If you were perusing Singletrackworld.com last week, you may have come across a story we published about a teaser for a new mountain bike from Commencal. Well, the tease is finally over, because Commencal have just dropped their brand new Meta V4.2!
“But it looks exactly as the previous Meta?”, we hear you ask. And yes, it does look almost identical to the outgoing Meta. As we’ve found however, the devil is all in the details, and there’s actually a lot going on with the new bike. Let’s have a closer look at exactly what Commencal have focussed on with their latest Enduro ripper.
The new Meta V4.2 is named as such, because it’s the 4th generation of the Meta platform, and it’s the 2nd iteration of the current design. It might be hard to believe, but the original Meta V1 actually debuted well over a decade ago in 2005. It arrived on the scene as one of the very first ‘enduro’ bikes, before that was even a thing. Being based in Andorra, Commencal simply wanted to deliver a downhill bike that you could still pedal uphill, which, under the current governing laws of the International Mountain Bike Marketing & Branding Association, we now label as an enduro bike.
The Meta has evolved significantly over the past decade, though its core values of offering pedal-friendly performance in a bike that you can razz about on the descents still remains. We know that’s kind of the point of most mountain bikes, but in the case of Commencal, the Meta is designed to be ridden in a particularly rowdy fashion. As kindly demonstrated by Commencal team rider Remi Thirion in these glorious photos and the below video.
So, what exactly has changed then? The overall shape of the new Meta is almost identical to the outgoing one. It’s still made from custom drawn and butted 6066 aluminum (Commencal aren’t big fans of carbon fibre), and it still has that neat pocket in the top tube for the rear shock. However, the space has been opened up to increase compatibility with more shock options, including those with a piggyback reservoir. The shock is now a Metric sized affair, which has helped to boost travel and refine the spring curve.
The 2017 Commencal Meta V4.2 features:
- Aluminium 6066 Triple Butted tubing
- 160mm rear travel
- Designed for 230 x 60 mm metric rear shock
- Piggy back compatible
- 65.5-degree head angle
- Designed for 160-170mm travel forks
- Tapered zero stack headtube
- Postmount rear brake (180mm max rotor size)
- 31.6 mm diameter seatpost
- Press fit BB92 bottom bracket shell
- ISCG05 chainguide tabs
- 1x only
- 148 x 12 mm boost rear hub spacing
- RRP: €2199 – €4599
Commencal have kept the cockpit dimensions roughly the same as the outgoing Meta, but they’ve slackened the head angle off by half a degree for a little more wheelbase length. Other changes include a move to BOOST 148x12mm rear hub spacing, which Commencal has adopted in favour of stiffer and stronger wheels. Their complete bikes will also come with BOOST 110x15mm forks to match.
There’ll be four Meta models available from Commencal, which you can purchase direct from Commencal. Every model features RockShox suspension front and rear, wide alloy rims and fat Maxxis tubeless rubber. Because there is zero provision for a front derailleur, all the complete bikes are coming with 1x drivetrains, with the top-end World Cup model getting a SRAM 1×12 Eagle groupset and a mint brushed alloy frameset.
Geometry hasn’t strayed too far from the previous Commencal Meta, but the V4.2 does kick back the head angle by half a degree to 65.5 degrees. The reach figure isn’t enormous on the Meta V4.2, but then Commencal has never really been a big proponent of enormous front centres, instead going for a more playful and agile feel for their full suspension bikes.
So there you have it, the new Meta V4.2 from Commencal in a nutshell. The new bike certainly looks good, and given the positive reports of the outgoing model, it appears that Commencal have built upon those strengths to refine the performance of the latest version.
If you want to know more, head to the Commencal UK website for all the nitty gritty details. In the meantime, you must wrap your eyeballs around this video of Remi Thirion tearing the Meta a new one. The speeds in this video are ridiculous!
Is some kind of poltergeist stopping you from watching this fully sick edit? Then click here to stick it to the man and watch it yourself!