You might recall, five years or so ago, when World Cup XC announcers spent roughly 90% of the commentary debating wheel sizes. Now the diameter discussion has shifted to enduro and DH bikes, with most athletes selecting the big hoops or a mullet mix of the two. The largely science-free debate seems to have reached a fuzzy conclusion that 29ers are for racing and 27.5″ bikes are for playing. Nonetheless, plenty of enduro and DH racers are still lining up with midsize rubber on the ground, and Bryn Atkinson can throw tricks with the best of them on a 29er.
For 2020, Merida Bikes is offering a lineup of all-mountain and enduro sleds that favors the 27.5″ side of that debate. In fact, there are no 29ers in the lineup until their model’s travel squishes down to the 120mm mark. Given this level of confidence from one of the largest bike brands in the world, I was stoked to spend some time on their One-Sixty 700 enduro bike.
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