Di2 aero bike under £2.5k?

[jifdave]

My brother in law bought a lovely Merida reacto 7000-E late last year on sale for around £2200.

Unfortunately it was stolen the other day and looks likely the insurance will pay what he paid for it.

Only problem is it's no longer on sale and this years model is £3200!

Has anyone spotted any good deals on either an aero bike with di2 for under £2500 or a frame set for under £1200?

Ive found http://www.planetx.co.uk/i/q/CBPXRR...rider-shimano-ultegra-6870-di2-aero-road-bike but doesn't feel as exotic as the Merida

 

[Drago]

Merida and exotic aren't two words normally found adjacent to each other.

 

[S-Express]

Ive found http://www.planetx.co.uk/i/q/CBPXRR...rider-shimano-ultegra-6870-di2-aero-road-bike but doesn't feel as exotic as the Merida

Cross out the Planet X logos and write in 'Pinarello' with a magic marker maybe?

Seriously though, the PX frame is as good a performer as any other in that price bracket (and probably higher). Won a few awards and you can see plenty being raced..

 

[HLaB]

My mate bike also got stolen and he managed to get an Oltre 1 with DI2 for less than £2.5k as the Oltre 4 was coming out and the shop needed to make room for them.

 

[jifdave]

Merida and exotic aren't two words normally found adjacent to each other.

Where I ride I've not seen a single person ride a Merida, are they common your way?

 

[S-Express]

Merida and exotic aren't two words normally found adjacent to each other.

Made in the far east, and the far east is definitely exotic, so I'd say the Merida is exotic. Definitely more exotic than the garden shed of some old Italian artisan who can only knock out three frames a year and has a waiting list 17 years long.

 

[Drago]

Where I ride I've not seen a single person ride a Merida, are they common your way?

Massive showroom with a lovely display of them in the nearest large town. I could park the car and walk off the street at 0900hrs and walk out the shop with one by 0905hrs tomorrow.

They're far eastern mass produced bikes. Pleasant enough, but we're still talking production line stuff, and the reason you don't see so many on then road is because the likes of Giant and Specialized are simply more adept at making bikes that perform their very best for a given price point, as opposed to simply being specced down to a budget.

 

[StuAff]

Merida own 49% of Specialized. I'd be very surprised if they didn't make most of Spesh's production in the same factories.

 

[S-Express]

and the reason you don't see so many on then road is because the likes of Giant and Specialized are simply more adept at making bikes that perform their very best for a given price point, as opposed to simply being specced down to a budget.

Talking of Specialized, it's worth noting that Specialized frames mostly originate from Merida's Taiwan factory. Specialized are just better at marketing & distribution.

 

[Yellow Saddle]

So Spez is just an exotic Merida then?

 

[Drago]

Indeed, closely related to Spesh, though looming at the current ranges for each brand there are no common frames, so Spesh's frames are made to their design with their specified materials - they're not simply buying frames from the Merida range and slapping Spesh stickers on them, so its not entirely accurate to say the differences are down to marketing.

Fact is, as aforementioned by myself, Spesh and Giant are masters at extracting excellent performance at each price point, instead of simply speccing a bike to a price like others do. Defy, Trance, Hardrock, Allez, to name a few, are excellent examples of this from the last 15 years, and their class topping performance at their respective price points has nothing to do with marketing, and everything to do with decent frames and a well considered component list.

I've no downer on Merida, nothing against them at all, but they ain't nowt exotic. The majors stockists like Evans have them on their showroom floors, so if you're not seeing many its not because they're exotic, its because no bugger is buying them. They're not buying them because the big 2 have the mass market to a T, and the likes of Ribble and Planet X have the budget conscious base covered, leaving the likes of Merida out in the cold with poor market placement, and no particular attributes to make them stand out as special in their own right.

 

[Cycleops]

Where I ride I've not seen a single person ride a Merida, are they common your way?

Saw a couple in Cash Converters last year.

 

[S-Express]

they're not simply buying frames from the Merida range and slapping Spesh stickers on them, so its not entirely accurate to say the differences are down to marketing.

That's not what I meant. I just meant that Specialized does a better job of branding, marketing and distribution and is therefore a better known business. I know the frames are not the same, they just come out of the same factory.

 

[biggs682]

@jifdave i have a good friend who has a couple of the Planet ex aero bikes fr sale sure one of them has di2 on , last time we spoke he was asking around £1k for it and its hardly been used .

if its of any interest pm me and i will get some more details for you

 

[Heisenberg71]

Didn't the Planet X Rivet Rider win Aero Bike of the Year 2017.
If I was in the market for an aero I would consider it.

http://www.cyclingweekly.com/reviews/road-bikes/planet-x-ec-130e