I’ve got a 5.5 (black with Revs) and I was curious to know how others have theirs setup and what type of riding they do.

I run mine pretty soft, 100psi in the Revs (maybe the same in the float, it escapes me). Hutchinson Python still on the front, Maxxis High Roller XC in’t rear. No big ring, Candy pedals, Gravity Dropper remote post, Ritchey WCS bars and bender fender mud guards to keep the suspension clean and happy. Some glow-in-the dark bar tape wrapped around the chainstay for slap and an On-One hanger banger.

I ride mainly xc singletrack, with a little mildly tech downhill (in the literal, not full on DH sense), hence the Candys. I had Eggbeaters on it in Glentress and Coed Y Brenin, wish I’d had the GD when I was there though!

I’m tempted to eventually upgrade to 9mm thru at the front and either the same or 12mm in the rear. Don’t know whether this is pointless or going to improve things? Oh, and one day a respray to matt black or raw and lacquered. Love the bike but hate the gold decals/branding.

2008 Meta 5.5

Spesh E150 forks, can’t tell you what pressure as I’ve lost* both shock and fork pumps recently.
Avid Elixr Rs
Sram x.9/x.7 drive train
Deore cranks (triple) but going to 1x9w/MRP G2 soon as I’m always in the middle ring (36t)
Also running Candys
Rest is pretty much standard

Same as you bit of everything really. Also thinking of upgrading the rear to 12mm with a Sunn Lawhill hub mmmmmmmmmmm apparently makes a big difference to the stiffness.

*pretty sure they’ve been half inched by some magpie mate of my dickhead housemate. Grrrrrrrr.

rear 12mm maxle is the best thing you can do for that bike. So much stiffer!

It makes sense to me, the stiffness and all but I struggle to imagine what it feels like in real life on the trail. Is it more responsive/accurate? I’ve only had QR or 10mm bolt through on a Spesh p2, but the fork (Marz Dj) flexed a little so not the best example.

Do you think the 9mm thru up front would do the same? A QR of 2 parts is obviously convenient, but a single piece seems more logical to me. I’m waiting to trash my wheels before the upgrade as they’re the stock ones so not bound to get much for them!

Is it just handling, or does power transfer also improve? Thinking about less energy wasted in axle flex… 😐 Being on the slim side I don’t want to overbuild the bike unless it’s going to improve the ride quality (which I’m already chuffed with!).

I run my 5.5 rear shock with about the same psi as my weight in lb’s. Seems to work fairly well. Generally run it with 1cm of sack on the shock and on the hard side so I don’t bottom out the suspension.

Tempted by the 12mm rear but cost always put me off. Only QR on the front too – been to the alps, 6 foot drop off, light DH – all fine, the frame hasn’t even cracked – yet!

Superstar wheelsets with switch hubs are looking very appealing. 9mm chunky thru qr front and 12mm rear, the options I hypothetically built up came in at £205 (better spokes, AM rim). Or even the DH switch hub wheelset at £170… Weight vs beef ❓

The ability to adapt the hubs to any frame/fork plus the cartridge bearings make them very tempting.

It’s justifying it though, if I can curb spending then these could be on there soonish.

I’d go for Hope Hoops over superstar.

+1 for hope hoops last forever if serviced properly and they are very easy to service so should

I like the look/rep of Hope, but not the price. I’ve only ever had stock wheels, so spending that much on a set seems painful! But I get it, you gets what you pay for.

Only about £70 more than the superstar ones and worth it in my opinion. Pro2 with Flow rims are a good choice.

2008 Meta 5.5 XT with most stuff upgraded from new (only wanted a frame, got a deal on complete bike so sold forks, wheels, stem, bars, post).

Just finished spending a mint on mine following 3 years of riding and embarassingly little maintenance leading to a Shimano rear hub seizing up. Got new wheels, rotors, pads, tyres, linkage bearings, bottom bracket, saddle, seatpost, axle and dropouts! Upgraded the rear from QR to 12mm Maxle while I was at it.

I’ve saved about 600g so that’s made a big difference to the ride but aside from that, the back end is definately stiffer and noticeable on rocky trails. Hitting objects at an angle used to lead to some scruffing/scrubbing at the back end flexed – it’s now much easier to get onto a line, for example off camber high lines, tracking up out of ruts etc. Much improved. Maxle and dropouts cost me £50 all in.

Running Pikes, Hope Hoops/Flow rims tubeless and wide bars as an all round Peak XC bike, but have raced mini DH on it and did the Passportes. Love it!

2010 Meta 5.5 (warranty replacement for 2009 which broke in the usual spot). Original spec was UK ltd I think.
Chainset – SLX triple replaced by SLX double and bash, plus Blackspire Stinger. SPD M520s.
Wheels – Replaced the Sun Equalizers with Hope Hoops (Flows on Pro2s)
Tyres – Replaced TT/HR with ADvantage UST & ST Minnion, run tubeless.
Fork – Replaced the Float 32 RL with a ‘zochi 44RC3ti 15mm bolt through. Fox coating wore through in about a year 🙁
Bars & Stem – Replaced OEM bars and 90mm stem with Sunline V1 50mm stem & 745mm bars.

Frame size is XL, (long legs) and I find that to make it climb efficiently I have to run the saddle about as far fwd as it will go to make up for the slack seat tube angle.

Terrain – Lakes, Calderdale, Peak. Garda in a couple of weeks 🙂
Typically all-day rides circa 30 miles/1500m, as many descents as can be strung together into a ride.
Every change was a distinct improvement. Most significant being the bar/stem and wheels/tyres. Fork is only recent but I’m liking so far.

I’ve got Superstar Spank/Tech2 on my hardtail and do really like ’em but the Meta 5.5 deserves the Flows/Pro2s and tubeless, especially if you’re a clumbsy git like me.
Its taken me about a year to make any noticable impact on the trueness of the Flows. Despite regularly knocking 7 bells out of ’em.
They’ve re-trued well with only minimal tweaking with the spokekey.

2008 Meta XT in XL here. Just ride generic trail center stuff most of the time. 6’6″ and fairly tall all over, so have the seat very high and laid back (with a 90mm stem). This does mean I’m sat a bit too far over the axle and steep climbing is generally only done out of the saddle or it lifts off very easily.

Aside from that it rides very nicely. Weigh about 215lbs, and run the rear shock at 200lbs, so it’s fairly soft, it never seems to bottom out though and there’s a nice ramp on the travel.

I’ve got an XL Pitch as well, very similar bike but much longer, probably fits me better realistically. Much less fun feeling though. The Pitch is far more stiff though, I’ve been toying with getting 12mm rear for ages now, probably with a 9mm axle on the front as I love the Float RLs I’ve got on the front and don’t want to splash out £200 getting new lowers.

Edit: Oh, use Hope Hoops with Flows as well, fantastic wheelset 🙂 Bit weary about upgrading to 12mm due to the cracked axles, should be fine with a normal 12mm axle though. I’ve noticed a few people mentioning you can upgrade to Evo hubs by changing a few bits?

Should I get these?

You’ve got to love the detail and excellent photography 😆

My hubs are the Evo’s and the axle wall thickness is upped from 1.5mm to 2.5mm, which beefs them up where they snap, at the bearing seat. It’s worse with a maxle light as this area is unsupported so I tracked down a full fat maxle just in case.

The possible trade off is that in order to fit a fatter axle, the bearings are probably thinner. They are stainless now though.

Upgrade can be done but it’s not cheap – deals at the bottom of this review:
http://www.justridingalong.com/news/2011/03/hope-pro-2-evo-whats-new/

2008 meta 5.5. just refreshed the suspension with tf tuned revs and rp2 rear . went for the 20mm bolt thru up front. xt drivetrain and brakes. still putting it all together so first ride will be at the weekend.
would like to upgrade to 12mm axle at the back but does anyone know where to get the dropouts ??

2010 5.5. 150mm revs with maxle, pro2’s and flows, high roller / minnion, GD, 70mm stem, 700mm bars, SLX double with a stinger and DX pedals. Standard QR on rear – may go to 12mm axle and a u-turn Lyric. Had a 2007, then 2008 before.

Ride all sorts of terrain but stick with a hardtail for local stuff. All bikes went to the alps, also trail centres, peaks, etc. 2007 was probably the best

If you bought your bike new and it’s less that 2 years old you’ll void the warranty if you respray it.

Lotus – look here – there’s normally someone selling some – or look up real cycles

http://www.commencalownersclub.com/index.php

thanks

Thanks for the warranty info j7, I can’t afford the spray at the mo so maybe I’ll wait til it expires? I thought the paint could have been a little more durable, anyone else find this?

The matt grey/gunsmoke on my Spesh P2 was amazingly tough. I guess we got lots of bike for the money so corners were cut in places. Makes me a little paranoid about damage though. Any Helitapers here?

1cm of sack on the shock

Nice!