Merida One-Sixty 800

Great value bike – I was after a long travel enduro bike and open to any brand around $3k. I bought a 2018 Merida One-Sixty 800 in late 2018. At the time everything else with similar components was around $1k more (Norco Range, Giant Reign etc). Also after owning a Merida Matts cross country bike I was pretty happy with the build quality of Merida frames. It has SRAM GX 12sp, Code brakes, KS Lev dropper post, Rockshox Super deluxe shock and Yari fork. I know I can upgrade the Yari to Lyric internals so might do that in the future. The bikes taken a fair amount of abuse. I've done a trip to Derby, raced the local enduro series and everything in between. Currently, I have only replaced the wheelset to Hope Fortus 30. Initially the rear freehub (Novatec/joytec) failed after only a month of riding. It was replaced by 99 Bikes under warranty but after 12 months felt like it was slipping again. And also the rims were a bit out of true after crashes etc. Basically the rear hub was the only let down of this bike. Although the newer models are running Shimano hubs so shouldn't have the same issue. Also they're running the Shimano gearset's which I will try next time also. Overall I'm happy with how the bike performs. Climbs well without pedal bob while seated but also has shock lock out if needed. And it handles the downs well too. It may not be the best bike out there but for the price it was great value. Even after a wheelset.