Merida has announced an all-new carbon endurance road bike with a distinctly gravelly flavour. The 2021 Scultura Endurance features comfort-oriented geometry, big clearances and mounts for mudguards (fenders).
It joins bikes such as the Specialized Roubaix and the Trek Domane in blurring the lines between conventional road bikes and full-on gravel machines.
Merida has sent us the top-spec Scultura Endurance 7000-E with a Shimano Ultegra Di2 groupset. Check out the gallery below for a detailed look at this bike, and read on for full details of the new platform and the range on offer.
While the existing Scultura is a more conventional endurance machine aimed primarily at tarmac riding, the new Scultura Endurance is aimed at “more leisure-focussed cyclists” looking to do long rides on mixed surfaces in comfort.
That might include potholed lanes or even “light fire roads”, according to Merida.
The new bike is based around a full-carbon disc brake frame that’s claimed to weigh 1,124g including hardware, i.e. the rear derailleur hanger, seatstay bridge and bottle cage bolts. This is matched to a fork weighing a claimed 411g (uncut).
Our size medium Scultura Endurance 7000-E build weighs 8.4kg, without pedals, a fairly competitive figure for a bike of this kind.
The Scultura’s geometry is pure endurance as you’d expect, with a size medium offering 380mm of reach and a lofty 584mm of stack.
This is more upright than the current Scultura and Mission CX cyclocross bike, and the new bike also features slack head angles and a slightly longer wheelbase, for stability at speed.
Merida fits 32mm tyres as standard to the new Scultura, and the brand says there’s room for 35mm slicks.
The wheelsets fitted across the range can be run tubeless, but only the DT Swiss P1850 fitted to the top-spec model is tubeless-ready out of the box – other models will need to be converted with tubeless tape.
As a result, tubeless tyres are not fitted as standard to any of the models. Given the type of riding for which the Scultura Endurance is designed, this is slightly surprising.
In keeping with current trends, the Scultura Endurance features some neat integration, with clever hidden cabling and a stealthy seat clamp. In a nice albeit quirky touch, there’s also a multitool mounted to the underside of the saddle.
More significantly, the Scultura has mounts for proper mudguards (fenders), including a removable bridge across the seatstays.
We’re great believers in full-length mudguards here at BikeRadar and, for those of us that live in rainy climes, it’s refreshing to see mounts provided when they’re so often omitted on mid-range and high-end bikes.
The cable routing is similar to what we’ve seen on other recently launched bikes including the likes of Trek’s new 2021 Emonda and the new Rose Pro SL.
The cables and hoses enter the upper headset cover, passing inside the upper bearing before heading their separate ways. That means they’re visible in profile underneath the stem, but there are no big loops of cable passing from bar to frame.
As well as looking neater, this approach means fitting a trendy bar bag – a must-have accessory for aspiring gravelistas – will be easier, should you feel the urge. The downside, of course, is greater complexity when it comes to maintenance because cables and hoses will have to be disconnected to replace the upper bearing.
Merida doesn’t make any specific performance claims about the new Scultura Endurance but its overall design is in keeping with market trends.
The seat cluster is strongly reminiscent of the hugely popular Canyon Endurace CF, while it ticks the boxes on spec, with thru-axles front and rear, disc brakes and big clearances.
Look out for a full review on BikeRadar in the coming weeks.
Merida Scultura 2021 specs and prices
The Scultura Endurance will be available from mid to late August onwards in four models, all featuring the same carbon frameset:
Merida Scultura Endurance 7000-E
- £3,500 / €4,199
- Shimano Ultegra Di2
- DT Swiss P1850 Spline DB23 wheelset
Merida Scultura Endurance 6000
- £2,500 / €2,899
- Shimano Ultegra mechanical
- Fulcrum Racing 700 DB wheelset
Merida Scultura Endurance 5000
- £2,200 / €N/A
- Shimano Ultegra mechanical
- Merida Expert SL wheelset
Merida Scultura Endurance 4000
- £2,000 / €2,349
- Shimano 105
- Merida Expert SL wheelset
