It’s no secret that the writers at Singletrack love a nice boutique hardtail. The lure of a custom steel frame, painstakingly brazed together by a bloke who looks like he got lost on the way to the Glastonbury Festival in the 1970s in his garden shed, is undeniable. But for those of us who are on more of a real world budget, the humble hardtail has its attractions too. Aside from the lower upfront cost, there’s the promise of less maintenance, a versatile bike that can race one day and commute the next, and the big cheesy grin that comes from smoothing your way through a gnarly section of trail with nothing but your superior riding technique. And that’s something that the Merida Big.Trail promises.
Merida’s new Big.Trail series seems to embody all of these virtues, with a great value spec combined with a versatile 29er wheel size and thrashable geometry. I was able to get a cheeky few days of riding on the range-topping Big.Trail 600 ahead of its official launch this week, in some amazing weather too. I love it when a plan comes together.
Merida are one of the biggest bike manufacturers in Taiwan, and have some serious expertise in alloy frame construction. The frame of the Big.Trail 600 is a showcase of tube manipulation (oo-er), with a tonne of clearance for big tyres, protruding fork crowns, and bulbous heels. The geometry isn’t exactly tearing up the rulebook, but nor is it stuck in the past, with our medium test bike featuring a 65.5 degree head angle and a decent 435mm of reach. There’s internal cable routing (boo), a threaded BB shell (yay), three water bottle mounts (triple yay) and even concealed rack and mudguard mounts, for when you need one bike to do everything. Our test bike came with an odd little bracket on the chainstay yoke, which is apparently a kickstand mount, and internal routing for a front mech: for obvious reasons, neither of these will appear on the production version.
Heading up the build list of the Big.Trail 600 is Marzocchi’s Z2 fork, in a 140mm travel, 44mm offset version. Marzocchi forks are starting to regain their old reputation as reliable performers for riders who aren’t too bothered about weight, but the Z2s are much more suited to all-round trail use than their coil ‘n’ oil boat anchors of yore. The fork is more like a budget Fox 34, with some obvious cost savings (like the plastic adjuster knobs), as well as some nice surprises, more of which later.
Forward propulsion is facilitated by a mix of a Raceface chainset, and a 12-speed Shimano Deore cassette, derailleur and shifter. The cassette features a “one louder” 51-tooth bottom gear, meaning any climb should be theoretically cleanable, although it’s also quite a weighty beast thanks to its pinned steel construction. Merida have also equipped the Big.Trail with a chain guide, as if to say “go forth and get rad”. It looks slightly bodged, but the chain hasn’t fallen off yet. Another nice touch is the use of SRAM’s UDH mech hanger, a brave attempt to standardise one of the most non-standard bits of modern frames. As well as being designed to pivot backwards from an impact instead of breaking, the hanger should be readily available at any SRAM stockist.
Braking is courtesy of Shimano’s Deore components again, but from the lower-end M4100 series. This means no Servo-Wave brake levers to add power, just a longer lever. However the brake and gear shifter use the same mount, giving a nice tidy handlebar, lever reach is adjustable, and there’s no dreaded orange “resin pads only” sticker on the rotors.
At £1,500, we’re firmly in the territory where bikes come with dropper posts, and the Big.Trail 600 obliges, with a 150mm drop Merida own-brand post operated by a Shimano lever, which, like the gear shifter, shares one mount with the brake. There’s a detachable lever for the bolt-up hub axles with a 4 and 6mm stepped hex key. For a final flourish, the saddle has a neat little integrated multitool holder underneath.
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The Big.Trail Ride
Out on the hill, the Big.Trail 600 lives up to it promise. Everything works as it should, and the geometry is progressive enough not to feel like it’s holding the bike back. The Marzocchi fork copes with hard hits extremely well, and actually feels more composed than the affordable version of the Fox 34.
The 2.4in Maxxis Dissector tyres are ideal for dry and mixed conditions, and clear mud well, although you’ll probably want something spikier for winter riding.They also measure up quite narrow, which is a shame given the ample tyre clearance of the frame and fork. Our test bike came as stock with ultra-light ultra-thin inner tubes. Luckily I swapped the rear over to a tubeless setup before the first ride, or it might have been a short one.
Unlike some price point full sussers I’ve ridden, there’s very little to remind you that the Big.Trail was put together on a tight budget. The nice clean cockpit and 150mm dropper post are a refreshing change from the sort of compromises that show up on lower-end bikes. The brakes lack a bit of feel compared to higher end models with Servo-Wave, although they do still have a fair bit of power. The wide range cassette adds a noticeable bit of weight to the back wheel, but it’s probably a worthwhile trade-off for having a low enough gear no matter how ugly the climb.
The Big.Trail 600 isn’t perfect. While I wouldn’t expect an alloy hardtail to magically smooth out the trail for me, the beefy chainstay yoke and burly stays make for a bit of a chattery ride. The stock stem was slightly on the long side for me, and the 175mm cranks meant a few pedal-ground moments, although nothing like as many as would happen on a full susser.
The main issue was the noise from the bike once you get a bit of speed up. The cables rattle in the frame, and the chain jangles a bit, even with the derailleur clutch fully engaged, thanks to the length required to reach that massive bottom gear. I suspect the Big.Trail’s running commentary could be silenced by expending a couple of quid on a bit of stick-on velcro and a thicker chainstay protector, but I didn’t really have time to play around.
Three things that could be improved on the Big.Trail
- The cables and chain are a bit noisy once you get up to speed.
- Ultra-light inner tubes need ditching if you ride anywhere rocky.
- The back of the bike is pretty unforgiving – another reason to set it up tubeless as soon as you can.
Three things we loved about the Big.Trail
- The Z2 fork is a cut above the sort of suspension you normally see at this price point.
- Great tyre clearance is always nice to see.
- The on-bike multitool means no rummaging in the bottom of your bag ever again.
Overall
A complete Big.Trail 600 costs less than many full suspension frames, but it still delivers a great riding experience. There are one or two things I’d change about the bike if it were mine, but nothing which was enough to spoil the fun. The weather cheered up massively just as the Big.Trail arrived, which might have swayed my opinion of it, but with a front tyre swap I get the feeling it’d be just as much of a hoot to ride in a muddy winter. Its versatility, solid performance and great value build mean it’s definitely worth a closer look.
Merida Big.Trail 600 Specifications
- Frame // Merida Big.Trail, 120-150mm fork compatible
- Available Sizes // S, M, L, XL
- Fork // Marzocchi Z2, 140mm travel, 44mm offset
- Chainset // Raceface direct mount
- Bottom Bracket // Raceface threaded 73mm
- Chain // Shimano Deore 12-speed
- Cassette // Shimano Deore 10-51T
- Shifter // Shimano Deore, 12-speed
- Hubs // Shimano Deore
- Rims // Merida TR, 29mm width, tubeless compatible
- Tyres // Maxxis Dissector EXO, 2.4in
- Brakes // Shimano Deore M4100
- Handlebar // Merida 780mm
- Stem // Merida
- Grips // Merida
- Headset // Merida semi-integrated
- Seatpost // Merida Comp, 150mm drop
- Saddle // Merida Comp with saddle box
- Price // £1,500.00
- Weight // 30lbs/13.6kg
- Available from // https://www.merida-bikes.com/en
Great and engaging review. That chain guide and randomly sited full stop do trouble me greatly though.
Cheekysprocket, you’re lucky I didn’t use the CAPITAL LETTERS too…
Like the look of this, but always put off by the weight. I’m looking for a trail hardtail but would prefer it not to weigh around the same as my full sus bike. I guess with a lighter set of wheels and a SLX/XT cassette it could lose a couple of pounds though.
Just put an order in for this today at a very reasonable price from my lbs. Excited.
You might want to check whats etched on the rotor as those Resin only stickers are easy to remove and that looks like a (Resin only) RT-10 rotor.
@Ben, you appear to be correct. Gah.
How tall are you? At 5’9” with shortish legs should I go medium or large?
@jupiter, I’m 5ft 10″ and was advised to go for large by my local dealer.
Thanks for that, some thinking to be done.
I’m 5’10 and the medium felt fine, but a longer reach and shorter stem would definitely unleash more hooning potential.
How would you stack this up against a comparable Whyte unit?
The price and geometry seem very similar to the Calibre Line 29 (£885)which I bought as a temporary ‘new dad bike’ because I’m not likely to actually get out on it much in the near future.
Terry27, the nearest equivalent is probably the Whyte 627, which has a Rock Shox 35 fork. I’ve not spent any time on a 35 but the Z2 is supposed to be a cut above. On the other hand the Whyte has longer reach and better brakes. But it’s £100 more. Tough decision!
If as I suspect the Whyte 627 has a better riding frame then that’s likely to be a better investment. Nicely written review but it sounds like the harsh backend of the bike let’s it down which I think is the most important part of a hardtail.
It’s a shame it’e not available in the UK in colour scheme pictured.
UK bikes only come in blue.
@safathedog I’ve just paid a deposit on one of these and this year we get purple with black forks. PURPLE!!