Today
I wanted to test the Merlin in some more challenging terrain so I went
to Nandrin. This is an area I know very well and it offers some steep
climbs and tricky downhills. I set out at the little church of Scry. I
did not change any of the bikes' settings because I was quite pleased
with the way the suspension behaved. From the outset, I was on a
false-flat gravel road, with some bigger stones protruding. When I ride
a hardtail, this is one section where I have to get out of the saddle a
couple of times to avoid being hammered in the back. Well, as was to be
expected, the ICT suspension really shines on sections like these. You
just remain seated and you can continue pedalling, which results in a
more comfy ride AND a higher speed. Great!
I noticed when I climbed
into the forest that the area was a lot wetter than yesterday, with big
puddles , some of which I could not avoid, making the bike dirty with
mud pretty soon. There had been some local yoyos rodeo-ing through the
trails with jeeps leaving the entire forest road covered with slimy mud
their tyres threw up when they hammered the waterholes. Yummie!
The
Nobby Nics were not concerned though, they offer great traction and,
what is even more important, also astonishing grip on offcamber
sections. I was only surprised once when my front wheel washed out on a
wet rock I did not see and I had to react with lighting speed to keep
the rubber side down. Unfortunately I was still having trouble with the
narrow-ish handlebar, which did not help my confidence in the technical
sections and also the Sram X.0 controls would never become my friends.
Those X.0 shifters are really NOT made for my hands. No matter how I
positioned my fingers, I could NOT find a position which had me
comfortably holding the handles while allowing me to brake with one
finger and be able to shift up and down without having to adjust my
fingers' position at least once. XTR lets me do just that. That is why
I have XTR on all my bikes and why I am not impressed by the X.0
thumbies.
I got used to the X.0 rear derailleur by now so I had no
more trouble with that. Save the fact that I am used to a Rapid Rise
XTR which had me make a couple of miss-shifts, and in some occasions
these caused me to walk. I don't like to walk!
After 22K I got to
the bottom of a long climb, a perfect place to check out the way the
Fox Float R rebound control influences the behaviour of the rear
suspension. I first rode up the climb with the rebound in the middle
position, the way I had been using it all along now. The track was very
steep and littered with wet rocks, little gullies ,pieces of wood and
other rubble. I was on the smallest gear but made the climb with no
real troubles. I then rode down the trail and started the climb all
over again, this time with the rebound in the fastest position.
Immediately the rear wheel began to behave more skitterish on the
rocks, comparable to what a hardtail would do. I did make the climb but
I had to expand some more energy to counteract the way the rear
suspension acted. The fast rebound made the wheel lose control from
time to time. Down the hill again. I put the rebound on the slowest
position and rode up that hill a third time. This went great but from
time to time I did feel the sluggish return of the shock hindered my
upward motion. After this I can only conclude that the best way for me
to climb with this shock is just put the rebound in its middle position
(it has 5 clicks) and get on with it.
After this I had to rest a
little bit on a rocky outcrop and I took some time to eat and take some
piccies. The downhills had me frown because the Reba was emitting some
hissing noises. It worked fine throughout the ride though , and I
really appreciated the remote lockout for the short tarmac sections.
Perhaps it needs some attention in the form of maintenance.
In the
back all was cool. the 10cm of travel are more than enough for my kind
of riding and the terrains I frequent. I could not discern the rear
suspension stiffening under braking (can anyone?) so I cannot vouch for
it being active or not. I did not experience any pedal kickback on the
climbs.
Another steep technical climb in the fields was coming up ,
with the wheels in some kind of gutter formed by rocks and earth, the
trail restricted by sharp thorny bushes on one side, and barbed wire on
the other. This is a real killer and the bike took it well. The wheels
went where they were supposed to go, and I could keep on pedalling .
This is not a climb most people make on their first attempt. I have of
course the advantage of knowing the trail but nevertheless I was
pleased. I was very pleased with my ride today when i arrived back at
my car after some 34K and 2hours+ of riding.
So now, the million dollar question, would I buy this bike?
Well,
the answer is ...probably yes . The Merlin Works 4.0 is a fine bike,
with a rugged, superbly finished front triangle made in my favorite
metal and with an Ellsworth ICT aluminum rear suspension triangle which
was very stiff laterally, had nice oversized bearings , a solid looking
rocker and on top of that worked just fine, allowing me to hammer
while staying seated on the trails where I otherwise would have been
standing up, losing traction and speed . The climbing performance is
similar to my Moots YBB, but offering (a lot) more travel hence faster
speeds in the downhills makes this bike considerably faster overall.
The only advantage a hardtail has would be its lighter weight. But at
11kg this Merlin is no heavyweight, it is even marginally lighter than
my current Moots build.
I would opt for the Fox RP23 damper instead of the Fox Float R, mainly because the RP23 offers more adjustability.
I
would throw all things SRAM far from it though . Obviously I would
choose my preferred XTR Rapid Rise rear derailleur and those heavenly
XTR shifters. The wheels performed great and I would certainly like to
try the XR1540 disc wheelset DT Swiss offers. The dics rotors were
Shimano XTR 160mm and they performed flawlessy with the Hope Mono Mini
rotors, another thing I would not change.
The Rock Shox Reba World
Cup then , yes, I have a Reba World Cup under wraps but I would set it
to 100mm because I believe this is what the bike deserves. To be
honest, the Reba performed good even in the 85mm position but I did
feel the front of the bike was too low. I fiddled some more with the
compression knob (on the remote lockout) but did not feel a lot of
change in the behaviour of the fork whilst riding. Other then that it
dived deeper during braking with lower compression, which nearly took
me by surprise once. I upped the compression considerably and left it
alone after that . The carbon/alu handlebar/stem I would of course
replace with titanium ones, and 56cm at least instead of the 54cm the
Easton EC90 was cut too. The Chris King headset can stay,obviously, and
that Ringlé Moby Deuce 31.2mm seatpost looks so sweet, I want one !
Only
one day to go before I have to return this bike. I had a couple of good
rides on it and I think I will take it for a longer offroad ride
tomorrow, albeit with not as much hills in it as today. Unlike the bike
that can be cleaned and prepared in a few hours for its next ride, this
ole body needs more time to recuperate, no matter what bike it is on.
