Merida Big.Trail 600 review

Merida’s Big.Trail 600 is the top-end model of its revised trail hardtails range, costing £2,000 / €2,350. It's designed to pack in maximum laughs for the money, indicating who it's aimed at and what it’s built to do.

The bike's alloy frame has seen some subtle tweaks for 2025, with modernised geometry ensuring it’s very much long, low and slack. At the front, there’s 140mm of suspension travel, courtesy of RockShox.

With a few excellent spec choices and geometry that leaves little to be desired, Merida has done a cracking job with the new Big.Trail.

Its progressive shape ensures it’s no slouch on descents, while chunky rubber boosts grip and wards off punctures, and powerful brakes further your control.

It’s no slugger on the climbs, though, because the pedalling position is on-point and the rear tyre, though sturdy, rolls fast.

Merida Big.Trail 600 frame details

The low-slung frame is built from aluminium, with a heavily dropped top tube enabling a long dropper post to be fitted – up to 230mm on the largest frames.

Paired with a long front end and slack head angle, the side-on profile is certainly one of a bike ready to tackle technical terrain.

The stubby head tube features Merida's Wire Port headset cable-routing system, whereby the cables and hoses enter the frame through the headset.

Internal guides ensure they pop out under the bottom bracket and care has been taken to ensure that running the cables through the frame is as painless as possible.

In theory, this keeps the bike quieter and gives a less cluttered cockpit area. Acros bearings are said to be extra durable, so maintenance in this area of the bike should only need to be very occasional.

Further back, the chainstays allow for fender and rack mounts, if you want to boost the versatility of this bike for weekday commuting duty.

Higher up, on the seatstay bridge, are a pair of bolt holes for Merida’s extended mudguard – the same one that's available as an accessory on the One.Forty and One.Sixty bikes.

The chainstays feature a dual-material protector. The harder plastic means it simply clips in place, without glue or bolts, while the softer material, which incorporates air bubbles, should keep the rear end as quiet as possible.

There’s room for 2.4in tyres at the back, while the frame’s direct 180mm brake mount shows this is a bike built for big rotors.

Inside the frame, there’s space for two bottles and a tool mount – you also get a multi-tool stashed under the saddle. The largest frames will fit two 700ml water bottles, while even the XShort frame should fit one 500ml and one 700ml bottle.

Merida Big.Trail 600 geometry

As with Merida's full-suspension bikes, the Agilometer philosophy is present here.

This sees short seat tubes, enabling riders to pick a bike size based more on reach than seat tube length. It also enables long dropper posts to be used – from 150mm in the smallest bike up to 230mm in the biggest.

Sizing names have changed from a T-shirt scale of XS, S, M, L and XL to the XShort, Short, Mid, Long and XLong Agilometer nomenclature.

Angles have been tweaked on the 2025 bike and it’s fully up to date compared to its contemporaries.

The 64-degree head angle is slack, while the seat angle is relatively steep at 76.5 degrees (remember, this won’t slacken off because there’s no rear suspension sagging).

Reach figures are long, without being ridiculous. They range from 415mm for the XShort (which has a 385mm seat tube) up to 505mm for the XLong – this has a 475mm seat tube.

Chainstays are consistent across the five sizes, at 435mm. You might consider this relatively short on the largest bikes, but it should be fairly well balanced on the smaller ones.

The bottom bracket has dropped a little from the previous generation (a slight criticism we had of that model), sitting 300mm above the ground. The stack has also been reduced a touch for a given equivalent size, by around 5mm.

Merida Big.Trail 600 specification

As we found with the One.Forty 700 that won our 2023 Trail Bike of the Year award, Merida’s product managers have made some smart spec choices that balance the competing demands of performance and price well.

A full Shimano Deore groupset offers up 12 gears, while a pair of four-piston Shimano XT brakes has been squeezed into the budget – impressive stuff.

Up front, there’s a 140mm RockShox Pike fork, with this base-level Pike getting the Motion Control damper offering a lockout and rebound adjustment.

Merida’s own alloy wheels sit between the dropouts.

These have a 30mm internal width, onto which Maxxis tyres are fitted. At the front, there’s a 2.5in Minion DHF, with the MaxxTerra compound and EXO casing.

At the back, there’s a 2.4in Dissector, with the MaxxTerra compound and tougher EXO+ casing, which should ward off punctures better.

Merida’s finishing kit largely takes care of the remainder of the build, including its own dropper post and cockpit. The dropper gives 150mm of drop on the XShort size, 170mm on the Short and Mid sizes, 200mm on the Long and 230m on the XLong. It’s light in feel with a well-shaped lever.

Merida Big.Trail 600 ride impressions

Setting up the Big.Trail was an easy affair. The pressure chart on the back of the RockShox Pike fork proved relatively accurate. However, because I like the front end of a hardtail to stay a touch higher in its travel, I usually add around 10psi to the recommended pressures.

This is because when the fork compresses, the bike’s angles steepen. On a full-suspension bike, with both the front and rear end compressing under loads, the changes in angles are usually muted.

I also added a volume spacer to the fork’s air spring after a few rides to help prevent the fork reaching the depths of its travel so frequently. This is an easy job and worth doing if you’re an aggressive or heavier rider who likes to tackle steeper tracks.

I ran tyre pressures of 20psi in the front and 25psi at the rear. The EXO+ casing tyre gave me additional confidence against punctures, but with no rear squish to help quell impacts, I added a couple of psi over what I would usually run with these tyres.

Merida Big.Trail 600 climbing impressions

Focusing on a broad range of riders, Merida hasn’t gone wild with the geometry – and I think this is a good thing.

The seat angle, at 76.5 degrees, is steep enough to place your hips well over the bottom bracket for an efficient-feeling position, without seeming awkwardly steep when riding more mellow gradients. Super-steep seat angles can put excess pressure through your wrists on long rides, which can become uncomfortable.

The front-end length is similar – there’s ample room to move fore and aft to balance directional control and rear-wheel traction, without the bike feeling stretched or cramped.

The combination of seat angle and top tube length feels balanced, and worked well with the 435mm chainstays on the size Long I tested.

There’s also plenty of adjustability of front-end height, thanks to Merida leaving a good few spacers under the stem to help fine-tune your position on the bike.

Put some power through the pedals and the bike surges forward. The Dissector tyre’s central treads are lower-profile than some of the more aggressive tyres in Maxxis’ range and so rolling resistance is kept reasonable. With no moving parts in the middle of the frame, there are no losses to suspension inefficiency.

Want to stand up and sprint? While the Motion Control dampers dial doesn’t quite lock out the fork fully, it certainly stiffens it up enough that the bike feels solid.

Merida has lowered the bottom bracket – it’s 70mm below the axles and 300mm above the ground when the fork is un-sagged, which makes it pretty low when you’re sat on the bike.

With 175mm cranks, there’s a moderate amount of rock striking when tackling more chunky ascents – the type where you might be bumping up and over steps, rocks and roots. It’s worth taking care of your pedal position in such situations.

However, Merida tells me there will be a running change to the crank lengths fitted, so this may be less problematic going forward. All bikes will come fitted with 165mm cranks, other than the XLong, which will get 170mm cranks.

Shimano’s Deore gears shift well under power, so long as the drivetrain is kept clean and well-lubed.

Merida Big.Trail 600 descending impressions

The Big.Trail despatches trail-centre laps with ease. The Dissector boosts the bike’s zip on smoother, flowy tracks, while the combination of the moderately long front end and low bottom bracket make carving smooth lines through supported corners a joy.

Both the Minion and Dissector have a confident shoulder tread, and so when the bike is tipped over, there’s a secure feeling – whether you’re on gritty hardpack or venturing into the mud.

The frame doesn’t have the same zing you might get from a high-end steel chassis, however it’s not quite as jarring as a deep-tubed carbon frame, either.

The EXO+ sidewall of the Dissector adds a little damping to the rear end, and so while it feels stiff and direct as you surf over rocks or roots, your teeth shouldn’t be rattled out of your jawbone.

The tyres are broad enough to offer decent volume on the own-branded 30mm internal-width rims, although it’s a shame Maxxis doesn’t offer the Dissector in a 2.5in width. On a hardtail, more volume equals more comfort.

Further forward, the Pike does a good job of controlling the front end, in partnership with the Minion DHF tyre.

The Motion Control damper might not feature the brand's top-spec hydraulics, but it’s a good match for the bike at this price. The chassis is stiff enough that when you drive it into a catch berm, it doesn’t flex and steering inputs feel assured.

During setup, I added a volume spacer to help prevent the fork bottoming out frequently on the steepest, techiest tracks.

I also ran the fork with mid-levels of low-speed compression damping, via the dial, on the steeper stuff. This was in order to keep the front end propped up a little more, preserving the slack head angle as much as I could.

On smoother, or more mellow terrain, the fork was left fully open, to make the most of the supple feel on offer.

When I headed to steeper tracks, the low BB and long front end gave a reassuring feeling. With the seat low, thanks to the long-drop dropper, I had confidence in the bike’s ability to tackle such terrain.

With the bar set high and mid-length 435mm chainstays, I had no issues popping the front wheel up to smooth the way or play around with trail features.

If I were to be critical, much like on technical climbs, when you’re traversing low-speed, janky tracks, where the odd trials-like move is required, the long cranks occasionally ground out. With such a low BB, I’d like to see 165mm cranks to help reduce this.

In addition to the decent rubber and stout fork, I was impressed to see Shimano’s four-piston XT brakes on the bike.

I like their punchy feel and consistent, predictable high levels of power – it's a real spec highlight on such a bike.

The steeper and looser the terrain gets, the less braking traction is on offer – this is one of the trade-offs of a hardtail mountain bike and a rear tyre that has a modicum of rolling speed.

Fortunately, the brakes offer decent control, and the confident chassis means I was happy playing a little fast and loose with the bike’s handling on the steeps.

Merida Big.Trail 600 bottom line

If you like the direct feel of a hardtail, Merida’s well-proportioned Big.Trail should be up there on your shopping list.

While value is subjective, you get a well-shaped alloy frame with plenty of versatility, along with a solid parts package.

The Pike fork works well, as do the Shimano gears. The powerful brakes and well-considered tyres are spec highlights.

On the trail, the geometry balances the needs of riders looking to cruise blues, as well as tackle more serious terrain well.

All in all, it’s a solid package that should be a stellar companion for all-mountain adventures.