Merida

jok5

Anyone out there got a Merida road bike. Seem the new Merida Road 5000 today. Lot of bike for £1800 but are Merida bikes any good

imposter2.0

Yes, they are 'any good'....as good as any other...

Toe knee

Picking this up tomorrow, according to my research, they seem very good bikes.
Merida ride 400. 2015.

pippi_langsamer-2

Very much a well known Southern Hemisphere brand until recent years (see lots in South Africa, NZ and Aus).

I was under the impression that Merida are actually a huge "umbrella", company who make quality carbon frames for quite a few other big named brands...?

tangled_metal

I got told buy a LBS who sold that brand that they were the biggest bike manufacturer in the world who made frames or whole bikes for 4 out of the 5 biggest brands. Sounded like a load of B.S. but I did find out that they started by making bikes for other brands before selling their own branded bikes.

The ones I saw looked ok but the LBS is now shut down so not sure Merida was a big hit for them. They.had a nice big shop refit a couple of months before closing too.

rozzer32

I think Merida are the second biggest bike manufacturer in the world, behind Giant.

Merida made a lot of bikes for other companies including Specialized before deciding to make their own as well. Been big in the mountain bike world for years, now getting more popular in the road.

cougie

The Merida Reacto looks a lovely bike. Maybe a bit garish - but I like the lines.

Definitely getting more popular.

jok5

Toe Knee can you tell me what you think after being out on the bike, think the 5000 is same frame

MichaelW

Merida own a big chunk of Specialized and are one of the Big 5 Taiwanese frame factories.
Their own-brand models seem be showing off what they can do, a bit like Kinesis frames.

ilm_zero7

Merida make Specialized !

Ouija

ILM Zero7 wrote:

Merida make Specialized !

No, Specailized make Specialized. But as with most bike manufacturers, they are not manufacturers at all, but merely assemblers of compnonents made by other companies (Shimano/SRAM, Velo, Rockshox etc,. etc). The big companies like Specialized can even get the actual manufacturers of the components to put their own brand on the product (so a lot of saddles that are made by companies like Velo don't necesarily have any Velo branding on them). Merida and Giant pretty much make the frames for the vast majority of the industry, with a few exceptions, including Specialized.

You wouldn't be shocked to find Shimano make components for the vast majority of bicycles because they retain their branding on their components, advertising themselves. Merida and Giant don't do this outside of their own bikes so most people are blissfully unaware of what they are riding on. I imagine half the people on this forum are riding Giant or Merida framed bikes without even realizing it.

Coach H

Ouija wrote:

ILM Zero7 wrote:

Merida make Specialized !

No, Specailized make Specialized. But as with most bike manufacturers, they are not manufacturers at all, but merely assemblers of compnonents made by other companies (Shimano/SRAM, Velo, Rockshox etc,. etc). The big companies like Specialized can even get the actual manufacturers of the components to put their own brand on the product (so a lot of saddles that are made by companies like Velo don't necesarily have any Velo branding on them). Merida and Giant pretty much make the frames for the vast majority of the industry, with a few exceptions, including Specialized.

You wouldn't be shocked to find Shimano make components for the vast majority of bicycles because they retain their branding on their components, advertising themselves. Merida and Giant don't do this outside of their own bikes so most people are blissfully unaware of what they are riding on. I imagine half the people on this forum are riding Giant or Merida framed bikes without even realizing it.

No, Merida make Specialized.
Specialized are nothing more than a marketing name and from Mike Synards very first product have never actually made anything. Merida not only manufacture all of the frames they also assemble all of the bikes

socrates

+1 Merida make Specialized and Centurion. They are the second biggest bike manufacturer in the world. As Coach says, Spesh are only a marketing name.

jok5

So are they good bikes. Lol

explosifpete

I'm a bike mechanic in a shop that sells Merida so i'l; chuck in my highly bias opinion

We also sell a few italian brands and I have worked on/built thousands of bikes in my time and merida's quality is as good as i've seen.
I replaced a Kuota KOM air with a £600 entry level, alloy merida (Only used the frame and fork though) because it just rides better.................But and there always is one, I had it resprayed as merida aren't the best at styling, the reason I believe they aren't bigger in the uk, they are starting to tone them down a bit and apparently have taken note of what canyon are doing and want to match them on spec for money and looks.... we wait and see

Dandelionclock30

If they make some of the big companies bikes and they manage to look nice, how is it that there own look so naff? They look cheap, nasty and dated.

Ouija

Because the client company determines colour and spec, not the manufacturer.

Dandelionclock30

I see, but surely they want to sell their own bikes and anyone can see that they look rubbish. Why would they put them out there looking like that?

ai_1

Dandelionclock30 wrote:

I see, but surely they want to sell their own bikes and anyone can see that they look rubbish. Why would they put them out there looking like that?

Preferences are not universal!
Have you not noticed some of the heated discussions on here were one person thinks bike X looks great and the other thinks it's a horrendous monstrosity? While taste varies somewhat locally it varies considerably more, the further afield you go. If I remember correctly Merida have big market share across Asia and that's where they sell most of their bikes. So, perhaps their bikes are styled primarily for that market. Having said that, I'm not sure I agree they look "rubbish" myself. To my eye they're neither the most, nor the least attractive bikes out there. I wouldn't object if I got a gift of a Reacto!

trailflow

If they make some of the big companies bikes and they manage to look nice, how is it that there own look so naff? They look cheap, nasty and dated.

Im sure if you saw their bikes in the flesh,they would look alot better than they do in crappy internet photo's

Dandelionclock30

I have seen them in a bike shop and I still didnt like the look of them. I havent seen any really expensive ones but the ones I saw I wouldnt consider buying. I have to like the look of a bike not think it looks crap from the off because its no incentive to ride it.
If you compare Merida bikes and Canyon, then theres absoultley no doubt that Canyon bikes look miles better. If Canyon can produce reasonably priced asthetically pleasing bikes theres no reason why Merida cant as well. When theres a very competative market I cant believe that anyone would willingly buy one. Its different if it was won in a competiton or if you got one as a gift.

anjasola

Decent bikes and if bought right up to 50% discount available, might be more if you can haggle better than me.

ai_1

Dandelionclock30 wrote:

I have seen them in a bike shop and I still didnt like the look of them. I havent seen any really expensive ones but the ones I saw I wouldnt consider buying. I have to like the look of a bike not think it looks crap from the off because its no incentive to ride it.
If you compare Merida bikes and Canyon, then theres absoultley no doubt that Canyon bikes look miles better. If Canyon can produce reasonably priced asthetically pleasing bikes theres no reason why Merida cant as well. When theres a very competative market I cant believe that anyone would willingly buy one. Its different if it was won in a competiton or if you got one as a gift.

You're still missing the point. Aesthetics are subjective.
Making statements like "there's absolutely no doubt that Canyon bikes look miles better" is ridiculous. That may be your opinion but there certainly is considerable doubt about whether this is true for any randomly poled individual who is not you.

Dandelionclock30

I understand what your saying.

explosifpete

Echoing what others have said Merida's big focus is the easten market where a subtle bike like the canyon just wouldn't sell.
Merida uk have been giving feedback for the last few years but I guess the UK market is very small compared to asia

explosifpete

flasher

explosifpete wrote:

Is that Batman's training bike, I like it 8)