MERIDA NINETY-SIX 8000
Merida’s classic XC race bike gets a modern makeover; we ride the down-country version
Merida’s Ninety-six has been a stalwart of the XC and marathon race scene for many years now. It was the whip of choice for XC legends Gunn-rita Dahle Flesjå and José Hermida on the gnarlier tracks of the World Cup circuit, as well as hugely popular among privateer racers in countries like Hermida’s native Spain.
For 2020 it’s had a timely revamp; the old model was getting long in the tooth and was hamstrung by outdated geometry, a clumsy remote lockout and even a front derailleur mount (remember them).
For the new model, Merida has modernised the geometry, refined the remote, binned the front mech, deleted the old seatstay pivot and streamlined the whole frame. The result is a clean-looking XC bike with a crouching, poised-to-pounce profile that screams head-down speed. Or pain...
More excitingly, if you love hammering around your favourite trails on a minimal bike that enjoys having fun as much as it craves raw speed, Merida has also introduced a ‘down-country’ version. It’s called the 8000 and it gets a longer-travel SID fork (120mm instead of 100mm), proper trail tyres (2.4in Maxxis Minion DHR II) and a four-piston front brake. The bad news is that there’s only one down-country option in the range, and it’s over £6k; we’d love to see the concept trickle down to a lowerprice point.
As the same frame design is used throughout the range, all models benefit from the massive, sturdy head tube area, internal cable routing, twin bottle cage bosses and under-top tube gear strap mount. What does change is the specification of the carbon; the top RC 9000 model gets a CF5 lay-up, saving 150g, while the other three models get the slightly heavier CF4. Not that we’re complaining though – our large Ninetysix 8000 still weighed a paltry 11.46kg, even with inner tubes fitted.
If you’re familiar with Merida’s naming process, Ninety-six refers to the rear wheel travel. Or it used to, back in the day, on one of the model’s earlier iterations. Now it has a claimed 100mm, even if we measured it just shy of that mark at 95mm. And this is delivered via a swing-link beneath the down tube driving a Rockshox SIDLUXE shock.
Like most short-travel carbon bikes, the swingarm is a one-piece affair designed to deflect as the suspension compresses. The minimal design saves weight and costs less to produce, and while on some bikes the extra spring of the carbon stays can overcome the damping in the shock and negatively impact on the suspension consistency, the Ninety-six felt lively and active on small bumps but never bucked on bigger hits. It’s a really