Merlin Malt-G

The Merlin Malt-G is an aluminium gravel/all-rounder bike that puts in a solid performance on both asphalt and hard-packed roads and offers exceptional value for money.

• Pros: A lot of fun on gravel, Shimano Tiagra is great value, solid all-round performance
• Cons: Heavy, some budget components

The Malt-G is a versatile proposition, able to handle a variety of different types of riding with assuredness. I've used this bike a lot for the commute into work – a 14-mile trip on mainly country lanes with a couple of miles of urban roads at the end – and although it lacks the all-out speed of a full-on road bike, it's comfortable and confident across the tarmac. When I've fancied mixing it up with a bit of towpath, that's been cool too, the Malt-G having semi-slick tyres that provide sufficient grip and enough low gears to cope with more draggy surfaces.

The frame and fork each come with eyelets for fitting mudguards which is good news if you fancy using this bike as an all-weather commuter, and you get rack mounts at the rear too – handy if you'd rather ride to and from work without a bag on your back, or if you'd like to head off on a bit of an adventure at the weekend.

You'd probably expect all of that of an all-rounder, but is the Malt-G really gravel-capable? In short, yes it is, and that's what I've been using it for most.

I'm lucky enough to have quite a bit of gravel close to where I live – chalk roads that sometimes have a proper gravel surface and sometimes are down to the bare rock. The Malt-G is a lot of fun across this kind of stuff.

> 10 of the hottest 2019 gravel bikes from…

You'd have to say that at 11.1kg (24lb 8oz) it's not a light bike (for comparison, Boardman's £750 ADV 8.8 hit the scales at 10.57kg/23lb 5oz), but I've not particularly noticed that weight when riding, the Malt-G bowling along just fine. Yes, there are plenty of bikes that are a little sharper to accelerate and a bit more nimble on the climbs, but you get plenty of comfort and control here and that's an important characteristic on a bike of this kind.

I wouldn't say the Malt-G is as stable as some other gravel bikes we've reviewed here on road.cc but neither is it knocked off its line particularly easily when you hit a rough section of road and you can tackle descents with the confidence that you'll end up where you want to be, not just where the bumps and holes send you.

The Malt-G doesn't leave you feeling like you're riding a £649 bike. This is a bike that's not just competent, it's hugely enjoyable. You find yourself relishing the ride, focusing on the terrain, your surroundings and whatever else fills your head as you turn the pedals, not any shortcomings of the bike.

Frame and fork

The frame is made from double-butted 6061 aluminium with a sloping top tube and external cable routing. It's a tidy piece of work with a threaded bottom bracket that's unlikely to result in annoying creaks as time goes on. I've certainly not experienced any during two months of testing.

The fork that slots in up front has both carbon blades and a carbon steerer, which is unusual on a bike of this price. That steerer is tapered to improve front end stiffness.

Both the frame and fork take post mount disc brakes while the flat mount standard now dominates the road market, and the wheels are held in place by quick release skewers rather than thru-axles.

I've been riding the 56cm Malt-G. I usually ride 57cm or 58cm bikes but this one has a a 580mm top tube to go along with the 560mm seat tube (measured centre to top) and 195mm head tube. This puts you into a riding position that you'll likely find quite upright if you're coming from a road bike, especially if you stick with the 45mm of spacers that come fitted, and the 90mm stem.

I fixed the stem as low as possible simply because that's the position I've got used to over the years, but if you want front end height to take the strain off your back and neck and/or to give you more of a head-up position in traffic then there's plenty available. Personally, I found myself down on the drops a little more than usual here, searching for a little more efficiency, but that's not a bad thing at all.

Gearing

The Malt-G is built up with Shimano's Tiagra groupset, which is unusual on bikes of this price. Tiagra is a 10-speed group that sits fourth in Shimano's hierarchy, just below super-popular 105, and it's more commonly found on aluminium bikes priced from about £900 to £1,400-ish (although there are exceptions). More or less in line with that, the Malt-G was originally priced at £899.99 although the price has now been fixed at £649 – it won't alter – so that's the price we're reviewing it at.

Tiagra is great stuff that's not a million miles from Shimano's high-level groupsets in terms of ergonomics. The shifter body is the same compact shape as you get with 105 and Ultegra – you'd be hard-pressed to notice the difference in your hand – and the cables are routed underneath the handlebar tape, providing a clean look at the front of the bike. The brake shifters and gear levers are easily accessible whether your hands are on the drops or the hoods.

The gearing that different brands opt for is always interesting on a gravel bike, the Malt-G coming with a 50/34-tooth compact chainset matched up with an 11-32t cassette, which is the same as you'll find on many road bikes.

Our man Dave Arthur reckons there's no place for a compact chainset on a gravel bike – he's very insistent on this – but I'm not as hardline as him! I've been riding along the rolling gravel roads around my way quite happily with this setup, just occasionally wishing I had a Get Out Of Jail Free gear to make things easier on the really steep stuff. It might be a different story if I had to tackle longer and/or sharper climbs on a regular basis.

> How to get ultra-low gears on your bike

Bear in mind, though, that we're all different, as is the terrain we're likely to tackle, and you might prefer a bike with smaller chainrings or a more wide-ranging cassette (the medium cage rear derailleur fitted here allows you to swap to a cassette with a 34-tooth large sprocket if you like), particularly if you're intending to fit a rack and lug loads.

That Boardman ADV 8.8 I mentioned earlier, for example, comes with a 48/32 chainset and an 11-32 cassette, giving you a lower low gear and also a lower high gear. The obvious benefit of a compact chainset is that it gives you some high gears that come in especially handy when you're riding on asphalt roads. Horses for courses.

Brakes

The Malt-G's brakes aren't from Shimano, they're cable-actuated Tektro Lyra callipers operating on 160mm rotors front and rear. They might lack the performance of a hydraulic setup but this is a £649 bike.

They do a decent job for the money, the fact that the braking surface is positioned further away from the road than with a rim brake setup meaning that the performance is less compromised in wet and muddy conditions. Maintenance is pretty straightforward for anyone who's familiar with adjusting cable-operated rim brakes too.

Wheels and tyres

The wheels comprise no-name six-bolt disc hubs (quick release) laced to Mavic's XM 119 Disc rims with 32 spokes front and rear. The rims are entry level but reasonable quality, designed to support tyres from 28mm upwards.

The only maintenance issue I had with the Malt-G during a two-month test period was when the front wheel went quite a long way out of true. The cause was simply a single spoke nipple that had backed right off – the sort of thing that takes seconds to fix if you know one end of a spoke wrench from the other. It really wasn't a big deal although, admittedly, a bit of a pain if it's not something you feel you can sort out yourself.

The tyres are Kenda Kwicks in a 35mm width, which is a good size for a bike that's likely to be ridden on a variety of surfaces. I wouldn't want to go narrower than that for gravel riding. They're a semi-slick design with a low tread down the centre and chunkier shoulders. They can hold their own on asphalt, hard-packed gravel and perhaps a bit of mushy towpath, but beyond that they'll struggle. These are pretty basic tyres; they do the job but I'd soon be upgrading them if this was my bike.

We fitted 40mm wide tyres with a reasonable amount of space around them, so plenty of options are available to you.

The £750 Boardman ADV 8.8 that I've mentioned a couple of times comes with a 7005 aluminium alloy frame and, like the Merlin, a fork with carbon fibre blades and steerer. The Boardman has better tyres in the shape of Schwalbe G-Ones while the Malt-G has a higher level groupset: 10-speed Tiagra as opposed to 9-speed Sora.

Conclusion

The Malt-G can turn its hand to many different types of riding and I've really enjoyed my time on it. Some of the components are basic but the frame and fork are good and the Shimano Tiagra groupset is way better than you have a right to expect at this price. The Malt-G might not particularly sparkle on tarmac but it puts in a solid, workmanlike performance and has the huge bonus of being being able to put a smile on your face on gravel, towpaths, and even the occasional bit of bridleway and woodland trail. Add mudguard and rear rack mounts into the equation and you have a really strong all-rounder for the money.

Verdict

A solid all-rounder that's a whole lot of fun for tackling gravel