The spirit of Grav-lo-cross. No but seriously, cyclocross and gravel go here!
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R314
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robbosmans
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ms6073
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by ms6073 on Mon Jun 12, 2023 11:12 pm
I imagine that is a private production run of what is otherwise an open-mold frameset.
- Michael
"People should stop expecting normal from me... seriously, we all know it's never going to happen"
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uilewuit
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RDY
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by RDY on Tue Oct 10, 2023 11:12 am
It's almost identical. It would be surprising if Merida haven't licensed the mold / original design from FlyBike. For a company like Merida to seek to copy almost exactly one of their frames would be bizarre.
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maurice1
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by maurice1 on Tue Oct 10, 2023 7:55 pm
RDY wrote: ↑Tue Oct 10, 2023 11:12 am
It's almost identical. It would be surprising if Merida haven't licensed the mold / original design from FlyBike. For a company like Merida to seek to copy almost exactly one of their frames would be bizarre.
Are you saying you suspect merida is working with carbonda to make small tweaks of the 707? I hope that doesn't mean the 707 will become unavailable like the 505 was
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RDY
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by RDY on Tue Oct 10, 2023 9:13 pm
jever98 wrote: ↑Tue Oct 10, 2023 9:02 pm
No way that Merida would do that. They're one of the biggest manufacturers in the world.
It would be far more odd for them to independently copy most of its features ...
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elzilcho
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by elzilcho on Wed Oct 11, 2023 12:50 am
RDY wrote: ↑Tue Oct 10, 2023 9:13 pm
jever98 wrote: ↑Tue Oct 10, 2023 9:02 pm
No way that Merida would do that. They're one of the biggest manufacturers in the world.
It would be far more odd for them to independently copy most of its features ...
Most of its features?! It has dropped seat stays the wrap around the seat tube...in a different location. Nothing else is the same, look at the fork, top tube, rear triangle...
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RDY
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by RDY on Wed Oct 11, 2023 10:09 pm
elzilcho wrote: ↑Wed Oct 11, 2023 12:50 am
RDY wrote: ↑Tue Oct 10, 2023 9:13 pm
jever98 wrote: ↑Tue Oct 10, 2023 9:02 pm
No way that Merida would do that. They're one of the biggest manufacturers in the world.
It would be far more odd for them to independently copy most of its features ...
Most of its features?! It has dropped seat stays the wrap around the seat tube...in a different location. Nothing else is the same, look at the fork, top tube, rear triangle...
The only difference is the fork. The dropped seat stays wrap around the seat tube in the same location and shape, TT is the same, rear triangle is the same. The biggest telltale is that the rear dropout is identical, and it uses exactly the same teardrop insert as the 707 and FlyBike use in many bikes - Merida inserts all look different to this. I assume you're thinking of the 696.
Last edited by
RDY on Wed Oct 11, 2023 10:19 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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RDY
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by RDY on Wed Oct 11, 2023 10:14 pm
jever98 wrote: ↑Tue Oct 10, 2023 10:50 pm
If you look closely, they're not identical. Merida produces >1M bikes per year and holds (or held) 49% of Specialized (
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merida_Bikes). Carbonda is a reseller... So extremely unlikely that Merida will be working with them. Maybe they produced the 707 all along, who knows.
Irrelevant. They don't and AFAIK have never had a racey gravel bike in their portfolio ... the Silex line are bikepacking geo. I'm pretty sure this a paint-jobbed 707 with a different fork. Meaning they probably don't have any immediate plans to fill the gap and it was just for a sponsored rider. It would be an embarassment if they paint-jobbed a name brand (even Specialized).