Well know as purveyors of value for money mountain and road bikes, the folks at Merlin have just released their first ever cyclocross bike – the X2.0
Uk designed and Belgian made, the Euro roots will come out in the race bred handling. High-ish (67mm drop) BB for pedal clearance in ruts and hoiking round 180 dead turns, and loads of shouldering room with a traditional (rather than sloping) top tube. A standard 1-1/8th headtube surrounds the carbon fork and despite the Flemish heritage, there are no canti brakes here – the x2.0 frameset is disc only.
Two builds will be available with the same 7005 T6 aluminium frame and carbon fork, and both use Avid bb7 mechanical disc brakes. £799.99 will see you receive a Shimano 9speed Sora equipped machine, while an extra £200 will get you a 105 set up with the extra gears and longer life span the higher spec groupset offers.
If that wasn’t enough, there are also a couple of ‘commuter’ specs available. An extra £20 will see tarmac friendly tyres and full mudguards fitted from the get go.
As ever, you can check out the bikes in store, or via the Merlin website.
