"The best aero road bike I've ever ridden" and "a wonderful companion": first reviews of the 525R are full of praise
Last week, Eddy Merckx Bikes launched the all-new 525R. As always, we invited several independent cycling journalists to spend time with the bike and write an honest review. After thoroughly testing the 525R, they shared their findings — and the first verdicts are overwhelmingly positive. "The best aero road bike I've ever ridden" and "a real joy to ride" are just some of the compliments.
BikeRadar took a purple-and-white 525R out for a ride. We were delighted to read senior technical editor Warren Rossiter's conclusion: "The Merckx 525R is the best aero road bike I've ever ridden, simply because it's not as uncompromising as a typical aero road bike of recent vintage." He continues: "In fact, it almost defies categorisation. If this was pitched to me as an endurance bike, I'd accept it as that, given its still-racy geometry is offset by the accommodating ride. If it was pitched as a pure-bred race bike, I'd be cool with that too – it's stiff, responsive, fast handling, and above all very fast and efficient-feeling."
BikeRadar took a purple-and-white 525R out for a ride. We were delighted to read senior technical editor Warren Rossiter's conclusion: "The Merckx 525R is the best aero road bike I've ever ridden, simply because it's not as uncompromising as a typical aero road bike of recent vintage." He continues: "In fact, it almost defies categorisation. If this was pitched to me as an endurance bike, I'd accept it as that, given its still-racy geometry is offset by the accommodating ride. If it was pitched as a pure-bred race bike, I'd be cool with that too – it's stiff, responsive, fast handling, and above all very fast and efficient-feeling."
Not only light and beautiful
As a Belgian brand, we naturally also turned to the national cycling media. Grinta tested a deep-blue 525R on Belgian roads and was equally impressed. The magazine praised both the bike's appearance and its ride quality: "The 525R is not only light and beautiful, thanks to the partially transparent finish that reveals the carbon lay-up and the striking blue paint, it's also fast. Above all, this new Merckx proved to be a real joy to ride. Its stiffness never gets in the way of comfort, and while the new geometry takes a little getting used to, that happened much quicker than I had dared to hope."
As a third test, we provided a green-and-white 525R to the team at Escape Collective. "The 525R isn't the lightest or most aerodynamic road bike, but the progressive geometry and level of adjustability it offers makes it the bike I've chosen to race this spring," emphasises journalist Ronan Mc Laughlin. "I've spent the last three months testing it, the progressive geometry, and that new wind tunnel-optimised position in both training and racing, both at the domestic level and in an international stage race. Spoiler alert: I like it a lot! The 525R has even relegated other much-higher-profile bikes to gathering dust on the garage wall." These three independent reviews provide valuable feedback and further strengthen our belief that the 525R is exactly the bike our loyal riders deserve today.
As a third test, we provided a green-and-white 525R to the team at Escape Collective. "The 525R isn't the lightest or most aerodynamic road bike, but the progressive geometry and level of adjustability it offers makes it the bike I've chosen to race this spring," emphasises journalist Ronan Mc Laughlin. "I've spent the last three months testing it, the progressive geometry, and that new wind tunnel-optimised position in both training and racing, both at the domestic level and in an international stage race. Spoiler alert: I like it a lot! The 525R has even relegated other much-higher-profile bikes to gathering dust on the garage wall." These three independent reviews provide valuable feedback and further strengthen our belief that the 525R is exactly the bike our loyal riders deserve today.
