Administrators SickBiker Posted October 3, 2018 Administrators Share Posted October 3, 2018 There will be no friendship here... This season I was able to kick ass! I've ridden thousands of miles for my training and I used it to perform some long distance testing as well. Merida Scultura 5000 was one of the bike, that went through a tough test. I didn't like though, as it just doesn't fit to the main Merida philosophy, which is M.O.R.E Bike. Let me tell you why... Nothing M.O.R.E, but a road bike. I'll start with the advantages - it will be easier that way. The bike has a well designed CF2 carbon frame and fork. The frameset is quite compliant and when we add a carbon seatpost to it, the outcome is a comfy climbing bike. CF2 stands for Carbon Fiber 2 - the less expensive type of fibers used for building the frame. Another strong side of this roadie is it's geometry. It is well balanced - not to aggressive, but still race-ready. A larger head tube allows to ride on the drops more often, which is actually more aero, than riding on the hoods of an aggressive bike. Kudos to Merida for putting the REAL bike weight on their website too. 8,3 kg in this case. The bike also looks cool, but that's it... What are the components?? We often say to our friends: "I've got an Ultegra bike", or "Sram Red equipped bike". In this case though, we would say... well... "I've got a kinda Ultegra, Merida, R561, R510 bike"... Yes, the mix is pretty bad. For about 2300 $ we get the Shimano Ultegra R800 derrailleurs and shifters, but all other parts meant saving money for Merida. The frameset deserves some nice Shimano 105 complete groupset. Instead, we get rather poor stopping power and the rear caliper makes a lot of noise, especially while braking and turning. Weird thing. The direct mount brakes from 105 groupset would be so much better. The crankset doesn't belong to any groupset - it is the Shimano RS 510. Oh, these cables... Again! I stumble upon this problem with so many bike brands. Air space technologies, carbon fiber frame, superlight construction and these cable rattle as hell... The internal cable routing is a nightmare. It's OK, when you ride on a smooth tarmac, but don't try any bumpy roads or cobblestones. The housing hits the inside of a top tube very badly. Even my trick with using the zip ties for tensioning the cables works only for a smaller bumps. Merida, please fix this, or make just the external cables. I didn't ask for the internals The Merida Scultura 5000 could be a great bike, if the components were better - not necessarily HIGHER, just BETTER. I would really prefer no Ultegra, but better 105 brakes. I can see, that the 2019 model is already on a complete Ultegra groupset. Just wonder about its price... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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