| 'SUPERB' |  | Strengths:
It's made from the best steel tubeset available, it's light, it handles superbly, it's fun, it's comfortable, it's good-looking. | | Weaknesses:
The paint is too shiny for my taste and chips easily. It came with no info or anything (e.g., I had to phone up to confirm that it needed a 27.0 seat post), which seems a bit cheapo for a £300 frame. | | Overall:
I've just built my daughter a 15" RL 853. I happened to get a superb bargain - £144 instead of £299, but it seems like a pretty good frame even at the standard price. Details:
1. they measure the frames c-c, so a 15" has a 17" seat tube on the c-t basis (like Kona measure)
2. be aware that the top tube lengths quoted on the Merlin website are measured along the tube, not horizontally as top tubes are normally measured - so the 15" is really just under 22" tt, the 17 is just under 23" and the 19 is about 23.5
3. the 15" frame weighs 4.25lbs, as claimed, which is pretty damn light for a steel frame (c.f., the 853 Explosif used to weigh 4.6lbs)
4. it seems well put together, nice neat welds etc and it built up easily except that I had to oil the threads to screw the rear mech on, perhaps due to paint on them
5. my daughter says the lobster decals on it are cool
6. I took it out for a test ride and although it was 2" shorter than my usual ride (97 Kilauea) and therefore felt wierd at first, I soon realised that I felt really confident on it. Difficult to say that it's *better* than the Kilauea, but it's certainly as good - it just felt fast (even with me on it), nimble, easy to ride, comfortable, fun, couldn't fault it.
If you're going to buy a complete bike from Merlin, well obviously the vfm is in a class of its own. Merlin buy in the frames and build them up in their workshops in Preston and their workmanship is at least as good as any 'name' manufacturer. This is a class act.
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