Merida has announced the latest edition to its Scultura platform, the Endurance GR.
Aimed at the gravel racer, it uses the existing Endurance model for inspiration but adds in gravel specific components to create a bike suited for fast, off-road riding - like many of the most recent iterations of the best gravel bikes.
It also provides Merida with a balance to its more adventure-focussed gravel offering, the Silex, which has clearance for 42mm tires, offers multiple mounting points and features a slacker head tube angle - 71 compared to the GR’s 73 degrees.
“As the number of specific gravel races and racers grew, we knew that this speed focused group of riders would look for a machine that could deliver when every second counts. For racing, and speed focused gravel sessions a more responsive and aggressive geometry and riding position was needed. No fixing points beyond water bottles were required, and a lighter build would help acceleration and speed,” Merida says.
All of which made the Endurance “a perfect starting point” for the GR, thanks to its 35mm tire clearance, "sporty yet comfortable and off-road capable road geometry"and built-in, rear-end “leaf spring like” compliance. There’s also an option to run fenders, too, utlising a removable seat stay bridge.
The Endurance itself took inspiration from the Scultura race bike, which means the new GR also benefits from the same “Scultura-inspired speed”, derived predominantly from the aerodynamically optimised tubing and integrated cable routing - of which both are advantageous to the competitive gravel rider.
There will be three models in the Scultura Endurance GR lineup - the 8000 and 5000 carbon model and the 500 aluminium option. The CF3 carbon frame has a claimed weight of 1124g (size M), with the matching forks tipping the scales at a claimed 411g with the steerer uncut.
As for the component specifications, the Endurance GR lineup comes with a gravel-specific cockpit, courtesy of the Expert GR handlebar, complete with a 15° flare for added control, and Expert CW stem.
Beyond this details are currently scarce on the ground.
We do know the bikes will come fitted with Continental Terra Speed tires and will use gravel-specific groupsets. The aluminium 500 looks to be equipped with a 2x Shimano GRX groupset while the available images of the carbon offering shows it complete with SRAM’s second generation Force AXS groupset - again with a 2x chainset.
Merida has confirmed however that the Scultura Endurance GR is compatible with 1x gearing using a maximum of a 46t chainring - and it’s able to run dropper seat posts, too.
