Throwback Thursday 9: Dr Jon Portrait Of A Serial Driller

One man’s search for the perfect bike – through buying, converting, adapting, customising and tweaking beyond recognition.

Words by Benji Haworth
Photos by Benji Haworth and Jon Meredith

Every now and then you come across someone who likes to do things a bit differently. Someone with a bike that appears to be as far away from an off-the-peg normal bike as you can possibly get. More often than not such people are simply annoying just-to-be-different attention seekers. And usually they can’t ride a bike for toffee. Jon Meredith – or Dr Jon as he’s known by some – is not such a person. Yes, his bikes are mental-looking. And eye-wateringly expensive. But he can ride the pants off pretty much anyone. And his bikes aren’t in the least bit showy. So how has Jon ended up with his collection of fruity bikes? Fundamentally it’s due to an obsession with chasing perfect solutions. As he’s gone through the years his bikes have become more and more specific to what they do. “When you get something that’s optimised for the task at hand it’s just beautiful” he preaches. In this feature we get Jon to explain himself and his move from Specialized bikes to specialised bikes. 

Mark Alker

Singletrack Owner/Publisher

What Mark doesn’t know about social media isn’t worth knowing and his ability to balance “The Stack” is bested only by his agility on a snowboard. Graphs are what gets his engine revving, at least they would if his car wasn’t electric, and data is what you’ll find him poring over in the office. Mark enjoys good whisky, sci-fi and the latest Apple gadget, he is also the best boss in the world (Yes, he is paying me to write this).

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