At this point in my life as a cyclist and a bike mechanic, there are very few bikes that truly catch my attention anymore. It’s really got to be something special, and even then, there’s usually at least one feature that bugs me or that I find missing from the design. Enter the Flaanimal.
Category Archives: Gear
Fill Your Fork! (with the Wolf Tooth Double Bottle Adapter)
Not all of us are lucky enough to have the triple anything mounts on our forks. Some of us are stuck with regular old double bosses on our fork blades, giving us space for one lowly water bottle cage on each side.So, how do you make the most of your space and carry all of the things that you want without resorting to using an entire roll of electrical tape and a bunch of zip ties?
Rene Herse Tires
Of all the component options that you can put on a gravel bike, tires are the thing that causes the most stress and the most debate. What size, tread pattern, and pressure you choose can completely change how your bike handles in different conditions, and your tire choice can definitely make or break a given ride.
Look Fast Ride Slow!
Stickers! Look Fast, Ride Slow is an ethos. How slow should you ride? It’s relative, and it’s entirely up to you. Can you ride fast sometimes? Yeah! It’s fun. But stop trying to race everybody all the time.
Let’s Get Low (gearing)
I want it all. I want the ability to ride miles of pavement at road speed, and then climb an 18% forest road while carrying all of the necessary supplies for an overnight trip. And I want to do all of this on the same bike.
Project Party Bike
Get rad! 90’s rigid mountain bikes tend to make the best party bikes. They typically have massive tire clearance, they can be built with basically any components you want, and they’re pretty much indestructible. Plus, they’re cheap, easy to find, and usually come in some fun color schemes. 26 isn’t dead.
(Don’t) Feel the Vibrations
Riding on gravel can take a serious toll on your body. You have to work harder to pedal through it, and your bike is probably heavier than a dedicated go-fast road bike. Even on flat-ish rail trails, you can’t really stop pedaling because you will almost immediately come to a stop.
1987 Miyata 912 Rebuild
There just aren’t that many nice vintage bikes left out there. Thousands of them were turned into single speeds and fixies between 2005 and 2010. Braze-ons were ground off, frames were spray-painted, and many were crashed and destroyed. Finding a nice one nowadays is rare, and the odds of finding one that’s barely been ridden is even more rare.
Washington Gravel 