Thanks Daniel, any other opinions, i see the merida is also a 6061 frame same as gt, is the merida frame just not as good as the gt ?, i went to have a look at the merida and liked the looks of the bike as a whole and the components, however i've been a gt driver all my life , considering to maybe switch ? You say your frame failed, doesn't sound good for gt then, however i never had issues with my 1994 avalanche. put 15k km on it with NO component failing except for the beautiful shiney alloy stem, which i don't see these days, but only after many years of use. I suppose much of it comes down to how you use your bike, still merida or gt ? any other opinions, i don't want to be sorry afterwards. Is the merida flexi ? and isn't it actually a good thing to have some flex so the bike absorbs some of the "hammering" hence why your gt frame perhaps failed because of the rigidity ?