Originally Posted by Steve B.

OP doesn’t state which Merit he has. Theres a 1 and a 2. The 1 looks to be a carbon road bike and I’m not seeing eyelets on the rear triangle.

The 1 I see has a Tiagra group, not sure there’s enough low gearing for a loaded bike.

For even light loaded touring I would want gearing of 20 to gear inches, as well as 32-36mm tires. Dont think this bike is going to be able to use tires that big and I would not be pouring money into chainging the shifting system to get lower gearing.

Bottom line is this might be a poor choice. If just credit card touring with bikepacking front and rear bags you might be OK.