Merida Mission CX 8000

The Merida Mission CX 8000 is a super-smooth high-end race bike with brilliant handling on technical courses. The stability inspires confidence, but there are similarly specced bikes for a lot less money. I'd also want to change the axles.

• Pros: Light and chuckable handling gives a great ride
• Cons: Thu-axle design, expensive for the spec

The ride: Race focus

For me, cyclo-cross is a great way of maintaining fitness through the winter while improving skill and satiating my appetite for good-natured competition. The Mission CX 8000 is great for full-on racing, providing direct handling and excellent rut-finding accuracy.

Over bumpy ground, you'll always be held back by the small air volume of 33mm tyres, but the carbon frame, fork and seatpost help to relieve the worst of the shocks. Comparing this to my old school canti bike from 2013 is like night and day. This is so much smoother and also feels much nippier out of slow corners. That's imperative when a 'cross race is an hour of mini sprints.

Push the pace into a muddy corner and the grip will soon go, but that's the whole point of cyclo-cross and I found the 33mm tubeless Maxxis All Terrane tyres coped reasonably well. This is one area where the old way still wins. Tubulars are still simply better for racing, though I'm well aware that the focus of many people's 'cross bikes goes well beyond the race course.

The geometry really helps here. It's a very fun bike to ride with more stability than my old bike, but not the dull handling of some modern CX bikes. Away from racing, the Mission 8000 handles trail rides very well, and on the road it feels just like a normal road bike. It makes a great bike to take out training with a mix of road, grass and trails.

Frame

The 8000 is the second-highest in the Mission CX range, which goes from the entry-level 400 with an aluminium frame and Shimano 105 gearing up to the 8000-E, a Di2 version of the bike we have here, but with a 2x groupset and a wheel upgrade. It has received a redesign over the outgoing CycloCross model, with a racier position, flat mount brakes and Merida's Smart Entry cable stops.

It's no surprise to see Merida opting for a disc brake-only range. Axle standards are the very common 12x100mm and 12x140mm. If you're after a wheel upgrade down the line, that'll be very good news. There are also no funny wheel dishing standards here, everything is just nice and simple.

One of the slightly polarising features is that you have the option of fitting mudguards. You've got eyelets and a removable seatstay bridge that makes installing full mudguards easy. The issue is that this is a race bike. There are much better bikes for commuting duties where you want mudguards; eyelets are simply not needed here.

Mud clearance is one of the key features for the privateer racer, as most of us have only one bike to get us through even the muddiest races. Here, clearance is good with 33mm tyres and I had no issues, even at the mud-bowl that the Crawley National Trophy Round turned into. There are no 'mud shelves' where the mud could collect. That means that even when mud is sticking to the frame, it won't clog the wheels.

The Merida Expert seat clamp is a lightweight design but I did experience a slipped seatpost several times, despite using a torque wrench to set the bolt to its limit. The post also came with carbon gripper paste so I'd say a better clamp, or even an additional clamp, is needed.

A PF86 bottom bracket provides a nice stiff base and I've had zero clicks or creaks despite riding it through some proper 'cross conditions and jet washing after every race. The head tube tapers from the standard 1 1/8in top bearing to a massive 1 1/2in bottom bearing. It's all about increasing stiffness and making the handling more direct, and it certainly does the job.

The cables are all internally routed and Merida's Smart Entry system means that all combinations of hydraulics, electronic and mechanical shifting/braking can be neatly routed.

The geometry shows that Merida is moving towards a modern race bike that strikes a great balance between stability and reactive handling. A 68mm bottom bracket drop goes across the XS-XL frame sizes, as do the 423mm chainstays. The Mission CX is 5mm longer than the outgoing model with a marginally shorter head tube and a head angle that's 0.5 degrees slacker across the range. It all points to a bike that is lower, longer and much better suited to full-on racing than the old CycloCross model.

The paint job might not be everyone's cup of tea. Personally, I'd like to see Merida offering something more eye-catching, with more prominent graphics, along the lines of the Specialized Crux that Dave Arthur was testing, maybe.

Top tube shouldering is an important part of cyclo-cross and the shape of the Mission CX 8000's top tube makes it comfortable enough when running is the only option. Personally, I much prefer the traditional shape that Merida has used than the shouldering section that Canyon has come up with. Primarily, that's because when shouldering the bike for a tricky run-up it's very useful to be able to slide the bike around on the shoulder to help your balance. A flat top tube is perfect for that.

Like Dave found with the Specialized, I see no point in the front mech port. It looks ugly and has only been included to accommodate the 2x 105 groupset on the 7000. I'd much rather see a full 1x range, even if it means improvising a 105 1X setup on the 7000. Much like the mudguard issue, it feels as if Merida isn't fully committing to its CX bikes being race bikes.

Build

The 8000 that we have here comes with what I feel is probably the best option for racers who are taking things a bit more seriously. SRAM's Force CX1 groupset is really good, providing light shifting that remains accurate in poor conditions. It is dependable whatever it's faced with, and pretty easy to look after.

The SRAM Force cranks are carbon which contributes (or doesn't) to the low weight. The gearing pairs a 40T chainring with an 11-32T cassette. The chainring is spot on for me, though I'd probably swap out the cassette to an 11-28 as I find it's all too easy to lose traction with that 32. Then again, my lower back seems to be pretty happy about having that easier gear.

Braking is powerful thanks to the 160mm rotors which caught me out after coming over from cantilevers. I'm used to having to grab a lot of brake if I wish to stop, so I lost traction pretty quickly when using these for the first time. I have noticed that hand fatigue is greatly reduced and it's much easier to control the power with these.

The SRAM Force rear mech gives you solid shifting performance, even when I couldn't actually see the mech. The clutch is effective at preventing chain slap, and I've also experienced zero dropped chains so it seems to work well.

DT Swiss ER1400 Spline wheels are a very nice tubeless set that have been solid throughout testing. They're quite boxy, with a depth of just 20mm, but the internal width of 21mm provides a great tyre profile and supports the sidewalls when the pressures get dropped. The wheels certainly don't feel sluggish, but I would be looking to upgrade to tubulars for frequent racing.

While we're down at the wheels, let's have a look at my biggest gripe with the whole bike. The thru-axles feature a lever that is stowed within the axle. It looks very clean when riding, but come to the end of a race and there is no way of getting the lever back out with warm, dry hands. There's no point even trying with cold, wet hands post-race. The design is from Fulchee and I'd gamble that you'll want to buy new ones; they strike me as pointless over-engineering of a part that doesn't need it.

Tubeless tyres are improving and Maxxis has made a decent set with the All Terranes. They're not ones that I'd necessarily choose to buy, but as a stock pair, they've done rather well in a mix of conditions.

A pretty flat Merida Expert CC saddle tops off the Merida Carbon Team Superlite seatpost, and was comfy and proved a good landing perch.

The aluminium bar and stem go about their jobs with no fuss and survived a few little crashes and a lot of barrier hopping without fuss. The bar offers a nice compact drop, giving a secure position for braking if you're a fan of being in the drops. The bar tape gives decent grip when things get muddy and I never felt myself losing control of the bar.

Everything comes together in a package that weighs 7.84kg, which isn't bad at all and certainly feels pretty light when racing. If you're wanting to go lighter then wheels would be my first upgrade, and then the bar and stem.

Value for money

Expensive? Well, over three-and-a-half grand is a hefty price tag to pay for a bike that is going to see some pretty tough conditions. It's not alone, though – the Trek Boone 7 comes with the same SRAM Force groupset for £3,500. Although the narrower Bontrager wheels are a slight step down, the Bontrager Pro IsoCore VR-CF bar is a very good carbon upgrade over that on the Merida. You've also got a cleaner cable management system with Trek's Control Freak routing through the down tube.

> Buyer's Guide: 12 of the best cyclo-cross bikes

You can also spend more: while the SRAM Rival-equipped Specialized Crux Elite that Dave tested is now £3,000, the Expert – with SRAM Force and Roval carbon wheels – is £4,250.

A slightly cheaper price gets you Di2 and carbon wheels from Canyon: its Inflite CF SL 8.0 Team is £3,249. But shopping around shows you can spend a lot less for the same groupset. A Vitus Energie CRX Force (full review coming soon) will set you back just £1,709.99. Granted, the seatpost isn't carbon and the wheels are a bit of a step down, but that leftover cash could get you a set of race wheels and some very fancy tyres.

If you're looking for an even cheaper option, to get into cyclo-cross perhaps, Canyon's Inflite AL SLX 6.0 is £1,299; I've seen plenty of them at the pointy end of races this year so don't think aluminium will hold you back.

Conclusion

Merida's Mission CX 8000 is absolutely brilliant for racing fast and twisty courses. The handling is impeccable and it's a real joy to chuck about, although it's not without some issues: the seatpost slipping detracted from the ride and I would want to change the thru-axles – they don't have to be fancy or hidden, they just need to work. The Merida might not offer the absolute best bang for buck, but it does offer a grin-inducing ride – especially when you can get the seatpost to stay in place.

Verdict

Fast, direct and heaps of fun to race, but pricey for the spec and a few flaws detract from the brilliant ride