Hi, I have a top of the line (£7250 RRP) super light weight Merida Ninety Nine Team (med). Exact same bike ridden by the Merida sponsored riders in 2012 Olympics. Carbon & Ti everything!!
Absolutely excellent condition with very little mileage on the clock. Just wondering if there is still a market for such bikes as my old legs are beyond riding it to its full potential & I was thinking of buying something a little more sedate!
There is a pdf download of the bike here, if it helps (Ninety-Nine CF Team-D-39):
https://www.merida-bikes.com/en_int/bikes-archive-2012-int-1152.html

and a video showing the frame here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cysvDtao3a4

My enquiry is really so that I could know what sort of price range to pitch into or whether there is any demand at all for such a bike in 26″ format now that all racers seem to be on 29ers.
I have really only used it as a very light weight, light duty trail bike & even have an extra 27.2 dropper post to make it more trail friendly. Again I am not sure if there is any demand for such a bike in this part of the market?
Thought folk on here would have more idea than me!
Any comments welcome.
Cheers
Mick

No.

Anyone racing XC will be on bigger wheels and anyone not racing won’t want to pay over the odds for “just a bike”.

So, you’ll likely find a buyer if you pitch it cheap enough.

Edit: if it’s a Small/XS then perhaps someone might want it for a smaller teenager who is into racing?

I’m sure someone would love to own it, sadly XC race machines are a niche buy and probably the first genre of MTB to embrace bigger wheels so you might have to wait a long time for a buyer unless it’s well priced – sadly I don’t think the old rule of thumb of 50% depreciation in the first year and 10% per year there after will apply here.

Couple of quick replies! Thanks guys.
I was not expecting to be drawing a big price. To be honest I bought it in 2013 & paid nothing like the full RRP as I bought it brand new but at discount, after Merida had already moved on to the bigger wheels for the sponsored riders. I guess the initial responses bear out my thoughts that it will need to be priced for the general mtb market.
Interesting to hear these & any other informed opinions.

You’re looking at 700-800 quid I reckon. It’s one of those things, you need to decide if it’s worth more to you than that amount of money.

Maybe look at some examples of what comparable (new) things sell for now:-

e.g. Top end carbon DT Swiss 26″ fork, sub 1300g, £800 originally – we grabbed one a few years ago in Decathlon sale for £200 (brand new and perfect for kid’s mtbs). https://www.decathlon.co.uk/dt-swiss-xrc-forks-100mm-id_8318095.html

Also know a bike shop that bought a batch of 26″ Scott Scale frames (just as 29ers took over). Slowly selling them but not exactly flying off the shelves. http://www.walliscycles.com/acatalog/copy_of_Mountain_Bikes.html

Your bike is unlikely to appeal to the Enduro / Trailcentre crowd. 90% of bikes at National XC races are 29ers, so that leaves a fairly small target market – someone will buy it, but they are likely to be expecting a bargain price.

That said there are still quite a few people on 26ers who might be interested in parts, might be worth breaking it and selling the parts if it’s only had light use.

For example I’m building up a 26er shortly as I’ve got a 26er carbon wheel set and some nearly new 1/18forks I’m not prepared to part with yet, so I’ve bought a new frame, managed to find a straight steer cube analog frame brand new to transplant onto.

Limited Market but if it’s good kit it will sell.

Worth anything in the future-retro market?

Wow! Super responses. I knew I would get decent advice but so far exceeding all expectations in the detail provided.
All seems to be confirming my feeling that things had moved on dramatically.
Starting to come to the conclusion that the bike will be staying with me. Even though it’s not perfect for my ageing bike legs, it’s still a lovely bike &, as Nobeerinthefridge points out, probably worth more to me than the money it would command in today’s market.

I bought a cube reaction for 1/3 of rrp. It was nearly new. Its a great bike and I ride a lot of bridle ways etc. its hard work at trail centres though – i would prefer a 100/120mm trail bike.

Nothing wrong with being ‘over biked’ there are adjustments you can make to fit you better, different tyres, etc. but it sounds like a very nice bike, so I’d maybe look at tweaking it a bit to suit you, rather than selling it.. Unless you plan to stop riding, in which case it’s a simple economic question, are the individual parts worth more than selling it as a complete bike.

All good advice. Was not planning on stopping riding. Have been looking at other more relaxed geometry bikes and just wanted to explore my financial options with regards to a change. Last time I really looked closely at the mtb market was 2013 when I bought this one. Quickly became apparent that things had moved on apace so thought I would seek some advice! Might try an exploratory advert just to see if I get any reasonable offers but no point in annoying folk with unrealistic pricing. Maybe a few tweaks if I’m hanging on to it. Many thanks to all who have replied.

You’ll get most money if you sell parts separately (if you can be bothered)

Frame and Forks £300?
Groupset £300
Wheels £150
Brakes £100

Have you thought about rebuilding a different frame with some of your parts?

If you plan to keep riding why sell? Get some wider bars, a taller stem and possibly some 120mm forks and that should make it a bit more relaxed. You could easily transform that bike in my opinion.

All good thought provoking stuff.
I have certainly considered tweaking things as well as selling and starting afresh. The whole purpose of asking for advice was to see whether folk on here thought there was enough value in the bike to warrant selling rather than putting time & money into new parts, albeit selling the old bits. Trouble with tweaking (& I have done plenty over the years) is that you are really just compromising & sometimes don’t get the result you intended.
Jury is still out but at least I have a better idea on sales issues now!
I also have one other possible plan which is to spend even more money on physios or osteopaths to see if I can get my injured knee (which is at the heart of the problem) back to full fitness. So far, in 2 years, this has only seen partial success. Hence my desire to sort something out and enjoy the dry trails on offer at the moment. Annoyingly, I have had less issues road biking but I don’t want to drop the trail riding which I really enjoy most.

Sorry if you’ve mentioned this but I’ve only had time for a quick skim read.

If it was overtly XC, were you on clipless? Might be worth trying flats to see if it helps the knee?

In terms of bikes, I’d agree with the tweak what you’ve got. My father (in late 70s) grabbed a nice KHS a few years ago. Very light for the money but also a 26er. He finished his x9 1×10 conversion etc just as he realized big wheels were the go to for his riding. He has kept it though. Currently swapping the 75mm stem for a 50mm as he fitted higher rise fatbar lites which he feels raised the front of the bike enough to help with aging shoulders.

All the best with getting out there and riding again.

Who was the bloke you went to for the road bike fit, Mick? That worked well for you; how about keeping the bike and seeing if there are some position tricks that will help your knee? Like you’ve said earlier, I doubt you’ll get the money deserving of the bike and whilst I know you like a new bike, it’s a pretty awesome machine.

Great bike. I had a Ninety Six and sold that to a chap on here for £750 maybe 2 years ago if I recall. That was Team D too.

If it was overtly XC, were you on clipless? Might be worth trying flats to see if it helps the knee?

Blimey folk must be psychic on here. Just had this pedal conversation about 30 minutes ago. Hard to decide whether the Speedplay Frogs I use are helping or hindering with the extra float they provide. I also talked to the road bike fitting guy already, Paul. Tried altering set up along the lines he came up with initially and then a few other ideas he came up with when I had follow up talks. Definitely improved things. Maybe I just expect too much from ageing & slightly battered joints! Thing is the bike requires you to attack a lot of stuff pretty hard. It is what it is; designed to be ridden fast!

I have an old 26inch Orange 5. Very different bike I know, I fitted a shorter stem, wider bars, flat pedals and drilled the frame to fit a dropper seatpost and remote. Love the bike now and can’t see a reason to change bar the obvious lust for something new.

To anyone reading this later. The answer to my question was actually “Yes”. I advertised the bike in a few spots and found a buyer looking for a 26″ wheel race bike (not from STW). Serious & very good rider who simply wanted something light and classy & drove for an hour to pick it up. Sold the bike for well above the amount estimated in this post – though still below what it might have fetched pre the 29er revolution. Simple answer “quality will always sell as long as your aren’t too greedy.” Problem now is that I have sold without finding another bike!

Good result then mate. Must admit I have found many of the STW valuations to be nonsense so always worth casting the net.

There was a market….but you sold him your bike.

Simple answer “quality will always sell as long as your aren’t too greedy.”

Or even simpler answer “anything will always sell as long as you aren’t too greedy”

Sold my 26″ Pivot Mach 5.7 Carbon to a colleague for his son to ride. Well, to be precise, fly, as he spends more time off the ground than on it! Perfect bike for him and he absolutely loves it. Well worth the modest sum paid for it.

e.g. Top end carbon DT Swiss 26″ fork, sub 1300g, £800 originally – we grabbed one a few years ago in Decathlon sale for £200 (brand new and perfect for kid’s mtbs). https://www.decathlon.co.uk/dt-swiss-xrc-forks-100mm-id_8318095.html

Completely unrelated, but these are fundamentally the same forks designed and manufacturer by Pace, who sold the whole thing, wholesale, to DTSwiss a few years back. Great forks, but need more maintenance than you would expect to see on a modern RockShox or Fox fork. Classy design though, with full carbon lower legs. Just sold a 10yo set of Pace RC41 for nearly £100, so they might be a future classic 🙂

I’m trying to shift a fantastic Kona Heihei FS in 26″ form, the scandium one. Anyone want to make me an offer?