ive considered adding a light up there, the cost to retrofit the hub for dynamo might be more than I want to spend. I would like to explore mounting a battery powered job. I can echo the customer service. I had a couple small issues and Stephen helped me out greatly. Even with a little mix up on my order, he promptly called and sorted it out.
Nice! I almost got a Flaanimal, but after trying out Stephen's personal bike and looking at the geometry, I decided that it's too long a bike for my weird body shape. I am getting a R-L Spork for my new build, though.
gnscott1 wrote:Nice! I almost got a Flaanimal, but after trying out Stephen's personal bike and looking at the geometry, I decided that it's too long a bike for my weird body shape. I am getting a R-L Spork for my new build, though.
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\nThat is why I love these guys. Just straight shooters
So I got out and got a proper long run on it tonight. Not many if any complaints related to the bike, still need some work on fit, I’m also new to spd I mtb in flats so I’ve got some adjustment to do. Aside from a skewer getting a little loose everything seemed to run great, I rode on quite a bit of chunky gravel, you can definitely feel the frame flexing some (as steel does), fork has some give to it as well. As for pressures I ran 30f/31r (700x40) that seemed to work well but may be able to adjust it down just a hair to make the ride just a bit smoother. Overall I couldn’t be happier. Just gotta get the fit thing figured out, that’s the longest ride I’ve ever done on a bike period.
Yeah, I'm from Fort Worth. You must be close if you were riding around Paris.
The earlier pic is the 700x40 Gravel Kings. They measure out more like 42.
The dyno hub wasn't cheap, but it's nice. It's driving the light, and a nearly-invisible cable lets me charge the cellphone in the framebag or power the GPS. No more forgetting to charge the GPS or light for me!
Funny thing: the Wahoo beeps when you start & stop charging it. That happens at about 3mph on the dyno. That makes a nice, encouraging alarm for grinding up a steep grade. <beep> Hey, dumbass, you could walk faster than this! <beep> That's better. Push through this. <beep> Seriously? This is all you can do?
Yeah may be something I look into eventually, we actual Have a spinistry gravel race this summer in Paris, vary lengths including self supported 160 miler.
\nI like the idea of the hub charging stuff. How are gravel Kings? I’m on nanos and I like them so far, and a little extra volume like GK wouldn’t bother me. I wish WTB made byway in 700 that would be a great all arounder
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Is that the Hell of the North Texas? I've got that on my calendar.
I've been happy with the Gravel King SKs; it's been about a year on them. Good ride and no issues on the same North Texas roads you're probably riding, as well as some Oklahoma dirt and Kanza.
I don't know if the Flaanimal is still something you are considering or not, since I am late to the party. I have a couple things that I experienced with my 3, which I have sold. I think the Flaanimal is a cross bike. Which is fine, but not really what I wanted. The reach is long and low, the bb a bit tall for high speed corners and the tire clearance wasn't particularly generous. I use full fenders for most of the year and 38mm was really cramming it in there. The Spork clearance is fine from a width standpoint, but really limited from a height perspective. And the rear rack mounts are so far inward from the radius of the wheel that I had to use adapters to get the fenders to work with the wheel slammed. It was a pretty disappointing bike for me overall. I took a risk on the fit, but the tire clearance and the functionality of the eyelets was not great.
Yes I bought one. I don’t feel like it’s overly tall as far as handling goes, I can understand why that specific use case didn’t work for you. I wonder if the geo and rack spacing is any different on the 4 vs 1,2,3?
I think the geometry has remained the same. Glad it ended up working out for you. I almost kept it to use as a tame singletrack bike, but I don't ride that terrain often and I'd want wider tries than it can manage.
I'd love to hear from other Flaanimal owners about the rear eyelets- my fender struts came in an inch short of reach them and using a rear rack seems to be pointless because anything you put on it would hit your heels.
