Merida eOne-Sixty: True Legacy – Reinvented
Wed 29th May, 2019 @ 9:30 am
The last three years have been an exciting time for Merida and in particular for the performance e-bike range, as the eOne-Sixty dominated the test and review world and also collected a fair few rewards along the way. However, all good things have to come to an end. So, the time has come to say goodbye to the ‘old’ eOne-Sixty and welcome its successor – the eOne-Sixty. That is actually not the complete truth, but we will go into that later on.
The new eOne-Sixty is a complete overhaul of its predecessor, incorporating the latest standards, like the neatly integrated internal battery, introducing a long list of new and exciting features yet maintaining and even improving on the unparalleled and often highly praised riding characteristics of the ‘original’ eOne-Sixty. Our e-enduro bike offers proven in-build shuttle service (courtesy of the Shimano E8000 power unit), and due to the perfectly tuned MTB geometry and low centre of gravity, it offers agile handling performance as you would normally only expect from a non-assisted bike.
The heart of the bike is the new carbon frame. Carbon was chosen to give the new eOne-Sixty a super stiff and robust frame, without adding any weight to the overall construction. The large battery opening offers a real challenge when it comes to maintaining frame stiffness, but the use of carbon and specific layering have managed to keep the stiffness while even reducing weight in comparison to its predecessor. Besides that, the material offers real design freedom, which clearly shows in the striking appearance of the bike.
However, carbon is not a great thermal conductor, which needed to be considered in the design process. To guarantee the optimum operating temperature of the battery, we have developed our Thermo Gate, which works like a chimney and allows the warm air to dissipate through the openings near the head tube. This enables the battery to perform at its best, in any condition.
A further challenge with integrating the battery into the main frame is the accessibility of the power unit for transport, external charging or to replace it with a new/full battery. We have put lots of effort into our two-component battery cover, the Energy Guard, making sure that it protects the battery, keeps things nice and quiet and also offers super-fast and easy yet secure access to the battery when for example a sway is needed. Its tight fit makes it completely rattle proof, and Shimano’s two-lock mechanism (Allen key, followed by pressing of a release button) prevents accidental battery release while making the removal fast and straightforward.
With regards to the power units, the eOne-Sixty comes with the trusted E8000 motor from Shimano STePS and offers up to 70 Nm of natural and intuitive power delivery and features a super compact Shimano 8035 battery with 504 Wh. The battery (or rather a 2nd one) can easily be transported in a 15l backpack, giving the eOne-Sixty impressive reach for longer tours or more runs.
One of the strongest attributes of the ‘original’ eOne-Sixty and often praised by the riders and the cycling press, has been the well-rounded geometry. The essence of its playful, yet stable handling was certainly something we wanted to keep in the new version of the bike while adding further improvements to take it to the next level. The new eOne-Sixty is standing on two different wheel sizes: a 29″ (2.5″ wide) wheel at the front for improved ‘rolling over obstacles’ behaviour and precise steering and a 27.5″ (2.6″ wide) at the rear for maximum traction and comfort and a playful/agile character (due to the shorter 27.5″ wheels chainstays). Further to that, we have slackened the head angle to 65.5° and lowered the bottom bracket for even better control at high speed. The original eONE-SIXTY was optimised for 175mm cranks. However, the new bike is designed for 165mm cranks allowing us to lower the bottom bracket even further. To optimise the climbing performance, we also slightly steepened the seat angle by.
To keep things quiet and organised, the eOne-Sixty has internal cable routing throughout with the additional new feature of an internal clamp in the inside of the downtube. This clamp also provides a fixing position for a water bottle cage. The new frame has space for a 0.75l bottle to be fitted into all sizes, and space for even bigger bottles in the L and XL frame. Five sizes are on offer to allow all riders to find the perfect fit. We also managed to create plenty of dropper post insertion depth, so that a size M frame can be equipped with a 150mm and an L as well as XL frame even with a 170mm dropper post. Boost standard for increased stiffness is standard on all models which also helped to create plenty of tyre clearance in case riders want to ‘beef’ up on their rubber. Finally, a feature introduced in our high-end XC bikes finds its way back onto our eOne-Sixty. To prevent the fork from damaging the down tube, in case of a crash or an extreme turning angle, we have added an internal block system into the 1.5″ head tube, that prevents the fork crown from hitting the down tube.
The eOne-Sixty carbon is available in 4 different specification levels, from the Shimano XTR and Fox factory equipped top model, the 10k, via the 9000 and 8000 all the way through to the more wallet-friendly 5000 bike. All four models feature the same frame, motor and battery. Prices will vary from below € 5 to below € 10k. Please check the details with your national distributor.
Going back to our statement of saying goodbye to the ‘original’ eOne-Sixty. For all fans of the aluminium version, and to be able to offer more affordable versions of the eOne-Sixty platform, we are happy to announce that two models of the aluminium eOne-Sixty with semi-integrated battery will remain in the range in form of the eOne-Sixty 800 SE and eOne-Sixty 500 SE.
And finally, as with all our e-bikes, the eOne-Sixty, and all its components have been tested, and certified to an increased system weight of 140kg, assuring the rider that the bike has been pushed well beyond the legal requirements.
