 In this video, I'm going to be reviewing this road bike right here is the 2020 Merida Scultura 4000 and it's also the road bike. I'm giving away to a lucky subscriber a week before Christmas which is only a few weeks away. So in addition to watching this review, if you also want to go into the draw to win this road bike, don't forget to subscribe below. And if you want to go into the draw to win this magnificent Westwood road bike stand, in addition to subscribing, please add yourself to my email news at a list below. Now, I know there might be some of you out there that have just landed on this channel and you're like, who is this raving YouTube dickhead sporting a 1980s moustache that is comparing, as you see by the title of this video, an all-round race road bike, which is the Merida Scultura, versus an endurance road bike, being the Giant Defy Advanced 2 in this instance. Well, my goal in this video is to prove to you out there that I'm not a dickhead and there is good reason why I'm comparing the Merida to the Giant Defy. Outside of the fact that the two bikes that I test rode looked very similar with grey and black colouring. However, you will see the new 2020 Giant Defy in this video, which is white, black and blue. As I wanted to share both the latest 2020 ranges with you, not that the geometry has changed at all between the 2019 Defy that I test rode and the 2020 Defy, and thanks to Giant Sunshine Coast as well for the loan. So what we're going to do in this video is we're going to split the review into three parts. Number one, we're going to talk about geometry. We're going to be comparing the Merida Scultura 4000 to the Giant Defy Advanced 2. Number two, once I've given you a clear understanding of what Merida are up to, we can compare the riding experience of the Merida versus the Giant Defy. And number three, we're going to talk about numbers, including the weight of both bikes and the price points. Lastly, I'm going to share with you which bike I would personally prefer to take home and why. But before we move into those three chunky items, I wanted to share some interesting information with you. Information that isn't really promoted or heavily publicized within the industry, but if you dig for it, you'll definitely find it. And I think it's worth sharing with you, particularly seeing I have a number of American channel supporters and subscribers. And that is about 20 years ago, Merida purchased a good chunk of a well-known bike brand being specialized for a reported 49% for $30 million USD. And as a result of that, all specialized bikes are manufactured out of Merida Taiwanese factories. And from the research that I have done, the Merida manufacturing process and capabilities are very well respected within the industry. And while the manufacturing is done out of Taiwan, all the engineering and product design with Merida is out of Stuttgart in Germany. Now, the disappointing news for my US friends and subscribers is that clearly there is an agreement between Merida and specialized about being able to sell Merida in the United States because you can't actually buy this bike if you live in the US. So if you are now throughing for the Merida and you live in the United States, I wish you all the very best in the subscriber draw coming in a few weeks time. So the first chunky item is the geometry. And the interesting thing about the Merida Scoltura is that it's the all-round race bike under the Merida fleet. It's the equivalent to the giant TCR. However, what you will note when you start to explore the Merida range is that they have no endurance road bike. They once did, but not anymore. However, Merida, they still want to cater to the endurance market and as a result with their Scoltura fleet. The lower end, so where the 4000 sits, has a more relaxed geometry versus their upper end Scoltura range. In fact, comparing the Scoltura here to the giant Defi Advanced 2, you can certainly see what Merida are doing and keep in mind that the Giant Defi Advanced 2 that I reviewed 12 months ago, I compared it to other endurance road bikes in the market and the Defi is definitely on the super relaxed side in the endurance category itself. So examining a 56 centimeter top tube length with the Merida Scoltura 4000 versus the Giant Defi Advanced 2, let's look at a few characteristics. Number one being the head tube length, where the Defi has a head tube length of 185 millimeters versus the Scoltura 170. With the stack, the Defi has a stack of 586 millimeters versus the Scoltura 574. And with the wheelbase, the Defi has a wheelbase of 1010 millimeters versus the Scoltura 998. Now, the longer head tube will help absorb more of the shock and vibrations that come not only from the road, but also going off-road. And the head tube will typically impact the stack. So that's from here to here up to here, which enables the rider either to get more aerodynamic or sit up a little bit higher. So both bikes, you can sit up nice and high, take the pressure off the neck and the shoulders. And the wheelbase gives you a more compliant and comfortable ride, particularly when you're going off-road. So the 10 to 15 mil differences between the two bikes are reasonable, but as I said earlier, I want you to keep in mind that when I did the Giant Defi review 12 months ago, I compared the Giant to the Cannondale Synapse and the Trek Domane. And the Giant Defi was probably anywhere between five to 15 mil more in these categories against those road bikes. So you definitely put this road bike in the endurance category. It's not as relaxed as the Giant Defi. So the second thing I wanted to talk to you about is riding experience. I want to break this into two major categories. Number one, being off-road, and number two, being on-road. So let's talk about off-road first. And to be fair to the Merida, outside of some local bike paths, which it handled really well, I didn't truly take this road bike off-road. And the thing that we need to consider, the key factor when comparing the Merida versus the Giant Defi, is that you can only get 25mm tires into this bike according to the Merida website, whereas the Giant Defi, you can get up to 32mm. So this feature in itself means that Giant will win the off-road battle any day of the week, despite the fact that the geometry of the Merida is set up nicely for going off-road and looking at the available gap. I don't see why you couldn't get 28mm tires in there. However, there is variability within each tire set. We've seen it before on this channel. So the acclaimed 25mm is there for a good reason. So on-road, and this is where things get interesting. Now the Giant Defi Advanced 2 is claimed to be the comfortable all-round endurance road bike, which it is. It has diffused technology in the rear and front of the bike that are purposely engineered tube shapes to reduce shock and vibration that you get both on-road and off-road. With the Merida Skultura 4000, it doesn't have any of that style or type of diffusing technology. In fact, the tube shapes have been partially engineered from technology and research Merida have completed to engineer their aero race performance machine, the Reacto. But personally, I found the Merida Skultura 4000 to be a touch more comfortable than the Giant Defi Advanced 2 both on-road and on-bike pass. In fact, the Merida Skultura reminded me a little bit of the Curve Cycling Belge Air, which is very interesting. Now if there are any Curve Cycling fans out there, just bear with me for a little bit here because the Curve Cycling Belge Air is titanium. And I mentioned in that video that titanium has a completely different feel to other materials that I have ridden such as carbon, steel and aluminium. Titanium has this silky and smooth feeling to it on the road and that is how the Merida Skultura actually felt. It handled the bumps and divots magnificently and I felt I could ride this bike all day long. Now keep in mind, it's still built with all-round race in mind so it certainly got some stiffness to it and Merida actually claim it's as stiff as their upper-end Skultura but no doubt the relaxed geometry minimizes some of that stiffness. I also found the Merida Skultura 4000 to hold its speed and lines gracefully as you descend down hills. The Giant Defy on the other hand, I did feel at times it felt a little bit cumbersome, particularly when cornering and I think that's to be expected given its super relaxed geometry. So in conclusion, when it comes to riding experience I think if you are an off-road junkie, you love gravel riding etc. then the Giant Defy all the way. However, if you are after a relaxed road bike maybe even for commuting purposes with race characteristics then the Merida Skultura all the way. So the third major item I wanted to share with you is numbers and let's talk about the total package of each bikes as well. Now both bikes come with Shimano 105 but the gearing will vary with the Giant having a greater range for off-road riding. The wheels on the Defy are heavier but should be more durable for off-road being the Giant PR2 disc tubeless and the stock tyres are definitely more durable. The Merida on the other hand has the Expert SLs with some Continental 25mm tyres. The carbon fibre used on the Merida is what they call CF2 which is a lower end quality carbon compared to its bigger brother. Giant don't label their carbon but the same rule applies for the Giant Advanced 2 versus its bigger brother. Price-wise, the Merida Skultura 4000 comes in a 2008-99 AUD and the Giant Defy Advanced 2 comes in at 3499 AUD. Weighing both bikes and this is a 56cm top tube the Merida came in at 8.5kg and the Giant Defy just over 9kg. And the last thing I'll mention here is this cool feature that Merida offer which comes stock with any Skultura 4000 purchase. So which road bike would I prefer to take home and why? Given the fact that I'm not an off-road road cyclist which kind of sounds oxymoronic and is quite difficult to say out loud I would be taking the Merida Skultura 4000 home the way it handles on-road and bike paths it gets a big tick. However if you are an off-road road cyclist you love a bit of gravel etc then the Giant Defy would be a great choice for you. I'll catch you in the next video.