Australian Mountain Bike — December 01, 2017

http://www.ambmag.com.au - 79

TESTED

All other numbers on the One-Sixty are similar
to some of its competition with short 430mm
chainstays and a slack 65.3° head angle. These
numbers offer a guide as to how a bike could feel
but it’s only on the trail when the sum of its parts
can either sing in harmony or leave you standing
on the side of the track scratching your head.

ON THE TRAIL

The test location for a bike of this demeanour
should match its burly nature. The downhill
and enduro trails of Bright and Mt Beauty were
chosen to hopefully bring out the best or uncover
the worst of the Merida One-Sixty 6000. Bikes
like these should aim to be relatively adaptable
to overcome as much terrain as the rider wishes

to cover - so the test did include trails and rides

that would challenge the bike at both ends of the

‘gnar’ spectrum.

Modern enduro races and regular rides can

include good proportions of climbing up both

trails and roads. Save for people living under a

chairlift (not many) or having a shuttle car on

standby, an enduro bike needs to pedal efficiently

and be comfortable doing so. A 30-minute

liaison to the top of a trail can drag on if the

suspension is acting like a pogo stick. Thankfully,

the RockShox Super Deluxe RCT has a lockout

function and the Lyric RC fork has a low-speed

dial that can set the front end to firm for climbing.

These features were very welcome during the

test, and while they couldn’t completely

mask the fact you’re riding a 14kg enduro rig

up a climb, they did mean you can get out of

the seat every now and then to stretch the

legs and still have a stiff pedalling platform.

Speaking of getting out of the seat, the

long geometry mentioned earlier came into

play in that situation as the long front-end

reach meant there was plenty of room to

move around. Your knees can go up and

down without constant fear of smashing

into a gear lever and you don’t feel too far

over the handlebars when climbing out of

the seat. The SRAM GX Eagle with a lowest

gear of 32-50 also helped make the climbs

go a little easier. The Maxxis Minions didn’t

really come into their own on the climb and

‘trundled’ a little bit. If this was my bike I

would probably change to a calmer tread

such as the Maxxis Aggressor (on at least

the rear) to make the liaisons a bit smoother.