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Joy Rides: A Wove and Rodeo Labs TD4.2 custom gravel bike collab
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Joy Rides: A Wove and Rodeo Labs TD4.2 custom gravel bike collab

Rethinking gravel bike geometry through a collaborative build between Wove, Rodeo Labs, Rise Bikes, Speeco, Sabo, and 9point8.

Escape Collective
by Escape Collective Jun 16, 2025 More from
Escape Collective +
Stephen Fitzgerald (indoor) and Nate Castner (outdoor)

It can be pretty interesting to think about how some ideas catch on. Sometimes, the tipping point of an idea gaining momentum is like a millimeter of snow being added to a snowball – over time, the circumference of the snowball gets so big that the mere millimeter of snow can add a hundred pounds of mass. If positioned on the right decline, the snowball begins to tip forward. Some other ideas are jarring to our senses. There is no slow build up. They hit us like a snowball to the face. This bike build is a bit like that.

I'm Nick from Wove, and I recently discussed with Ronan in the Performance Process podcast some thoughts behind the trend we’re seeing with steeper effective seat tube angles. Since then, Ronan has separately discussed the need to rethink road race bike geometry. In 2019, I made the prediction that we’d see a dropper post in a Grand Tour. Since then, I’ve been working with Wove’s pro triathletes on closing the hand-to-face gap for aerodynamic gains when they’re in the aerobars. And, I’ve wanted to see road bike Q-factors on gravel race bikes that can also fit 2.25” tires and big chainrings. The bike showcased in this article made all of that happen at once, like a snowball to the face.

This article is a collection of the voices from those responsible for the build:

Enjoy! 

Rodeo Adventure Labs

Stephen Fitzgerald, founder of Rodeo Adventure Labs

Nick of Wove and I have been swapping ideas about bikes for a couple of years now. It is funny because in some ways he and I are oil and water. Nick is all method, math, science, and quantifying all the things. I work more on intuition. Does it feel right? Does it ride well? And let’s be honest: Does it look good?

Despite all that, I enjoy our interchanges. In a true meritocracy, shouldn’t any idea have a chance to be considered? If good enough, shouldn’t that idea have a chance to see the light of day? How do we even know if an idea is good before it's seen the light of day?

Swapping notes with Nick reminds me that my way of designing, riding, and doing bikes isn’t the only way; it is merely one of the ways. Swapping notes with Nick reminds me that I have large blind spots in my method, and in my potential use cases.

When Nick and I got around to talking about his ideal gravel setup, he started throwing some pretty radical geometries and specs at me. I was semi-prepared for this, because he had previously described his ideal road bike to a builder, and the builder flat out refused to make the bike. Some of Nick’s ideas weren’t unconventional, and others were:

As someone with a triathlon background and someone who works with professional triathletes every single day, I wasn’t surprised to see some cross-pollination in the mix in Nick’s head, but when we started translating these abstract concepts into an actual build sheet, Nick sort of lost me. His ideas translate into a (not a typo!) 200 mm stem, 32 cm bar, a dropper post with a forward offset, and a one-off crankset in order to be able to get the gearing he wanted. It was all just a bit too much. I like my bikes to be jacks of all trades and wildly versatile. Nick wanted to turn one of our bikes into a very specific, very absurd-looking tool. I wasn’t interested in collaborating on this one.

As I rode to work the next day, I got to thinking about the project again. What was so deeply offensive about this bike? And even if it was offensive, why did I care? Am I the gatekeeper on what is and isn’t a good bike, or a good idea? The more I thought about it, the more I felt myself indicting myself: If I say no to Nick’s bike idea, I’m arrogant, closed-minded, and even blind. Indeed, when I started working on my own passion project do-it-all bike in 2013, even that idea was at the time pretty new and radical. Why make a bike that is less good at any given thing, but maybe also more fun at all the things? As it turns out, those ideas proved themselves out over time, and were the seeds of what became a thriving adventure bike company that is Rodeo Labs.

I texted Nick back and told him that we were up for collaboration, or perhaps more accurately down to clown. Many months later, Nick’s bike now exists. Sometimes when I look at it I’m proud of how radical it is, and how open-minded we were to help make it real. Other times I look at it and I’m filled with rage, and want to smash my monitor at the audacity of it. I’ve only ridden the bike around our warehouse, so I haven’t anything to speak about in terms of whether or not Nick’s ideas will prove out in the real world. That part of the story is up to Nick to tell. But as for myself and Rodeo, I’m proud that we broke our own mold and built one for Nick.

Three different riding positions. SRAM blips on the underside of the Speeco bar’s, 120 mm reach for shifting in the first two positions.

Here’s to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes … the ones who see things differently – they’re not fond of rules … You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them, but the only thing you can’t do is ignore them because they change things … they push the human race forward, and while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius, because the ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do.

— Steve Jobs, 1997

Rise Bikes

Dan Harvey, Rise Bikes

Bikes have been my passion for as long as I can remember, but never my primary line of work (perhaps that helps keep the romance smoldering). I founded Rise Bikes in 2017: I had designed a fat bike with modernized mountain bike geometry that my friend – a skilled titanium fabricator – had crafted, and I wanted to make it legitimate. And I thought others might want one too at some point. While at Escape Collective, James Huang did a great job of telling the story behind it.

Rise's Orca 3D-printed titanium crank with a Dward Design chainring.

In early 2024 I started working on a design for a 3D-printed titanium crankset.  Rise's main bike offering is still the Grizzly fat bike, but I ride full-squish mountain bikes in the summer, so I was aiming to make the crank to be as versatile as possible. I used the RaceFace/Easton Cinch standard so that chainrings could be run regular or flipped, replacement axles and parts would be readily available for any sort of bike, and there'd be lots of choice for chainrings. (At that point I was trying to keep the project smaller in scope, though, of course, since then I got carried away and designed my own chainrings, bolts, axles, lockings, preload adjusters... you name it).

I wanted the crank to have an organic shape to complement the Grizzly's lines. I created a program to generate the main volume of the crank arm as a polyhedron using simple mathematical functions to create the curvature components. I've been naming all the Rise bikes after animals; given the marine-animal vibe these have, I called them Orca cranks.

I first met Nick of Wove very briefly at Mark Rhomberg's workshop (biketesting.com) when I was collecting a set of Orcas that had just passed ISO testing. A few weeks later, Nick contacted me and pitched the idea of putting some Rise cranks on a special all-road / gravel bike he was concocting to showcase his Wove saddles. The plan seemed wild at first blush: a 54T chainring with a 10-46 cassette to provide a wide gear range to manage super steep, long climbs, and yet be able to keep up with a roadie in a paceline.

From the other side.

To make it happen with the 148 mm Q-factor that Nick demanded (he can be picky about these things), I needed to make some changes to the design. The first step was just to reduce the dish of the arms somewhat, but to get properly narrow, while preserving a decent amount of dish for heel clearance, I also needed to make the arms more slim. That led me down a path that ended with making my own lockrings that are female, rather than the standard cinch lockrings that are male. This change allows the chainring to overlap in space with the axle splines, and thereby gains an extra 4 mm of space on each side.

After the modified design passed ISO testing, the final pieces in the puzzle were to make some axles of appropriate length for gravel/road, and a custom aero titanium chainring to meet Nick's gearing and chainline requirements. I enlisted the help of Ed of Dward Design in the UK for both these projects, having previously worked with him to make a batch of 32T titanium chainrings I had designed for the mountain version. I'm proud of how it all turned out, and most of all to have my creation on Nick's new bike.

I had doubts about the project in its early days. I was concerned I might not pull off a gravel/road version of the crank in the timeframe that Nick needed. I've been mostly immersed in the MTB side of cycling for a number of years; the gravel scene is somewhat out of my area of interest – and expertise. The audacity of the bike made me question it, but Nick won me over with his passion and energy, and the incredible amount of thought he puts into everything he does. The best part of Rise bikes has always been the connections it has forged: with bike customers, James, Ed, Mark, now Nick. I found in him a like-minded spirit who really lives and breathes bikes and wants to make them better.

The gory details on the Orca gravel cranks are:

Speeco

Noah van Horen, Speeco

Speeco was born out of a simple but powerful need: to give athletes the equipment they personally require to thrive without looking at what this should be from a traditional point of view. Our journey began with custom time trial extensions – a solution we sought ourselves as tall riders, frustrated with the limitations of standard offerings. What started as a hobby project in carbon fiber quickly evolved into something much bigger.

One-piece, made long and tall.

Our first major leap came through collaboration with the unconventional and innovative rider Jan-Willem van Schip. Known for his aggressive solo and breakaway style, Jan-Willem quickly recognized that the comfort and stability of his aero position hinged not just on body positioning, but on the reach of his handlebars. Traditional short-reach bars created excessive wrist leverage, reducing stability and causing strain. By moving the contact point further back, we could offer greater comfort, more control, and with this also making the position safer.

To fully support this idea, we developed the ABB1 – our first custom carbon-fiber Aero Breakaway Bar. Its release coincided with evolving UCI rules regarding forearm support in aero positions (notably UCI rule 1.3.023), which were updated shortly after. While early feedback from the UCI was inconclusive, the ABB1 was ultimately banned during the Belgium Tour, where the UCI made its stance clear. Despite the setback, we remained convinced that the underlying philosophy of our design was sound: for specific positions and individuals, traditional bar parameters just don’t make sense, or are not available.

That belief led to our next big step: the ABB2.0. In parallel to the switch to full additive manufacturing, we created a fully parametric handlebar system. Each bar is generated based on the rider’s ideal dimensions – reach, drop, width, and more – and then produced in one-piece aluminum (AlSi10Mg) via SLM 3D printing. Every design is validated with FEM (finite element method) simulations to ensure structural integrity, while keeping the UCI material committee happy.

We thought we’d found the limits of design freedom ... until Nick from Wove saddles came to us with a truly radical request. His desired geometry pushed limits we thought were not there. It took quite some time of searching for a machine capable of printing his handlebar at the size and precision we demand, and the initial renderings looked so wild, it even seemed out of proportion despite everything we’ve seen and built before.

Once again, even our own assumptions were proven wrong – the result integrated seamlessly with the tailored bike, rider, and position. It's a clear reminder that traditional aesthetics and conventional parameters shouldn’t dictate how we design or ride. Innovation should follow function.

Bar dimensions: 32 cm bar top width, 40 cm bar drop width, 130 mm bar drop, 120 mm bar reach, 200 mm +6° stem.

Sabo

Patrick Shields, Sabo

Sabo (saah-bow) is a nod to the nature preserve I grew up next to in Western Michigan's wooded countryside. It's an idea of how humble beginnings can carry through and define one's life. It wasn't some epic mountain range, but as kids we explored it for days on end, alone with just the essentials, instilling a love and respect in us for nature and an early sense of independence and confidence. That simplicity is what I'm trying to capture with Sabo today and the gear that I make.

Sabo is an attempt to get away from the mass-production approach of "one size fits all" solutions, trying to appeal to everyone but missing the mark for anyone. Sabo's goal is to reconnect me to the craft of making, while in turn providing tailored gear that meets people's core needs and inspires self-confidence in their outdoor endeavors.

The goal of the TD4 bag collection was to create simple and intuitive carry solutions that integrate with the unique Rodeo Labs frame build. Knowing this was for a race season, I focused on robust materials and repairability. The packs are made from a burly waterproof X-Pac Sailcloth main body material, Cordura liners, and YKK AquaGuard Zippers. For the color selection the focus was visibility. The bag's white materials are bold and make it easy to see anything inside, the orange paracord zipper pulls eliminate any rattling and stand out for quick access.

9point8

Darren Manning, 9point8

9point8 believes that bike fit matters.  Every rider should have their saddle in the best fore-aft position for them. Preferably, you can have a seatpost head offset that allows you to have your saddle rail clamps in the middle (approximately) of the saddle rails. This will maximize the comfort and flex of your saddle. On some frames, you might find that you want your saddle forward of the most-forward position that an inline seatpost head allows. 9point8 offers a forward offset head for the Fall Line R dropper. The types of frames that sometimes benefit from a forward offset head are those where the seatpost angle is leaned way back, for example.

Although the importance of lightweight-ness fades in and out of priority in the riding public's mind, it always remains important. A lighter mountain bike component is always better than a heavier one, all other things being equal. The patented 9point8 mechanical dropper mechanism offers a unique opportunity for lightness that competitor posts do not. Our all-aluminum FLR post is lighter-weight than just about any other dropper out there (from 322 g, post only).

Wove

Nick, Wove

And finally, back to me. Prior to riding this bike, I think I had internalized a bit of the reactions from others who had looked at photos of the bike and had expressed concerns that the rear wheel would not be weighted enough, or the steering would be atrocious. I still have many, many rides to do before I can decide what does and does not work. But, my initial rides have me feeling that so many of my goals with this bike have been accomplished. I’m not sure if this is the future, but this is a future.

Those who have ridden with me recently have looked over and stated, in amazement, that I look normal, almost boringly so (see the three-photo panel above). The very high front end keeps the rear wheel well weighted. For sketchy off-road descents, there’s the 125 mm dropper post to shift the weight rearward. Riding in an aero position (third photo in the above three photo panel) keeps the hip angle really open, making it a sustainable position. When the wind picks up, I can lower the dropper post half way and get my body quite a bit out of the wind and look almost as silly as Chris Froome pedaling in a super tuck, but still be on my saddle whereas he was on his top tube.

At super slow speeds, there’s some wheel flop, but that goes away at any reasonable speed. Sure, longer frame reach is definitely of interest to me, but that’s just not easily available at this time, and I’m just surprised how good this bike feels to steer. The 32 cm bar tops feel incredibly good and now everything else feels too wide, and the 40 cm drops are super stable when descending and cornering.

I’m using the full 120 mm of reach on the Speeco bar, and when in the more upright positions, I’m a good bit behind the hoods. So for a bit of security and safety, I added some Sugru moldable glue under the bar tape about 40 mm into the reach of the bar (see photo below for a visible bump). This gives me something to push the inside of my index finger knuckle against in the more upright position (first image in the above three-photo panel), and I place my palm over this Sugru bump when in the mid-bar reach position (second image). Zach Edwards of Boulder Groupetto just placed SRAM blips on the underside of the bar (not pictured) for shifting in these first two positions. 

Note the bumps on the bars.

In high school, I’d go to the local bike shops every weekend without fail to scope out the latest gear – the Pantani pirate Flite saddle, GT STS, Quintana Roo Redstone, Coda cranks, anodized Precision Billet brakes and derailleurs, the Turner Burner and Ibis Mojo Titanium to Amp Research, U.S.E and Girvin linkage forks. These products were the substance of a public conversation on innovating for the purpose of exploration and going faster. My drive to create a better bike saddle and to toy with bike builds like the above Rodeo Labs|Rise|Speeco|Sabo|9point8|Wove collaboration, and our recent Ventum|Evolve|WattShop|Wove and Speedbar|VeloVetta collaborations is, I think, out of an aspiration to contribute to that conversation.

Build:

Disclosure: All the voices in the article, including that of the author (founder of Wove), represent commercial brands in cycling. Given the number of voices involved we elected not to assign a single byline to it.

The Joy Rides series on Escape Collective remains a place to share enriching stories through the bike, or in cases like these, simply giving a platform to show off a nice bike and/or interesting tech. As always, Escape remains free from sponsored content or the like.

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