Merida Mission 9000

The Merida Mission 9000 is part of the company’s new range of gravel racer/allroad bikes – machines that blur the lines between where current gravel bikes are heading and high-speed endurance road bikes. The result is a stiff, nimble, grin-inducing all-terrain bike that is incredibly well specced for the money.

> Buy now: Merida Mission 9000 for £5,000 from Damian Harris Cycles

Merida Mission 9000: Ride

The Mission name isn’t new for Merida’s bikes. Back in the day they were cyclocross bikes, like the Mission CX Force Edition that we reviewed in 2020. The latest Mission has been brought up to date with current 2025 trends, most notably the growth of the ‘allroad’ category, giving versatility and flexibility to road riders who don’t want to be limited to the asphalt.

As you no doubt already know, with their crossover between road and mountain biking, gravel bikes are constantly evolving, and many new bikes are pushing towards the latter with ever increasing tyre clearance, more load-carrying capability and – horror of horrors (depending on your view) – suspension!

The Mission harks back to those early gravel days, with geometry not too far off what you’d find on an endurance road bike to give a ‘performance’ riding position and handling, but with tyre widths that make it capable of mixed terrain riding, all the while keeping the frame looking sleek and aero.

When I first set eyes on the Mission in the office I was under no illusion about its intentions. Its stance looks purposeful, and the deep-section wheels, one-piece cockpit and aero cues on the frame point to one thing – speed. And this is no exercise in aesthetics: swing a leg over it and the Mission delivers.

Few of us live within throwing distance of a gravel track, and I’m no different, so a trip on the road usually kicks the ride off. Straight away the Mission felt lively, partly down to its relatively light weight of 8.4kg but mainly due to the way the geometry has been laid out.

For instance, because of the larger tyre clearance the Mission’s fork is longer than that of its sibling Scultura Endurance road bike by 20mm, but its head tube is 40mm shorter, so you are getting a lower stack height on the Mission and the reach is also longer. That makes it feel slightly more aggressive by nature.

Add in a 73.5-degree seat angle for great power transfer and it’s no surprise that the Mission feels so dialled in. This medium model fitted me perfectly too, and with six sizes on offer it shouldn’t be too difficult to get a good fit for most people.

Instantly apparent also was how stiff the frame feels around the bottom bracket area and the lower half of the frame. Out-of-the-saddle efforts showed no signs of flex, and the front end felt just as rigid when descending or hauling hard on the brakes.

For the last few months I’ve been using a gravel bike as my all-weather machine, running it with a set of Pirelli’s 40mm P Zero Race TLR tyres. Sticking those on the Mission for pure road rides unlocked its potential on the tarmac. It felt just like a road bike, albeit a slightly heavier one (those tyres are 471g each), but that didn’t dull its responsiveness or take away from the fun factor.

The handling is quick without being so fast that it becomes a handful, very reminiscent of an endurance road bike, with good amounts of feedback through the frameset meaning I could feel exactly what the Mission was up to beneath me, which allowed me to push it harder than I expected on technical descents.

Chances are, if you are looking at a bike like this, you’re more interested in how it handles away from the road. I can safely say you won’t be disappointed.

I started riding gravel bikes a lot back in 2016, predominantly a GT Grade which I rode the 2017 edition of the Dirty Reiver on. With its 32mm tyres it was a fun, albeit sketchy ride. The Mission is a lot like that – the fun part – but minus the sketchiness, as being able to run 40mm tyres means it is much more capable.

It handles looser surfaces in much the same way as it does on the road. It feels planted, easily controllable, and nailed on between machine and rider. I found this a very ‘talkative’ bike – all that feedback I mentioned above really comes into its own on gravel and I could really let it fly.

The whole bike just feels really balanced and surefooted. On hardpacked sections it can be ridden very hard, the odd slip here and there is easily handled with a shift in bodyweight, and its responsiveness means it feels just like a race bike. If you do events, or just like to ride hard, then the Mission will definitely flatter and deliver. It’s a very efficient machine.

Merida has a history of making some great frames in terms of ride quality and the Mission is no different. And while everything so far has been about speed and performance, this bike also has enough compliance built into the frame to offer a comfortable ride, whether you are going flat out or more sedately. The tyres take the sting out of the ride anyway, but that hasn’t stopped Merida taking any harshness out of the frame and fork.

Overall, purely from a ride point of view, this is a very impressive bike indeed, taking the speed and performance of a road bike and the ruggedness and versatility of a gravel machine and blending them perfectly.

Merida Mission 9000: Frame & fork

Like many brands, Merida uses different grades of carbon fibre for its frames, with the high-end race bikes getting its CF5 grade, while others slightly lower down the pecking order use CF3. The Mission 9000 sits somewhere in the middle, with a CF4 frame and fork, giving a blend of stiffness and durability.

Merida has added some neat touches too, such as the G.U.T. storage system which is Merida’s name for the cubby hole inside the down tube. It’s not uncommon to see this on bikes now, but Merida has created a neatly finished solution which also incorporates a custom-made bag so you don’t get any rattling on rough trails.

The frame is UDH compatible – universal derailleur hanger – and will accept both 1x and 2x groupsets. And among the frame mounts for bottle cages and the like it will also accept Merida’s own mudguard system, although that will reduce tyre clearance to 35mm. It’s a small trade-off for the extra versatility, though.

Everything has been well thought out, with the Mission fitting snuggly in between the Scultura Endurance road bike I mentioned earlier and the gravel-specific Silex. It takes design cues from both, which is what makes it so capable on mixed terrain.

The quality of the frame and fork looks to be top notch throughout, and a quick look inside shows the carbon layup to be clean and tidy.

Other details include a BSA threaded bottom bracket, full internal cable and hose routing, and a hidden seat clamp for a smooth look.

Sizing ranges from XXS to XL, with the medium here having a 560mm top tube and 137mm head tube. The seat angle I mentioned sits at 73.5 degrees while the head is angled at 72 degrees.

The fork is 400mm long with a 45mm offset, and when you add all of this together you get stack and reach figures of 569mm and 391mm respectively. It’s safe to say there are no surprises when it comes to the numbers.

The wheelbase is 1,013mm in total and the standover height measures 798mm.

Merida Mission 9000: Groupset

This 9000 model comes with SRAM’s latest 13-speed Force XPLR AXS gravel-specific groupset, upping the sprocket count of its 12-speed predecessor.

Here we get a 44-tooth crankset with a power meter included mated to a 10-46T cassette. That’s a big old spread of gears, and one well suited to the top-end speed achievable on the Mission without sacrificing climbing gears.

One of the biggest changes to this new Force is the ergonomics of the lever units, which are now much more comfortable and natural feeling in the hands.

Braking power has also been increased through a new internal layout of the shifters, and the gear shifting remains crisp and fast.

I’ll be writing a full review on this groupset very soon, which will include a lot more detail.

Merida Mission 9000: Finishing kit

A lot of the finishing kit comes from Merida, like the carbon fibre seatpost and the integrated cockpit.

The one-piece stem and handlebar adds to the aero look and performance of the Mission, giving plenty of comfortable hand positions. The only time I find bars like this a bit of a pain is this time of the year, when they are generally impossible to fit a front light to, especially the ones I use from Exposure which require a completely round handlebar.

From a performance point of view, though, it can’t be knocked. Different sized bikes get different width bars: 380mm for XXS to S, 400mm for M and L, and 420mm on the XL. Stem length is 90mm, 100mm and 110mm over the same frame sizes.

The Prologo Nago R4 PAS saddle is an excellent race seat, and one that I found very comfortable.

Merida Mission 9000: Wheels & tyres

The wheels are Zipp’s 303 XPLR S which are gravel specific, with a 54mm-deep rim and an internal width of 32mm. Their claimed weight of 1,610g is decent for a set of deep-section wheels that need to stand up to some abuse, although not everybody will be enamoured by their hookless design.

In the early days of Zipp’s transition to hookless there was a limited number of approved tyres you could fit to them. But that has changed now, and Zipp’s list of approval covers pretty much all the main brands.

They ride very well, being comfortable for such a deep section design, and lateral stiffness is spot on for hard efforts.

Zipp has worked specifically with Goodyear to optimise tyre choice for the wheels, which is why we see the Mission come fitted with a set of XPLR Slicks. And very good tyres they are indeed – supple and grippy enough for road use, while robust enough for gravel.

Goodyear also offers a mid-treaded Inter model, and there are plenty of good 40mm gravel tyres on the market if you want something with a deeper tread for winter riding.

Merida Mission 9000: Value

The Mission range consists of five bikes, with the 1x models going from £3,400 for the Rival XPLR AXS-equipped 6000, to £5000 for this 9000, and £7,000 for the range-topping 10K model which gets SRAM Red XPLR AXS and Zipp’s higher spec 303 XPLR SW wheels. There are also two 2x models in the range, kicking off with the 4000 at £2,250 (Shimano GRX 400 2×10-speed mechanical) and the 7000 with GRX Di2 and Reynolds ATR TSS carbon wheels for £4,600.

While none of these are exactly cheap bikes, I do believe they represent pretty good value for money in the current market.

For instance, I’ve recently been riding the Vielo V+1 2.1 Race Edition which has much larger tyre clearances and is more gravel focused, though a race machine (clue’s in the name). With SRAM Force XPLR AXS and DT Swiss aluminium wheels it’s priced at £5,999, and you’d need to add a grand to that to incorporate the Zipp wheel upgrade and power meter. Even with Merida’s market scale (one of the largest manufacturers vs a small brand) that is still very impressive.

Cervelo’s 2026 version of the Aspero I reviewed last year is intended as a gravel race machine but can now take bigger tyres (45mm). For the same money as the Mission 9000 you can have the Rival XPLR specced model – a tier down from Force – with Reserve wheels and a carbon handlebar.

And Specialized’s Crux is designed as a lightweight gravel racer, but while it will take up to 47mm tyres, it coming with 40mm rubber as standard says a lot about its weight-saving intentions. The Pro model comes with the same SRAM Force XPLR groupset as the Mission and some carbon Roval wheels, but it will cost you £6,999. Our video ed Liam has also built up his Crux Pro as a do-it-all road, gravel and cyclocross bike.

A worthy mention on the allroad front is Boardman’s ADV range. I rode the 9.2 model in 2024 and was impressed with its ride quality and value. The range-topper is the 9.6, which uses the same C10 carbon frame and fork but comes with Zipp 303 S wheels and a 2x GRX Di2 groupset. It costs £3,800, which compares very well with the similarly specced Mission 7000 at £4,600.

For more options, check out our guides to the best allroad bikes, the best gravel bikes and the best endurance road bikes.

Merida Mission 9000: Conclusion

If you’re here reading this, I’m going to assume that you are a road rider, and if you want that kind of DNA in your gravel bike, or at least one that isn’t tied to the smooth stuff, then this is definitely the bike for you. It maintains the efficiency and ride style of a road racer, but with the versatility and poise needed for adventures on looser surfaces. Not only that, but it is well made, well specced and well designed while still managing to come in at a good price.

> Buy now: Merida Mission 9000 for £5,000 from Damian Harris Cycles

Verdict

A road racer’s gravel machine – versatile, fun and extremely capable

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