” in the abstract sense of the word. And yes, we are actually doing well. Not so much in the breaking sales records and taking over the bike industry sense of the phrase. Rather We’re doing well because we seem to be weathering the circumstances better than most, and it seems that the community of owners and customers that we’ve built in the last six years is in fact still ordering bikes and generally supporting what we do. For that, and on behalf of all of us at Rodeo, I say a very heartfelt Thank You! We are so grateful to still even now be able to do what we love to do for a living and we couldn’t do it without your trust and support.
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It may not feel like it but spring is coming! With it leaves and flowers are about to return, and not a day late! In our call for audience inspiration @natalierstarr responded “floral print!”, but she wasn’t very specific about WHICH floral print. We’re glad she wasn’t! As soon as we started looking at floral patterns we knew that one pattern wasn’t enough. We needed ALL THE FLOWERS. So here they are. We roved the web for these patterns and whipped up some fantasy Donkeys that can hopefully help brighten any mood. Happy spring to y’all!
If you would like us to create a custom painted Traildonkey 3.1 or Flaanimal 5.0 for you please get in touch. We’re happy to oblige and collaborate.
Mid South was the first outing for the Rodeo Labs Pro Gravel team and what a race it was. The course lived up to its reputation and the competition was fierce. Jonathan Baker had amazing ride to 3rd overall on his TD3. Recap by Jake Aisenbrey.
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Words by Stephen Fitzgerald
After months of prep and a whole lot of hush hush, I’m excited to finally spill the beans and offer a full breakdown on the Traildonkey 3.0 that I’ve built up to race next week at Atlas Mountain Race in Morocco. This bike is a lot of things to me. It has layers like an onion. So to simply put up the photos and list some gear would be to short sell the effort and consideration that it took to bring this build into existence.
61 Traildonkeys aren’t far out now. Tooling is done and frames are in production. If you’re lucky enough to be 6′ 4″ Drew you happen to work at Rodeo and you get advance access to our 61cm prototypes. It’s good to be Drew.
Staring down a 200-mile bike race is scary. REALLY scary.
Staring down a 200-mile bike race in January is just plain old silly.
For me the Sugarcane 200 will be my maiden odyssey into the wild world of gravel racing. I am excited for the challenge ahead, however, I really don’t have many wise things to say going into it. I know next to nothing about the competition, except that Ted King is one grade-A certified fast dude. I know next to nothing about the course, except it is longer than long and flatter then flat. Lastly, I know next to nothing about nutrition and tactics, except I need a lot of food and even more patience.
By Logan Jones-Wilkins
Every once and a while I look back into my memory searching for the seed of it all. I can spend minutes sifting through troves of distant sequences of experience, trying to find the one – the trigger – that set me on the road less traveled that I am on today. Where oh where was my love of the bicycle born?
