New bike day! Merida One Forty 400 dual sus

[Mububban]

The sadness of my old bike dying turned into the joy of New Bike Day, and my my, what a difference 15 years makes. I’ve gone from an early 2000s hard tail with entry level components (3x8, coil Rock Shox forks) to a 2019 (entry level) dual suspension.

Being on a tight budget, I went for a $2200 entry level 150mm bike, the Merida One Forty 400. For the money, it ticks all the boxes I had - 1x, dropper post, dual suspension, enough squish to learn jumps and drops if I work up the courage, and lifetime frame warranty.



http://www.merida.com.au/en_au/bikes/mt ... 11747.html

Gearing is 1x11 with 32 crank and 11-46 cassette. It got me up a long slippery 8% grade without running out of gears and I’m a skinny weak rider so all seems well there.
The fork is Suntour Aion with 150mm travel, and the shock is Suntour Unair TR LOR8, 140mm I think? Both have manual lockout. Perhaps Fox and Rock Shot make a better product but the Aion got a good review recently, and I’ll never miss what I’ve never known

Calling the colour “copper” is being generous. Let’s call it “fancy brown”

I love it on the trails, although it’s very strange going from such an upright fork to such a long slack modern geometry. I’m tall so it’s an XL and I did notice the length around the tight corners, especially with my poor bike handling skills and balance.

And it appears tough, as I went down hard going OTB on an unexpected gap jump halfway through a 24km ride. The bike came away without a scratch and continued on faultlessly.

if I get 15 years of service out of this bike, I’ll be a happy man

[chriso_29er]

Congrats, I recently did similar and got my first duel suspension trail bike. Best thing I've done for a long time. Love it so far, has not given away much if anything on the flats/climbing but is a whole new ball game when the going gets rough down hill.