Merida Soothes Your Lockdown Wounds With the New eSpeeder 400 Urban e-Bike

Well, the eSpeeder 400 EQ is what happens. This capable city slicker comes in with just the right tools for you to get wherever you may need to be. I’d also like to add that due to Merida’s history in building awesome and affordable bicycles, this one should be no different.

However, we tried to find the price for one of these trinkets but faced the classic middleman story of having to go through a dealership. So be prepared to tack on a little extra. On average, it comes in at around $3,500, depending on your supplier. Let’s have a look at what kind of bike you can get these days for $3,500.

As you would expect from a bike that cruises in at such a low price, the frame for this sleek e-bike is composed of aluminum. Before you go off about how ‘aluminum this and aluminum that, carbon fiber is where it’s at’, note that this little gem comes in with a weight of only 34.1 lbs (15.5 kg). Honestly, I've written about folding e-bikes that weighed more.

To make it a bit appealing to all you carbon freaks, the front fork is made of carbon. Carbon, ya hear! Now move on with your lives and read the rest of this piece of ‘literatu-whatever’.

Now, the motor to power all of this light work is actually an entire system developed by MAHLE. Here we find the X35+ hub engine and battery pack. It’s all rather simple, really, but efficient. The X35 motor is a tight little powerhouse that runs under 250Wh and puts out a constant and smooth 40 Nm (29.5 lb ft) of torque. It may not sound like much, but to do your daily bidding through flat asphalt and some occasional curbs, it's perfect.

If you paid attention, you probably picked up that the motor runs under 250Wh of juice, so the battery included has just that much power. One downside (that could also be a upside) is that the battery is integrated in the downtube. But it does offer a clean and sleek frame.

All of these components are controlled through internal cable routing and activated by the press of a button on the upper side of the top tube. Care to guess how much this all weighs, the entire system? Let me help you out: only 7.7 lbs (3.5 kg).

The rest of the drivetrain is completed with a great bang-for-buck Shimano Deore 10-speed shifter and derailleur, all set on a CS-M4100 cassette, also from Shimano. Oh yeah, brakes are also from the same team with two-piston hydraulic brakes and 160-mm and 180-mm rotors. And let’s not forget the KMC chain keeping it all moving fluidly.

But because there’s no suspension on this urban rider, Merida chose to throw on a pair of Continental Contact Urban tires, all set on in-house Comp SL aluminum rims. You already know how much it weighs, and it’s equipped with fenders and a carrier too.

Personally, for the price this bad boy rolls in at, I'm kind of torn on whether I'd spend my money on it. This is the part where a little voice in my head says, “But look at how sleek it looks. It’s light too.”