This article originally appeared on BikeRadar
Merida made history this April by putting its new Scultura Disc frames under Lampre-Merida at the Tour of Flanders, making the squad the first WorldTour team to ride all on disc brakes in a major professional road event. Now Merida is launching that bike to the general public, with two of the most notable points being a rotor-cooling system on the chainstay and the quarter-turn RAT axles Merida has licensed from Focus.
Pricing and specific models have not yet been announced. Most models will be available in the UK, some models will be sold in Australia, but none will be available in the United States because of an agreement with Specialized. (Merida owns a substantial share in the Californian company and produces its bikes.)
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The Scultura Disc is quite similar to the existing Scultura, which traces its roots back to 2006, when it was Merida's first monocoque carbon frame. The company got frame weigh down to 840g in 2008, and reduced it further to 740g by 2015.
Aside from a redesigned fork and a reinforced rear end to handle the forces of disc brakes, plus RAT axles, the frameset is largely the same. The chainstays are 8mm longer, moving to a still-quite-agile 408mm. A size 54cm Scultura Disc frame weighs 900g. But for this bike, ultimate light weight was not the primary goal, though, said Merida product director Jürgen Falke.
"The targets for this bike were weight, comfort, cable routing, heat management, and ease of use for the axle and wheel changes," Falke said.
- 12mm thru-axles (100mm front, 142mm rear)
- 160mm discs per UCI's recommendation
- RAT axles (Rapid Axle Technology) that feature quarter-turn engagement instead of a threaded design
- Flat-mount clipers
- BB86 bottom bracket on carbon frames, BB386 on alloy
- clearance for 28mm tires
You can read more at Cyclingnews.com
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