- This is the ultra special
Merida Scultura belonging
to defending Giro d'Italia champion Vincenzo Nibali
of Bahrain-Merida.
And this frame, only two of which are in existence,
is the Centenario celebrating one hundred years
of the Giro d'Italia.
(pulsing beat)
To celebrate one hundred years of the Giro d'Italia,
Merida have made two bikes solely for Vincenzo Nibali
and, I must admit, the attention
to detail is absolutely staggering.
This bike is made to race.
He will be riding it on the roads of the Giro d'Italia,
but it really is something quite special.
As you can see, the head tube and the top tube are adorned
with real gold leaf which is lacquered over the top
and also wrapped around the gold leaf and stamped
into the leaf are the names of the winners
of the previous 100 editions of the Giro d'Italia.
And of course Vincenzo Nibali himself
has won this beautiful event on two occasions.
Merida decided on gold detailing rather than pink,
which is a nod to the wonderfully rich heritage
of the Giro d'Italia.
And of course there's gold extending throughout the bike.
Let's have a little look what we can find.
We've got gold decals on the Fulcrum Speed wheels.
Even gold detailing on the Prologo saddle.
Even got a gold cap on the top of the stem there
as well as a gold SRM.
It's bling!
Hold on a minute, I found some more gold.
Even gold elite carbon bottle cages.
Okay let's just dial down the gold for a short while and
have a look at the componentry on this bike.
Now drivetrain wise, we have a brand-new SRM power carbon
crank set and permutation. Vincenzo Nibali goes for the
traditional 53/39 gear ratios, using 175mm cranks,
whilst at the back on this particular bike,
is an 11/25 gear ratio.
Again he might go a little bit lower
once he gets into the real high mountains,
i.e. Passo Stelvio, for example.
We have standard mount brake callipers,
both front and rear, they're Dura-Ace 9100,
of course, the brand new, Dura-Ace groupset.
Whilst the front mech and rear mech are Dura-Ace 9150.
That gives the rider that added micro adjustment
when moving from the big ring to the small ring,
which is absolutely crucial in the high mountains.
Whilst up top we got Scratch 2 Prologo saddle,
again with that little bit of gold custom detailing,
and that's on top of an FSA K-Force, full carbon seat pin.
Now, up the front, we have 12cm,
OS 99 FSA carbon stem
and then we've got
FSA carbon max bars, 42cm width,
then as mentioned before, we've got an SRM
gold PC8 powermeter.
Compared to many riders these days,
the position isn't overly slammed,
couple of millimetres space under the stem there,
and as you can see, the saddle is way back,
pretty much the maximum on the rails,
so quite a traditional set up.
The only additional bit of personalization on this bike
are the satellite shifters, which gives Vincenzo
the opportunity to change on the fly,
whilst on the hoods.
A Bahrain Merida roll with Fulcrum wheels,
both front and rear on Vincenzo's bike,
are Fulcrum Speed 55T and they're shod
both front and rear, again with Continental,
pro-limited, 25mm tyres.
Now, for me this bike is the real blend
of the present and the past.
It's almost a museum piece, with gold leaf
laid on the top tube, one of only two, remember,
but also, a bike that's fit for a champion
to attempt to win his third Giro D'Italia.
Now I'd like to know, what you think about this bike,
so leave your comments down below.
Now, if you haven't already subscribed to GCN,
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Now, for more Bahrain Merida content, how about clicking
just down here, I took a tour at the team bus,
and for Vincenzo Nibali's TT bike, how about clicking
just down here, it's called the Warp.