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hi guys mark from singletrack magazine
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I'm in northwest Spain at the launch of
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the new 2020 Merida II 160 amount Mike
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I'm gonna give you a run-through of the
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main changes between this new bike and
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last year's version I'm gonna give you
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my own thoughts as well on this bike
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having ridden it around the local trails
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here just outside of girona for the past
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but first let's run through the spec on
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this top-of-the-line 10k model and point
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10k is the model name and it's not the
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price I'm gonna save that revelation
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until the end and keep you guessing
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starting at the front there's a Fox 36
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factory a mountain bike specific fork
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it's been beefed up in the crowd and the
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stanchions to be able to deal with the
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extra weight and other forces that being
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at the pointy end of a bike that weighs
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48 pounds brings to the trail at the
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rear we have the Fox factory x2 shock
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it's a high volume shock that's
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particularly plush and group set wise we
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have a full xtr spread from shifting to
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for pop brakes at both ends now don't
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adjust your monitor yes
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something doesn't quite look right from
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this angle have you spotted it yet yes
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it's a mullet bike 29 at the front and
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27.5 at the rear the smaller wheel at
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the back has two functions one elects
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the bike have a reasonably short for an
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e mountain bike chainstay length of 440
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millimeters in fact on this medium sized
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exactly mirrors the reach at the front
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it's very symmetrical I do like that
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we'll come back to the top reach numbers
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later number two there's more torque
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being put through the rear wheel by the
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motor since the wheel is actually
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smaller although it's a topic of debate
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as to whether that's a good thing or not
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on an e-bike especially in boost mode
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where sometimes you can actually get
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yourself into quite a bit of trouble on
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the trail in boost mode if you're not
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too careful all the points to note are
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the Merida expert dropper post the full
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carbon and yet ebike specific DT Swiss
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wheels and the 2.5 maxis mini and tire
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and the maxis 2.6 as a go tire now
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interestingly those tire sizes have come
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down a little bit from last year's model
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make of that what you will and finally
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we have the elephant in the room the
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brand new Shimano battery and motor
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system this is the new BT 803 v battery
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that's running inside that down tube now
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Shimano calls it an integrated system
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and yes I know that all previous
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batteries technically have been
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integrated but this is Shimano's first
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battery to be designed specifically to
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fit inside the downtube let's have a
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closer look so you can see that the
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battery is accessed by just pulling on
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this rubber tab here moving it upwards
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and there we have it now to pop that
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battery out you just take the clever
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tool that's built into the rear axle and
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do this now you can throw in your second
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battery oh yes I forgot to mention that
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with the 10k model here you get two very
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sweet extras a second battery and a new
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to carry it all in check this out open
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the pack and this is a pouch
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specifically for your extra battery the
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battery provides the standard 504 watt
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hours of power so with the extra battery
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you get over a kilowatt of power to keep
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you riding all day and all that
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interesting design development from last
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year is the introduction of an all
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carbon front triangle this solved a
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problem with having a dirty great hole
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in the bottom of the down tube to put
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the battery in turns out with alloy it's
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a little hard to keep the stiffness to
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where Marida want it to be so they fix
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that by using carbon in a very clever
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way in so doing however they have
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introduced a new problem which is heat
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dissipation it turns out that alloy is a
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very good dissipater of heat from the
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battery pack but carbon is much less so
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meridia fix that by introducing what
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they called the thermal port at the top
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of the down tube this is basically just
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a vent to allow the heat from the
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battery pack to rise up through the down
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tube and out through the vent
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I want to talk a little bit about the
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geometry of this bike the head angle
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this year has got slacker
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by half a degree to 65 point five and
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the seat post has actually got a little
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bit steeper which puts you further
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forward on the front when riding the
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reach on this bike which is a medium is
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440 millimeters on a large that would be
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460 millimeters now some would say
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that's not all that long considering the
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trend for long bikes these days but it
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is comfortable and on the topic of
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comfort the head tube it's really quite
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high which puts you as a rider in a more
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much more upright position again that
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that's good for comfort but it's not
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particularly all that great for
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technical riding but what does all this
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mean of a marine had gone soft on their
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designs well once you read through the
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marketing material you start to
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understand the bit of about what they're
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trying to do here having ridden it for a
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day and a half I can vouch for
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comfort and the plushness of both the
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suspension settled and the geometry now
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that's great for beginners and perhaps
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the more senior ride as a monsters of
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which I count myself as one but those
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looking for a more aggressive ride that
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you can throw down technical rocky
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sections as well as hit the climbs
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really hard and let's remember that the
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beauty of a mountain bikes is that you
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can really attack the climbs almost as
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hard as you can attack the descents it's
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here I had the most issues with this
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bite on the really steep climbs I
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struggled to keep that high end down on
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the ground and on fast technical
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sections the high front end meant that
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it was a bit of an effort to keep your
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weight over the front but for me these
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are minor points for you especially if
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you're perhaps a younger more aggressive
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experienced rider then you it may be
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more of an issue the balance of this
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bike overall is for want of a better
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word planted and by that I mean the
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weight of which there is much is way
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down low and that low center of gravity
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means that you can throw it around the
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bends really quite easily
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overall it behaves on the trail like a
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much lighter bike clinic actually it's
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so in summary this bike is aimed at the
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all-day ride as much as those techno
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lovers it's very much aimed at the all
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mountain biker from beginner to all-day
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expert marina is saying that this bike
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is meant to replace most of the bikes in
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your collection and could even be your
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only bike for all your riding which
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brings me neatly onto the price this is
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the top-of-the-line model it comes with
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an extra battery and it comes even with
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its own custom luggage for that battery
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and for all that you will need to lay
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out nine and a half thousand pounds oh
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if marina are hoping this becomes your
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only bite they may be on to something
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there if you do get one it's a
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reasonable probability that you won't be
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able to afford any other
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like um but like I said I've only ridden
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this bike for a little over a day so
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we're gonna have to get one in for a
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much more comprehensive test over the
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we've got time to do that it's currently
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late May but this model bike doesn't
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come out until the autumn so I'm really
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looking forward to getting one of these
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bikes back to the UK and testing it out
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on my local trails for a bit longer
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that's all for now watch out for more on
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this bike once we've got it in for a
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longer test and don't forget to hit that
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subscribe button and ring that bell to
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be notified when we publish more videos
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like this one so until next time see you
