Hi

A mate is looking at buying one of these and would like to know how they ride uphill and more importantly downhill!!

He mainly rides trail centres and some natural terrain (eg The Quontocks) and is an aggressive rider.

He is almost 6ft so any ideas on sizing? He thinks he should be a 48cm frame. He has been riding a Camber 26 in a large

Any info will be helpful.

Cheers

Doug from basque mtb did a great review, have a google. Must say that I’m tempted by one of these too but having never ridden a 29er I’m hesitant to take the plunge!

I’m very very tempted considering price. 6′ is a large in other models of commencal.

Cheers Paul, I did review the 2012 version and I loved it. I still rate it as one of the fastest bikes I’ve ever ridden. It was impressive the way that thing carried speed and accelerated when pumped. Really playfull. I was genuinely sad to see it go.
The review is here, don’t watch the video if you don’t like Zappa! Commencal Meta AM 29er Review

Edit: sizing wise I’m five ten and loved the M.

Doug, what was it like for general xc riding and long climbs?

There’s a lot of cheap commencals right now. Torn between the meta SL, meta AM and the meta AM 29er!

Hey Paul, I’m not sure I know what general XC riding is anymore. If you mean uppy downy on singletrack then it’s good, it’s pretty nimble and pedals OK. It’s not super fast climbing but it’s fine. I ride five or six days a week though so I’m quite fit, I did do a lot of climbing on that bike though and it was fine. I was doing plenty of climbing during that test, along with plenty of van uplifted downhill singletrack. Out here XC means wide paths, dirt roads and not very much technical singletrack… I don’t think that’s what the Meta is for.

FWIW, I loved the SL as well.

Whilst we’re on the subject, i see many many bikes with the SL tag-line associated… What exactly does SL stand for/do in this context ?

My only worry with the AM29 is the weight… how heavy did you find it Doug ?

It´s in the review weeksy!

Total weight for the Commecnal Meta Am 29er is 14.45kg or 31.8lbs excluding pedals.

I found it climbed well and the extra weight certainly resulted in a very strong feeling frame.

SL, Slightly Lighter? 🙂

i know what the weight is… LOL.

I meant more of a riding/fatigue/XC context rather than the exact figures.

Ahh! Well I think that I have a slightly different idea of weight than a lot of other people. I find that if the geometry is good and the bike pedals well then I´m happy. I was happy with the Meta. It´s not as light as other bikes but I definitely found that it pedalled well and was a good companion on all day epics.

the latest dirt has a brief review of all 3 AMS, commencal seemto be one of the few manufactures offering the same bike in all 3 wheel sizes

Thanks for the discussions. my mate has hit the buy button and gone for it. he was a bit concerned about the weight but i am sure he will be fine.

Where are you guys finding these going cheap? I’m looking for an XL.

CRC

Thanks Doug! i’m most tempted by the SL but have only seen great reviews of the 29er, just worried that i’m missing out on something special!

SL it is…probably…

Paul, I only tested the SL for a morning but I loved it. I wanted that for long term test but the American website I review stuff for wanted the 29er which I quickly grew to love. The SL was great though, just what I was looking for, a short travel bike aimed at the downs. You’re not going to regret either I guess.

If you’re getting the summer 2012 am 29er from Crc check alignment on the back end, I sent 2 back as the tyre rubbed the frame on both of them. I gave up and bought a 29er stumpy evo instead. Lovely looking bike tho

Try the Commencal site.. beats the CRC price enought to make it worth getting the bike shipped directly from Andorra.
I have rear tyre rub issue on the 2013 Meta 29er, so I trimmed the rubber frame protector to allow the tyre to run free.
Love it: I’m 6ft, ride a Large and have come from a Bionicon Supershuttle size Med which was way too small. The Commencal is built like a tanks and has saved 15% on my uphill times, is on a par with the Bionicon on technical downhill times, and 5% faster on simpler tracks. Roughly speaking.
No regrets whatsoever!

I bought the Meta SL 26 frame from the commencal store direct. was about £850 in the sale with a kashima fox CTD shock. Arrived in good time too.