Get ready for the ultimate adventure with the Tumbleweed Stargazer bike! This versatile drop bar mountain touring bike is designed for loaded trail riding, making it perfect for tackling singletrack, gravel roads, and trails with ease.
With its nimble and balanced design, the Stargazer is a direct descendant of Tumbleweed’s first bike model, the Prospector, and combines the best of mountain bike geometry with a shorter reach to accommodate drop handlebars.
The standard build includes a 12-speed SRAM Eagle cassette and derailleur, SRAM Rival road shifters, and a modified left shifter to control the dropper seatpost. With its high-end Chromoly steel tubeset and CNC machined chainstay yoke, the Stargazer is built to handle whatever you throw at it and is optimized for bikepacking and off-road touring.
Get ready for the ultimate ride with the Tumbleweed Stargazer. Standard complete bike builds are available for $3875.
Drop bar mountain bikes hold a special place in my heart when it comes to bikepacking adventures. Offering the best of both worlds when it comes to off-road riding and all-road adventuring.
Components and Build
Built from a heat-treated size-specific Chromoly tubing frame, oversized triple and quad butted front triangle with integrated gussets. And Unicrown Chromoly steel fork with 110x15mm thru axle (thru axle included), upper and lower rack mounts, fender mounts, triple bottle cage mounts on fork legs, and internal dynamo wire routing.
PNW Coast handlebar at 52 cm which has 20 degrees flare providing a nice length for better control, mounted on the bars are the SRAM Rival 22 brake levers. Finished off with the Camp and Go Slow Rattler bar tape which looks so nice.
The drivetrain is powered by a RaceFace Aeffect crank 32t Direct Mount which is decent for bikepacking. Partnered with the SRAM GX Eagle 10-52 tooth cassette. Results in an 18.10″ climbing gear and 93.40″ largest gear (with 29 x 2.35″ tires). This 18″ granny gear is a perfect range for climbing up hills with gear.
The SRAM Rival 22 brake levers have been adjusted to work with the SRAM GX Eagle Derailleur. Giving you the benefits of running a 12-speed setup on a drop bar build. Meaning road shifters with MTB derailleur AKA mullet gearing.
The left side shifter has been modified to activate the PNW Rainier dropper post. Which saves you time and money to do this little hack yourself.
Tumbleweed Stargazer Tire Clearance
The bike comes with Maxxis Ikon 29×2.35 EXO 3C TR tires with max tire clearance for up to 29 x 2.6″ or 27.5 x 3.0″ tires. The Ikon tires are well-rounded for rolling on dirt while maintaining efficiency on the pavement.
Tumbleweed Stargazer Weight
A Medium sized complete bike build weighs around 30 lbs or 13.6 kg. (Which is about mid-range for comparable drop bar mountain bikes) A Medium Tumbleweed Stargazer frameset weighs in at 8.85 pounds (4kg) with an uncut steerer, medium frame weighs 5.75 pounds, the uncut fork is 3.1 pounds
Ride Quality
The bike may ride smoothly and feel stale, over rougher terrain like gravel etc. Thanks to the larger wheels and tires along with the geometry. A higher bottom bracket, and appropriate wheelbase lengths provide better stability.
The trail is very high, much higher than a standard gravel bike but not so much compared to an MTB. Compared to some other drop bar mountain bikes it may handle slower when cornering. But gives you confidence when the gravel gets chunky, offering a rather planted feel, especially when it comes to loaded rides off the beaten track.
Who is this bike for?
If you want something that’s more versatile than a standard gravel bike, better suited for bikepacking adventures. Allowing you to explore terrain that is a little more technical than standard gravel roads. However not sacrificing an overly floppy front end, this could be the bike for you. With most mounts, you could need with a steel build and components ready for adventure. It’s one of the better drop bar bikepacking bikes on the market.
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