We're Going Off-road

We spend a day with Merida’s Big Nine 600, a thoroughly capable mountain bike.

- Anosh Khumbatta

MERIDA, THE TAIWAN-BASED bicycle manufacturers, have of late been taking the Indian market by storm. In our October 2016 issue we reviewed their Crossway Urban 20D which, as the name suggests, is built primarily to attack city streets. This month we got our hands on the Big Nine 600, one of the best-sellers in their MTB Hardtail range, and headed off the beaten path to see if it was up to the task.

Bathed in shades of blue, the Big Nine 600 is an attractive bicycle. The 17-inch frame is made of 6061 aluminium, has been shaped using Merida’s proprietary Techno Forming System, and felt extremely solid as I put the bicycle through its paces. All the weld seams are smooth and well finished, and at the front of the frame is a beefy headstock, through which sits the Manitou Marvel fork with adjustable telescopic shock-absorbers. These can be adjusted from soft to hard, or even locked rigid, on the fly via a dial on the right fork leg, and do a great job of soaking up sudden bumps while off the beaten path.