Any Rodeo Labs Flaanimal owners? Impressions?

[heartattackride]

I'm considering one of these and heard great things about their Spork but not much about the frames, quality, ride etc... Any pics of builds would be appreciated. Thanks.

[binouye]

There is a Flaanimal v3 in the Classifieds right now. Not my size, or I'd try it. Rodeo is sold out of most sizes of the Flaanimal now (but I have no idea how many they started with, it could have been a small batch), and they say Flaanimal v4 will be announced mid-Dec. I'll wait to see what v4 looks like, or if they actually follow up with a Ti version next summer.

[JWDR]

Wasn’t the flanimal 3 the frame with the hi-ten steel frame labeled as Reynolds 725?

[ColnagoFan]

Wasn’t the flanimal 3 the frame with the hi-ten steel frame labeled as Reynolds 725?

Whaaaaa??

[misterha]

Whaaaaa??

if i recall correctly the tubing wasn't correct from the manufacturer (either the butting or wall thickness something like that) to their specification resulting in heavier frame so they heavily discounted the first batch.

[binouye]

I guess that explains why they say v4 will be significantly lighter!

[heartattackride]

Quote:
Originally Posted by ColnagoFan View Post
Whaaaaa??
if i recall correctly the tubing wasn't correct from the manufacturer (either the butting or wall thickness something like that) to their specification resulting in heavier frame so they heavily discounted the first batch.

Yes that is the one I'm looking at. I like the geo and the price is in my range.

[geordanh]

Yeah I honestly could not believe the weight when I saw it posted. I guess the hi ten thing makes sense then. I just figured all the extras (straight 44mm headtube, big dropouts, bottler opener ;) caused the high weight

[heartattackride]

Not to dig up old topics but if your interested...Here's there thread on these a while ago here. https://forums.thepaceline.net/showthread.php?t=209084

[gck]

Stephen at Rodeo Labs is a friend of mine, and asked me to post this while he waits for the mods to grant him posting access. Also, I've test-ridden the Flaanimal (and own a Trail Donkey), and can recommend it.

Hi Y'all.
There is some mis-information going around here. Here's the story:

Flaanimal 3.0 did come in over weight because of a tubing butting error, not because of the use of lesser quality steel. Every 3.0 Flaanimal was made with Reynolds 725 tubing, but it simply had thicker wall thicknesses than we specified. There were other details in the frames that were not correctly optimized for weight which added to the overall weight.

Every 3.0 frameset should have a Reynolds 725 decal on it (unless someone peeled it off) and those are controlled and audited by Reynolds. I can't think of any modern above the board manufacturer dishonest enough to put a fake tubing sticker on a frameset.

We could have simply scrapped the overweight 3.0 frames but that would have been a terrible waste of a perfectly good adventure bike frame so we simply had a sale. We looked at competing bikes and framesets in the sgement and took our price down to be compeitive with those. Generally speaking we offered a complete Reynolds 725 steel frame with some great features plus a carbon fork with leading features at the same price many other brands were offering their steel frame and forks for. Our frameset was definitely over weight, but the combined frameset weight was still on par for many other framesets in the sale price range.

3.0 Flaanimals typically weigh in around 22-24lbs depending on build spec which is well within a useable range for a steel adventure bike.

We didn't know until we started the sale if anyone would want an "overweight" 3.0 and were quite pleased when every single frameset sold out. There are no Flaanimal 3.0 framesets left for sale unless you grab one on the private seller / used market.

And just in case you are wondering how we treat our customers and supporters, everyone who PRE-ordered a 3.0 frame before they arrived overweight had their 3.0 frameset delivered and is ALSO receiving a 4.0 frame at no cost.

In the end it worked out to be a win-win for our customers and supporters. Some people get two frames for the price of one, and some people got a great steel adventure frameset for almost half of the original price.

Flaanimal 4.0 isn't quite out yet but it remedies the details that weren't right with 3.0 and goes even further. 4.0 frames are already complete and weights have already been verified and are dramatically lighter than 3.0. We also upgraded features of the frame and fork while we were at it. 4.0 will return to the original Flaanimal price. We're pretty excited about 4.0 and think that it will go toe-to-toe with or better any existing steel adventure frameset from a major manufacturer in weight, features, and versatility.

If you have any direct questions you can always email steve @ rodeo - labs . com.

[rodeolabs]

Looks like our account as been validated. So if anyone has direct questions about Flaanimals I'm happy to answer. As far as ride quality goes... you'd probably want to hear that from owners so we'll let other people weigh in on that if they want to.

[heartattackride]

Thanks for posting an explaining. It is much appreciated.

[zzy]

I'm still kicking myself for not pre-ordering a 3.0. And then not getting a overweight 3.0 frameset in 61 (which was basically a full carbon Spork with a frame thrown in for an extra $150). But instead am gonna do a custom Ti frame built around the new Spork. Tho I think I will wait till December to decide.

[ajhapps]

Just my 2 cents, but I have a 3.0 frame waiting to be built up (so can't answer how it rides yet) - Steve was awesome when I was considering the purchase. He was quick to answer questions and to offer advice.

More importantly, check out some of the Rodeo Labs Instagram posts and stories. It's pretty cool to see the bikes in action and to get a sense for the attitude/thinking behind the Flaanimal's design. There are some really passionate owners out there, and the brand seems to really know how to build a loyal following. Pretty cool to see that from a startup bike maker.

[geordanh]

Just my 2 cents, but I have a 3.0 frame waiting to be built up (so can't answer how it rides yet) - Steve was awesome when I was considering the purchase. He was quick to answer questions and to offer advice.

More importantly, check out some of the Rodeo Labs Instagram posts and stories. It's pretty cool to see the bikes in action and to get a sense for the attitude/thinking behind the Flaanimal's design. There are some really passionate owners out there, and the brand seems to really know how to build a loyal following. Pretty cool to see that from a startup bike maker.

They have one of my favourite instagram pages out of anyone selling bikes.

[ptourkin]

They have one of my favourite instagram pages out of anyone selling bikes.

+100 to all of the praise. I love my Trail Donkey and Steve @velosteef was as helpful as anyone I have ever purchased anything from ever. You won't go wrong with one of his frames or forks - he'll stand by it.