Boom tube angles

[mrbiff]

So I started my Meridian this week, and the wife graciously allowed me an entire day today to work on it without any other responsibilities!!! BUT, at the end of the day, due to the seat tube and fork length of my donor bike, and having welded the seat tube from the donor all the way at the top of the 'seat tube' on the meridian, the back of the boom tube is only at fifteen inches off the ground and the front of the boom tube is only thirteen inches off the ground.

Is this going to affect the ride and handling of my bike? (Seeing as how the plans call for nineteen inches off the ground at the back and fourteen at the front.)

Is it worth it to grind off the massively gigantic welds I made to try and find a better geometry?

Any advice from anyone would be appreciated.

[rykoala]

I'm not really sure what you mean. 13" off the floor in the front is fine but 15" in the back is 4" low. Can you post a picture?

[mrbiff]

thanks for the reply. I don't have a pic yet, but will by tomorrow. I know that it's four inches low in the back. I'm just not sure how the lowness will effect the performance of my bike. If it doesn't effect it much or at all, I'll probably just leave it. Thoughts?

[rykoala]

The only thing I'd worry about is that the Meridian is engineered for all the angles that are created with a 14" front and 19" back height. If you change the back by 4" lower, then you are going to likely run into chain routing issues and the bottom bracket will be at the wrong angle for the front derailer, possibly.

[mrbiff]

I fixed it. I sawed off the seat and chain stays and added a short vertical tube that drops down from the top of the seat tube. i welded the top of the seat stays to that, and now the whole thing is perfect. 19 in the back, 14 in the front. thanks for the advice and opinions!!

[rykoala]

Awesome! Do you have pictures?