I’m after a hardtail for Dartmoor/Quantocks/Exmoor lumpy XC riding. The current Rockhopper just doesn’t inspire me….

I’ve had a blat around on a Merida Matts 800D. And for some reason I really liked it: I like the SLX groupset on it.

But I have a question mark in my head over the Manitou frok…

So does anyone ride a recent Merida, and do you like it? Any thoughts on recent Manitou?

I’ve not ridden a recent one.

But I wouldn’t be going anywhere near a manitou fork until they have a proper UK distributer and there are lots of other people raving about them again. Although I did like my Black that I had.

Get the 900d its only £50 more with XT and a reba fork.

800d
900d

agree with hopster, if the merida is your choice pay the extra £50 for the 900d, and that will allay your manitou worries,
but it looks like manitou have sorted themselves out,
i run a manitou r7 fork and it hasnt missed a beat, been v.impressed

i thought hotlines was the distributor for manitou in the uk?

Loads of people back home ride Meridas and they like them. As for the Manitou forks, I’ve had several pairs in recent years and they’re great. I’ve yet to find good Marzocchi made in these decade. No such issues with Manitous.

If you want a HT for Dartmoor duties Adam, it’s got to be steel. Anything else is a recipe for huge chiropractor bills.
Big Peaks do OnOne frames. Build one up and put whatever forks you like on it.

trailmonkey: my SS is steel as is my work bike. no argument on the material.

The large reason for going Merida is that the shop where I work stocks them, so I get a decent price
I have a 900d on order though 🙂 the Reba fork and XT is too good to miss.