My oldest son needed a new bike because his current one (a Specialized Mountainbike) is getting way too small for him (actually, it's him who's getting way too tall, to be more precise ...
). And he wanted a Cyclocross bike instead of a MTB this time (also because he's now tall enough to use one of my mountainbikes if he needs one
). I'd been thinking about buying myself a road- or cyclocross bike for years but never got round to it, but since my boy was getting one I thought it would be best to get myself something new as well (since I'm having a hard enough time to keep up with him as it is these days ... ).
After browsing the net to see which bikes to pick from (I'm a Merida fan, so I didn't need much time to decide which brand to go to) I discovered that there was a "new style" of bikes since a couple of years, the Gravelbikes (also known as Gravel/Adventure bikes), which are a bit of a mix between cyclocross/mountain/sport bikes.
Offering big wheels (all my mountainbikes have 26inch wheels), with heaps of clearance both at the chain and seat stays, it means the tyres have tonnes of clearance, and you could fit larger size in and sacrifice a bit of clearance for some more offroad or more cushioning with some tread.
They also have a lot of rack mounts for when you want to go bike-packing and they are designed to carry more weight, which is a good thing for people like me, being 1,93m tall and weighing around 110kg (which is one of the reasons why I need to pick up riding my bikes again ...
). And last but not least, they are a bit more comfortable compared to a road- or cyclocross bike.
So, I got myself a Merida Silex 700, here are the specs:
Frame: AL-6066
Fork: Carbon
Components: Shimano Ultegra
Brakes: Shimano Ultegra Hydraulic Disc Brakes
Axles: 12mm bolt through skewers
Wheels: Fulcrum
And here's a pic "in the field":
And one with my oldest son on his new bike in the background:
And I'll add some pics from my boy and his new bike, but I'm going to use a spoiler because I would be in trouble if he knew I posted pics of him online ...
.
Because being 1,83m tall and weighing 52kg, he's the one who needs to be embarrassed about how he looks on a bike ...
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Hope you guys like it
.