Summer Cruising on the Klunker

Lots going on in our lives. So much so that it seems like my time for mental and physical health have not been the easiest for the past several weeks and months. That said, I have been finding time to get out when I have the opportunity. When I do get out, I find myself riding the Meriwether Klunkpacker. I wrote about this bike here. It’s a really special bike with some incredible capabilities. I also like that it is a very unique bike and not one you see often, at least around here and where I have been riding it.

Over the last two months, I have had this bike set up in a number of different ways. I’ve ridden dirt, sand, single track, bike path, gravel and pavement. I have done my longest ride of the year with this rig and 2.3 knobby tires. I swapped my lighter wheels with 2.2 Teravail Sparwood’s and entered & completed a hot, dusty gravel event. I’ve toured my favorite roads with it. I’ve gotten lost with it having to bushwhack my way back to roads. It really is a bike that defies category and can do just about anything. It is also inspiring me to new thinking about bike design and set ups (more on that another day!).

Here are 3 different set ups over the course of the last month or two.

The image on the left is how I rode Tour of Central Iowa. It was hot. I carried 4 bottles, a keg with my emergency tools/repair kit and a prototype bar harness with modular components holding my camera, phone and quick food. I ran 2.2 Teravail Starwood’s

The image in the center is how I had it set up for my North Dakota Souris River Valley ramble. This is a route I do each year when we visit family. It’s filled with mixed terrain surfaces; pavement, gravel, dirt, and grass two track. This set up had the bar bag I made for riding Mid South and carried my Ricoh GRIII camera, phone and food. I ran 2.3 Teravail Ehlines.

The last image is my MN River bottom cruiser. I’ve been riding from home quite a doing various river bottom cruises. Pavement and MN River Bottoms single track with mud, sand, and the occasional bush whack. It’s a lighter overall set up with no bar bag or harness. I have been running 2.3 Teravail Ehlines here, but kinda want to switch to the 2.5’s for dirt touring/cruising/rambling.

Here are a bunch more pics from my rides with this rig.

As I have mentioned, this rig is really changing my views. Two things are really coming to light for me; the overall versatility of this rig and my love of comfortable flat bars. I write that second part with trepidation as I have been an advocate of drop bars for so long. Maybe it is the titanium double bend Meriwether flat bars. Maybe it is more than that. But this bike and those bars have inspired me to push beyond my comfort zone of riding big tired, drop bar bikes.

For now, I am going to keep riding this bike this way, scheming on the next set up for this rig and building a new bike inspired by this one. That will allow me to take this one apart, clean it, sew some new frame bags for it and re build it with a more dirt and dirt touring/bike packing focus. Stay tuned!