Merida Help Please

[kaya]

Hi Ive just received a Merida Albon Tech XT bike and would like to know more about it.
I thought it was about a 94ish but the seat say 89 now I know components are changed,
but every thing looks pretty original except the front wheel. the frame is bonded alloy front end with cromo rear

Will post some more pics later any info about it,
would be great help.
Ive had a quick look around the site but have only come across two others and there's not much info about them.

cheers kaya

 

[velomaniac]

DaveDH told me about a Carrera he had a go on BITD that had an alloy triangle and a steel rear.

I know many Carreras were made by Merida thus I suspect the Albon may also have been sold under the Carrera(Halfords) banner

 

[kaya]

Cheers velo I thought that they may have used an existing model, rather than design some thing different.
Everything seams to be XT so even if the frame gives up after a few rides,
I'll still have everything to hang on another frame But the frame is a bit of a looker it looks like the paint finish has been done with a rag :shock:

 

[kaya]

Here's some more pics

Handlebar Damage, If I can't sort this I'm going to cut it down :cry:

It even came with XT pedals on the XT 730 cranks

Top Tube

Seat Tube decals

More seat Tube decals

Cromo Forks




The stem and seat post are Zoom and may clean up, But if they don't it's a good excuse for an upgrade


.

 

[mikee]

if the zoom stuffs O.E. fit thats 92/3 ish

albon = aluminium bonded ?

 

[velomaniac]

Slight red herring in my earlier post, DaveDh was not talking about a Carrera however Merida has made Carrera's.

Merida is basically Giants main Taiwanese rival in that its a huge bike builder that makes bikes for other marques. Thus there is a chance a frame like this has appeared under a different badge.

Albon does mean Alloy Bonded

 

[mikee]

merida fact

when they started a big marketing campaign in 97/8 ish the scotish rep
came up with the slogan "your oafa your heeda if you dont buy a merida "

this is true by the way

 

[kaya]

if the zoom stuffs O.E. fit thats 92/3 ish

albon = aluminium bonded ?

The zoom bits look like they have been on since new,
From what Ive found out I thought 93/94 but the seat has 89 on it.
I know the seat could have been changed but looks original.

The front triangle is ally tubes bonded to cast? lugs and the seat/wheel stays are cromo bonded, No welding :shock:
The cranks and group-set are XT m73.... 7speed so its 90 to 94 :roll:

 

[BG]

Worked in a shop that stocked Merida from late '93 onwards. The had some '92 models in stock when I started there and they as with the '93 and then '94 models were named with a number such as '870', '880' and '890' depending on the hierarchy of the component spec, so I guess the 'XT' nomenclature may put it a bit earlier 89-91 as you suggest.

Paint looked nice, but was indeed pretty fragile.

Just found this thread over on MTBR with a '90 model that looks to have similar graphics to yours so that may be a match: http://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?t=397277

 

[FluffyChicken]

Groupset date is 1990 to 1993, (given it's a XT bike we can be fairly safe in thinking they've not been upgraded on the bike), these XT parts will be a manufacture date on the back (two stamped on numbers) this will give an indication of the bikes year.

I would say the seat post and handlebars have been an upgrade as they don't suite the bike

look for a frame serial number as well. Mass produced bikes should have something logic.

to me it has a typical look of a turn of the 90's bike.