Summary
- Merida built bicycles for other companies for sixteen years before putting its own name on a frame in 1988.
- One 1995 acronym is still in the catalogue: MATTS, for Merida Aluminium Tig-welding Technology System.
- Athens 2004 was the turning point: gold on a magnesium hardtail, silver on the new CarbonFLX frame, and carbon took over from there.
- The Scultura is the lightweight race bike of the range. The current CF5 V frame has a claimed weight of 822 g in size M.
- Matej Mohorič won the 2022 Milan-San Remo on a Scultura rather than the aero Reacto, because its round seatpost took a dropper.
Sixteen Years Without a Name
Merida tells its own origin story on its history page. Founder Ike Tseng was in the United States as an engineer for a scooter business when he saw a notice in a bike shop. It said the shop would not repair poor quality Taiwanese bicycles.
He opened a factory in Yuanlin, Changhua, in September 1972, organised along the lines of Raleigh's Nottingham plant, because Merida was building Raleigh bikes for North America. BMX and ten speed road bikes followed from 1974, mountain bikes from the early 1980s. For sixteen years all of it carried other people's decals, and the Merida badge only went on a frame in 1988.
MATTS, Magnesium, Carbon
In 1995 Merida refined aluminium tig-welding and named a mountain bike platform after the process: MATTS, for Merida Aluminium Tig-welding Technology System. It is still in the catalogue three decades later. The same year brought the brand's first pedelec.
Magnesium frames followed in 1998, awkward to work with and very light, which suited racers. At the 2004 Athens Olympics Gunn-Rita Dahle Flesjå won cross country gold on a magnesium hardtail and José Antonio Hermida took silver on the new CarbonFLX frame. Merida marks that day in its own history as the end of magnesium and the start of carbon.
Ninety-Six, One-Sixty, eOne-Sixty
The mountain bike range gave Merida its volume and its naming logic. The Ninety-Six cross country platform arrived in 2008 and is still the XC race bike. The One-Twenty, One-Forty and One-Sixty are named after rear travel in millimetres, which makes a used listing easy to read. The model that changed the brand's standing was the eOne-Sixty in 2016, which Merida calls the most decorated bike in its history.
Reacto, and the WorldTour Years
Road racing came late. Merida co-sponsored Lampre-Merida from 2013, and in 2014 the reigning world champion Rui Costa rode his rainbow jersey season on a Reacto Evo, having won the title the previous year with another team.
The Reacto is the aero half of the road range and it has the bigger results. Vincenzo Nibali won Il Lombardia in 2017 and the 2018 Milan-San Remo on one, and in 2021 Sonny Colbrelli won Paris-Roubaix on a Reacto fitted with 32 mm tyres. Team equipment eventually reaches the second hand market, and that is what our WorldTour team bikes collection holds.
The Scultura
The Scultura is the other half of the road range: the light one, built for climbing and compliance. It goes back at least to the Scultura EVO of 2010, and the Scultura SL Team was what Lampre-Merida raced in 2013.
Its best known day is a strange one. At the 2022 Milan-San Remo, Matej Mohorič attacked on the descent of the Poggio with a dropper post. To run a standard round dropper he left his usual Reacto, which has an aero seatpost, and raced the Scultura. Cyclingnews reported that he also fitted a 180 mm front rotor with adapters, above the 160 mm the frame is rated for. A climber's bike won the sprinter's Monument.
The current frame is the fifth generation, the CF5 V, launched for model year 2022. Merida claims 822 g for a medium frame and 389 g for the fork, a 38 g saving on the CF4. Tyre clearance went to 30 mm, the seat clamp is hidden and the seatstays drop lower down the seat tube. Before the launch it had already won two stages at the 2021 Critérium du Dauphiné with Mark Padun and stage nine of the Vuelta a España with Damiano Caruso.
Merida's own wind tunnel figures put drag at 45 km/h at 224.5 W for the Scultura V against 234.5 W for the Scultura IV. The two runs used different wheels, 45 mm against 40 mm. Contact point positions match the Reacto in every size, so team riders can swap bikes without changing their fit.
The 2026 Range
The range runs on two carbon frames plus one alloy model. Weights below are Merida's claimed figures from its 2026 range pages.
| Model | Frame | Groupset | Claimed weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Scultura 10K | CF5 V | SRAM Red AXS 2x12 | 6.7 kg |
| Scultura Team | CF5 V | Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 2x12 | 6.8 kg |
| Scultura 9000 | CF5 V | Shimano Ultegra Di2 2x12 | 7.1 kg |
| Scultura 8000 | CF3 V | Shimano Ultegra Di2 2x12 | 7.6 kg |
| Scultura 6000 | CF3 V | Shimano 105 Di2 2x12 | 8.2 kg |
| Scultura 5000 | CF3 V | Shimano 105 Di2 2x12 | 8.6 kg |
| Scultura 4000 | CF3 V | Shimano 105 2x12 | 8.5 kg |
| Scultura Rim 100 | Scultura Lite alloy | Shimano CUES | 9.6 kg |
Merida lists the 4000 as lighter than the 5000 without explaining why, so we report it as published. Sizes run from 3XS to XL depending on the model, a wider spread than most brands offer on a race frame. Our groupset explainer covers the step from 105 Di2 to Ultegra Di2.
Merida Scultura on Bikeroom
The Merida Scultura collection gathers every Scultura on the marketplace in one place, and it is broad enough to be worth browsing rather than searching. At the time of writing, 25 September 2026, it holds 65 bikes spanning model years 2010 to 2026, from 990 to 10,200 euros, with a median of 3,199 euros. The whole ladder is there: 10K, 9000, 8000, 7000, 6000, 5000 and 4000, plus Scultura Endurance builds, three eScultura and three rim brake listings from 2020. Roughly six in ten are 2023 or 2024 bikes, the part of the curve where a Scultura has taken its depreciation but still sits on the current CF5 or CF3 generation. Sellers include Merida's Italian dealer network and marketplace partners, so the same model often appears at several prices and conditions, and the size you need decides more than the badge does. The wider Merida collection adds the Reacto, the mountain bikes and the e-bikes. Both sit inside our road bikes category and, for the older stock, pre-owned road bikes.
Three Bikes, One Name
The name causes confusion on the second hand market.
- Scultura. The race bike above. Aggressive position, 30 mm tyre clearance, CF5 or CF3 carbon.
- Scultura Endurance. A separate platform from July 2020: taller stack, wider tyres, calmer position. Still in the 2026 range, from the 200 to the 8000.
- eScultura. A road bike with a motor, sold alongside the range rather than as a version of it.
A Scultura Endurance 6000 is not a cheaper Scultura 6000. It is a different bike with different geometry.
What to Check on a Pre-Owned Scultura
Generation first. The CF4 frame weighs around 860 g and looks busier at the seat cluster. The CF5 V has the hidden seat clamp, the dropped seatstays and, on top builds, the one piece Team SL 1P cockpit.
Then brakes: rim brake Sculturas are plentiful and cheap, but they are pre 2021 frames with narrower tyre clearance and a shrinking spare parts pool. On the integrated cockpit, changing bar width or stem length means buying another cockpit, so check the fit first. Merida sizes in letters, not centimetres, and the Merida MTB size guide shows how it labels frames.
On Merida's own numbers the Reacto is the faster bike in the tunnel and the Scultura is the lighter and more compliant one. Fit 60 mm wheels and Merida puts the Scultura V within about 10 W of the Reacto at 45 km/h, so for most riders the choice is about position and terrain.
If you are weighing a 2023 Scultura 8000 against a 2026 Scultura 6000 and cannot tell which suits your riding, talk to our concierge before you commit.
Sources: Merida, 50 Years of Merida; Merida, Scultura range and model pages; BikeRadar, Scultura V Team launch, 2021; BikeRadar, Ninety-Six, 2021; Cyclingnews, Patrick Fletcher, 24 March 2022; road.cc, the bikes that won Paris-Roubaix, 2021; Wikipedia, Merida Bikes.
