Strengths: A racing bike that you can take off road. Tricross is the answer. Comfy, good handling and better than it deserves to be.
Weaknesses: Well I guess you'll pinch flat if you try anything too rocky on it.
Overall: Mine is a 2008 single speed, I paid £340 inc delivery and feel like I robbed the bike shop! - with a SRAM group set going for £400 even if I stuck gears on it it would still be cheap!(and have a 5 performance rating) Great fun, practical, the perfect winter trainer or bike to temp you to sample the dark side of the road.
Strengths: Comfortable and capable bike. The Dukes up front and the Fox R both do their job. The geometry feels relaxed and the pro pedal does its thing when you settle in for a long grinding climb, or jump on the pedals on the road trying to chase down a roadie...
Weaknesses: A tad heavy, the relaxed geometry counts against it on tight sections. (Or is my frame too big for me...!?)
Overall: I bought it at the end of the year on sale for £880 which I still consider bargain.
Apart from brake blocks and tubes I have not changed a thing in two years. A couple of services and after 2000 miles its still running like new.
It handles all that the merida 100k rides throw at it better than the rider, and it feels most at home on these long open rides rather than tight twisty singletrack.
Strengths: Fit and forget, no maintenance in 18 months. The weakest link on the bike is still the rider so they must be OK
Weaknesses: A lot of the black paint on the fork legs has come off, very disappointing on something with a price tag of around £250. I paid £180 but still not good enough. Now beginning to lose a bit of their stiffness.
Overall: They are still on my lobster, they'll get a service over the winter and either a proper re-spray or a touch up with hammerite.. A case of Function over form.
Strengths: Fast on hardpack and baked trails, great over rocks, never had a pinch.
Weaknesses: Never felt fully stable in wet conditions, now they have worn it feels like I'm tring to control a pig on roller skates!
Overall: I put these on at the end of March and have had a good summer of hard use from them. Great for all day XC in dry / hard conditions.
Now the trails are softening up they have to come off...also they seem to have become more puncture prone in the last month or maybe I'm just getting more unlucky?
At £26 each they are expensice for a tyre that can't do it all.
