First Look: Merida One-Sixty 7000

Next up on the chopping block at Singletrack Towers is a murdered-out carbon enduro beast made by Merida. Called the One Sixty, this bike (unsurprisingly) possesses 160mm of rear wheel travel, while being paired to a 170mm travel fork and 27.5in wheels. It’s brand new as of last year, with a new frame, new suspension design, and reworked geometry. It replaces the virtual-link version before it that Barney had previously tested and reviewed here.

The Merida One-Sixty is all new this year.

Much like Giant Bicycles, Taiwanese brand Merida is both a manufacturer and a brand unto itself. The Merida name hasn’t been associated with high-end mountain bike product in the past, but a new direction from the brand’s Stuttgart R&D team has seen the introduction of a more contemporary feel to the latest generation of hardtail and full suspension models. The One-Sixty is one such model to embrace the new design ethos, and if both looks and numbers on paper are anything to go by, it is a very promising bike indeed.

The One-Sixty 7000 sits in the middle of the 3-model range.

Merida One-Sixty Features

Long travel full suspension enduro bike
Carbon fibre mainframe, alloy swingarm
160mm rear travel travel
Float Link suspension design
RockShox Super Deluxe RC3 DebonAir shock
27.5in wheels
Designed for 170mm travel forks
65.3° head angle
76° effective seat tube angle
430mm chainstay length
Boost 148x12mm thru-axle
PF92 bottom bracket shell
Internal cable routing=
Sizes: Small, Medium & Large
Bike RRP: £3300 – £5500

Featuring a carbon fibre mainframe and alloy sub-frame, the One-Sixty is a 160mm travel enduro bike.

The One-Sixty platform is currently only available in a carbon frame option. There are three models, starting at the base-model 5000 spec, and going up to the top-end 8000 spec. The 7000 sits in between, and it’s equipped with a mostly Shimano Deore XT 1×11 groupset with a RockShox suspension package and DT Swiss Spine E1700 wheels.

Merida One-Sixty Frame Geometry

There are only three size options for the One-Sixty. If you’re smaller than Small, or larger than Large, then unfortunately you’re out of luck with this bike. Merida being a humungous volume-based producer, this decision has likely been made based on predicted demand and the resulting effect on costings. As a result, there are only nine different SKU’s for the One-Sixty range. Compare that with a brand like Specialized or Trek that often produce multiple wheelsize options, 4-6 sizes, colour choices and numerous spec options for a given model (resulting in a SKU range that can sometimes approach triple figures), and you can see the difference in Merida’s conservative approach.

Pumped up with a 170mm travel Lyrik RC3 fork.

Directly next to the old One-Sixty platform, the new version has made a significant push into dedicated enduro territory. There’s a 170mm travel RockShox Lyrik RC fork up front, with a head angle that hovers just over 65°. Enduro Sensibility™ has been employed elsewhere on the One-Sixty platform also, with a piggyback rear shock spec’d along with tough wheels and tyres. Although the mainframe is crafted from carbon fibre, the back-end is all alloy for the inevitable scrapes and thumps the bike is likely to be subjected to.

Aggressive Maxxis Minion DHR II rubber. No paper-thin sidewalls or overtly fast-rolling Californian tyres here.

15x110mm thru-axle dropouts for the Lyrik RC fork bolt onto a DT Swiss straight-pull CNC machined hub shell.

Shimano Deore XT stoppers feature finned brake pads and a lower-spec’d stainless steel rotor.

A slightly smaller 180mm rotor for the direct-mount rear brake, with a Boost 148x12mm thru-axle.

The seat and chainstays on the One-Sixty frame are made from hydroformed alloy to save costs over using carbon fibre.

The 1×11 drivetrain on the One-Sixty 7000 comes from the Shimano Deore XT stable, with a decent spread of gearing from the 11-46t rear cassette, and anti-chainslap duties carried out by a Shadow Plus rear mech. Routing for the rear derailleur runs through the carbon downtube, before making a path through the drive-side alloy chainstay.

The 46t sprocket serves as a low-range climbing gear.

E1700 Spline wheels from DT Swiss use alloy rims with stainless steel eyelets and a 25mm internal rim width.

Changed over the previous One-Sixty, the new frame is built around a metric sized shock complete with trunnion mounting.

Clevis joints connect the alloy seatstays to the welded rocker linkage.

The rear shock ‘floats’ between the rocker link and chainstay.

The rear suspension represents the biggest change on the new One-Sixty platform. Gone is the virtual link design of old, and in its place is a more simplistic single pivot suspension design that uses a four-bar arrangement and a rocker link to drive the rear shock. Look a little closer however, and you’ll see that the lower shock eyelet mounts directly to the chainstay. Much like Trek’s Full Floater platform, this means the rear shock ‘floats’ inside the rear suspension linkage, with no fixed mount between it and the mainframe. The goal is to increase control over the rear suspension’s kinematics, and more specifically, to control the ramp-up at the end of the 160mm of travel.

Shimano Deore XT cranks with a 32t chainring and MRP 1x upper guide to provide added security over the non-narrow/wide tooth profile.

Nice stick-on rubber damper for the driveside chainstay.

Large removable cable ports at the head tube purportedly help with installation and removal, while also providing a secure clamping force on the cables so as to eliminate rattling and vibration of the cables inside the frame.

Very short little 35mm long stem.

Merida takes care of the cockpit with its own lock-on grips, alloy bar and stem.

Prologo saddle for perching one’s bottom.

Stealth-routed dropper post, but only with 125mm of travel.

Based on aesthetics and spec alone, the One-Sixty looks to be a cracker of a bike, though we’re eager to find out if that’s the case.

For the full spec’s of the Merida One-Sixty 7000, check out the list below, and keep your eyes on singletrackworld.com for the upcoming review to find out just how good this bike is for the money. And for more details on the rest of the One-Sixty range, jump on to merida-bikes.com for all of the info.