Andorran brand Commencal recently announced its foray into the pedal-assist mountain bike market, with the arrival of the Meta HT Power. We covered the release of the Meta hardtail e-MTB back in April, but packaged inside that same press release were some teaser shots of a full suspension version.
Well, Commencal is now ready to release the full suspension version, and to celebrate, they’ve put together a totally rad little edit for us all to watch and feel hopelessly talentless;
Yes, it seems even e-MTBs can be made rad, especially when you’re gifted with riding skills like that. Commencal being Commencal though, the company’s first attempt at making and marketing a pedal-assist mountain bike was always going to be on the more ‘entertaining’ side of the spectrum – even if it’s expecting some backlash;
“e-bikes have been around for a while now. More and more frequently, we are coming across them on the trails or in the streets.The image of e-bikes has often been limited to a utility vehicle or to allow unfit people to keep riding uphill… This is a very narrow-minded view on e-bikes. Through this video, we want to show that e-bikes, or more precisely,assisted pedal bikes are simply fun and the most entertaining thing ever! It’s fun everywhere: on the climbs, out of turns and even on the transfer stages!”
‘Fun‘ being the keyword here in case you were wondering.
Commencal Meta Power Features
- Custom butted hydroformed alloy frame
- 27.5×2.6in tyres
- 150mm travel
- Designed for 160mm travel forks
- 66° head angle
- 75° seat tube angle
- 444mm chainstay length
- Boost 148x12mm rear thru-axle
- Shimano STEPS E8000 motor system
- Four power modes: Walk, Eco, Trail & Bost
- 500Wh rechargeable battery pack
- Range: up to 100km (in Eco mode)
- Available sizes: Small, Medium, Large, X-Large
- RRP: €3999 – €4999
Equipped with 150mm of rear travel and 160mm of fork travel, the Meta Power is billed as a sort of long travel trail/enduro bike. A kind of ‘ride up big hills and mountains to ride technical stuff on the way back down’ type dealio. It’s got suitably slack geometry with a 66° head angle, and Commencal has built the bike around wide rims and 2.6in tyres for loads of grip and support for the extra mass (no confirmation on complete bike weight BTW).
At the core of the Meta Power is the Shimano XT-level E8000 motor system. If you’ve followed the spy shots, you’ll know that Commencal has been prototyping various e-MTBs for several years, with Max Commencal having been won over by the concept a good while ago. However, it wasn’t until Shimano debuted the STEPS E8000 motor system in April of last year before Commencal was ready to commit to moving forward on production. With the Shimano system bringing a (relatively) lightweight and compact motor, a standard crank Q-factor, Bluetooth connectivity and the benefit of worldwide aftersales service, there were enough benefits for Commencal to choose the Japanese brand’s engine to design into the Meta Power chassis.
Because of the compact motor and housing, the back end of the Meta Power is able to be kept relatively compact, being only 7mm longer in the chainstay length compared to the normally-aspirated Meta AM.
There will be three different spec levels available in the Meta Power chassis, with the two upper models getting a coil-sprung RockShox rear shock and Lyrik forks, while the entry-level ‘Origin’ model gets a Yari fork and a Super Deluxe air rear shock.
You can read all the details to your heart’s content over on the Commencal website.
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Have to say it; looks pretty cool!