Eurobike 2011: Merida's new Ninety-Nine full-sus racer
Merida showed off its new Ninety-Nine at this year’s Eurobike show, complete with a fantastic 1.85kg claimed frame and shock weight and improved suspension kinematics relative to the outgoing Ninety-Six.
Merida has stuck with a tried-and-true single-pivot suspension design on the Ninety-Nine, bumping travel up just a hair to 99mm while optimizing the pivot placement for use with two-ring drivetrains.
The new Merida Ninety-Nine is designed to work well with either 100mm or 120mm-travel forks.
The new Merida Ninety-Nine switches to carbon fiber post mount rear disc tabs for 2012.
Asymmetrical chain stays adorn the rear end of the new Merida Ninety-Nine.
Merida sticks with open dropouts for the new Ninety-Nine instead of a stiffer thru-axle setup but they’re still lightweight, being made of molded carbon fiber.
The rear shock on Merida’s new Ninety-Nine has been moved from below the top tube to in front of the seat tube for more consistent suspension performance across different frame sizes. As with the Ninety-Six, the rocker links are molded carbon fiber.
The full-length housing is run on the underside of the down tube on the Merida Ninety-Nine.
The front derailleur housing is internally run on the Merida Ninety-Nine.
Merida also put its now Big.Nine carbon two-niner on display at this year’s Eurobike show.
Merida fits the new Big.Nine with a tapered front end for enhanced steering precision relative to a straight setup.
Merida uses the popular big chain stay/small seat stay combo for its new Big.Nine.
Merida kinks the seat tube just a hair on the Big.Nine to allow for a shorter rear end.
Merida fits the new Big.Nine with a BB30 bottom bracket shell.
Interestingly, Merida sticks with open dropouts on the Ninety-Nine fully but a thru-axle setup on the Big.Nine 29″ hardtail.
Merida’s team riders apparently still want to get the front end a bit lower, though, given that this racer’s bike omits the upper headset cone.
Merida uses post mount rear disc brake caliper tabs on the new Big.Nine.
Frame weight and stiffness are essentially unchanged from the previous bike according to Merida – claimed chassis weight is an astounding 1.85kg (4.08lb) with rear shock – but the single-pivot suspension design has undergone some changes to better suit modern 2×10 drivetrains. The main pivot has moved up and forward while the shock itself has been relocated to a vertical orientation just in front of the seat tube to provide more consistent suspension performance across the size range.
Other changes include a newly tapered head tube designed around either a 100mm or 120mm fork, bridgeless seat stays that lend more tire clearance, a shared main suspension pivot and lower shock mount to save weight, and post mount rear disc tabs that don’t reduce frame weight per se but does eliminate the now-redundant caliper adapter. As before, the new Ninety-Nine continues to use a carbon fiber rocker link and carbon dropouts, though the latter stick with a quick-release open design instead of a thru-axle setup.
Merida will offer the new Ninety-Nine in three carbon versions and two alloy ones. All eyes will undoubtedly be drawn to the top-end Ninety-Nine Carbon Team-D with its SRAM XX build kit, DT Swiss XRC 100 suspension fork and DT Swiss carbon-bodied rear shock. Total claimed weight for that package is just 9.2kg (20.28lb) but the total price is a whopping €7,699.
Merida also put its now big.nine carbon two-niner on display at this year’s eurobike show.: merida also put its now big.nine carbon two-niner on display at this year’s eurobike show.James Huang/BikeRadar.com
Advertisement
Merida also put its now Big.Nine carbon two-niner on display at this year’s Eurobike show.
