Well I read that the above might be a problem, so I checked mine and blow me mine was loose as hell (After 3 rides)

I rebuilt the wheel with some locktite this time so it should be ok.

Anyone else had this problem? It is an XT hub that must be fitted to a lot of wheels so it might be an assembly prob withing commencal?

Had the same thing occur on an LX hub, and scared myself quite a bit as the back end suddenly went loose whilst I was riding on a narrow edge above a sheer drop

I ended up 'fixing it' by replacing it with a pro-2 and maxle. I assume the flex in the swingarm somehow causes it?
(wheel was used on another bike with no probs for 2 years before I moved it onto the Meta and it then happened several times, and never again once it was back on the old bike)

Love how the bike rides, but it sure can be a pain in the balls, what with the cracking frames, poor paint quality, poor welds etc. They seriously need to get their act together.

Just take a look at this for example:

link

shocking 😡

I assume the flex in the swingarm somehow causes it?

Not so sure. BOTH locknuts were loose (maybe the technician is the factory didnt have a cone spanner? ) However if the Swingarm is twisting, it could grab the locknuts and undo them?

Just cleaned my bike from last nights ride and guess what? The Wheel is nice and tight in the bearings, but the QR is no longer tight. This has never happened on my old NRS with cheapo wheels!

How much did your conversion set you back?

Not so sure. BOTH locknuts were loose (maybe the technician is the factory didnt have a cone spanner? ) However if the Swingarm is twisting, it could grab the locknuts and undo them?

Yes, dunno how exactly. All I know is that it happens to that wheel only on my Commy Meta, not on my old bike, not on my mates' bikes. Also that wheel was built by Chelmer Cycles (who _do_ have cone spanner + build v. good wheels!)

How much did your conversion set you back?

About £80 for the Maxle/replacement dropouts from RealCycles
About £170 for the wheel (Hope Pro 2/XM719) from Merlin

Can't fault the maxle kit, but the bike shouldn't NEED it to function properly

Cheers for the info, mate.

For now I have bought a Crank Brothers Skewer thingy with a kind of 2 action clamp which is supposed to give a decent clampin pressure. I never really b***ocked up the old skewer as it is a job to get your fingers under it to undo it (and as you say, you shouldnt have to!)

So far I have had 3 rides

1. Skewer came loose
2. Bearing cone locknuts came loose
3. Skewer came loose again.

do any other long swingarm bikes suffer from this/?

Guys – did this cause a creaking sound at all?

Guys – did this cause a creaking sound at all?

not really that I noticed, more of a knocking noise

For now I have bought a Crank Brothers Skewer thingy with a kind of 2 action clamp which is supposed to give a decent clampin pressure.

That reminds me, I bought a Halo Heavy Duty hex skewer, I snapped it trying to get it tight enough to solve this problem! Hope you have better luck

You will get some creaking if the skewer comes loose..and gear selection can become a bit iffy. Grab the rear brake and rock the bike; you will see the wheel moving for sure if you have a prob

That reminds me, I bought a Halo Heavy Duty hex skewer, I snapped it trying to get it tight enough to solve this problem! Hope you have better luck

oh dear. It is not even as if i am doing anything with the bike yet (im am 95 KG though and that excellent rear brake gets a serious hammering )

Update.

The fancy skewer worked well for the first ride.

Out tonight, noticed gears were not engaging well. Checked rear wheel and guess what? Lots of play AGAIN. Somehow, properly adjusted, locked and threadlocked cones have come LOOSE (skewer is nice and tight though)

will ring supllier tomorrow.( although whats the chances of commencal having a fix?) Should have done it in the first place but at the time I didnt want to loose the use of my bike for ages for the sake of a simple wheel adjustment 🙁

Just a thought and its based on the following assumption that may be wrong:

Does the maxle kit replace a fair bit of the back end, including the hole for the wheel skewer to go through and a decent chunk of the frame around it?

The reason I ask is that my commuting bike, a hardtail, can undo cones over the space of a week, I need to tighten them every weekend. It can do this to wheels that have been running fine on my other hardtail as well… It gained this amazing skill since some idiot driver twatted me from behind while I was waiting to turn (he didnt see me etc). This has bent the rear triangle slightly to the side so that the wheel does not sit true with the direction of movement of the bike. The little bit of cross pressure seems to be enough to do this. Effectively one chain stay is longer than the other.

I wonder if replacing the standard QR with the maxle solves this as the tolerances on the QR dropouts are to large and the wheel doesn't sit straight to the frame, but the tolerances on the maxle dropouts are fine.

I have never seen one of these bikes so may be totally wrong and doing Commencal a huge injustice and thier build quality may far greater than this forum implies…

David.

Got a 5.5.2

Had a creaking coming from the rear hub, XT like yours. Exactly the same thing happened to mine. Tightened up the cones and locknuts and its been fine since. My mate who bought the same bike from the same shop at the time (it's not "his and his" before you start) hasn't suffered this issue. Mine had beneath spec torque on the linkage, loose chainring bolts and loose dropouts. His didn't.

I suspect the shop built his first… I went over my bike with a torque wrench and a fine tooth comb and its been good since.

I paid £1200 cash for mine, and for less than the price of a Pitch Comp, it still represents brilliant value.

I have come to realise that in buying it, I now own an "Alfa", something which I swore I would never do!

Does the maxle kit replace a fair bit of the back end, including the hole for the wheel skewer to go through and a decent chunk of the frame around it?

yea it replaces both dropouts, they fit into the frame and are held in with chainring bolts

I wonder if replacing the standard QR with the maxle solves this as the tolerances on the QR dropouts are to large and the wheel doesn't sit straight to the frame, but the tolerances on the maxle dropouts are fine.

pro 2 + maxle cannot come apart in the same way. I don't know if its the maxle or the wheeel that fixes it, but the combo certainly does.

Yep. Had the same problems with my 08 Meta 5.5XT. I was shocked when it first arrived at the amount of rear wheel flex/ flop due to the single swingarm, but kept it because of all the rave reviews. Well, it's been a mixed bag. Bent the rear XT axle after 6 months. New hub & rebuild, then a few months later, serious play developed in the spindle, which exaggerated the wheel flop issue to ridiculous levels. I couldn't sort it, but my LBS seem to have temporarily worked some magic on it. I blame the problems on the flexy swingarm, rather than the XT hub. I'm now saving for an Ellsworth Epiphany frame to transfer all the parts to.