[Closed] Meta 5.5 or Orange 5

Wait for hundreds of posts from Orange 5 owners talking about cracking commencals.

I have a 2007 Meta 5.5 - cracking bike.

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His n Hers , had the sub5 before . i`ve had 7 bikes in 3 years of riding
plus demoed lots more and the 5 is the best imho. had it from new in 08 .
best upgrade .. talas forks and wider bars .

what, like this one - my riding buddy's Meta on the 4th day of our Alps trip...:
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we had a post about the orange 5 just a few weeks back..... get an Orange 5 !!!!!! i bought one in the summer and still havent put it down yet..it almost goes in my bed ! lol. i love my bike.....
and people upgrade their bikes according to taste.... i have fox float R forks on the front but as im awoman and no weight behind me ...those froks are fine for me but obviously the male being heavier(lol) you may require different forks (i dont know)...
but yep 0range 5 = FANTASTICO !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Doddy has a Meta 5...... i dont know about these bikes so i wont comment...

I thinks it more than just 5 owners claiming Commonfails...well... fail!

Lots of very happy 5 owners on here..including myself!

I have an 09 Meta 553. I love it. Goes down well, climbs well. Generally a fun bike to ride. But I like the Orange 5 too. So, go ride both, see what you prefer.

But I'd certainly recommend the Meta.

Colin

I am not an Orange owner but I would take that out of the two options.

Why?

Well I am in the Lakes at the moment and I was due to ride with my mate and his friend. Both have Meta 5.5s and neither of them can ride this weekend as both of their bikes have cracked frames.

Or you could do what I did and buy a Prophet before they all go.

It’s all subjective but I’d throw in that the Meta and the Five are different enough to raise that generally vague question ‘what do you want it for’ ?

I had an ’08 Meta and it was a great bike, but better suited to the more aggressive end of trail riding – rougher terrain, bigger drops etc. I’ve not had a Five so it’s not a direct comparison but compared to a Hustler it’s heavier, slower and less nimble in the slower/technical stuff (with the same 140mm Pikes).

Of course the answer you're looking is to ditch the idea of getting a Meta or a Five and get a Hustler 🙂

My 2005 5.

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It climbs ok and descends great. It is the old HC build with the (Rather poo) Nixons changed for Pikes. It's a bit heavy, but i won't be changing it for at least another couple of years.

Well I am in the Lakes at the moment and I was due to ride with my mate and his friend. Both have Meta 5.5s and neither of them can ride this weekend as both of their bikes have cracked frames.

indeed, QC problems on the 09 bikes (and to a lesser extent the 08s), the 2010 models should remedy this though.

I personally prefer the ride of my meta to Orange Fives that i've borrowed, but for some reason I still want an Orange!

Me and a mate both bought the '09 Meta 552 at the same time, in August.

£1250 is what we paid. At that price new, I can't begin to compare it with a 5.

I wasn't aware of the issues before I bought it (didn't ebven do the most basic research- duh!), I just rode it and thought wow. If it breaks, I get a new frame. To my mind the only thing that could get in the way of that would be Commie going belly up. I hope to **** they have sorted the issues out with '10 bikes. I still see this as a major negative.

However, it rides awesome and has consequently received a pasting. No faults so far. Contact seems to grip soooo well and the whole thing encourages you on. Great bike, shame about the issues.

Thanks all here is the catch
I might get a meta 55.3 2009 @ around 1200€ or the orange frame fro this price.
I'll have to dicuss with the LBS about my old bike (sell as it is or swap component over with the meta 553) and what will be the cost.
They rate the meta very highly (and they had no cracked frame) but if I don't buy the 5 non one will and I am in very very good term with them as we ride motorbike and so and so.

It's nice to have people giving me their opinion though.

XXXXXXXX

I would rather Poo in my hands and clap then ride another Meta 5, I had two an 07 and the new 09 and found a crack in both of them, plus the wait to get a new frame from Madison made me want to get another bike guess what i choose? And i can honestly say it's the best i've ever had hands down... everybody has them for a reason they are that good!

not owner either but I've test ridden both a couple of times and I easily preferred the meta. The Orange didn't impress me tbh.

Go with the 5 mate I was going to flog mine but decided to keep it.
Just paid £ 170.00p and had it resprayed with new decals and bearings.

Thanx all at Orange today 😉

Apparantly I was kicked off Bike Radar for telling the truth about the Meta frame breaking.
I know they have a new manufacture but Orange make there own bike frames
and made for our terrain and spain etc.

Me I rather know that I have not got a long walk back with the
scrap man in a white van ringing his bell Iron any old Iron 😈

Grantway- You didn't tell the truth about anything... you just bored the sh*t out of everyone.

Anybody can read "the truth" on the Commie owners website.

LOL So your telling me the Meta 5 frame is
stronger than the 5 ?
Susspension maybe but thats a personal thing

Did not know they had there own web site who fronts it Uri Geller 😉

I had an 09 meta and it lasted 2 months before i spotted 3 cracks! Believe me, the distributor/dealers know about the problems but try to keep it quiet etc, it's a big problem with both design and manufacture.

I now ride a 2010 orange five and love it, won't consider anything else! It rides amazingly, jumps well, nice and light but feels solid.

I don't own one but were my bike to break the only bike I'd buy is a five.

One pivot, one set of bearings, shock out of the way of all the shit we ride through over here, stiff in all directions and for the skills of 90% of us more than enough suspension feel, built like a brick shithouse too lots of cool colours etc etc etc the list is endless they are popular for a reason.

They do sound like a bag of spanners on the downhills though!

Mrs Ononeorange spotted this post and insisted I posted just how good both of our 5's are (2005 and 2006 models). Neither of us has ridden a Commencal to be fair, but the 5's are ace!

a pal of mine had an Orange 5 and has a Meta 5.5

He says the 5 was good but the meta "more playful" and enjoys it more.

My old sub 5 (going back a bit now) always had chain tug which got on my t1t5 a bit.

I know 2 people with meta 5.5s. Both currently waiting for new frames.

grantway - you confuse me. you hate carbon BUT also hate aluminium commencal frames too. any thoughts?

Regarding the meta 5 "weakness". First it is not true that LBS are trying to hide it (well not in France anyway). Second they have been a lot of people riding on bike too small for them hence seatpost way too up and too much leverage (my lbs use to tell people that they had to have 12 cm of seatpost inside the tube). Third I have not personnaly seen one breaking, and I see a lot of them being sold/ridden hard. On of th LBS owner owns one, got his brother to buy one, and even recommend on to a customer who's nickname is 'conan' and who let put it that way, isn't the smoothest rider.

Then the orange as said above it will cost me a little bit more money and will come in grey, but it's more to make my lbs a favour and to support the british industry.
So so far they are both very good, but people who rode bot prefer the meta 5 am I right?

the male being heavier(lol) you may require different forks (i dont know)...

You always see dealers saying, it's a certain batch or the amount they sell doesn't show how many are still going etc etc. I wonder how many are riding around with cracked frame and don't even know! I deffo prefer my five to the meta, much stiffer, just as fun to ride and very confidence inspiring.
The seat tube cracks are nothing to do with people running their seat too high, it's a design/manufacturing fault as are the shock mount welds.
I've seen cracked meta 5's and 6's, a relative of mine had a supreme dh and recently found countless cracks all over it, some in very very dangerous places, also founds holes in the welds where it hadn't been made properely. A friend of his had the same with the 09's, recently got a 2010 and snapped it in 2 days!
Don't get me wrong they ride nicely but have serious serious issue and personally couldn't trust one again.

Go for the five, you wont be dissapointed!

recently got a 2010 and snapped it in 2 days!

pics?

I haven't personally seen it (I know what your thinking, chinese whispers etc) but my relative was commencal through and through, he convinced me to buy one, he recently purchased a hardtail of theirs and also has one of their xc bikes. It was only until he saw this that he's now looking to change brands if money allows.
As i said, it's a shame as they do ride nicely but after riding my five i wouldn't change it for anything! I've not even looked at other brands since buying it.
Obdviously this has come through a couple of people (so could be chinese whispers), i hope for commencal and the owners sake that the problems have been sorted. I know they have changed designs/factories and tubing etc so with a bit of luck they have bikes that will now last!

quite simple really thebikechain dont buy a aluminium Uri Geller
Very happy with my Orange Juice Aluminium 5 AM
Thats why I decided to keep it and just had it resparayed picked it up today from Orange.
Regarding Carbon dont like it personal choice

In April 2008 I brought a Meta 5 frame - white with green graphics, size large, set up in trail mode - Revelations with Maxle, XT, Hope hoops, carbon bits and bobs. I am 6' tall and 'well built' at 16 stone. I chose it over the Orange 5 frame purely cause it was cheaper. I have done long weekends away at Glentress, Inners, Southern Spain, Alps, Cwn Carn etc. I goes up and down well, charges along in the big ring on the flat and its very stable in the air. Its been fine so far, but I do have what looks like stress cracks in the paint on the welds of the rear shock carrier bit. I have ridden mine hard - it came back from the Alps with bent rocker bolts. Just in process of fitting a rear Maxle for the next Kona Mash Up. I love my Meta. Have never seen a broken one only heard stories. I did crack my Inbred whilst using it as a commuting bike - is that a new discussion topic?

Surely you're riding a broken one?

mates have both,if i had to choose it would be the 5 as the commi has about 15 thousand bearings on it compared to the single pivot 😉

I've got a a '07 4.2 Commencal. I put 5" forks on it (not recommended by LBS)and I am over 18st, ride fairly hard downhill on XC trails and no issues with the frame. Only disconcerting characteristic is the amount of flex at the rear wheel but you get used to it. Great traction on climbs as well.

I like it.

His and hers Fives here - and our little one has a Loct seat on my Five. That's about 19-20st all up (him, me, seat and kit) and it's a 2005 that's showing no real signs of distress. And it just does everything pretty well - probably not spectacular at anything but just an excellent set of compromises - and that really is impressive. Easy to make a bike do one thing well, less easy to do everything well.

Fine in the Alps (rolling not jumping with a 3 and a bit year old co-pilot)
Fine round Dalby and Glentress (with small boy on board).
Fine in the Dales and Moors

Original bearings (thought they were going at one point and bought some new ones, which were cheap, but when I stripped it nothing needed doing)

And when the child seat comes off it (probably because our son it too heavy for me to pedal anymore) I will replace it - probably with another Five - I'm thinking Five AM but it might just be the standard one.

And my wife likes her Five Diva too

So the choice seems to be...

1) Cheap, rides good, might break

2) Expensive, rides good, probably won't break

Have you decided yet?

all bikes can break.

A friend of mine has had (several) meta 5s, from several model years. Approx time from purchase to crackage for each one:

07 - 8 months
08 - 11 months
09 - 3 months

He's not that big and he rides hard but doesn't do many huge drops or jumps. He liked the ride of the bike but has given up on them now... he's testing a blood today.

Agreed, but some more than others

Juan - IIRC you used to have a coiler Deluxxe???

You would be silly to buy a 09 Commencal, they have a manufacturing default and ive had the Commie UK brand manager admit that to me.

Im on my 3rd frame and this one has 4 cracks.

Wait for the 2010 frames to come out, ive seen a 2010 meta 5 and the welding is 100% better than the 2009s. They have been improved all the problem areas with new designs. Of course time will tell if they begin to crack aswel.

Well Buzz I hope that puts the denial out for Juan whom says
its NOT TRUE.
Can you put a pic up mate.

Grant do you have a problem with commencal? you seem to only attack this brand for failures, when many other brands also suffer. You seem to get great pleasure from mocking commencal for having problems. I read all of your posts on Bikeradar and wasnt surprised you got banned and was happy that you did as you ruined any constuctive post with your over the top attacks at commencal and you dont even own one.

Yes commencal have had problems, yes they have admitted to the problem, yes they have done something about it now.

Ive cracked 4 frames, yeah im a bit pissed about it but the bike rides brilliantly and hopefully the 2010 frames will sort all this out.

I await your witty reply ala your bike radar style.

To be honest Buzz the answer to your question is NO.
Unfortunatly I am not computer literate and could not
link the info to what I had on these which was a hell of lot at
the time, and a dam good reason I never put my leg over one.

The first wave of broken frames was from people going to the Alps,
within the first day, some may for what I heard also put 160 forks upfront
and thought they could take this as the Meta 5 was tested along side the
Orange 5 and that can take a 160 fork including the Yeti 575.

I would say the problem was quickly masked by there quick no quible
change of frame which I am not knocking. But they did not recall.

One thing I dont like is that people in some way was and defending what
was a very badly made bike it was wrong.
So bad Commencal showed they had no control/knowledge of how bad it was.
Even there small 6 inch bike was not in any shape or form to there brochure until one of the magazines pointed it out to them.
Including the Meta 5 magical mistery numbers of angles 08 model I believe.

In the end I got fed up of listening to crap and people putting the Meta 5
as an equivalent to an Orange 5 and saying save a grand approx
if it brakes get a new frame woow. And for some to say the Meta 5 was as strong as the Orange 5 when I had known these was braking at an alarming rate which could have lead to a bad accident

so in the end I got fed up of people deffending crap
and got blaring with comments bit of T-it for Tat.
Did I care No only the truth was told.

But I hope Commencal do get there act together its wrong selling
a product thats not fit for what its designed for.

The reason I asked for pics was to put an end to the problem show it and
make Commencal, and you say they have sorted it out.
Badly made bike could lead to a very bad accident would you not agree!

Wasn't someone highlighting that fact that Commencal don't have as bad a failure rate as Cotic though (based on failures per units sold)?