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.