"Merida just launched an all-new Mission gravel race bike that looks a lot more like their road racing lineup than it does most adventure-focused gravel bikes these days. That essentially boils down to the fact that their bikepacking-ready Silex had already won a gravel world championship. So, Merida didn't need another all-rounder. They didn't even need a fat tire gravel race bike."
"What they wanted was a UCI Gravel World Series-tuned race bike that felt as fast as a road bike, no matter what surface you were racing on - paved or not. At first glance, the Mission seems to ignore the contemporary industry pressure that bigger tires are better. But ride this bike, and the virtue of a fast, race-tuned bike becomes immediately clear.t 2025 Merida Mission prioritizes race speed over rough gravel"
Merida launched the all-new Mission as a gravel race bike that channels road racing characteristics rather than adventure-focused design. The Mission prioritizes speed and a road-bike feel across paved and unpaved surfaces, intentionally avoiding the trend toward ever-larger tires. Merida's Silex already demonstrated capability with fat tires and a gravel world championship, so the new Mission doubles down on race-tuned performance. Gravel bikes have segmented into all-road/light gravel, versatile everyday gravel, and slack, adventure-oriented designs, while racers have been adopting wider tires and blurring category lines. Merida leaned more heavily on its road racing Scultura lineage to achieve a fast, UCI Gravel World Series–oriented platform.
Read at Bikerumor
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