Recommendation on road bike to buy - Merlin?

Triathlon Forum
1

My LBS is willing to ship in a demo Merlin Camena ****( women specific ****) anyone have any experience

with Merlin? My ex-coach was quite a fan.

Pros’ cons ?Thans a bunch peeps !

http://merlinbikes.com/bikes/2005/camena.aspx

  • I do long rides, 1/2 im and full im events

  • Do the Clermont events so the course is fairly technical with some steep short climbs

  • I do not have any flexibility discomfort problems.

  • Have been riding a Specialized Allez with 105 for 8 years now and am ready to take it to the next level.

  • Need stability in handling, climber bike and also flowing and responsive on flats ( hey did I leave anything out ? lol )

  • I have access to Cannondale, Specialized, Giant, Trek, Cervelo, Guru, Quota dealers but tri config is not my first choice

Thanks in advance for your help !

2

You will wonder why you didnt get one sooner…ask Herbert…

3

I bought a merlin last year and love it. Haven’t raced with it but use it on all group and easy rides.

4

Hey Spider, why don’t you use it on races ? Could you please share ?

Is it slow ? I am kind of expecting an increase in speed in my im distance races with the new bike.

5

I have a cyrene and I purchased it just for touring and group rides. I only do tris so I use the my LS Blade for racing. The merlin is not slow at all. It climbs great and is very responsive. Oh yeah and comfy. Not sure about the model you are looking at but when I was deciding which model it was between the cyrene and agilis. If I was going to use it for racing I would have gone with the agilis becasue of its compact frame.

6

Have a Merlin Agilis and am very happy with it. Was my first Ti Bike and was amazed at the stiffness yet comfort of the ride and this was coming off a Softride. Also have Merlin Aerial for a Tri bike.
Don’t think you can go wrong.

fal7 in Houston