Merida Ebig 500 diary

[Sheetmaself]

will try to keep this updated as much as possible and should anyone have any questions please ask and i will do my best to answer.

Currently sat at home awaiting delivery today of my brand new Merida Ebig 500 bike.

This has been a bit of a trial by fire as i originally ordered a Mondraker ePrime but this had issues with the Bosch motor which could not be fixed. The bike worked perfectly apart from in sport mode where there was no assistance provided. This was returned after 2 days in my ownership the bike shop ran diagnostics but this showed nothing, they changed the battery and the head unit but this didnt fix the issue either. After reporting that they needed to send the bike back to Bosch it was agreed that they would provide me with a new bike however after some looking it was found they had no replacements in the right size.

The Mondraker, in the short 20 miles i rode it, felt really really nice and looked fantastic as well so the Merida has a lot to live up to.

The bike shop and a lot of others have stated that the Merida is a really nice bike so hopefully they weren’t just after a sale!

I haven’t seen or ridden the bike as yet so here’s hoping.

Have a great day and if there is interest i will regularly update.

Also if you have a similar bike and can offer tips on how to get the best from it they will be greatly appreciated.

 

[Sheetmaself]

Only managed a short ride on it as the battery was flat maybe arounf 5 miles and pretty much all of that off road.

The forks seem quite good and the rear is quite still so i may use the dropper post after all!

You can definitely tell that it is another level up from the Mondraker ePrime but that is definitely a good bike for its price as well. The brakes are more than up for the job with there 203mm discs and the shifting is better than the Sram as long as you release a bit of pressure whilst shifting.

All in all, very happy so far and looking forward to using it more and more.

 

[Sheetmaself]

Just been out for a quick ride with the Mrs and found a bit of an issue with the bike. At the first sign of a hill she ends up on it and i end up on hers. Trust me a 100kg fat lad on a grey and pink small Scott Contessa mtb is quite a sight, roughly akin to if Bowser had a come ng out ceremony!

Really impressed with the bike to be fair, initially it felt like there was a huge amount of drag from the motor (shimano steps e8000) what i found to be the issue was that is was pulling a high gear due to the assistance and when dropped dow a couple of gears I honestly dont think there is any noticeable drag at all.

I think i may look at the kits you can get for adding a back wheel motor to an existing bike for the wife as she really likes her bike and it has all my (admittedly 15year old) XT, Hope and Chris King components it surely has to be the best specced £350 bike in the world!

 

[Sheetmaself]

120 miles in still really happy with the bike but yesterday i found that a chain link has become stiff. This felt initially like gears slipping so tried to sort it out at the rear mech meaning that now the gears will need sorting once the chain jas been fixed. Ordered me a new xt chain from Amazon for £22 will pop this on and try to repair the existing tomorrow.

Anyone else had this issue, can’t work out if manufacturing fault or due to extra torque going through the chain.

Any thoughts welcomed.

 

[Nefarious]

120 miles in still really happy with the bike but yesterday i found that a chain link has become stiff. This felt initially like gears slipping so tried to sort it out at the rear mech meaning that now the gears will need sorting once the chain jas been fixed. Ordered me a new xt chain from Amazon for £22 will pop this on and try to repair the existing tomorrow.

Anyone else had this issue, can’t work out if manufacturing fault or due to extra torque going through the chain.

Any thoughts welcomed.

Did you get your new bike serviced after the first month or so of ownership? When I picked my bike up, the bike store emphasised that is would need tweaking after about 4 weeks, especially the chain, which will naturally stretch.