Pete heads to warmer and sunnier climes in Catalonia to test out Merida’s latest ebike offering, the mid-power, lightweight eOne-Sixty SL.
Based off their excellent One-Sixty platform, Merida have blended it with a Bosch Performance Line SX motor to create a light support ebike in the form of the eOne-Sixty SL.
Key features:
- Rockshox Lyrik Select+ 160mm fork
- Rockshox Super Deluxe Select+ shock
- SRAM GX AXS T-type 12-speed drive
- Bosch Performance Line SX motor
- Bosch CompactTube 400Wh battery
- SRAM DB8 brakes
- DT Swiss HX1700 wheels
- Merida Comp TR III dropper
- £8,000.00 RRP
- Merida-Bikes.com
The Merida eOne-Sixty SL is one of two bikes Pete headed to warmer climes to check out. In a similar vein to the YT Decoy SN Pete tested earlier in the year, the eOne-Sixty SL is a direct, motorised derivative of it’s namesake bike, the One-Sixty. Essentially this is an enduro bike with ebike tuned kinematics and a lightweight motor and battery.
Unlike the Decoy SN though, Merida have attempted to make this a lighter weight option, rather than just bolting a motor and battery to an existing enduro bike. This is evident with certain spec choices, like a Lyrik chosen over a Zeb, EXO+ casing tyres and a non height adjustable dropper.
Regardless, you get a full carbon fibre CFIII frame offering up 160mm travel via 29″ wheels. A flip chip offers the option to run Mullet but Merida are adamant this rides better as a full 29er. You get a 400Wh battery, with Bosch’s 250Wh being compatible. Power is provided by a 55Nm Bosch Performance Line SX motor.
Three models carbon fibre framed of Merida eOne-Sixty SL are available, with the range being topped by the eOne-Sixty SL 10000, the eOne-Sixty SL 8000 seen here and the base model eOne-Sixty SL 6000.
Geometry
The Merida eOneSixty SL is available in XShort, Short, Mid, Long and XLong.
Reach on the Mid is 466mm with a seat tube of 425mm. Head angle is 64 degrees with a seat tube angle of 78.5 degrees. Chainstays are 450mm across the sizes with a wheelbase on the Mid of 1253mm.
Opening moves
Sat in the middle of its two stablemates, the Merida eOneSixty SL 8000, certainly doesn’t look or feel mid-range. Yes, at £8,000.00 it’s far from cheap but it does provide plenty of bang for your buck regardless.
The CFIII full carbon frame offers 160mm travel via a linkage that’s been tweaked from the One-Sixty and now features no shock extender. Power is all Bosch-fed, from their 400Wh CompactTube integrated battery to their Performance Line SX motor. You can up the juice with an extra 250Wh by way of the range extender.
Damping is handled by Rockshox Select + units, a Lyrik and a Super Deluxe respectively. SRAM handles the drivetrain in GX AXS T-type flavour and the anchors, in DB8 form. Wheels are DT Swiss HX1700s, shod with Maxxis EXO+ rubber. Merida’s excellent finishing kit rounds things off.
Almost the second I swung my leg over the eOne-Sixty SL, it felt right. Over the course of the next two days, all I would do is speed up the rebound on both fork and shock to improve how the bike felt as the speed crept up and winding the levers in to suit my preferences.
With a few easier trails under our belt, I was surprised at how fast I could go from the second I turned the pedals. Adjusting to the dry, loose trail surface took no time at all and for a 29er ebike, the eOne-Sixty SL really did love back wheel.
From there, the labyrinth of trails out the back of our hotel gave plenty of options to seek out some spicier trails, and boy were they spicy. Cutting through ancient olive groves, underneath 12th Century castles, pine woods and sandstone bedrock, the trails here kept you guessing at every turn. Everything from fast and flowy to slower-than-walking mega tech.
Speed only crept up from here and even when trying to ride blind trails fast, the eOne-Sixty SL did nothing weird, just allowed me to crack on like I had been riding it for months. The Bosch motor feeling very natural without any odd application of power or noises when descending.
Despite my initial concerns about the EXO+ rear tyre maybe not being up to ebike use, it was whacked off every conceivable edge without losing any wind. The DB8s did begin to fade on the longer runs despite the HS2 rotors fitted, which might be my only real complaint here.
A very promising opening stint on the Merida eOne-Sixty SL 8000 then. A bike that wanted to go fast from the off and didn’t feel like a 20.4kg ebike until I turned up the hill for another lap and the 55Nm torque fired me back to the top. Range was excellent as me on an ebike will always be.
