While there was still a gap in the suspension-heavy range after the One-Five-O model was dropped from the 2012 product range, the One-Sixty, which was presented as a design study at Eurobike 2012, is now available as an enduro bike. The heart of the 160-millimeter beast is its chassis with the specially developed "VPK" technology. Designed with a virtual pivot point thanks to "Virtual Pivot Kinematics", the rear triangle of the One-Sixty impresses with its downhill qualities, but remains neutral to braking and drive influences despite its sensitivity, which makes use of every millimeter of suspension travel.

"Virtual Pivot Kinematics" will also be used on two other full-suspension mountain bikes in the 2013 season: in the Integration of the "UMF-Series" 180-millimeter Freddy freerider and the completely redesigned One-Forty all-mountain model into the Merida range. While the engineers previously relied on a supported single-pivot design for the 140-millimeter suspension, the new interpretation now also relies on a virtual pivot point with 145 millimeters of travel at the rear.

Fine adjustments in the marathon and race segment
Without "VPK", but equipped with the independently developed suspension technology "M.O.R.E", the Twentyniner Big Ninety-Nine presents itself as the big brother of the Ninenty-Nine race fullys introduced for 2012. Thanks to rear triangles in individual dimensions to match the frame size, the Twentyniner-Fully with 106 millimetres of rear suspension travel retains the same riding characteristics across all frame sizes - regardless of whether it is an all-aluminum model or a hybrid version with a carbon main frame and aluminum rear triangle.

Like the 26-inch version, which also has the shock mounted upright in front of the seat tube, the pivot point of the Big Ninety-Nine rear triangle was designed for triple rather than double drivetrains in order to take into account the change in the wheelbase due to the larger wheels. Nevertheless, with its propulsion-oriented geometry, the tapered head tube, the 12 millimeter thru-axle on the 142 millimeter wide rear triangle and the system-related longer wheelbase, the Big Ninety-Nine remains a twentyniner fully that aims to provide maximum fun at maximum speed both uphill and downhill.

Flat hardtails
Merida has also made some changes in the hardtail sector for the 2013 model year: the O.Nine and Big.Nine racing files - Gunn-Rita Dahle Flesjåa recently became European XC champion on her Big.Nine - have been given new rear triangles with even greater comfort in the respective top versions. This is made possible by the use of a new fiber technology, which was originally developed for the new road top model Scultura SL: By using special bio-flax fibers as the central layer of the carbon mats for the seat and chainstays of the 26-inch and twentyniner hardtails, vibrations from the ground should be eliminated even better.

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