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Setup question using Paul Klampers and 160mm rotors
Prepping for when my Flaanimal arrives.ย Going to be running Klampers front/rear with 160mm rotors.ย I have the mechanical slider for the rear caliper.ย Do I need adapters to run 160mm rotors for either or both the front & rear calipers?
Answer
Our bikes adhere to the flat mount design standard which specifies 140mm native, and 160mm with the use of adapters / mounting plates.
Follow up on Setup question using Paul Klampers and 160mm rotors -
Triple Cage Mounts in the future?
I think that this an excellent fork, I just wish it had triple cage mounts instead of the double cage mounts. Any possibility of a future (maybe 4.0 release) of that being a thing?
Just curious.
Thanks.
Answer
We don’t currently have any plans for 3 bosses on the fork legs. Spork already has class leading cargo carrying capabilities, and the inner and outer bosses actually add up to 4 mounts per leg, not 3. When loading the fork with loads heavier than typical water bottles a 20-25mm bolt is used to anchor the loads to both bosses instead of just the outer bosses.
We know that many in the industry use three bosses and that is the prevailing standard, but we’re stubborn on this one and aren’t a company that looks to the right or the left for inspiration. We’re only interested in what works, and the boss system on our forks have been incredibly reliable and useful in every type of riding and bikepacking condition that we and our customers throw at the fork. Our boss failure rate is almost incalculably low, and failures have never occured due to loads on the bosses, it is always from people trying to remove siezed or stuck bolts.
For people who wish to run 3 bolt mounting accessories we simly instruct them to use 2 of the 3 bolts on the accessory.
For those wishing to maximize the load carrying potential of the fork we recommend the Wolf Tooth b-rad system and the mount splitters which allow you to reliably mount double the cargo capacity per fork leg.
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Dropper post travel for Flaanimal
If I want to experiment with a dropper post on a Flaanimal 5, 56cm frame, what is the recommended travel? No previous dropper experience so let me know if I’m missing anything else.
Answer
This depends entirely on how aggressive you will ride the bike. I tend to only recommend droppers to people who will trial ride their drop bar bike. For normal gravel there is no real advantage.
Most “gravel” droppers are only 40-50mm which isn’t really a lot but does help get the saddle out of the way.
PNW makes 90mm and 120mm and I’ve run both with success, but I don’t think most people would use 120mm very often.
On my bike I would probably go for something around 90mm. -
Couple general questions before purchasing Flaanimal
First off just want to say you guys have some of the best looking bikes out there and I can’t wait to be a proud owner of one.
How many known frame failures of the flaanimal 5.0 and spork 3.0 have there been?
I know you don’t condone this or build bikes that run outside of shimano warranty , but have you seen any people building flaanimals with extra wide 2x gearing? Just wondering if you’ve seen anyone using a product like the wolf tooth road link or a frankenstein derailleur to get like an 11-40 cassette working properly with mechanical shifting.
Do you have any photos of the non reflective black decal option? I’m trying to decide on certain decal choices
Is there a reason you think more people seem to choose to build the flaanimal 1x vs 2x
What’s the big purpose for the slider and how much will the position change the feel and function of the bike? and have you ever noticed those bolts becoming loose over time and causing potential issues?
I’m looking at using the Absolute Black 46-30 Oval chainrings do you think those would be compatible?
Is there any compatibility issues with using mostly GRX components but a 105 front derailleur because of the 2.5 mm offset issueAnswer
Nathan,
No Spork 3.0 or Flaanimal 5.0 have failed. Period. We care very much about making our frames and forks very robust. The only frames that have been damaged were damaged in accidents such as crashes on the trail or collisions with cars. Even that number is quite low, probably 5-10 total.
We’ve seen plenty of people who build Frankenstein drivetrains. Ultra wide range 2x gearing has been done, but obviously wouldn’t be warrantyable or endorseable. The trick is that you need to run something like th Easton micro compact front chainrings or the range gets too aggressive and you can risk ripping your derailleur off.
We don’t have any photos of non reflective matte. The effect would be pretty subtle. The frame is sort of satin / matte so the decals would be gloss and you would mostly only note the change in sheen
1x is simpler to maintain than 2x. A lot of people are tired of minding where their front derailleur is at and if it is adjusted correctly. Cross chaining is annoying for some people to pay attention to. 1x has huge range (up to 520%) and front chainring swaps are easy to do if you need to fine tune gearing for the terrain that you are using your 1x bike on. 2x isn’t a bad option, it just isn’t chosen as often.
Sliders were originally for the purpose of properly tensioning singlespeed and belt drive builds on the Flaanimal. Only later did we realize that it helped the frame accomodate larger tires when sliders are all the way back. On my Flaanimals I always have the sliders all the way back and never move them fore / aft. I don’t think the hype about the bike being quicker handling with slightly shorter stays is really borne out in real world riding. I love how my Flaanimals handle on road, gravel, and trail with the sliders all the way back. We sometimes hear of people who have loose sliderbolts. A dab of blue Locticle would prevent that. I never have slipping on any of the Flaanimals that I own and ride. I simply torque them well on day one and they stay put.
46 / 30 rings would be compatible with the frameset. I’m not sure if you would be able to run the 11-40 cassette reliably with those rings or not. You would need to check forums or experiment on your own with that.
We don’t often use GRX cranks on our builds but we do a lot of GRX everything else. If using a non GRX crank I would recommend a 105 or Ultegra front derailleur instead of a GRX one. We aren’t huge fans of the GRX 2.5mm offset. It doesn’t add any capability to our framesets. -
White Industries crankset for Flaanimal 5.0
I am trying to figure out which WI crankset is required for a 1x build on a Flaanimal 5.0.ย The G30 has the wider Q-factor arms but still designed for a 68mm BB.ย The R30 has the narrow Q-factor, but not sure if there is enough frame/tire clearance?ย Which ones have been used for the builds?
Answer
The G30 is definitely the crankset that we’ve been using. With the Flaanimal 5.0 you would probably want to use the matching White Industries T47 BB with internal bearings, not external cups.
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Max Fender Size for TD 3.0
What is the max fender size for 700c tires? I was specifically looking at the PDW Full Metal Fenders – 700×55. Would these fit?
Thanks.
Answer
700×55 should fit fine based on the measured dimensions of the frame. Sometimes larger fenders need to be shaped or trimmed a little when maxing out fender size.
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Recommended Tire Width
What is the maximum recommended tire width on the 700c wheelset?
Answer
There is no maxiumum tire size for the 700c wheelset. We have run up to 2.2″ successfully.
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Flaanimal 5.0 1x Options
Hi Rodeo Labs,
On your SRAM AXS Mullet 1×12 build, I see that you recommend the use of the Praxis Zayante Carbon crankset. Are there any issues in using something different like the SRAM Force 1 or SRAM Force 1 Wide in a mullet build on the Flaanimal 5.0? The Force 1 has a chainline of 45.0mm while the Force 1 Wide has a chainline of 47.5mm (the Praxis has a chainline measure of 45.5mm).
Just wondering if there are any tradeoffs going a full SRAM route vs. the Praxis/SRAM build you recommend.
Answer
There are no downsides to using the Sram cranksets. They perform well no matter what spec you use but there is no reason we would use the Wide version as it isn’t necessary and will increase the width of the chainline.
We use Praxis because they’ve been flawless for us for the six years that we’ve specced them on our builds. No other crankset has that performance record. The weight is fantastic, as are both cost and availability compared to Sram offerings. We’re interested in providing the best performance / value on our builds and Praxis cranks help us achieve that.
The only advantage that Force has over Praxis is that the logos match.
We’re happy to build any way customers request, but our default builds always represent what we would put on our own bikes.
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1.2 spork dynamo/fender screw size
What length of screw to mount dynamo or fender on the 1.2?
any special considerations for male/female, nuts, washers?
Answer
The crown bolts on Spork 1.2 are m5’s. Female end 45mm ideally fully threaded, male end at least 35mm ideally fully threaded. you can use longer male end but may need washers. depends what is being mounted to the crown.
35mm long male would be almost flush for a fender application w/ washer.
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RD Cable Housing/Routing
Hi, with the shifter cable coming out of the downtube and wrapping around the crank/bb shell, should that be a short piece of housing going from there into the chain stay or is the intent to run housing from shifter, through downtube and all the way to/through the chain stay? Any recommendations?
Answer
All of the housing on our frames is full run from the shifter to the derailleur.
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