Meridian single -- Info needed

[countalmaviva]

Hello,

This is my first post to bikeforums! What a fantastic resource!

I hope someone out there can tell me more about this frame on eBay. It's a single made by Meridian of Columbus Ego tubing. From the seller I learned that it appeared at an Interbike in the late '90's and was probably never ridden. I'm a big fan of steel, so that's why I'm interested in this auction (eBay item #7169015423), which is here:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=7169015423&rd=1&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWA%3AIT&rd=1

I figure someone out there in the tandem forum knows a bit about Meridian cycles. Looks like a unique frame, especially since Meridian's website makes no mention of singles whatsoever. I also know it has no braze-ons for water bottles, so I suspect it may be a time trial/triathlon frame. Thanks in advance for any info you can provide.

Sincerely,
Oliver Henderson

[TandemGeek]

I figure someone out there in the tandem forum knows a bit about Meridian cycles.

We have one friend out in California -- Willy -- who owns what I believe to be a sibling of the frame you're looking at: http://gallery.consumerreview.com/webcrossing/images/133-3301_IMG.jpg As I recall, he was pretty happy with it. However, to the best of everyone's knowledge who should be in the know, Meridian is no longer a going concern.

The company was created by Santana's former General Manager, Jim Leis, who also founded World Class Cycling Components, and who owned a machine/frame fabrication business following his departure from Santana. He and Mike may have produced something around 1k frames during the short life of the Company which spanned 1998 through late 2003 and also produced frames for a few other companies, including Ellsworth's Witness tandem frames. The construction quality was excellent and he did some interesting work, include Scott's (SDS, he'll be along here soon) super-long tandem, nicknamed 'Moby'.

However, somewhere along the line things got tight, customer deliveries got delayed, some customer service/guarantee issues cropped up, and then a few tandems never were delivered. Despite at least one note to a former dealer in early 2004 that indicated Meridian was not out of business, the Web site hasn't changed since the 2003 price list was posted and no one that I'm in contact with has heard much from Jim since then, notwithstanding the occasional item he puts up for sale at Ebay under the user name of jlldll.