So, first off, My Bike: a Merida 1-20 1500D full sus bike with 120mm (surprise?) of Fox powered air suspension on tap. First off, the Merida Comes spec'd with some pretty good components for the coin, with a Shimano XT 30 speed drivetrain, M-575 (deore) brakes, Fox RP2 rear shock with boost valve, Fox 32 F-series fork, Rocket Ron tyres in 2.25 width and performance compound, and a cockpit filled out by FSA with 680mm wide bars, and a Prologo saddle. The wheels are Alexrims XD lights on Shimano XT hubs, that I've converted to tubeless, with a swap out to the EVO compound of the Rocket Ron's.
I have ridden this bike at Secondary Schools MTB Nationals, Oceanias, Whaka 50, the entire NDuro series, and as a fun trail bike. Along my typical trails (Woodhill, Riverhead and Rotorua) I have found that the Merida is a surprisingly sprightly bike despite the total weight of approx 13kg, although this is after adding a cycle computer and bottle cage (12.7kg factory spec for a medium). The XT drivetrain has given me faithful service with a solid performance in all conditions, although I do occasionally have problems with the alignment of the front dérailleur, leading to dropped chains. The rear, however, has been pretty much flawless, and I spend a lot of the time using my big ring and just shifting the rear. The brakes are the let down component of this bike; not incredibly powerful, weird lever shape, and have had to be bled twice to stop a squishy lever feel. However, they have proven to be near indestructible.
The other thing worth noting is the Fox suspension needs A LOT of maintenance. My forks have suffered damage on the inside of the stanchions, not from crashes, but simply from water and sand that has been caught in the seals and scraped away at the stanchions... A service every few months will prevent this, but I have not heard of many cases of this happening to RockShox forks, so keep this in mind if you maintain your bike once a decade. This has also happened to my dad's bike, so it is not a one off occurrence.
The Ride: In the climbs there is some pedal induced bob in the rear suspension but this can be easily remedied with the pro-pedal function on the RP2. The Merida hold's it's line well although some hardtails would probably have a snappier feel, as pro-pedal only resists the first couple of mm of travel before behaving like normal. This also means it accelerates a little slower than a shorter travel bike or a Hardtail, but the added comfort makes it a good choice over longer rides. On the descents I regularly use the entire travel, but bottoming out never feels harsh. It takes large hits quite well, but is sharper handling than some other 120mm full sus's I have ridden (e.g giant trance) lending to a slightly racy feel. This trail bike bike feels like it could don a mask, like a costumed vigilante, and defeat shorter travel bikes around your local racecourse. Make no allusions, this is not a race bike, the travel numbers and weight testify this, but for a bike that can be fun to ride, fly off the odd jump yet tear apart a racecourse and leave you in one piece at the end of your ride, it comes highly recommended.
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