Merida Road 903 is it any good?

[Dusty Bin]

Specialized bike are made in Guangdong province by the Giant Bicycle Corporation, the world’s largest cycle manufacturer.

As far a I'm aware, Merida makes the majority of Specialized's production, not Giant. Giant recently challenged Specialized to a wind tunnel test in order to compare the performance of S-Works Venge to Giant's Propel frame. That would have been a pretty pointless exercise if if the same business interests were behind the two bikes.

 

[Mr Haematocrit]

As far a I'm aware, Merida makes the majority of Specialized production .

I believed this to be the case, until I noticed that the the box of my 2013 SL4 Vinokourov frameset had a inspection stamp on the base of it stating Guangdong province. Merida do not have a factory in this region, unlike Giant

 

[Dusty Bin]

I believed this to be the case, until I noticed that the the box of my 2013 SL4 Vinokourov frameset had a inspection stamp on the base of it stating Guangdong province. Merida do not have a factory in this region, unlike Giant

It's perfectly possible that the box was made in Guangdong province. The frameset, on the other hand, almost certainly came out of the Merida factory. The balance of opinions seems to suggest that Merida make them and I cant see why Merida would shell out for 49% of Specialized Corp only to have the frames made by one of their major rivals.

 

[Mr Haematocrit]

The stamp on the box mentions the frames name and the frame size in full, the Vinokourov Olympic framesets were were inspected by hand as are all special frames finishes from the specialized edition range. At least that's what I was informed when I asked Specialized about it.
You could be right though, but I can't help wonder why a box factory would put a stamp on a box stating model and frame size or why Specialized did not inform me that only the boxes are made in Guangdong province when I enquired about the origins of this stamp.

 

[Dusty Bin]

Just to be clear - did the guy from Specialized actually say the frames were made by Giant in Guandong? If not, what did he say?

 

[helston90]

You do NOT remember rightly, its the other way round.
In 2001 Merida purchased 49% of the shares in Specialized and its CEO and founder Mike Sinyard still is its shareholder.
Specialized bike are made in Guangdong province by the Giant Bicycle Corporation, the world’s largest cycle manufacturer.

Aha- I knew it was something like that, thanks for clarifying! (that's my thing learnt for the day!)

 

[MrDampy]

Was told the Merida have a Life time Guarantee on there Carbon Frames!