Hey Joe,

haven't seen your bike before but what a beauty - frame is maybe a little heavy but it will ride good and looks fantastic!!!

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My blog
Scott Spark RC mtb
Scott Cx Team cross

Can I advise you a little tip for your rear derailleur? For the safety tabs of the cage you can use two little pieces of carbon (from the trimmed handlebar for example):
http://weightweenies.starbike.com/forum ... p?id=12647[/code]

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The New Italian Light Bikes Forum!
My bike

Here are some updates.Not really big ones.I'm still waiting for the Concorde,Skylines wheelset and some little CF stuff.
I've changed till now the steel cables for PC(except the der. cables),CF pulleys,cut the steer bar 2cm.Weight now is approx. 8.2kg(I've lend the hangscale! )
I still have some little work to do,but also at home so time is a bit a problem at the moment.I also want to ride!
Enjoy the pics.Any comments are always appreciated!







I think that,if you look good,those safety tabs are already on the cage.But thanks anyway for the tip!

I know it's not the lightest F frame,but you see a lot of Scotts for example,and the bike i had before was also a Merida.It was a perfect geometry and the bike feels really perfect for my kind of riding.So choosing the frame was not a difficult choice for me.That the frame weighs +/-500g more than a Scott,well,i can live with that.More bits to tune to get that weight lower then!
Thank you for the comment!

Greetings,
$mokeyJoe[/url]

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*Light is beautiful*
BMC SLC01 5900g ... Litespeed Vortex 6300g ... Merida Carbon Lite 7000g ... Velocite Selene 8000g ... Argon18 E114 +/-8500g ... Trek 1500 9500g

Ok, but in your way there is a small space betwenn the safety tab and the chain.

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The New Italian Light Bikes Forum!
My bike

I've done a little ride today to set the cables a bit and some fine tuning(seatpost height,seat angle i didn't write down any measures before taking apart the seapost for some weighing in another topic! ) and i've to say that the bike,beside that i hear a creak(don't really know wherefrom),performs really good.It flexes a bit,but i've learned dealing with that.The carbon is hard anyway.I think it's just the fork(and maybe a bit the stem) that flex most.
Those PowerCordz are really light handling also.I've set the tension so low,just enough to open the arms when not applying any force on the levers,that they really feel good.Stopping power is the same as before,but handling is so much more smooth!Incredible.As at the moment the rides are on dry,smooth hardpack,i don't know how it performs in muddy conditions.

See ya,
$mokeyJoe

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*Light is beautiful*
BMC SLC01 5900g ... Litespeed Vortex 6300g ... Merida Carbon Lite 7000g ... Velocite Selene 8000g ... Argon18 E114 +/-8500g ... Trek 1500 9500g

$mokey you are really going in the right direction with that bike!
Only thing I don't like is the colour of your brakes, they don't match the rest of the bike, give them a lick of paint

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Our team blog: http://rennsport.skynetblogs.be
dean colonel: http://weightweenies.starbike.com/phpBB ... hp?t=11164
scott spark: viewtopic.php?f=10&t=61140

I've got the same brakes in the same colour....it's not easy to paint Mg to keep it corrosion resisitant I believe....any ideas?

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Used to race....got too wrinkly and old Updated: Racing again! Thought this was unlikely! Eventually, I may even have a decent race!

My personal opinion:

- I think that frame is too bad for some too nice components you have like the brake levers or the seatpost or the seat or the cranks or the stem.

- blue anodized rules, but i hate the, blue silver blue silver on the tune housings.

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Happy trails !!!!!

That was my first impression also,but i've to admit that i get used to the colour and it doesn't fit that bad at all.After all,the frame has quite some colours,not meaning that i've to make a circus bike,but i find it ok,not more,not less...Beside,theremery is right about painting the Mg.I know that Mg is quite delicate to work on.And adding some colour on the original,means also adding weight! I would prefer kind of anodizing them.Any ideas of giving them another colour beside putting some layer of paint on it?
And yeah,i've been looking for a long time on the WW and other sites for choosing the right components for my dreambike!Now it's time that i make a topic with my build!

About the frame,all i can say is that it feels really good biking on it.It's not the lightest one,certainly not,but it's the best HT frame of Merida.My formerly bike was also a Merida and i had km and km's driving with it and was so happy that i had to buy another Merida,with the same geometry!Of course,i could change to a custom Ti or so,but hey,a Ti frame costs like two or three times more than this carbon one.Maybe in the future i'll build another one(probably a softail or fully) and then maybe i'll choose a Ti one.But i didn't want to buy a Scott or Giant.I don't say that they're bad,after all they've been on the market for almost beginning of MTB bikes,but i haven't seen a Merida before with some lightweight components.Also Merida has been a long time in business.They've made frames for other big name manufacturers like Speci,i believe.Maybe i've to get a sponsorship from Merida!
Yeah,blue anodized is also my favourite colour!why?

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*Light is beautiful*
BMC SLC01 5900g ... Litespeed Vortex 6300g ... Merida Carbon Lite 7000g ... Velocite Selene 8000g ... Argon18 E114 +/-8500g ... Trek 1500 9500g

Dude, this is a dope bike. The color of the brakes fits the riders willingness to buy some extreme parts (seatpost and saddle). The brakes are an accent. Maybe that doesn't make sense but this is a Ferrari of racing machines to me. I would trade my bike for this one in a minute.

I'm using a speedneedle at the moment but prefer the concorde as it is a little "softer" and lighter. $mokes you could always get EL brakes. But cheers! I had your saddle riding around my house as P*rn for awhile!

Well done!

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Ah . . . "Battoowoo Greekgreek"

put the flamethrower on it

great looking bike, some real nice parts on it...be careful with when you get the tune skyline wheelset...i dont trust those hubs for off road riding...
good luck

A really nice build, only think I can't say I like are the brakes.. the color does not match the rest of the bike and parts. the rusty red/brown combined with the anodized blue parts... neh.. absolutely not my choice.

Overall a really nice bike

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Sniperworks bike site

Very nice and fast looking bike! Congrats for a job well done!!!

About the colours and the brakes:
I think the blue colour of the cranks matches your skewers and the blue racing line on your top and down tube. The rusty brakes match a bit with the two red lines on your frame and the brand of your tires. Maybe far fetched, but I think it's a nice detail.

Well,

There still are some changes to be done on the bike,and maybe i should get the EL brakes.It saves me even like 50g on the total set then!
I'm also thinking of another fork,as the black SID doesn't match that great with the white front of the bike.I was always thinking of a WC or something like that,but i'm getting hot for that new German A: carbon that (hopefully) come out one of these.
The Concorde saddle didn't arrive yet.I've bought it via internet,but it appears to take quite a lot of time to arrive...strange...
The wheels are still at Tune,but i could understand that they'll be soon ready for sending!*Juhuu!*I hope they're pretty well for off-roading,as i bought them to use them off-road! If not they won't get any chilli flame!
Anyone other suggestions for some weight dropping?Tips are always welcome.I still have to shave like 100g for reaching my goal.But please,don't give me a tip like riding 300g tyres,as i can't using them for my riding style.The Continental Twister SS is the less knob profile that i can use here.So no unrideable tyres,nor alu cassette.And...i still want to keep the granny and the barends.

Thanks again for the replies!Till now,they've helped me a lot with the build of my dreambike!

Greetings,
$mokeyJoe

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*Light is beautiful*
BMC SLC01 5900g ... Litespeed Vortex 6300g ... Merida Carbon Lite 7000g ... Velocite Selene 8000g ... Argon18 E114 +/-8500g ... Trek 1500 9500g