Not long for my world

It's time to say goodbye...

After two years and one month, I've decided to let the Rodeo Labs Flaanimal 5.0 go.  I have what I'll loosely call "reasons."  This bike really got me through a lot of the Covid down time, back when I had every other week off until the July '21 post-pandemic reboot.  It went through many configurations before being made into a flat bar single speed... to end up being not much different than the Stickle grocery getter/bar bike was at the time.  Fifty something rides and @1,600 miles later, I've come to some conclusions.  BTW, I'm not smart enough to tag which bike did which ride when on an app, and it took about fifteen minutes of scrolling and scribbling to get those stats added up.

Conclusions:

I like having a skinny tired bike in my world that has brakes, can coast, and has a holders de biden.  It certainly makes tooling around for extended periods of time more tolerable.  I used to do mega-rides on my Tarck bike (aka The Fastest Bike in the World), but I'm mostly over that.  I get thirsty and not every ride needs to be torture.

The Flaanimal is a purpose-built beast IMHOMO, whilst Rodeo Labs has this to say about:

"Flaanimal is meant to be built and ridden in any way that its rider imagines. It can be blisteringly fast on pavement on skinny slicks. It can be smooth, efficient, and competitive on gravel. With it’s win at the 2021 Tour Divide as piloted by Jay Petervary, Flaanimal has added bikepacking racing to it’s list of proven accomplishments."

In other words, it's a jack of all trades, perhaps master of none.  It truly is an excellent platform for adventure, yet I've never had it further away from Charlotte than an hour's drive.  All the places to attach things to the frame and Spork™ are occupied with bolts that have never seen a load.  I'm probably just not the guy who's going to use this bike to its potential, but I feel like there's gotta be something out there that's better suited to what I'd wanna do with a skinny tired bike.

And I'm pretty sure I found it.

Yeth, it's a boring, big brand, soulless, plastic bike, but it does have classic lines that won't look stupid in five years, and a colorway that doesn't offend the eye.  It will be super great for 95% of the riding I do on such a bike.  I'll never strap suitcases, sleeping bags, or fly rods to it.  Doubtful a number plate will end up on the handlebars.  I can see myself riding it for the next five or ten years... mebbe more.

It was a hell of an adventure.  From winning the raffle during the shutdown of March '20, to just passing through Denver months and months later in October the day after it was built to scoop it up.

I'll s-l-o-w-l-y begin the disassemble later this week.  I'm still in bar bike limbo with my Stickel bolted to the trainer, and I'm 99% certain nobody is going to want to buy this bike as it sits  Someone is going to get a really good deal on a $1,550 frame (with a $400 Cerakote finish) as well as a bunch of useful parts (stem/noodle bars/headset/bottom bracket/geared and SS slider/brake calipers(?)/seat collar/wheels of one sort or another) to build up an adventure machine, and I'm going to have some dollars to go towards an investment in my health and happiness... because according to all those rides I just looked at on STRAVA, trail closures season is upon us.

Based on my track record, I think it speaks volumes that I kept this bike for over two years.  Pretty sure everyone knows that I've made some regrettable purchases or won a bike (in some manner) that didn't mesh with my world only to be unloaded with undue haste and extreme prejudice (47 days?).  Well, it says a lot to me... and I'm the one paying for the new bike, so your opinion is moo.

I like bikes.  You like bikes.  Mebbe we could be frands?  Mebbe not.