Mercury... who should have been named Icarus. Pedaluma and I flew too close to the sun... we knew the bottom bracket was too wide, but forged ahead anyway. Bad chain line, mount exposed to unreasonable torsional stress (likely, though speculative), motor cracked, bottom bracket had a deep scratch. Probably structurally sound, but in good conscience, I wouldn't feel right selling it. A total write-off. I take responsibility... Pedal did suggest a different frame, but I am an unusual build myself at 6 foot one and 150 pounds, I really wanted the Team 1, and... well, I think we just wanted to find out what would happen. Which we did.
A lot of fun to ride in many situations, but there were subtle things about it, in hindsight, that never felt right. It reminds me of a 1999 MX5 that I owned which had non-stock struts... hard to get the torque I wanted when I needed it, and too much torque when I didn't = similar problem: The rear wheel(s) would lose traction when cornering, often at the bottom of a hill, though it wasn't predictable.
My mechanic bought the 99 from me, sold it to his son, and then bought it back because he couldn't drive it safely.
This is Nightmare, a Canyon Grizl ON CF:7. She is about a year old. On paper, at least 20nm less torque, but in the real world, way more powerful, and far better suited to the vast majority of terrain that I ride.
MUCH more skittish in deep Sierra sand than Mercury or Seeker, similar to Survivor, though Survivor might have had better traction in sand... Nightmare is rideable, but takes a lot more finesse. It's fine when I can see the road surface, but very tricky in the late afternoon when riding into the sun, when the sand is harder to see. Can manage small-medium rock gardens on intermediate single track, but very challenging in the tight spots when going slow, mostly due to the gearing, but I think also the weight distribution. If I could add a bigger granny gear, that would solve most of the problem, but not all.
On bad pavement and on gravel, insanely fast and capable, a beast on the street. It has taken me a year to really learn how to get the most from the SX motor, but it is more forgiving after the June 2025 update and boost to 60nm of torque (from 55.) Seeker took about 18 minutes to get to my Saturday Night 12-step meeting, Mercury took about 16 minutes, but Nightmare can do it in just under 13 minutes.
For downhill speed, gets a little floaty above 38 MPH on worn pavement. Seeker could get up to 43 before I would chicken out. On a better road surface, I bet Nightmare would handle okay at 40.
