Merida Scultura Endurance 7000-E

The 7000-E tops the new Scultura Endurance range from Merida, and is a more relaxed, less aggressive version of its Scultura race bike. It still offers plenty of performance and comfort, but it's more suited to those big rides – and, thanks to large tyre clearances and mudguard mounts, you can use it whatever the weather too.

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A few years back Merida's road line-up contained three models: the Reacto aero bike, the Scultura race bike, and the Ride endurance bike.

The first two are still part of the catalogue, but the Ride was culled and replaced by this, the Scultura Endurance.

The Endurance has taken a lot of its styling cues from the Scultura and, while they share the same seat and head tube angles, pretty much everything else is different.

Compare the medium (it's actually M/L for the Scultura) in each line-up and you see the Endurance has a shorter top tube and a taller head tube, creating a reach that's 10mm shorter and a stack height 10mm taller.

The chainstays are 10mm longer too at 418mm for a wheelbase of 1,001mm, although that's only 3mm longer than the Scultura.

What this all means is that you're still getting a performance-based riding position, but it's not quite as extreme. In fact, the Scultura isn't one of the most aggressive race bikes on the market anyway, so the changes aren't huge.

The Endurance still feels like a fast bike, and even with that slightly taller front end you can still get tucked down for speed and get out of the wind.

At 8.58kg the overall weight is good, which certainly aids acceleration and sprinting. It's a pretty useful climber, too.

I found the slightly more upright position and tweaked geometry let me stay seated on the majority of climbs, just tapping the pedals around. Merida has specced a 50/34T compact chainset and an 11-34T cassette, giving a few extra low gears over the common 11-28T, which also helps out.

When descending or hammering along on the flat there's a sense of stability thanks to the metre-long wheelbase. The Endurance feels well poised at speed, and doesn't feel unsettled by rough road surfaces.

This stable feeling continues on technical descents. Many endurance-style bikes tend to knock the head angle back a degree to slow the steering down a touch, but as I mentioned earlier the Scultura Endurance has the same angle as the Scultura. The only real change is that the Endurance has an extra 5mm of fork length.

The steering is on the quick side of neutral and, paired with the bike's stability, gives plenty of confidence in the bends. It really flows well and if you aren't a confident descender, the Endurance will no doubt help you improve without feeling out of control.

It's only on the really tight, off-camber stuff where I found the Endurance wasn't quite as sharp as a true race machine. Nothing massive, it just lacks a little precision right at the apex, but unless you're used to barrelling into bends at crazy speeds you won't be dismayed.

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For me it only really became noticeable when descending through Cheddar Gorge in the Mendips. If you don't know it, it's quite a long descent that isn't too steep and made up mostly of gentle twists and turns – at the top, at least.

The Merida really flows very nicely indeed on such roads, and it was only when the gradient steepened and the bends tightened that I had to put in a bit of extra input and focus to get the bike around smoothly.

Frame and fork

Comfort, for me, is where the Scultura Endurance really excels though. The choice of carbon layup in the CF3 frame and fork, coupled with the geometry, gives the Endurance a plush ride.

Even with the 32mm Continental tyres pumped up as hard as I like them, the Merida didn't suffer any annoying resonance from the road surface. It gives a very compliant ride, which is impressive considering how high the overall stiffness levels are.

The CF3 frame (Merida grades its frames in numbers, with CF2 being the lowest and CF5 the highest) on the 7000-E has a claimed weight of 1,124g for this medium size, which is pretty impressive – especially as it includes parts such as the derailleur hanger, removable seatstay bridge and various bolts. The fork is 411g with an uncut steerer.

Still, the Scultura Endurance doesn't buck any design trends, really. There's a tapered head tube at the front and corresponding fork steerer. The down tube is sizeable, as is the bottom bracket shell.

The BB itself is press-fit. That's not to everyone's tastes, especially on a bike that's likely to see plenty of wet miles, but I'm seeing a lot fewer issues with creaking from poor frame/bearing tolerances than when the idea was relatively new.

Being designed for long distance riding – 'road adventure,' Merida calls it – the frame leaves plenty of room around the tyres.

Merida says the chainstays and seatstays are shaped to create a kind of leaf spring suspension. As this bike does have a comfortable ride, I'm not going to dispute it.

With the standard 32mm tyres it takes full mudguards, and if you aren't worried about getting wet you can go up to 35mm slicks.

Not only would this make it a comfortable audax machine, it also means the Scultura Endurance could be a versatile winter trainer or year-round commuter.

The Endurance has internal cable and hose routing. Nothing new there, I hear you say, but Merida has designed the front end so everything enters the head tube through the spacers, which really cleans up the front end. It's the same theme with the seatpost, which has an internal wedge system for clamping.

You get 12mm thru-axles front and rear, and flat-mount callipers – the range is disc only.

Finishing Kit

The 'E' in 7000-E's name denotes an electronic groupset, in this case Shimano's Ultegra Di2. It's a groupset you really can't fault, to be honest. It has 95% of the shifting quality and performance of the flagship Dura-Ace, for a hell of a lot less cash.

I've mentioned the gear ratios (50/34 and 11-34 for those not paying attention) and it's a great spread of gears with the only large jumps coming at the top of the cassette – the bailout gears, if you like.

With 160mm disc rotors there's certainly plenty of stopping power, and as always with Shimano's systems there's loads of feedback through the levers.

Merida has fitted its finned aluminium heatsink to the chainstay and fork leg, there to soak away heat build-up from the callipers, although they'll be more valuable on long Alpine descents than those found in the UK.

The rest of the components are all Merida branded, and it's decent kit. The cockpit is stiff, and I especially like the shallow drop of the handlebar. It gives plenty of hand positions without putting you in too aggressive a position, and is accessible to all.

The Expert CC saddle is pretty minimalist for padding, although I got on alright with it. I wouldn't say it suited me perfectly, but I had no major issues. The sleeve under the saddle contains a Merida multi-tool, which is a neat addition.

Wheels and tyres

Merida has specced DT Swiss's P1850 Spline DB23 wheelset, and it's a good 'un. It's a do-it-all kind of wheelset thanks to 23mm deep alloy rims, although they're narrow (18mm internal, 22mm external) for a bike that comes with 32mm tyres.

The resulting profile is quite pronounced, though, which isn't great for aerodynamics.

I had some Pacenti deep section carbon wheels (review to come) on test at the same time as this, and they noticeably boosted the Merida's performance. The Endurance is worthy of upgrades.

Continental's Grand Prix 4 Season tyres match the DT Swiss wheels' intent as good all-rounders.

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They're not the quickest or grippiest out there, but they're good and take a lot of abuse – it's a fit and forget tyre. Their lack of tubeless compatibility might be an issue for some, but at least the wheels are tubeless ready.

Value

Looking around at the opposition, the 7000-E is competitively priced.

Specialized's Roubaix Comp endurance offering matches the Merida at £3,500 and has the FutureShock system for added comfort, but you only get a mechanical Ultegra groupset and a max tyre clearance of 33mm. Mudguards aren't an option either. The Roubaix Comp Ultegra Di2  option costs £4,400.

Trek's Domane is available in SL 6 guise for £3,200. Again, this only gets you Ultegra mechanical, though.

Canyon's endurance bike, the aptly/bluntly named Endurace, can be had with Di2 for just £3,049 if you go for the CF SL Disc 8.0 model. Again though, it doesn't offer the versatility of the Merida.

Conclusion

I really enjoyed riding and living with the Merida Scultura Endurance 7000-E. It feels as close to a race bike as it needs to for the speed and performance required of a fast day in the saddle. But it's also fun to ride, either when going fast or going far, something that's only helped by its excellent comfort levels.

Verdict

Very comfortable, versatile mile-muncher that offers plenty of performance