Recently acquired light weight jousting tool.
Suitable for all forms of combat.
2009 Merida Team 96.
Size: Medium
Weight: 9.3kg (with pedals)
Spec: Team 96
I've had the bike almost a month now and impressions are simply.
oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!
Then the male portion of my mind kicked in and I got the scales out to see if the claimed weights I had heard so much about were anything like accurate. Guess what,they Are!
Merida have taken this project to the 'nth' degree, sparing zero expense on quality. Now I know the word 'quality' is generally banded about and cannot be truly defined but this machine oozes the stuff, from nude carbon finish through to the one piece carbon rear linkage.
The bike arrived in the biggest bike box I have ever seen emblazoned with Green Merida Flames and at first I thought Merida had gone into manufacturing Plasma TVs as the team 96 came packaged differently to ever other bike I had built and seems to be some out there designers labour of love.
The team 96 comes standard with 2, yes 2 sets of tyres! A set of Maxxis 310's and a more realistic set of Larsen Exception series. So I wipped these straight off and put on Our sponsors Tyres and my preference. Schwalbe Racing Ralph The weight stated is with these bad boys and a Stans set up. Quite simply Svelte!
On the front end we have Manitou R7 MRD 100 Absolute forks which match up very Well with the DT XR Carbon 50, Lockout controlled by a sleek Rock shock push lock (alloy not the dodgy plastic one)
This makes for a super adjustable ride. So far I have simply followed the recommended settings and had fun! This bike rocks and so it should do for the price but for your money you are getting the latest technology, beautiful form and function.Just consider that an Specilaized Epic S-works will cost something like $11,499!
I believe the 96 range will prove to be a hard beaten design and a stalwart for the future, all the way from this model at $10,500, all the way through to the 96 HFS-1000D Priced at around $3,300. If you've not seen or considered the 96 as an option. Stop what you're doing, right now! Get on line and find out your nearest dealer, and go have a play. You won't be disappointed.
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