Merida Reacto vs Giant TCR | Aero, discs vs classic design bikeradar.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from bikeradar.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Speedy by design
The Reacto has always been Merida’s pure aero road bike, and in an age when many brands are blurring the lines between their lightweight and aero racers there is no doubt this latest version has both feet planted in the aero camp.
As well as the usual sharp angles and deep, aerodynamic tube profiles, the new version comes with fully integrated cabling inside a one-piece Vision Metron 5D ACR cockpit to keep the front end tidy and reduce drag. Plus it comes with fairly aggressive geometry.
The stack height of 571mm twinned with a reach of 400mm (size large, 56cm) puts this bike firmly in long and low territory with regards to the ride position. The integrated bar-stem is slammed onto the fork crown, which sits in a recess in the head tube – a new design that Merida says saves two watts. There’s no chance of adapting the position to be an upright cruiser, and to my mind the bike is all the better for it.
Merida Ninety-Six 8000 review 0shares
Merida Ninety-Six XC full-suspension range gets a fresh look and a down-country makeover. Available in two versions: 100mm RC and a 120mm down-country bike.
Product Overview
Cons:
£6,200.00
The Merida Ninety-Six has been a stalwart of the XC and marathon race scene for many years now. It was the whip of choice for XC legends Gunn-Rita Dahle Flesjå and José Hermida on the gnarlier tracks of the World Cup circuit, as well as hugely popular among privateer racers in countries like Hermida’s native Spain. For 2020 it had a timely revamp, as the old model was getting long in the tooth and hamstrung by outdated geometry, a clumsy remote lockout and an antique front derailleur mount (remember them).