Earlier this year Merida introduced the new carbon Ninety-Six cross country bike for their Multivan Merida Biking Team, as well as the carbon update to their One-Twenty trail bike. We covered the introduction of these mountain bikes this summer, plus the new sub-1000g frameset Scultura road bike, but at Eurobike we had a bit more time to talk with Merida and get details and prices for the new bikes. We also took a look at the new Cyclo Cross Carbon, which is an exact analogue to the Centurion Crossfire that we detailed earlier in the week. We talked spec on that bike and why it was codeveloped with Centurion.
Come past the jump for the updated details on the bikes, plus claimed weights and pricing…
Merida were mostly showcasing the 29″ versions of the Ninety-Six, as most of their pro riders race on the bigger sized bikes. But the Ninety-Six (and the One-Twenty) comes, in the entire range from aluminum-framed models up to the Team edition, in size-specific wheel sizes. The Small bikes go 27.5″, while the Large and XL go 29″, and the Medium frames get a choice of either wheel size for a more playful or smoother rolling option.
The Team edition with its CF5 frame, RS1 fork, and XX1 group has a claimed 10.1kg weight (22.3lb) and a retail price of 8000€. If you want to up the spec, a XTR Di2 double is also available as the 9000-E for a 100g more and a jump up to an even 10,000€.
Coming down to the next step CF4 carbon frame, the 7000 is a bit heavier at 11.3kg (24.9lb), but drops in price down to 4600€ with an XT double. The lowest priced carbon (CFA) frame is available in the Ninety-Six XT and, uh an XT double setup again with a weight increase to 12.5kg (27.6lb), but an even lower 3100€ price. Again with the same CFA frame, the Ninety-Six 6000 gets a drop back down on the scale to 11.7kg (25.8lb) with a high-value SRAM GX 1x build and another price drop to 2900€.
Pricing wasn’t yet available for the two aluminum-framed options, but the 800 gets a SLX double and the 600 a Deore/SLX mix.
In our last coverage we showed the blue One-Twenty 8000 that shares the same new CFA carbon frame with this bike, and retails for 5150€ at 12.3kg (27.1lb) with its X1 setup and dropper post. But Merida had a few more affordable options of the new bike on hand at Eurobike that all share the bike’s geometry. The two carbon models get the same all-new 900g frame (1.98lb, size M without a shock), but get trail or endurance oriented setups.
The endurance One-Twenty 7000 (in front) gets a full XT double build to come in at 12.6kg (27.8lb) and 4000€, while the 500 in the back is the lowest cost-of-entry into the updated aluminum version of the One-Twenty for just 1600€ and 13.9kg (30.6lb). In between, there is one more carbon model and four more aluminum versions.
We went over the full details of the same frame from Centurion earlier in the week, but Merida will offer some more affordable setups. Building on Centurions decades of small team focus on racing cyclocross, Merida joined together with their carbon specialist and bigger R&D budget to help churn out the final bike together. While Centurion spec’s the bike with race-specific builds, Merida looks at the same race bike from a slightly more utilitarian perspective, knowing that most cross racers will want their own choice of tubular wheels and tires anyway.
This top-level Cyclo Cross 9000 gets a CX1 Hydro build, but adds in the new lower priced DT Swiss R23 aluminum clinchers to keep costs down. They are still tubeless ready so offer a pretty solid value as more high-end tubeless cross tires have become available. The 9000 claims a weight of 8kg (17.6lb) for 3500€ offering maybe a bit more value than the Crossfire. A more affordable Cyclo Cross 6000 delivers an Ultegra double and hydraulic 685 braking for 3000€ and 8.8kg (19.4lb), while an even cheaper Cyclo Cross 5000 105 build with Spyre mechanical brakes keeps costs even lower at 2300€ and 9.1kg (20.1lb). Both 6000 and 5000 share the same full carbon frame as the 9000 (and Crossfire Carbon), but swap in non-series cranks and lower-priced wheels to keep costs down.
On the road side, we talked pricing and spec on the new Scultura. The 6.5kg (14.3lb) Team aims to hit just above the UCI weight limit with the the second-tier CF4 frame, a Dura-Ace group, and Rotor crankset for 6600€. Without the thought of lining up for a UCI race, the 9000 gets the even lighter CF5 frame and drops down to 6kg (13.2lb; Merida has claimed it as far down as 5.4kg, and at times 5.8kg, but was more conservative with saying it will be under 6 kilos) with a SRAM Red group and DT’s new Mon Chasseral RC28 wheels, but for a jump up to 9700€. The 7000-E climbs in weight back up to 7kg (15.4lb) with the CF4 frame and an Ultegra Di2 build for 4500€. The 2800€ 6000 is the last to get the new CF4 carbon frame and weighs in at 7.5kg (16.5lb) with a Ultegra mechanical group and FSA Gossamer crank.
Full info on all the specs should be available now on their website.
