Also for anyone in Australia, some sharp pricing from 99 Bikes if you join the Gold Club.
https://www.99bikes.com.au/merida21-eone-sixty-9000-glossy-red-matt-black
Awesome looking bike! Thats exactly what I have on order. Spoke to my LBS today and he said NZ get the EP8 first as a test sort of phase to see if the fix has worked. If it's all clear, Shimano will ship motors out to the distributors in the country to be fitted locally. Fingers crossed!
Went into my LBS today and EP8 powered bikes have been delivered in New Zealand. Apparently NZ is a test case for the fixed bikes. Once theyre all good to go the motors are being shipped out to the distributors and swapped in the country of sale.
They have definitely jumped up in price this year haven't they? Still much better value than a lot of other bikes out there. I got my 2021 9000 for less than a Levo Comp or Meta Power 29 Essential.
No ended up going the Merida E160 9000. Had better components than the Meta Power Essential and got it cheaper than what I could get the Commencal for plus it's backed heaps of bike shops m here in Australia.
Took the words out of my mouth. If it's not RS or Fox it's going to be a hard sell. Also 35mm when the enduro market has been 36mm and now moving to 38mm stanchions means people will probably budget for an expensive fork upgrade. Might be worthwhile making a poll in as many forums or Facebook...
If power is so important why don't you get a motorcycle? Outright power is not what it is about for most. The integration and feel is much more important than being fastest to a climb in a mode not many people use.
We bought a 9000 and an 8000 and I told them to take a grand off each and I was happy. Called my local shop and told them I would pay a deposit now over the phone if they could do that and after a minute of being on hold they said OK let's do it.