Merida One-Sixty FR 600 review

The Merida One-Sixty FR 600 is based on the brand's dedicated enduro platform, the One-Sixty, but gets increased fork travel and burlier spec designed to make it a bike-park specialist.

This single-crown ripper rolls on mixed wheels, dishes out 171mm of rear travel and uses an aluminium frame to tame the trails, tipping the scales at a chunky 17.73kg without pedals (size medium).

You get plenty of performance for the modest £3,500 price tag, with a spec that’s capable and looks beyond common brands, featuring DVO suspension and TRP brakes.

Its geometry is a mixed bag, with ideal characteristics for the biggest hits, but not delivering maximum control on the steepest trails.

This Merida will suit those bike-park shredders and seasonaires who want something robust and capable on the roughest trails and biggest hits.

Merida One-Sixty FR 600 frame and suspension

The One-Sixty FR 600 uses Merida’s PROLITE 66 tubing, utilising triple-butted hydroformed 6066 aluminium to create the frame shape and dual-pass welds to smooth the lines and make the bike’s aesthetics look closer to carbon fibre.

The frame uses Merida’s internal headset cable routing to deliver a cleaner-looking cockpit.

While the bike has mixed wheels as standard, a flip chip keeps the geometry the same while running a pair of 29-inch wheels. This shortens travel to 162mm, however.

There’s space for a water bottle and additional mounts for tool storage on the down tube.

One of the frame’s most interesting features is the P-Flex linkage. This uses specifically designed tube profiles and the aluminium's compliance to create a flex stay, enabling the seatstay to bend during suspension compressions.

That ‘flex’ replaces the pivot at the seatstay and chainstay junction. Merida claims this saves weight, reduces maintenance and improves rear-triangle stiffness.

With this layout, the One-Sixty FR 600 uses a linkage-driven single-pivot suspension platform to deliver its 171mm of rear-wheel travel,

The progression is tuned for each frame size by moving the forward shock mount. The mid-sized bike I tested features around 18 per cent progression, so should enable riders to access full travel with its coil shock.

Merida One-Sixty FR 600 geometry

Overall, the geometry is what you would expect from such a burly bike. Merida says it sizes its bikes to length rather than frame height, so riders can choose their size depending on preferred stability.

My mid-length bike features a roomy 464mm reach and short 434mm chainstays that will benefit from an aggressive forward riding position.

It features a slack 63.5-degree head tube angle and a steep 78-degree effective seat tube angle.

Together with the stack, there's a comfortable 591mm effective top tube length, so seated pedalling shouldn’t feel too stretched out.

A couple of figures stand out: the short 620mm stack height seems low for an aggressive bike-park bike based around descending, and the 2mm bottom bracket drop keeps the BB lifted.

I measured the bottom bracket height at a tall 355mm.

The straight design of its short 425mm seat tube allows for plenty of dropper-post length and helps keep the standover height lower at 743mm.

Merida One-Sixty FR 600 specifications

Merida has fitted a decent build kit for the price, with less common but well-thought-out components.

DVO handles the suspension, with its stocky 180mm-travel Onyx 38 D2 fork and Jade X D2 shock delivering the bike's 172mm of rear travel.

The brakes are supplied by TRP in its Trail Evo HD guise, with gravity-orientated 220/203mm rotors that should deliver plenty of power.

There’s a Shimano 1x12 Deore-level drivetrain to help grind your way up or down any trail.

Merida specs its own-brand parts for the rest of the bike, including the Team TR II dropper post, which is adjustable between 30 and 230mm of travel.

The cockpit is from Merida’s Expert TR II range, and the wheels sport Merida Expert TR II rims and Shimano hubs.

Befitting the bike’s burly character, it rolls on Continental Kryptotal Soft Enduro 29x2.4in front and Continental Kryptotal Soft Downhill 27.5x2.4in rear tyres, which highlights its bike-park intentions.

The review bike tipped the scales at a hefty 17.73kg

Merida One-Sixty FR 600 ride impressions

I tested the One-Sixty FR 600 throughout the UK’s south west, primarily at BikePark Wales and around the Forest of Dean.

This gave me a broad range of trails that included jump lines, flow trails, rocky tech and plenty of natural roots, ruts and mud.

Setting up the suspension, I found the DVO fork had pretty firm damping. The rebound was slow for the 66psi I was running with my 75kg riding weight, so I set it fully open of its 24 clicks of adjustment.

However, from clicks 14 to 24, rebound speeds felt the same. I opened the low-speed compression damping fully, too, to maximise sensitivity.

The shock came specced with a 400lb spring, which gave me 27 per cent sag. That's maybe a little firm for hunting out the most grip, but decent for hitting big features in the bike park.

A coil shock makes finding the correct spring rate more tricky because you need to change the spring to a higher or lower rate to get the correct sag.

With an air shock, you can easily inflate or deflate the shock to get the correct spring rate.

I set the rebound damping to eight clicks from closed out of 26 to get the return speed I preferred. After nine clicks, the damping had little effect.

The compression damping was set to fully open to maximise sensitivity.

Merida One-Sixty FR 600 climbing performance

The One-Sixty FR 600’s priorities are clear from the get-go – and they don't include racing to the top of the hill.

While the steep 78-degree effective seat tube angle and moderate 591mm effective top tube give a comfortable upright seated position and efficient pedal stroke, the supple suspension, sticky tyres and weight all contribute. This means climbing happens at a leisurely pace.

I found it helpful to flick the shock’s climb switch to its middle position for climbing and undulating trails to minimise pedal bob and help give a more stable pedalling platform.

When the fire roads were smooth, I used the lockout position to maximise efficiency.

With the shock in its middle compression setting, it has a supportive platform, but it still offers decent traction on technical, root-littered trails.

That holds the bike’s rear end up just a little on steep grades, keeping more efficient pedalling geometry and stabilising the back end.

The Merida isn’t going to win any climbing awards, but it gets you there comfortably. Racing to the top would be missing the point of this bike.

Merida One-Sixty FR 600 descending performance

For a bike designed for the big hits, the Merida has that box well and truly ticked. Charging through the bike park is this bike's bread and butter – and where it shines brightest.

The DVO rear shock offers a supple initial stroke with plenty of support deeper in the travel.

The 400lb shock spring was on the firmer side for my riding preference, preventing the bike from sitting deeper into its travel to maintain the stability I'd prefer.

However, this helped the bike maintain speed through deep compressions, drops and when I needed to pump it – it's great for maintaining speed through the bike park.

Fortunately, there was decent suppleness at the start of the travel to help the bike find grip and smooth out small, high-frequency bumps.

Mid-sized, square-edged hits were dealt with effectively without transferring harsh feedback to me through the frame and pedals.

Overall, I was impressed by the frame’s suspension performance. The flex-stay design was smooth and predictable and the suspension worked well, from small inputs to big hits.

Although the firmly damped fork helped with high-load impacts in the bike park, sensitivity was lacking and most riders would benefit from running all the low-speed compression and rebound damping fully open, as I did.

My biggest gripe was the 355mm bottom-bracket height, which held back the bike's handling. It never felt planted or composed, charging into corners.

The position felt tall and unstable, making me far more tentative than I’m used to.

A lower spring rate, giving 30 per cent sag, would have lowered the bottom bracket a further 5mm to offer more stability.

The 355mm bottom bracket height is too tall as a starting point.

Trails outside the bike park were manageable and fun when all-out speed wasn’t my highest priority.

However, they never seemed to highlight the bike's best attributes. The low 620mm stack height exacerbated this on steep trails, which didn't instill confidence.

The Merida has your back for bike-park laps, but its versatility as a long-travel bike is hindered.

How does the Merida One-Sixty FR 600 compare to the Propain Spindrift Al MX Performance?

The Propain Spindrift is another alloy, long-travel, bike-park inspired bike. Yet, while the Merida is a park specialist, the Spindrift is more versatile.

The Propain can be taken everywhere and it pedals impressively well for its 180mm of rear-wheel travel. It feels more akin to an enduro bike with extra get-out-of-trouble travel.

The Merida is best suited to fast and rough, or hard-hitting park lines. Its comfort zone is narrower and venturing outside it isn’t as rewarding. However, it feels more stable and robust on uplifted trails.

The Propain would be my pick of the two. Its do-it-all nature opens up more riding possibilities, and it can handle corners and bumps with equal aptitude.

Merida One-Sixty FR 600 bottom line

The Merida One-Sixty FR 600 is a tale of two halves. Its suspension performance is impressive, and if you’re likely to do 90 per cent of your riding in a bike park, it will be a reliable and valuable tool that’ll take the small and big hits in its stride.

If your riding is more varied, you’ll likely find the Merida less suitable.

Climbing is comfortable, yet downhill it’s not as precise and confident in tech terrain as other long-travel bikes, due to its tall bottom bracket height.

Despite those negatives, it offers impressive value for money and is a reliable ride.