Merida Cross Special - Initial thoughts
Had my first proper ride on the Merida last night - 26 miles back from work on the back roads over the downs, although I use the word 'road' with some difficulty as I think the actual downs themselves would have been smoother and less gritty! Took me just under 2 hrs door to door, and underlined how unfit I am at the mo - I felt really quite shattered riding back up the hill too my house. Lovely weather for riding in as well, would have been nicer if I didn't have a headwind for most of the route though...
Verdict - surprisingly comfy to ride, I can sit in the drops and on the hoods comfortably and it doesn't feel like a barge as its quite short. Everything shifts cleanly and the brakes seem to be getting better as they bed in, but still not as good as I'd have thought they should be. The drop of the bars is spot on, but the shape of the drop isn't that comfortable - you feel there should be something to seat the palm of your hand on - might experiment with some extra layers of bar tape to create a lump to sit your hand on.
I've noticed my baggies get a bit annoying when your sat in the saddle for ages as they move around - much more noticeable on a road bike as on an MTB you move around a lot more - the chamois on my Alturas feels like its been sown in too far forward. Still much better than sweating in lycra plus overshorts though.
Feels quite fast, the Schwalbe Scout knobblies weren't too bad on the road and everything worked as it should. Got a rattling cable I need to silence though. I was quite glad of the triple on a couple of the steep climbs too, shamefully (despite originally not thinking I'd need it), but mainly to save my legs as hadn't ridden the route before and was toying with reversing it the next morning.
The bar-top levers I'm less convinced by - despite initially seeing them as a good idea - they seem to offer very little leverage so you have to really haul them on, and also make it as if your riding with 10" bars, which isn't exactly good for stability - especially off-road. I'll leave them on for the moment, but can't see me keeping them on for good.
Wimped out this morning and ride the 2 miles to the station and got the train in and then 3 miles in to work from there up Bell Hill - good samaritan here helped a lady and a daughter by pumping up their tyres on the train. Well i would have if the girls rear tyre didn't go straight back down again, and the ladies bikes rear valve wasn't pretty much parallel to the rim, stopping me from getting a pump in. Another commuter on a nice Kona Kilauea tried hers too but in the end we both admitted defeat. FAIL
OOH , i forgot, it also had a little sticker on the top-tube saying something like:
"Warning, as you are obviously a midget, don't sue us when you turn a corner and the wheel hits your foot and you crash horribly - its not our fault you cant reach the bars or pedals of a normal sized bike, you twatting freak"
or something along those lines....
Verdict - surprisingly comfy to ride, I can sit in the drops and on the hoods comfortably and it doesn't feel like a barge as its quite short. Everything shifts cleanly and the brakes seem to be getting better as they bed in, but still not as good as I'd have thought they should be. The drop of the bars is spot on, but the shape of the drop isn't that comfortable - you feel there should be something to seat the palm of your hand on - might experiment with some extra layers of bar tape to create a lump to sit your hand on.
I've noticed my baggies get a bit annoying when your sat in the saddle for ages as they move around - much more noticeable on a road bike as on an MTB you move around a lot more - the chamois on my Alturas feels like its been sown in too far forward. Still much better than sweating in lycra plus overshorts though.
Feels quite fast, the Schwalbe Scout knobblies weren't too bad on the road and everything worked as it should. Got a rattling cable I need to silence though. I was quite glad of the triple on a couple of the steep climbs too, shamefully (despite originally not thinking I'd need it), but mainly to save my legs as hadn't ridden the route before and was toying with reversing it the next morning.
The bar-top levers I'm less convinced by - despite initially seeing them as a good idea - they seem to offer very little leverage so you have to really haul them on, and also make it as if your riding with 10" bars, which isn't exactly good for stability - especially off-road. I'll leave them on for the moment, but can't see me keeping them on for good.
Wimped out this morning and ride the 2 miles to the station and got the train in and then 3 miles in to work from there up Bell Hill - good samaritan here helped a lady and a daughter by pumping up their tyres on the train. Well i would have if the girls rear tyre didn't go straight back down again, and the ladies bikes rear valve wasn't pretty much parallel to the rim, stopping me from getting a pump in. Another commuter on a nice Kona Kilauea tried hers too but in the end we both admitted defeat. FAIL
OOH , i forgot, it also had a little sticker on the top-tube saying something like:
"Warning, as you are obviously a midget, don't sue us when you turn a corner and the wheel hits your foot and you crash horribly - its not our fault you cant reach the bars or pedals of a normal sized bike, you twatting freak"
or something along those lines....
posted by Tim at 2:44 PM
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