Merida Reacto Disc 4000

The Reacto Disc 4000 is Merida's lowest priced aero road bike with hydraulic braking, and as a package it offers pretty decent value for money. It's a fast bike and handles sweetly through the bends, but some might prefer a little more feedback from the frame and fork.

• Pros: A quick bike for tapping out the miles, balanced handling
• Cons: Overly firm ride, wheels don't benefit the aero attributes of the frame

The ride

At the same time as testing the Reacto I was also riding the Scultura Disc 200, Merida's alloy framed non-aero road bike, and I was massively impressed with the comfort of the frame. There was little in the way of road buzz, and harshness certainly wasn't evident.

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Unfortunately, I found the Reacto 4000 to be the opposite. Whether that is down to the oversized aero tubing, the carbon choice or a bit of both, it has a pretty uncompromising frameset. You feel everything from the road as it travels up through the bike, but not in a good way.

I like a frame that tells me exactly what is going on with the tyres beneath you – the slightest change in traction or road surface, for instance. A good frame of any material can do this, taking out the harshness and shrill vibration but keeping the important information coming through.

The Reacto lets all of the chatter through, but in a kind of muted way that takes the edge off, leaving you just that fraction of a second behind as you carve your way through the bends.

I'm not saying the Reacto is uncomfortable to ride – I was still completing three and four-hour rides, and while I knew I'd been on it I wasn't exactly bruised and battered – I was just expecting more from the frame itself, I suppose.

Merida's aero seatpost design does take some of the sting out of its tail, thanks to the notched-out area underneath the clamp that promotes some flex beneath the saddle. A silicone rubber cover fills the gap to maintain the aerodynamics.

The Reacto can't half cover some distance at speed, mind, and if you change the standard wheels for something with a deeper rim to exploit the aero design of the frame and fork you can really feel the benefits above about 25mph.

The CF2 frame used for the 4000 is more relaxed in geometry than the CF4 of the higher end models like the Reacto Disc Team-E tested by Mat, and sits somewhere in between a full race bike and a more relaxed endurance setup. This means you don't need to be super-flexible to get down on the drops and power along into the wind.

> Your guide to Merida's 2019 road bike range

With a 73-degree head angle for this M/L size and a 73.5-degree seat angle, the Reacto is reasonably aggressive, plus by managing to keep the wheelbase at 995mm it's pretty nimble too.

The steering is quick enough to be exciting without entering into the territory of twitchiness, and it is a competent descender, responding well to small tweaks in body weight and position as you change direction on the technical sections.

At 8.78kg (19.35lb) it's not exactly that light a bike, which does blunt the acceleration and climbing a touch. A lot of this could be rectified by upgrading the standard heavy wheels and tyres further down the line, which makes a big difference.

If the weight is holding you back from setting KOMs on your local hills, it won't be hampered further by a lack of stiffness at the tapered head tube or massive BB386 bottom bracket junction.

Frame and fork

A model in this size has a claimed frame weight of just 1,050g according to Merida, which is impressive for an aero design that incorporates disc brakes.

The aero tubing has been based on the NACA (National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics) teardrop profile where the rear end is squared off. The claims are that the air travels around the tube as if the missing teardrop is still there, in turn saving material and weight.

Up front, the tapered head tube has a 1 1/8in upper bearing expanding to a 1 1/4in at the bottom for increased stiffness under steering loads and heavy braking forces, helped by the 12mm thru-axle wheel retainment found on both the frame and fork.

Something else you'll find at the (flat mount) brake mounts are Merida's disc coolers: finned pieces of alloy designed to take the heat away from the rotors and surrounding area, reducing heat build-up by a claimed 35%.

It's not something I'd say is massively needed here in the UK as our descents aren't really long enough to generate dangerous levels of heat, but if you are in the mountains they may come into play, especially if you like to drag the brakes.

At the bottom bracket Merida has gone for a BB386 setup, which allows the use of a wider 86mm bottom bracket shell than a 68mm one found on standard frames, by incorporating the press-fit bearings into the frame. This allows a larger surface area to mate a wider seat tube and down tube, giving more stiffness. It's also designed for 30mm-axle chainsets.

Completing the stiff rear triangle, Merida has dropped the seatstays low as well.

The overall finish of the frame and fork is great and it certainly feels a solid build. It looks the business too, with all of those chunky and aggressive tube profiles going on.

For a clean look you get full internal cable routing, and I'm happy to report that, as stiff as the frame is, there are no irritating rattles coming from the cables pinging against the inside of the tubing.

For a carbon frame it's good to see a decent spread of sizes, too: six in total, ranging from a 520mm top tube through to a 590mm.

Finishing kit

The majority of the groupset is taken care of by Shimano's excellent new R7000 setup paired with the same group's R7020 hydraulic brake levers/shifters and callipers.

As you can tell if you read those reviews, it is a stunning groupset, arguably offering the best bang for buck out there on the market. The shifting is precise and quick up and down the cassette or chainrings, and the braking from the newly shaped, group-specific levers offers great feedback and modulation.

To break things up a little Merida has specced an FSA Gossamer Pro chainset that is BB386 specific. With chainrings of 52/36, known as a semi-compact, it has the right sort of gearing ratios to suit this style of bike.

Merida has fitted a long cage rear mech which allows the use of its chosen 11-30 cassette, but you could go for lower gearing at the back without needing to change anything other than the sprockets.

Everything else bar the tyres is Merida branded and it is all decent enough kit, if not overly exciting on a two-grand bike.

Starting at the front you get an alloy Expert handlebar and stem. The bar has a compact design so there are plenty of usable hand positions without getting into too extreme a riding position. Both components offer plenty of stiffness.

I've mentioned the Merida Expert CW seatpost already, with its little notch design for promoting flex while still maintaining its aero shape. The post is made out of carbon fibre and comes with a 15mm setback, and you'll find an own brand Comp SL saddle attached to the top.

It's a pretty comfortable seat, providing a decent balance of firm padding and enough give to take the edge off the frame's characteristics. I wouldn't be in a hurry to change it.

Wheels and tyres

Merida's own wheels, using Merida rims and hubs, do a sound job. I've mentioned that they are weighty but they stayed true throughout the test period and that was after I whacked a rock on a 45mph descent with the rear.

Judging by the clout and the noise it made before I managed to stop the bike, I was expecting some serious damage to the rim but not even a buckle or a scratch, just a pinch punctured tube.

Continental's Grand Sport Race tyres in a 25mm width are good mid-range offerings that provide adequate grip, rolling resistance and puncture protection without sacrificing anything to a huge degree. As with the wheels, if performance is your thing then an upgrade will make a massive difference.

Value

You can find a build of this sort of spec on a carbon fibre, disc-equipped race bike from around £1,300 – something like the Merlin Cordite Disc which has the same 105 groupset, average wheels and quite a firm ride like the Reacto.

There is a lot more going on with the frame and fork design on the Merida, though, and it's that level of R&D that is reflected in the price of £2,000.

> Buyer's Guide: 18 of the best aero road bikes

A similarly themed Tifosi SS26 Disc aero endurance bike decked out in Campagnolo Potenza will set you back £2,499.99 and it's a very similar weight to at 8.7kg.

Not quite an aero bike, but the Lapierre Pulsium SL 500 Disc has its own clever development tricks incorporated in its frameset, and with a 105 hydraulic groupset it costs £2,199, showing that the Merida Reacto 4000 isn't a million miles away with its pricing.

Conclusion

Overall, I like the Reacto for the way it just gets on with the job of covering miles quickly and offering a confident ride and handling ready to be exploited. As a rider, though, I just crave a little more involvement from the frame in terms of feedback from the road.

Verdict

A fast machine with sorted geometry, but its firm ride won't appeal to all