Merida Speeder 20D 2024

Merida's Speeder 20D is a capable flat-barred road bike that provides a dependable performance if you're commuting or nipping around town, and it's a lot of fun when you head out into the lanes at the weekend. Yes, it's a little heavy but you get hydraulic disc brakes, a wide spread of gears at your fingertips, and plenty of practicality courtesy of mudguard and rack mounts. For this kind of money, it's a very good buy.

If you're looking to beat the traffic by cycling to work, check out our guide to the best commuter bikes.

Merida Speeder 20D: Ride

Practical. That might be the best word to sum up the Merida Speeder 20D. Practical and sensible, if you want a little more detail. That's not a euphemism for boring, because this bike certainly isn't that, but it does the job it's intended to do in a very workmanlike manner.

The job it's intended to do? Merida describes the Speeder 20D as an 'ideal everyday commuting or leisure bike' and that just about covers it. I've been using it for heading to the office – a few miles of out-in-the-sticks B-roads, a bit of A-road action, and an urban bunfight to finish – as well as scooting around town, and also just for fun countryside rides in the evenings and at the weekend, and this bike has been impressive throughout.

You ride in an upright and confident position here. I've been on the large-sized model with a 215mm head tube and a headset cover that adds another 15mm, so you sit pretty tall in the saddle. When you're commuting or leisure riding, you don't particularly care that you're taking a lot of air on your upper body because the position gives you plenty of comfort, vision, and control.

Weighing in at over 12kg, the Speeder 20D isn't particularly quick off the mark, but that's really not what this bike is about. It needs a bit of coaxing up to speed but doesn't feel like a big ol' lump either.

More relevant, you get a wide range of gears to cope with just about any situation that's likely to come your way. The Speeder 20D is equipped with a triple chainset from Shimano, the chainrings coming with 48, 38 and 28 teeth. Triples can be a bit of a faff – some people just can't get on with them – and most brands prefer to offer a double or even a 1x system, but they give you more gear options when an 8-speed cassette is fitted, in this case an 11-32T.

If you work in gear inches, the smallest gear (when the chain is on the 28-tooth chainring and 32-tooth sprocket) is 23.6in. If that doesn't mean a whole lot to you, the lowest gear that you get with a compact chainset (with 50/34T chainrings) and a cassette that goes up to 34T, is 27in.

In other words, the Speeder's easiest gear is small for a bike designed for the road (although not as small as the 26x34 on the Merida Crossway 300 hybrid that John Stevenson reviewed earlier in the year). If you live anywhere remotely flat, you probably won't use that ratio often, but it's there to bail you out of trouble if you find yourself tackling steep slopes and/or you load the bike up with a rack and bags. Bath, where road.cc is based, has a load of big hills, some of them steep, and the Speeder is perfectly capable of tackling the lot (as long as you have a reasonable level of fitness, of course). Granted, you're not always going fast – pedal at 90rpm and you'll be doing just over 6mph in that smallest gear – but it'll keep you moving.

The fact that the bike is equipped with just an 8-speed cassette rather than anything more means there are sometimes fairly sizeable jumps as you shift at the back. This can knock you out of your rhythm, but with a gear range of nearly 500%, you'll always find a ratio that's there or thereabouts (read more about bike gears here). 

Up at the top end of the gear range, the 48x11 allows you to keep pedalling on most descents. It'll take you up to 31.5mph at 90rpm, for example. This isn't the sort of bike where you can get down into a tucked position to cut through the wind, so if you want to go any faster than that you'll have to spin for all you're worth.

The Speeder actually descends very well. You can't chuck it into tight turns like a drop-barred road bike but you can tackle sweeping bends confidently and feel fully in control. The Kenda Kwik Roller Sport tyres are a low-rent option – they're a bit cheap and cheerful, to be honest – but they're not so lacking in grip that they'll dump you on your arse if you take a damp corner fast, while the Power DS-100HT hydraulic disc brakes have the power to scrub off speed quickly if anything unexpected comes your way.

Those brakes provide loads of control in traffic too. You can accelerate hard, safe in the knowledge that you'll be able to slow down again if the car in front suddenly stops or the lights change. They just work well so you don't have to ride as if they might not bite.

As for the comfort, I didn't give it much thought during several weeks of riding the Speeder, and that's always a good sign. As mentioned, the riding position is pretty upright so you're unlikely to get aches in your back or neck, and while the padding on Merida's own saddle is a touch too squishy for my taste, it's not too crazy. Of course, it might work perfectly for you. Saddles are like that. There's certainly enough flex in the shell to take the edge off potholes and bumps in the road, and I like Merida's grippy grips too – they're not too bulky and feel almost tacky to the touch. Some people might prefer more cushioning but there's never any danger of your hands slipping.

The Kenda Kwik Roller Sport tyres come in a 32mm width and so they put a decent amount of air between you and the road. Even though there's loads of space between the front tyre and the fork, things are a little tighter at the back and Merida says that 32mm is as wide as you can go. That means you need to stick to tarmac here, with maybe the occasional excursion onto a towpath or something similar, but muddy tracks are out. If you want more choice in the type of surfaces you ride, check out Merida's Crossway range.

Merida Speeder 20D: Frame and fork

The Merida Speeder 20D is built around a 6061 aluminium frame with welds that look like they'll outlast the lot of us.

With fully external cable routing, a rear brake calliper positioned outside the rear triangle, and quick-release skewers rather than thru-axles, it looks a little old fashioned – but this is a 550 quid bike, don't forget. Plus, those QRs do make getting a wheel on and off very simple if you puncture, and external cabling can make maintenance easier too, so there are certainly benefits.

The fork that slots in up front is a steel affair and it's pretty weighty but, like the frame, it comes with mounts for fitting a mudguard, and that makes a lot of sense on a bike of this kind.

You also get threaded rack mounts that'll make life easier if you want to lug stuff to and from work and don't fancy sticking it all in a backpack, along with two sets of bosses for bottle cages.

Unlike the rest of the Speeder range, the 20D is available in four sizes rather than six. How come? This is a UK-specific frame and model, and it allows the price to be kept as low as possible. Even so, with seat tubes ranging in length from 470mm to 590mm, most people should find a size to suit.

Merida Speeder 20D: Components

The Speeder 20D's components are a real mix 'n' match. I've already mentioned the Shimano TY301 triple chainset, which is from the 'lifestyle' Tourney groupset. The front derailleur is Tourney too, while the rear is Acera, and the cassette and chain are from Sunrace.

The two-piston hydraulic disc brakes are Power DS-100HT, and the shifters? They're from Microshift. A real mishmash, then, but it all works together really well.

The gears shift obediently at both the front and rear via easily operated thumb levers, and one-fingered braking brings you smoothly to a stop. You get reach adjustment on the brakes via a little hex screw that sits inside the lever and, like Shimano's, they use mineral oil.

The wheels are made up of Merida's own Comp TK aluminium rims, TX505 hubs from Shimano's Tourney range, and 36 spokes front and rear. The hubs use Shimano's cup and cone bearings and should last an age if you treat them nicely. It's all reliable stuff.

The Kenda Kwik Roller Sport tyres aren't the lightest or grippiest ever, but they're hardwearing. They're good enough to be going on with but I'd be upgrading them when they wear out.

As you'd probably expect, the stem, handlebar and seatpost are all aluminium and Merida branded. Following the recurring theme of this bike, they do the job just fine without shouting too loudly about it.

The VP VP-891 pedals, on the other hand, are plastic and horrible, as they are on most complete bikes. Ditch them.

Merida Speeder 20D: What you don’t get

Merida doesn't provide you with mudguards or lights, both of which would be useful on a bike that's likely to be used for commuting. You can understand why. Not offering them keeps the price down and users might have preferences already. As mentioned, though, this is a UK-specific model and we all know about the weather we get here. Mudguards, at least, would be a handy addition.

Merida Speeder 20D: Value

The Merida Speeder 20D is among the cheaper bikes we've reviewed lately.

John Stevenson really liked the Carrera Subway All Weather Edition Men's Hybrid Bike that we reviewed last year. It has gone up from £450 to £485 since then, but it still offers exceptional value as a fully loaded commuter bike, complete with hydraulic disc brakes, mudguards and even heated grips. It's certainly not the be-all and end-all – far from it – but the Merida is considerably lighter (12.04kg rather than 14.74kg).

Matt Lamy was impressed by the Vitus Mach 3 VR when he reviewed it on road.cc a couple of years ago, finding it to be fast, smooth rolling, and stable. That bike has had spec changes since then, though, including a move to a 1x drivetrain, and the price has increased from £579.99 to £699.99.

Looking at the market as a whole, the Merida Speeder 20D offers very good value. It's a bit of a cliché, but you get a lot of bike for your money here.

Who should buy the Merida Speeder 20D?

With the addition of a few extras – mudguards, lights, maybe a rack and a lock – the Speeder 20D makes a very good commuting bike, especially if your commute is largely in town. Out on open roads, the Speeder isn't as quick as a drop-barred bike, but the upright riding position, hydraulic disc brakes, and a range of gears wide enough to cover most situations make it a great option for urban streets.

Beyond that, though, the Speeder 20D is an enjoyable bike to go out and ride. Some entry-level bikes get you from A to B and that's about it; there are compromises here, there and everywhere that detract from the overall experience.

With this bike, though, you just head off into the lanes for a couple of hours and don't find yourself thinking, 'This would be good if only I had a couple of smaller gears, if only the brakes had a bit more oomph, if only the saddle wasn't so damn uncomfortable...' or whatever.

Don't get me wrong, the Speeder 20D is clearly a budget bike in many ways – there's that steel fork and the fact that the groupset components are a real motley collection – but it's a lot of fun. It allows you to go out and enjoy yourself, focusing on the ride rather than on any shortcomings of the spec sheet.

Verdict

Entry-level commuter/leisure bike that's both practical and enjoyable to ride