Ridge Supply is one of those brands that’s instantly easy to like. Created by Matt Hawkins after he was hit from behind by a pickup truck while out training, Matt wanted to make high visibility clothing that had more style. Blending his love of the Blue Ridge Mountains with simple styling and his infectious level of stoke, the brand has quickly taken off with more and more styles. When it came time for Matt to look into a new gravel bike, fate would connect him with Stephen Fitzgerald of Rodeo Labs, and the Ridge x Rodeo TrailDonkey was born.
More than just a custom colorway, the Ridge x Rodeo also is the unveiling of the latest version of the TrailDonkey – the 2.1. Details are just being uploaded to the Rodeo Adventure Labs page, but we’re told that the frame has two big updates. First, it’s no longer running a PF30 bottom bracket. Instead, it runs the newer T47 threaded standard. And second, the seat post has been downsized to a 27.2mm size likely for improved compliance and ride comfort.
This TrailDonkey also gains the new Spork 1.2 fork which as we learned on the new Flaanimal, boasts a number of improvements as well. Now featuring fully internal routing for a hub dynamo and lighting with the ability to run USB stem caps, the full carbon fork offers mounting options for racks and gages, fenders, flat mount and post mount brakes, and will run either 15 or 12mm thru axles.
While the ever capable TrailDonkey platform is exciting in itself, the additional draw here is the beautiful paintwork by Epic Customs in Georgia.
Available in either Dawn or Autumn, the paint echoes the design of the original Skyline sock which started it all for Matt. Available as a frameset with a TrailDonkey 2.1 frame and Spork 1.2 fork, pricing for either color is $2,760. Rodeo 2.0 carbon wheels can be added to the frameset for an additional $1,000 ($300 off retail). The first 10 framesets will soon be posted for sale as a pre-order from Rodeo Labs, and customers will be able to choose their color. Frames will be numbered as ordered, and it will be a few weeks before delivery. Rodeo Labs will also work with potential buyers to build a complete bike with a custom selection of components to come up with a build like pictured above. We’ll update this post once the pre-order is live.
