node express express.static prevents access from root path '/' - node.js

Question

I am using express and I have a catch all route
router.use('*',function(){...});
and a root route
router.use('/', function(){...});
I have this route placed after the
app.use(express.static(path.join(__dirname, 'public')));
this causes my routes to not fire when placed below the previous line. however if I put my routes above it my catch all is also called on static asset requests. is there a way I can catch all requests except for the assets in my public folder including the route '/'? I don't want to resort to using regex and having to update it every time a directory is added to the public directory.
sorry for not being more details here are the relavant files
//app.js
var express = require('express');
var path = require('path');
var favicon = require('serve-favicon');
var logger = require('morgan');
var cookieParser = require('cookie-parser');
var bodyParser = require('body-parser');
var routes = require('./routes/index');
var users = require('./routes/users');
var app = express();
/* This is going to initialize the menubar for nwjs it is currently commented out as this is a non issue at this point
setTimeout(function () {
//initialize passport
var passport = require('./helpers/passport.js');
//setup routes
//setup window menu
console = window.console;
console.log(passport);
passport.init(app);
var gui = window.require('nw.gui');
var win = gui.Window.get();
var menu = new gui.Menu({
type: 'menubar'
});
menu.createMacBuiltin('jist', {
hideEdit: true,
hideWindow: true
});
gui.Window.get().menu = menu;
},1000);*/
// view engine setup
app.set('views', path.join(__dirname, 'views'));
app.set('view engine', 'jade');
// uncomment after placing your favicon in /public
//app.use(favicon(path.join(__dirname, 'public', 'favicon.ico')));
app.use(logger('dev'));
app.use(bodyParser.json());
app.use(bodyParser.urlencoded({
extended: false
}));
app.use(cookieParser());
app.use(express.static(path.join(__dirname, 'public')));
app.use('/', routes);
app.use('/users', users);
// catch 404 and forward to error handler
app.use(function (req, res, next) {
var err = new Error('Not Found');
err.status = 404;
next(err);
});
// error handlers
// development error handler
// will print stacktrace
if (app.get('env') === 'development') {
app.use(function (err, req, res, next) {
res.status(err.status || 500);
res.render('error', {
message: err.message,
error: err
});
});
}
// production error handler
// no stacktraces leaked to user
app.use(function (err, req, res, next) {
res.status(err.status || 500);
res.render('error', {
message: err.message,
error: {}
});
});
module.exports = app;
//window.location.href="http://localhost:3000";
this is my index router
//routes/index.js
var express = require('express');
var router = express.Router();
/* GET home page. */
router.use('*', function(req, res, nex){
var path = req.originalPath;
if(~['/users/login', '/users/signup'].indexOf(path) || req.user) return next();
if(!req.user) return res.redirect('/users/login');
});
router.get('/', function(req, res, next) {
res.render('index', { title: 'Express' });
});
module.exports = router;