First Look: Commencal’s Aggressive Meta Power Ebike

It’s been hard not to have noticed Commencal over the past year. The Andorran brand has been all over the Downhill World Cup, and the Commencal flag was also flown prominently over the dusty cliffs at this year’s Redbull Rampage. The company has launched loads of new bikes for the 2017 model year (including that suave Meta TR), whilst also stealing Rob Warner from Giant Bicycles, and it’s one of a few big brands to really take kids bikes seriously.

Even with all of that coverage though, it appears those sneaky Andorran’s still have a few secrets up their sleeve. And the Commencal Meta Power Ebike is one of them.

For anyone who follows Commencal closely (i.e reads French magazines) you may already have seen prototypes of the Meta Power Ebike. However, we’ve just spotted this new image that shows a bike that is looking very much production ready;

Commencal hasn’t officially announced the Meta Power, in fact, we only found the image while browsing Max Commencal’s Instagram, so we don’t know the official specs. However, we can still make some observations about the incoming Meta Power.

For a start, it’s a plus-sized hardtail, with 27.5×2.8in Maxxis Rekon tyres shown on this particular bike. It’s got an alloy frame that’s based upon the latest Meta HT, though the main triangle has been shaped and profiled to take the Shimano STEPS E8000 battery and pedal-assist 250W motor.

One of the biggest changes we can see between the prototype bikes previously spotted and this latest version, is that the battery has been pushed further into the downtube for a less obvious ‘bulge’. And we’re all for less noticeable bulges. The battery might not be as well hidden as it is on the new Focus and Specialized bikes, but the Commencal looks to be using the stock Shimano STEPS E8000 battery, rather than a custom item like those employed by the aforementioned companies.

While it’s obvious Commencal is using the Shimano STEPS E8000 drivetrain, the above bike photo shows a Shimano Deore XT crankset. However, the STEPS system relies on its own bolt-on crank arms that use a 3-piece system, and not the 2-piece system that the Deore XT crank features. Either there’s some photoshopping going on here, or this is a new crank and bottom bracket system from Shimano…

As with the non-assisted Meta HT, the Meta Power eMTB looks to have a very slack head angle, so it’s definitely pushing the ‘ardcore ‘ardtail buttons. It’s also clear from the image that the Meta Power has some seriously compact chainstays, with the rear tyre coming within millimetres of the seat tube. Again, we’re not sure if what we’re seeing is 100%, but shorter a more compact rear end is definitely possible thanks to the Shimano STEPS motor, which uses a very compact design to maximise clearance around the chainstay yoke.

Other details we can make out on the Meta Power is fully internal cable routing, including for the stealth Reverb dropper post. There’s a thru-axle rear dropout, along with Commencal’s own wheelset, and a set of RockShox forks plugged in up front for the tapered zero-stack head tube. It’s either a set of PIKEs or LYRIKs (they both share 35mm stanchion diameter and a similar-looking chassis), but based on the amount of stanchion visible, we’re guessing they could be 170mm Lyrik forks.

So, can you spot any other clues from Commencal’s latest Meta Power? What have we missed? Is this a bike that float’s your boat, or does it sink your ship?

As for the official word from Commencal, we’ll just have to wait and see…