A mate of mine is moving back to the UK and wants to get rid of his bike rather than ship back.

It’s a 2009 model but I know it’s not been hammered (I’ve seen him ride).

2010 Sektor forks solo air, RP23 rear shock, mix of SLX sram 7 and 9. The only downside is it’s running Juicy 3’s but I could upgrade.

He wants $1100 but I reckon I could push to 950 ish (That’s about 650 quid). Really tempted just wanted to see wha the consensus was and anything to look out for?

Commencal 2009. Was that not one of the bad years?? Look for cracks, google commencal cracks and you will find out the usual suspect areas.

It may actually be a 2010. The 09’s look quite angular where the top tube meets the seat tube. His is more of a curve braced section iirc.

Was 2010 a good year?

2010 was the good year. 2008 and 2009 = bad

From memory and not being an owner i think in 2010 Commencal changed the factory the frames were manufactured in and quality went up. Hopefully Hora will notice this thread soon as he just bought a meta 5 and he will have done his research recently so should know good from bad years.

[edit] looks like someone else above has also confirmed my thoughts [/edit]

Sweet. Might be talkin a deal over the weekend. Always fancied a Commy..

Looks like it could be a bit od a bargin if you can get it for the price you think.

The sektor internal can also be upgraded to the rev rtc and dual flow to give better performance if needed at a later date.

Later 2008 & most of 2009 bad
Early 2008 like the one I had where generally fine

Does the frame number include the year of manufacture? I’ve had a quick look over it and a wee blast and all felt fine but I wasn’t in the “hmm, shall I buy this?” mode so it wasn’t a full on inspection. No grindy mud or wetness over here that much and by all accounts if there’s a hint of rain he doesn’t off road. I’ll pop up and see him after my stint of nights. Doing a double shift on Easter Monday which will more or less pay for it. Yay for overtime!

Don’t know about the serial number -> year of manufacture but if you check over on the mbtr forum under commencal HERE you may get a more informed answer.

Tbh get a pic and post it on commy forum. 09-pay throw away money. 2010/2011 decent money. If it has weld plates ontop and underneath front tubes its a 09. However size dependent on these??

Theres a 2011 meta frame for sale here for peanuts

On top of the top tube by the head and under the down tube? That’s an affirmative. It’s a medium. Casual eye, good nick. But as I said, not cast a careful eye over it yet. 650GBP feels like a good deal to me.

That 2011 has a Float and the one I’m looking at has an RP23. Much difference, real world?

I’ll have a look at the Commy and re-evaluate.

Curvey downtube was the good factory, desperately reinforced with a gusset welded on was the rubbish factory.

They’re awesome fun though!

Avoid. Buy a later IMO. Unless hes willing to drop 😉

Tbh for an ’09 £650 is a bit pricey given their history and also Commencal’s aggressive pricing strategy that almost always sees around 40% knocked off new bikes mid season, it really devalues the brand in my opinion
It’s a VIP so been built up from frame only so difficult to compare to a Meta 1,2 or 3 spec but with sectors and slx it’s probably between the 3 and 2 (nearer a 3 – mid range) – to help you get an idea what they go for on eBay
I would say the ’11 someone mentioned above with a shock upgrade if you really wanted would be a better buy
And you would be playing Russian roulette with a frame that could crack, yes you know the history but it was a manufacturing issue they didn’t need to be riden hard to fail
It’s important to stress the vast majority of failures where not sudden or complete and several people I know carried on riding cracked frames for ages, nearly a year in one case, without the crack getting worse
I wouldn’t let the shock be the deciding factor though, the 2011 frame is so much better in a lot of ways, even forgetting about the cracking issue/non issue
The meta doesn’t really need the shock locked out, you won’t notice much difference
Worth also pointing out though ’11 sizing is a bit different to ’09
Pop over to http://www.commencalownersclub.com if you need any more advise

No that’s all fantastic advice. Much appreciated. I think I will steer clear. I’m in no rush and don’t want to be stuck with a lemon.