Merida Dakar 960

[Sloth108]

Can anyone provide any information on the bike in the pictures attached. It is a Merida Dakar 960. I reached out to Merida UK on any information but they didn’t have anything other than it’s from the 90’s. There is little to nothing on the net either. I’m new to these forums so excuse me if this is not the right forum.

 

[Guinessisgoodforyou]

Wow! That's mint, is it new? I like that a lot.

 

[Sloth108]

It was a bit rusty and rough looking as it had been in my neighbours shed for the past 14 years. Prior to that my father in law owned it and gave it to me. Just finished stripping it down and tidying it up. She came up pretty good. Will probably list it for sale once I get some more info on it.

 

[joglo]

Hi, this is most likely a 1993 or 94 model and 690 not 960!

Please find below some pictures from the 94 brochure and spec sheet (but the 690 was silver there)



while in the pricelist I've got with the brochure above, a black 690 is mentioned.


It seem to be a reliable and solid mid level bike for an attractive price (new).

Personally I think that Merida is underrated, especially the carbon and albontech models e.g. from same year are really nice.
Yours seem to be in almost new condition

If you want to identify the year more precisely you have to use the model numbers and ideally date code from the original Shimano components.
This link is to a Trek forum, but the provided information about dateing components is really great.

Date of Manufacture of Bicycle Components can be used to date a bike: component dating

The manufacturer's date on a bicycle's components can often be used to determine the date of manufacture of the bike itself. Many bike parts have a date code cast or stamped into the piece. Bicycle component dating

www.vintage-trek.com

 

[Sloth108]

Your a legend. Thanks heaps that is great info.
Dave