Originally Posted by
trailangel
That looks good, but I have to ask myself..... why not get MTB... XC mountain bike and run 2 inch tires
It seems more people want to take their gravel grinders on ruff singletrack now.
Only thing left would be to put flat bars on it.... no?
Maybe because flat bars hurt my hands? Having listened to an interview with the founder of Rodeo Labs and his goals with this frame, I do get that calling this a rigid drop bar MTB would be a fair description. It's really up on the offroad/MTB side of gravel biking.
Originally Posted by
gus6464
Looks good but I have an issue with tiny companies like these charging thousands for a frame made in China for a couple hundred bucks. You pay a premium to the big guys because 5 years from now it's pretty much guaranteed they will be around and you get warranty. With small shops like these it's never a guarantee. If anything nowadays you are more likely to succeed selling a great affordable frame vs an expensive one.
Fair point about the (potential) lack of future warranty. But, that's the reality of a smaller volume manufacturer. Their costs to develop the mold, layup, etc are spread over a smaller number of bikes, driving up the cost when compared to the "big guys" who can spread their costs over far more sales. What the small companies do provide is a niche product though, something that offers some combination of features that the big guys aren't providing. Sure, you can debate whether you need those features or not, but that's just how the market works out.