Tumbleweed's newest model: The Stargazer

need a go anywhere, bikepacking and monster gravel bike you can live aboard when you finally retire and have time do that big adventure? if so, check out the Stargazer.

there's a reason it was voted both Bikepacking.com's bike of the year by both its editors and in its readers award. with a spectacular geometry and a fork with an uncut steertube we have all the right tools at our disposal to ensure that we'll be able to get you comfortable on your 'gazer. while most folks would probably run them with modern flared drop bars, we can also set you up to run with super comfy and practical alt-bars like Tumbleweed's own killer Persuader bar, or even alt-bars like Surly Molokos, Jones Loops or the v2 flavor of Velo Orange's Crazy Bars. with ton's of wheel and tire choices out there these days you can meat bike out with tires as wide as 2.6" in the 29er diameter or 3.0" in 27.5" diameter. throw on some 29er rims with slick 2.2" tires (Rene Herse anyone?) and you've changed the bike into monster gravel mode (loaded or unloaded) for all day comfort on hard packed surfaces. about the only limitation we tell folks who choose stargazers is that they weren't designed to be run with a suspension fork (no big whoop) and you'll need to stick to 1x drivetrains - meaning we'll spec you out a crank with a single ring and the gearing appropriate for the the type of riding you plan to do the most of - though with a quick change of the front ring and potentially a longer / shorter chain, you can quickly gear it up for that trip to the eye-wateringly steep mountain trails in VT while you want to carry the kitchen sink. super comfortable to ride and a great frame to look at as well. take a look at some of our favorite ways to build them below and read some of the reviews at the bottom of the page to learn why we love building them so much. oh yeah, plan on getting a pair of Tumbleweed's racks for the front and rear to really unlock their full potential.

here's a few of the different ways we've built up Stagazers. they all use the same frame platform, but each has been outfitted with parts and accessories for the job at hand. btw, I just noticed it, it looks like all the Tumbleweed 'gazers we've built to date have ended up having a K-lite USB charging and lighting system specc'ed as part of the build from day one. i suppose that only makes sense as both companies make the cream of the crop gear for our fellow nerds who don't want to compromise their adventures on anything but the most reliable equipment. we love building up Tumbleweeds and we'd love to build you up one with a full K-lite system too.

the monster gravel build: a lovely Bone colored Stargazer set up to be a monster gravel bike with the ability to go on chunky bikepacking rides. full K-Lite USB charging and lights front and rear round out this bike to be a real live-aboard rig.

the full-bikepacker beast-mode: a Starry Night colored 'gazer with the full Tumbleweed treatment with front and rear T-Racks. dynamo wheel and full K-lite USB charging and lighting round out this super versatile build.

the flat barred Tour Divide machine: with future plans to ride down the full length of the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route, this lovely bike was initially set up with slick, suppler Rene Herse tires mounted on a carbon wheelset for fast rides locally and can be switched over to full bikepacking mode when the time comes to head out west. ready for New England adventuring today and riding down the Rockies with a change of rubber and the addition of racks or soft bikepacking bags.

our go to build: if there was anything that is our 'stock' Stargazer build, this is it. everything we like about a build mechanically without any fancy proprietary or hard to maintain components to make on the trail maintenance a hassle. a great jumping of point for discussions on how we might build up a 'gazer for others.

the fat barred fast packer: with parts chosen for being able to ride anywhere as fast and as long as the rider choose, this rig has been used through out New England and the west in both competitive events and on personal adventures. heck, its even gone to the Great White North too.

the New England bikepacker: for those who dig our 'stock' Stargazer builds, but who want to be able to personalize it a little, the build we did on this bike really kicked it up a few notches visually, while still creating an easy to maintain, highly pedal-able, bikepacking rig. with initial plans to take on the bikepacking routes here in New England, there are long term plans for this bike to do some adventure further afield. since putting this pic up on our site this bike has been on an epic European adventure for its first multi-week tour and checked off a northern section of the Eastern Divide too boot.

the GB Enduro / British Divide bike: the goal for this customer was to create the most comfortable bike that we could that could be loaded down with the kitchen sink to be ridden the length of Britain on the route referred to as the GB Enduro, but sometimes gets lumped into the British Divide as they share some similar trails. One long 1,300+ mile ride later, the new owner reported back that the bike handled like a dream on the rough, wet and often rocky mountain bike trails that were thrown at him and the only mechanical changes he had to make while living aboard the bike that whole time was swapping in a few extra pair of brake pads (he says get ones made for mud and sand to make them last longer) and a new chain about half way through as pedaling the bike fully loaded up those insanely steep hills really taxes the durability of your components. see below for a pic of this bike fully loaded.

the comfort packer: when folks want to pull out all the stops comfort-wise (and their budgets allow) we suggest they allow us to add the Redshift Sports line of touch points to their new Stargazers. not only are their Kitchen Sink Bars with Loop super supportive of your hands, but their top and bottom handlebar grips really cut down on nerve pressure. add in a suspension post (and optional suspension stem) and you have have 'gazer ready to gobble up the mixed surface miles without the maintenance needed on another bike with full-squish properties. rounding out the comfort is a split nose Selle Italia Novus gravel saddle and oh, so dreamy 700x55 Rene Herse Fleecer Ridge Tires with Endurance Plus casings. to keep the drivetrain as fuss free as possible, this awesome customer choose to have us finish off the drivetrain with a bar end shifter vs traditional drop bar brifters. so nice!

the titanium cloud: for folks that love Stargazers, but who want to save about a pound of weight over the already lovely steel option, we tell them to keep an eye out for the ever so infrequent release of titanium Stargazers that Tumbleweed HQ will unleash on the world every now and then. this killer mixed-surface agricultural commuter (yup, the new owner wanted a bike to commute from his home to his farm in order to get his exercise and miles in even when he is putting in those crazy long days in the middle of the insanely busy planting and harvest seasons) is decked out in all of our favorite regalia. if you love the steel Stargazer, but would like to learn more about the occasionally available Ti option, check out this longer form review on bikepacking.com - whose TLDR can be paraphrased as "same great steel fork, same great great ride, just one pound lighter and shinier"

the espresso colored bling machine: one of the small and fairly inexpensive (well, relatively that is) ways to customize someones build is to incorporate some colored parts into the mix. around here, we start with anodized headset spacers, waterbottle bolts and colored cables (not pictured). this awesome customer wanted to keep the bling to a minimum, but still wanted a hint of custom, so while we ended up using full black cable housing, we were able to sneak in some espresso colored headset spacers from Wolf Tooth. a full rainbow of parts can be found at their color lab and we love going as matchy matchy or as contrasty contrasty as the new owners tastes would like to take it. so many great ways to dress up a build and we're open to most any color scheme (or in this case, front handlebar bag support) our customers can dream up.

the starting point: this build pretty much sums up what we mean when we can build you a damn fine riding, live aboard Stargazer while keeping an eye out for your wallet. it has all of our favorite things on it (1x Rival 11 drivetrain, RaceFace Cinch compatible cranks for easy gearing changes to suite your terrain, super easy to live with wheels, TRP Spyre brakes, Salsa bar-stem-seatposts, Camp-And-Go-Slow Western Rattler bartape and Vittoria Mezcal III tires. all the stuff you need and none of the stuff you don't. if you're considering another bikepacking bike that is sold as a complete bike built from a box, ask us to price you out this Stargazer.

the Eastern Divide Challenger: we were asked to build this beauty for someone who lives in NY only a few miles from the Eastern Divide. while the new owner had a budget he was working towards, he also wanted a bike that that 6,000 mile could throw at him. you'll see many of our favorite components in common with the 'starting point' build above, but with the nice addition of Tumbleweed's mini-pannier rack and a killer K-Lite USB charger / 1,300 lumen light. while it has yet to be pedaled the full length of the Eastern Divide, we've had some great feedback about how well its been handling the northern sections.

what's a Stargazer look like all kitted out ready to live off of? yup. the owner of this beauty, loaded up his rig and rode it to the shop as part of his GB Enduro shakedown ride. he was carrying everything he planned to use on his trip to Britain and then some. we weighed it up and it was over 70 lb as that's what our scale goes up to before it ERRs out. how did it and how do Stargazers ride in general? amazing. hard to imagine it, but this bike rode as stable and as confidently loaded as unloaded. most bikes ride worse the more weight you put on them, but there's something magical about the Stargazer when loaded. we know you have to take our word on it, but we give them two enthusiastic thumbs-up when carrying the kitchen sink.

Tumbleweed's original bike: The Prospector

When your adventures don't include staying with the lines drawn on a map, look to a Prospector to take you (and the kitchen sink) to get you where you're going. while you could put a traditional derailleur'd drivetrain on them, we really only get asked to build them up with Rohloff internally geared rear hubs. by choosing a Rohloff, you gain access to some of the easiest gearing around and all the most vulnerable parts on a bike are hidden away inside that super burly rear hub. if dependability and jump-on-and-ride-ness is at the top of your priority list for your n+1, check out a Prospector. they come with Phil Wood eccentric bottom brackets to make running the Rohloff rear wheels with a chain easy-peasy. same goes for wheel and tire choices as you can pretty much run anything you want as long as it's chunky widthwise. we've built them with in 26x4.0" as a skinny Q-factored fatbike, 27.5x2.8-3.8˝ mixed surface touring rigs and 29 x 2.1-3.0 monster rolling mountain bikes. run a Tumbleweed Persuader bar on them for the ultimate in expedition control. dream up an adventure and I'm betting a Prospector could get you there. oh yeah, plan on getting a pair of Tumbleweed's racks for the front and rear to really unlock their full potential.

here's just a few of the different ways we've built up Prospectors...

the firm surface tourer: this lovely drop barred Prospector (yup! drops!) looks and rides like a roadbike on steroids, but that lovely Rholoff drivetrain and wide (but slick) tire choice makes it a real mile-gobbler for when the fishing trips extend into the back country. this particular rig has been on so many adventures, that we'd a wikipedia page with of footnotes and the help of our customer to chronicle them all. a really unqiue build for a really unique and truly awesome owner - then again, I could probably say the same about all of our Tumbleweed owners!

the easy pedaling fat bike: the remit on this build was to create a bike with a much narrower pedal stance (also called the Q-Factor) than a traditional 4" tired fatbike would have. with the internal gearing of the Rohloff rear hub and the go anywhere-ness of the fatbike tires, this bike was originally designed for the snow but has been used for all around mountain biking in the dirt as well as a bikepacking rig in the desert southwest.

the bikepacker cum grocery getter: the new owner of this build asked us to build up a bike that could go anywhere and do anything. well, the combination of a Rohloff internally geared SpeedHub and that lovely Prospector geometry checks those boxes and then some. love. love. love this build.

the rail trail and canal path cruiser: outfitted with front and rear Tumbleweed T-Racks and a full dynamo power plant currently running front and rear lighting, but with a custom mbw-made wiring harness which will allow the rider to easily move the system around depending on what racks config he's running for that particular adventure. add a cool Bags-By-Bird handlebar pack and a Tumbleweed Persuader bar and you have one of the most versatile Prospectors we've ever built.