Gear Talk – MERIWETHER DROP BAR BIKE

Stoked to share some thoughts and detail about the bike I rode at Mid South, my Meriwether drop bar bike. It’s something special. Before I get into details, I want to share something about bikes in general.

I have been very careful NOT to call this bike a gravel bike. Why? I am tired of the categorization. Also, IMHO, I think this bike spans existing categorization. It has drop bars. Fits fairly wide tires. I eschewed a number common beliefs and followed a few that make sense for me. So far, I have ridden this bike on pavement, gravel, two track and single track. I have three different wheel sets on this bike in the first month, all with different tires and cassette ratios for different purposes. Again, I think it’s pretty special, fairly unique and really challenging to put in a singular box.

The story of this bike comes after some hard truths and pain. Over the past two point five years since I left my old job I kinda went on a binge of trying other bikes and trying different things. I learned a lot in that time. In many ways it was my personal prototyping. As I have also written about here on the blog, I was also systemically challenging all the “norms and standards” that I grew up in the industry with and truthfully didn’t challenge that much. After great consternation I sold 3 drop bar bikes and then set out to build a bike just for me.

I knew Whit at Meriwether had to be the builder. He built me a stunningly perfect Klunkpacker which I wrote about here and here. He is so good at his craft. He’s honest when a bad idea is put forth. He listens so well. He’s up for just about any kind of build. He also builds his own forks. I could go on and on. Note, Whit has no idea I am writing this and I paid outright for this bicycle to be built. I just think he’s that good and flying under the radar a bit for he brings to the custom and soon to be semi custom, made in the USA bike market. Seriously, he is that good.

This bike is something my friend Ben Witt and I had been scheming for some time. Ben had drawn something in Bike CAD for himself. Since Ben and I are really close to exact same sizing on a bike, I looked and listened carefully. One day Ben let me go crazy with my own drawing in BIKE CAD. I exported it, sent it to Whit and so it began. Whit made some really informed and smart suggestions, re drew it for me, tweaked it and off we went.

I am not going to go into great detail on the geometry we agreed upon and set. Much like asking someone their favorite color (orange BTW), we all don’t have to like the same color or geometry. But here are a few insights on this custom frame and fork.

• Slacker than most head angle
• Custom fork with non typical fork length and custom rake
• Steeper seat angle than many due to my short femurs and my desired positioning
• long top tube
• not a typical low, stable bottom bracket height. I grew up riding cross bikes on gravel and singletrack.
• Big diameter titanium tubes. I am a bit of linebacker or fullback on a bike, or at least I used to be. Maybe I am a lineman now? I don’t know, but it needed a solid spine that didn’t waver.
• Fits 29″ x 2.o tires with shortish stays and a bent seat tube.

In the end, this bike is both stable and quick. Steers well and easily from either the bars or my hips. It’s pretty much perfect for me. YRMV.

Now, let’s get to the features of this bike. I am going to go a bit one by one here. And note, the bike is unridden since the event and not yet cleaned from MID SOUTH…And winter decided to come so these pic are also taken in fresh snow.

The side profile. This is the side profile that I like. Long head tube, short seat tube, sloping top tube with some proper extension of the seat post. I think it’s a looker!

Based on my Mid South experience folks immediately ask what this little bar on the right side of the bike is? It’s a portage handle. It’s the perfect grip for running your bike through and over mud, water, fences, etc. I first saw this bike on Nicholas’ bike way way back in about 2015 or 2016. Read about that here. That day stood out to me both for my belief that the portage handle just makes sense and for meeting Lael Wilcox for the first time!

You can also see in this photo that I went under the top tube and under the seat stay cable routing. This was my specific request. I just think it is cleaner routing overall and the bike does not have any under the down tube or BB/chainstay area, which in my opinion collects the most dirt and is the hardest to clean.

My photo’s of the fork simply didn’t do it justice so this is one picture detail I will share. Meriwether built my custom length & rake fork with these incredible tapered blades. They are so dang comfortable. The thru axle keeps everything nice and stiff in the right ways. Many have asked if there is any brake flutter or twisting and I am happy to say 100% nope. It’s perfect.

Notice also that I went with ISO mounted brakes. No flat mounts. If I ever do go with a flat mount brake I have some adapters that fit nicely and make things work. But honestly I just don’t see a need. These things work perfectly and are easy to maintain.

Even though I am currently running a mechanical brake and shifter system, I did ask for the bike to be built with UDH compatible dropouts. I am a fan and knew this was coming for drop bar bikes. SRAM’s new road group is already out and if you haven’t seen any info on the leaked X’plor T type system I am surprised. BTW – oddly the new gravel focused group was leaked during Mid South, the unofficial kick off to “gravel” season. Hmmmm……

Let’s look at the mini frame bag I designed and sewed for Mid South. First, the fabric is from last year’s event tote bag. Kinda fun. Just made it for the event. It’s a direct mount. That little bag has 5 direct bolt on points; two under the top tube, two on the down tube and 1 on the back of the head tube. That one on the back of the head tube makes it so I don’t need to run anything around the head tube! It’s rad and thankfully Whit did it without real question and executed it perfectly. I can also say that with 5 direct mount points that the bag fits just right and the zipper is flawless and works perfectly both directions and with one hand. FYI – I filled that thing with Betty Lou’s fruit pies and snacks.

One other thing I want to call out on this bike is the T47 BB with an 83mm, threaded shell. Folks that know me know I am a standard, threaded BB evangelist. However, this T47 wide threaded BB has all the benefits of the standard threaded BB but with a wider span to widen the chainstays. This gives the capability to build wider tire clearance into the bicycle with less tubing manipulation or plates. And…It’s threaded!

Here a few more pics of the bike as well as a few rides prior to Mid South. You can see I’ve had it set up in a few different ways. But for me, this bike is perfect.

Feel free to leave a comment if you have a question. I do want to answer one of the questions I have received a few times. A few folks have asked me how this is different than my Tumbleweed Stargazer? Given I am now working with Tumbleweed, I think folks are also curious about that?

The first note here is that Tumbleweed calls the Stargazer a drop bar mountain bike. If you saw these two bikes side by side, you’d see to big differences. The Tumbleweed Stargazer has longer chain stays for comfort, heal clearance and rack mounting. The Stargazer fits significantly wider tires. It also has more stand over height for off road riding. The Tumbleweed Stargazer is focused more on off road and off road touring experiences. This Meriwether drop bar bike is pointed more toward the go faster on the pavement, gravel and smoother two track/single track end of the riding experience. They also have quite a bit different demeanor while riding. Now that I have this bike built, the Stargazer will continue to get outfitted as my touring and bike packing drop bar bike.

OK…Here is the current build spec list that I rode at Mid South.

Frame: Meriwether Custom – Titanium

Fork: Meriwether Custom – Steel

Headset: Cane Creek – Miss match – Hellbender upper cup, 110 lower (This is a long story)

Rear Derailleur: SRAM Rival with Ratio Technology Cage/Pulleys

Crank/Chainring: SRAM Rival, 170mm, Wolftooth 42t ring

BB:SRAM

Cassette: Shimano XT 11-46t

Chain: Shimano 11 Speed

Brakes: Paul Klamper, short pull

Brake/Shifters: SRAM Rival

Handlebar: Whisky Parts Co Spano – 48 cm

Stem: Thomson 70mm x 90 degree

Bar Tape: Lizard Skin 2.5mm

Seatpost: Bingham Built titanium, 30.9

Saddle: Fizik Aliante XM

Tires: Vittoria Terrene Dry – 700 x 45c

Wheels/Hubs/HUBS: Chris King GRD23 R45D

Cages: King Cages

Custom Framebag: Made by me (www.icewormmfg.com

Again, drop me a comment or message if have any other questions about this rig or the Tumbleweed Stargazer. Happy to share and help.

Have a good one.