Merida Mtb Range
The Good, The Great, The Awesome and The Sexy
This year Merida has greatly expanded it's Mountian Bike range to incorporate the 27.5" wheel size. The size has been around a while now with a few companies making very high end MTBs utilizing it. The Merida Mountian bike team have been using it thoughout the 2012/2013 season on the more technical course with great results (pro's on this team can choose their own weapon and are not forced to ride what the bike supplier says) . So hence the Good.
Good old 26 inch.
26" has been around for ever and a day. Predictable handling and great strength through the wheels to take the big hits. Not much has changed here geometry wise for a long time. Frame shapes & materials as well as suspension links have been refined over time, but essentially the rest is the same.
Merida One Twenty 500 2013
This brings us to the 29". It rolled onto the MTB scene in a big way about 4 years ago. Some brands had been playing around with it in some form for many many years. Gary Fisher had great results with a 29" front wheel while still using a 26" rear ( reason for this were to become apparent after a few years of 29ers development). The 29er is a great bike for rides like the cape epic and other enduro events but does not handle courses filled with heavy technical sections. Nor did they accelerate fast enough. So the Pro's with a choice were moving back to 26ers. This was because of the longer frame needed to fit in the rear wheel. Longer frame means the bike handles a bit slower and will not pick up speed as fast as the 26". But when rolling they roll, roll and roll over every thing. This brings us to the Awesome!
Merida big nine 300 2014
In team green
The Awesome 27.5 inch
Born out of a need for better handling and faster accelerating bikes. Welcome the 27.5". Handling like a 26" because the chain stay lenghts are the same, also accelerating like a bullet train and clearing obstacles like a boss. It's being hailed as the holy messiah of MTB. Only time will tell. Now the sexy
Merida Big Seven 100 27.5 2014
The Sexy
Merida are well known for their Female athletes including Gunn-Rita Dahle Flesja (who just won the XCM world cup). So it makes commen sense to ride a sexy Juliet. Made with women specific geometry. Finally bike manufacturers have cottoned on that the genders are differrent. So should your bike be. Lower stand over heights, lower bottom brackets, narrower handle bars and short reach brake levers just to name a few.
Merida Juleit Big seven 100
