Lifetime guarantee. Says it all really. I mean why wouldn’t you? Because the bike is unlikely to break maybe? The Merida One Sixty enduro bike looks set for hard work yet doesn’t come over–bulked like many offerings. OK, 31lb plus is close to the lighter offerings of this amount of travel, but generally we should be looking at sub–thirty for most of the higher price bikes that cater for long travel trail/enduro riders…
From Dirt Issue 134 – April 2013
Words and Photo by Steve Jones.
The component package is solid, including Mavic Crossmax SX wheels, which themselves come with a pretty handy warranty package, Shimano XT here there and everywhere and most importantly a RockShox Reverb Stealth. Elsewhere the bars are a shade narrow and the tyres could do with a mix of Trail and Pace Star compounds from Schwalbe if you begin to head more downwards than across.
All the angles are dialled for action, power transfer is good and Merida have done an excellent job at pairing shock to suspension system – supportive, supple and simple to work off on the hoof. When riding I did feel that I’d like to try the large (I’m six foot) but it’s a tight call. Chain and seat stay protection could be improved, although cable routing is good mix of in/external. The 2×10 ratio is a matter of taste, I’m sure many will go single ring up front.
The Fox 34 fork again frustrated with its lack of compression damping. It needs more oil to give more progressivity – some people use up to 50cl more. I’m also beginning to feel that the Fox 36 offers better stability on a bike of this travel.
What do we know about Merida? Founded in 1972 it produces over 2 million bikes per year. The R&D is in Stuttgart (Germany) for this bike and the company have over 350 dealers in the UK. Given its almost world domination of pushrod manufacture I’m pretty sure this is the first time we’ve had a Merida in the magazine.
First thoughts? Good job on damping and angles, but at this price I feel they’re under a fair bit of competition from the likes of Canyon and many other companies. But remember, lifetime guarantee.
Price: £4000
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