[Closed] Help needed....Trek ex8/commencal/lapierre???

I' had a new EX9 last week and treated it to a weekend away at Nanty and Macynthlth(sp)....twas all smiles all weekend. That may also have happened if I'd been on a Lap or Commencal as the weather was tops and the trails dusty!

They were the same bikes i was looking at but with a Five Pro thrown in even though its nearly 1k more. Im pleased someone else has the same conundrum.

Looking at the 3 I am swayed by the trek the most to be fair, I had a look at the meta 5.5.2 and it is quite heavy. Isn't the spec on the 314 a bit lower than the trek's?

grrrrrrrr not much in it to be fair!! so the commencal is heavy?? one down...but the deal at merlin is soooooo good

It's not really heavy though is it, just the other two are a bit lighter.

Do you have a list of pros and cons for each one?

Lapierres look the nicest so just get one of them imo. 😛

just under 30 pound as opposed to 28 so its nowt!!!! hoorah!! 👿

They're all good bikes. I'd give the Orange a vote, but I've heard good things about all of them.

Weight is a subjective thing; Worry about what it feels like to ride, rather than what the gram counters come up with. A bike with properly set up suspension, light wheels and decent tyres will feel faster than one that is light but, er, pants.

One caveat; I tried the Meta 5 a while back, and it was just a bit too leggy for riding in the North Downs, my main riding area. I went for the Meta 4 and never regretted it. It's a chunky little bike, but thjen I'm a chunky little bloke.

explain leggy please bent?? 😕

I found it quite tall and long for riding stuff around here - the BB height seemed quite lofty, for some reason, and the wheelbase was longer than I was used to with an old Orange Sub 5.

This is entirely subjective, of course, and may be down to poor suspension setup on my part. The Meta 4 seems a lot more stable - possibly because its BB is actually quite low.

Really, the best thing is to ride them all and see what you like yourself. Where do you normally ride? I like my 100mm bike, but then I don't ride in the Peaks or Alps that much.

My trek ex8 is amazing! i love it! although i do seem to have do a lot of fettling with it constantly. It makes what sounds like wheel rub on the back end every time i take a jump. But no matter how much i play with it and make sure the tyre is not rubbing i cant seem to solve it!

Overall its a great bike tho! only upgrade i have made is putting on a smaller stem.

"no matter how much i play with it and make sure the tyre is not rubbing i cant seem to solve it!"

When you land, the wheel and frame will flex as they (and the suspension) take the impact. You need more than a small visual space between the frame and tyre when off the bike and stationary

Have you swapped the tyres (to bigger ones?)

I'd be checking
- all the suspension bolts are tight
- all the suspension bearings/bushings don't have any play in them
- your wheel hub doesn't have any play in it
- your wheel is true through its rotation and isn't bent/kinked at nay point
- your spokes aren't really loose

Hi mate, I've got last years 5.5.2 and my bros just got his new 314. The 314 is fast no doubt about it, however I don't think it tracks as well on singletrack. As an all rounder though, the 314 deffo ticks more boxes and could even be an all dayer. The geometry on the meta doesnt suit climbing but it descends very well and you can feel commencal's DH/FR bias. You have to see what you really want it for. Weight wise means nothing, I've got my 552 as light as the 314.

Oh and reliability wise, Commencal hasn't had anything go wrong yet. after a year.

In a couple of tests the Commencal has been a heavier bike, but it doesn`t feel that way when being ridden