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Submitted by
Erik Carlson
a Cross Country Rider
from Shawnee, Ks, USA
Date Reviewed: August 16, 2002 | | Favorite Trail: | Lower loop Basalt Mountain | | Duration Product Used: | Less than 1 month | | Price Paid: |
$3000.00 | | Purchased At: | River City Bicycles | | Strengths: | My Merlin extrafat has changed my life! I LOVE this frame. The extra fat chain stays and down tube give the bike a great ride. The seatstay crown is outstanding and makes for a much better softtail ride then Moots YBB. The soft tail makes the bike stick to the ground on climbs for 100% speed. The handling is outstanding thanks to the cannondale headshock ultra. THE FRAME HAS THE BEST Ti WELDS I HAVE SEEN! Every rider i see can't keep their eyes off my bike i love that. :) | | Weaknesses: | I feel sad if im not riding. But the only true weakness i have seen in this bike is that the dropouts are not disk comp. but i bought a merlin disk adapter that fits very snug on the dropout and seems to be as strong a the 2002 disk dropouts if installed correct. The other problem i had was the rear triangle was 1mm off when i got the frame but when i built the bike that problem went away. So in truth this frame is weakness free. | | Similar Products Used: | Moot YBB, Litespeed Pisgah | | Bike Setup: | Full Shimano XT. | | Bottom Line: | SWEET RIDE! I hope this is my life ride. This thing Floats over roots and rough stuff. See ya on the trail. | Value Rating: Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Bruce
a Cross Country Rider
from Ferndale, CA, USA
Date Reviewed: June 3, 2002 | | Favorite Trail: | Ossagon | | Duration Product Used: | Less than 1 month | | Price Paid: |
$1450.00 | | Purchased At: | Bikefarmer.com | | Strengths: | Beautiful, high quality construction, laterally stiff but vertically compliant, includes an excellent fork, titanium. | | Weaknesses: | Stuck with one brand of fork unless you purchase an adapter, limited suspension travel. | | Similar Products Used: | Litespeed Ocoee | | Bike Setup: | Profile Stiffy stem, Carumba cranks, 8-spd XTR derailleurs and hub, Mavic 217 ceramic rims, Litespeed seatpost, Frog pedals, Gripshift, XTR V-brakes w/Avid levers. | | Bottom Line: | I bought the bike as a frameset. It comes w/Cannondale fork, headset, and stem. Great value when you can get it for less than half of retail. Very stiff laterally because of large downtube (1 3/4" diameter), climbs well. Fork is very compliant but no flex and can be adjusted for damping or locked out while riding. I have ridden a Litespeed for 10 years. Merlin is owned by Litespeed, but this frame looks better cosmetically. I have 3 titanium bikes, one steel, and an aluminum mountain tandem and I favor the titanium over the other materials. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
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