Behind the brand: Marco Peluso, Purchaser for MRD

Taking our bikes from a design concept to a product that’s ready to ride takes a huge team effort. While all our roles are very different, one thread that connects us all is our shared love of bikes and the places they can take you, which is why we’d like to introduce a few of the people that work behind the scenes at MERIDA.

A hugely important but often under-recognised part of MERIDA is logistics. With our production facilities based in Taiwan and our R&D facilities based in Germany, plus distributors all over the world, getting the parts the team needs and navigating the world of customs is a full-time job – which is where Marco Peluso comes in. As the Purchaser for MERIDA Research and Development, his job involves buying components from our suppliers and then making sure they get shipped where they need to go at the right time, complete with the correct paperwork so that they can cross international borders.

If that didn’t keep him busy enough, Marco also jokes that he’s the part-time barista in the office, keeping the team fired up with a plentiful supply of coffee. When it comes to his riding, coffee features heavily there too, as he says that his favourite kind of riding is “fast and short road bike rides with good company – and coffee stops!”.

Fast is also a theme when it comes to his favourite bike; the latest MERIDA SCULTURA. Marco has made a few tweaks from the standard specification for this bike, moving to a Shimano Dura-Ace chainset with a power meter and larger than standard 54T and 40T chainrings to increase the top-end speed. His ride summed up in three words? “Fast, light and agile”.

Those big rings aren’t for show either – Marco says the favourite event he’s done was the 2022 UCI Gran Fondo qualifying event in Neusiedler See, Germany. After four hours of tough riding with crosswinds, Marco managed to finish in 8th place, behind some big names in the road cycling world and at an impressive average speed of 45kph.

When he’s not on his SCULTURA, he can also turn to a rather special bike, as he owns one of just three MERIDA REACTO Vincenzo Nibali KOM Editions. In addition to the custom paintwork and race heritage, it’s also the lightest REACTO we’ve ever made at a feathery and only just UCI-legal 6.8kg.

With our R&D centre being based near Stuttgart, Germany, it also means there is some excellent riding on the doorstep in the form of the well-known and mountainous Black Forest region. This is also Marco’s favourite place to ride because it offers the “perfect conditions for going fast downhill!”.

One destination that he hasn’t got around to riding is the regions where the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix are held, with brutal pavé sections steeped in race history. He intends to correct that however: “I will go there sooner or later and ride some of the original segments.”

Summing up his favourite part of his job at MERIDA is easy for Marco – “having a laugh with my colleagues, anytime”.

You can keep up with Marco by following on his Instagram page.