# Merida Bikes?



## Scotty2h (Sep 28, 2009)

Anyone have any information on Merida bikes? Specifically looking at the Scultura series. I'm not having much luck with the research.


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## Dajianshan (Jul 15, 2007)

Merida is the parent company of Specialized and other brands. They also manufacture frames for other companies. Their main factory is located in Yun Lin, Taiwan and they produce a variety of frames in a variety of materials covering all points in the market. Merida frames, like Giant, are ubiquitous in Taiwan and they have a close partnership with SRAM.


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## Scotty2h (Sep 28, 2009)

Thanks Dajianshan. I haven't had much luck finding riding reviews of these bikes. They don't seem to be sold in North America. I'm living in Mexico right now, and there is a dealer in my area. The bikes ride fine enough, and the price is decent, but not sure of the long term reliability, customer support etc.


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## Dajianshan (Jul 15, 2007)

They are a huge brand and should be pretty reliable. I am in Taiwan and they are everywhere. My office mate has one. My wife's uncle has one. No problems. I understand some policies may be different in Mexico, but in my experience, as long as they are not a government run bike shop, you should be fine. Where are you in Mexico? My mother is in Zacatecas.


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## Scotty2h (Sep 28, 2009)

Thanks again Dajianshan. I'm sure that I'm being overly paranoid, but these questions always nag when spending this type of money. 

I'm currently living in Queretaro, not too far from Zacatecas. Closet I've been is San Luis Potosi. The central area of the country has some wonderful roads to bike though.


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## Dajianshan (Jul 15, 2007)

Scotty2h,

I hope you're looking at a CX bike. I was there last winter and just fantasized about putting my fat tires on and exploring the rancho. Excellent all surface cycling there!


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## czrtly (Jun 29, 2007)

I had one of those, an HFX960? I got the frame with a heavy discount and buit it with campagnolo centaur... It was a nice ride and my first roadbike, sold it and got a BMC... The guy that rides it now is pretty happy with it also. The mexican distributors are pretty decent and nice haven't had any issue dealing with them but also no problem from the bike either! I also have a merida HT which has been raced for four years, no problems with that either.

A. Rivas


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## Guest (Oct 17, 2009)

Isn't Merida what Gunn-rita was riding the last few years?


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## new2steel (Sep 20, 2008)

Yep.. they are more popular in europe ,south africa and asia.they own specialized and i think they are one of the largest bike manufacturing company in the world. They have very good products and very good professional cycling team.


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## babylou (Jul 13, 2008)

Merida only owns 19% of Specialized; not anywhere near enough to be considered the parent company or in control.


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## rook (Apr 5, 2009)

Isn't Merida made by Kinesis?


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## Italianrider76 (May 13, 2005)

rook said:


> Isn't Merida made by Kinesis?


Absolutely not.


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## terbennett (Apr 1, 2006)

Italianrider76 said:


> Absolutely not.


Exactly. Kinesis is Merida's competitor. They build bikes for other companies- like Merida. Both make exceptional bikes but Giant is also another Taiwanese company. If you didn't know yet, Giant is one of the Taiwanese companies that builds bikes for other companies. Their claim to fame is not only that they sell bikes under their own name like the others, but they have Pro Tour teams riding them. If T-Mobile or Rabobank (to name a couple) had not ridden Giants, you would not see as many out there.


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## DiegoMontoya (Apr 11, 2010)

As someone already said, Merida IS NOT the parent company of Specialized. Why do people post this stuff? Seriously. Merida bought 19% of Specialized in 2001. That's it.


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## Dajianshan (Jul 15, 2007)

Sorry... my bad! 19%


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## jmoryl (Sep 5, 2004)

I seem to recall that Merida has upped its stake in Specialized to something larger than 19% since 2001. In any case, they make a lot of Specialized frames, so they probably have an agreement not to sell Merida branded bikes in the US.


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## Dajianshan (Jul 15, 2007)

Thank you! I seem to recall hearing the same. Specialized come out of the Merida factory in Yuen Lin, in Changhua County, Taiwan. 

I rode by the factory last Sunday. If it is an issue I can try to find out what the deal is. My friend's mother is on Merida's board.


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## Dajianshan (Jul 15, 2007)

According to a well placed source: Merida's share in Specialized is currently in the upper 30 per-cent range (39%?), which is less than it has been in the past. Merida produced all the frames for Specialized but the have an agreement to coordinate and not interfere in each other's marketing strategies.


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## kdaulet88 (Jun 17, 2011)

Hello .Dajianshan ! What do you think Can I buy from Merida Factory 50-100 bikes . I live in Kazakhstan.(near Russia)....And do you know something about Centurion Bikes?


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## JonathanGennick (May 8, 2007)

Googled a bit to try and find Merdia's ownership share in Specialized. Found the following article:

http://www.bike-eu.com/news/680/correction-merida-buys-49%-of-specialized.html

The article say 49%. I wish I could find confirmation from multiple sources though.


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## MACKA76 (Nov 12, 2011)

who carres what Merida owns and doesn't own?
I know that I will never own a Merida again!!!
About 6 weeks ago I bought a Merida cyclocross 5 and it has been in back to the bike shop about 20 times.

Problems started with the front derailer not moving out of low gear, the rear breaks were not alligned properly by Merida and so they had to be disassemble and put back together correctly, the break cables are far to loose and now the rear derailer has decided to stop working properly. Each of these problems(Except for the breaks)generaly occured 10km's into my ride almost everytime I got on the bike.

The bike was a great ride. But I can only rate how good the ride is by the ONE good ride I have had on it.
Sorry Merida but you just lost one customer. 

On the sunny side I did get to know the mechanics at my local bike shop pretty well and they are a pretty good bunch of ppl. Thanks Merida.


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## louise (May 24, 2010)

MACKA76 said:


> who carres what Merida owns and doesn't own?
> I know that I will never own a Merida again!!!
> About 6 weeks ago I bought a Merida cyclocross 5 and it has been in back to the bike shop about 20 times.
> 
> ...


Pretty good bunch of people, just incompetent. The mechanics at the bike shop are the ones responsible for putting the bike together. If it doesn't work properly, it's on them. Not Merida.


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## MACKA76 (Nov 12, 2011)

*Me again*

True but the internal componants of things such as the gears, front and rear derailers, breaks and the crank(forgot to mention that)come pre-assembled by the factory and should not need to be pulled apart and reassembled because the they were not put built properly to start with.


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## terbennett (Apr 1, 2006)

MACKA76 said:


> True but the internal componants of things such as the gears, front and rear derailers, breaks and the crank(forgot to mention that)come pre-assembled by the factory and should not need to be pulled apart and reassembled because the they were not put built properly to start with.


I hear you but the only thing on that bike that Merida could mess up is the frame. Internal parts of components are not Merida either. They weren't built by Merida either. When they build bikes, they build the actual frames and use other company's components. The bike shops build the bikes. Missing parts? You could blame Merida but anything else with components would come from shoddy build by component manufacturer or incompetent bike mechanics. Usually it is the mechanic at the bike shop that messed up. 

However, let me just set the record straight. My statement about incompetent mechanics was out of line. Just because a mechanic forgets to do something doesn't make them incompetent. It just makes them human. Even the best mechanics make mistakes. Let's not forget that when we aren't happy with the workmanship of our bicycles after leaving the shop. Now if the mechanic just can't get it right after repeated tries, it's either incompetency on their part or crappy component(s).


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## MACKA76 (Nov 12, 2011)

Yer I know but I am just too annoyed to be bothered to look them up and write them all down. The parts are standard for the merida 2012 cyclocross 4. Pretty sure they have all the parts for the bike on their site.


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## MACKA76 (Nov 12, 2011)

Ok took bike back today but bike shop refused to give money back. Said that bike is still in a wearing in(settling) period. The parts that are giving me trouble are the front and rear derailers and the crank all made by shimano. 
I take back what I said earlier about not buying merida again. Merida is ok but the shimano parts I have are crap!!!
It's funny. My old bike cost me $500 and in 4 yrs has only seen a mechanic twice since I bought it. New bike cost $1500 and seen mechanic about 20 times because of faulty parts. Should have saved my money and gone on holiday.


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