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.James Huang/BikeRadar.com
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.James Huang/BikeRadar.com
The new Merida Ninety-Nine is designed to work well with either 100mm or 120mm-travel forks.James Huang/BikeRadar.com
The new Merida Ninety-Nine switches to carbon fiber post mount rear disc tabs for 2012.James Huang/BikeRadar.com
Asymmetrical chain stays adorn the rear end of the new Merida Ninety-Nine.James Huang/BikeRadar.com
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.James Huang/BikeRadar.com
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.James Huang/BikeRadar.com
The full-length housing is run on the underside of the down tube on the Merida Ninety-Nine.James Huang/BikeRadar.com
The front derailleur housing is internally run on the Merida Ninety-Nine.James Huang/BikeRadar.com
Merida also put its now Big.Nine carbon two-niner on display at this year’s Eurobike show.James Huang/BikeRadar.com
Merida fits the new Big.Nine with a tapered front end for enhanced steering precision relative to a straight setup.James Huang/BikeRadar.com
Merida uses the popular big chain stay/small seat stay combo for its new Big.Nine.James Huang/BikeRadar.com
Merida kinks the seat tube just a hair on the Big.Nine to allow for a shorter rear end.James Huang/BikeRadar.com
Merida fits the new Big.Nine with a BB30 bottom bracket shell.James Huang/BikeRadar.com
Interestingly, Merida sticks with open dropouts on the Ninety-Nine fully but a thru-axle setup on the Big.Nine 29″ hardtail.James Huang/BikeRadar.com
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.James Huang/BikeRadar.com
Merida uses post mount rear disc brake caliper tabs on the new Big.Nine.James Huang/BikeRadar.com
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
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Merida also put its now Big.Nine carbon two-niner on display at this year’s Eurobike show.