[Closed] What to do with a cracked Commencal...?

c) everytime.

A smallish LBS near me sold Commencal. He claims that every one he sold came back under warranty for frame crackage. It might be apocryphal, but it is worrying.

c) You get exactly what you want and can upgrade the parts as and when. I have a meta 5.5 that is yet to crack but two of my mates have, it is a bit worrying though.

D) Take it to a local welder get the crack welded up for under £50 and carry on riding it.

Where is the crack do you have pics?

Put an advert out for the rear triangle - you might be lucky.
I thought they mostly went on the main frame(If you mean the swing-arm assy out back by "rear triangle").

c) 'cos if it's five years old then it's not at though you haven't had your money's worth out of it.

Five years on the one bike - must be a record on here 😉

Hmm. Thanks all, I was erring towards c already.

The crack is around the main pivot and it's the rear triangle, not the main frame (which, as above, seems to be where they usually go...)

5 year old meta 5 front triangle in medium, anyone...?

One careful owner? 😉

Are you the original owner? If so why should you have to pay out, surely warranty should cover it?

2008 meta 5 size med with TF tuned shock for a 12.5 stone rider about to go up for sale...

If you really like it, fix it. If not, don't.

Put a wanted ad up for a frame in the classifieds of this site.
J.

Whatever you can afford really.
Is it out of the warranty period?

Five years on the one bike - must be a record on here

I am the original owner, but its out of warranty.

TSY, more hugs! How much...?

Fadda, I have seen cracked commencals that have been welded selling for £100-130

Roblilly - good point: might be worth looking out for one that's broken in a more traditional place and picking up a cheap spares bike!

A smallish LBS near me sold Commencal. He claims that every one he sold came back under warranty for frame crackage. It might be apocryphal, but it is worrying.

My LBS sells commencal and I only seen 5 going back on warranty. One of them being a titane that came cracked in the box. I think we found that cotic have bigger failure rates than commencals anyway.

As for the OP, do you like the bike, get it fixed and ride it until it dies.

Juan, when you put it like that, it seems obvious - thanks, i'll be replacing the swingarm, then!

Head over to this forum http://www.commencalownersclub.com/index.php?action=forum

and put up a wanted for the swingarm or for sale ad for the front end.

Fadda put a pic of the swingarm I might i say I might be able to help

I think we found that cotic have bigger failure rates than commencals anyway.

As for the OP, do you like the bike, get it fixed and ride it until it dies.

Horse s**t. I am a fan of neither but apart from the rocker-issues I don't recall seeing threads on various forums etc about Cotics like you do with Commencal.

Colleague at works young son went through 2 cracked Metas (I bloody recommended them stupidly when she once asked) and I've bumped into a couple of riders on the trail who were keeping an eye on hairline cracks.

Horse shit. I am a fan of neither but apart from the rocker-issues I don't recall seeing threads on various forums etc about Cotics like you do with Commencal.

Fadda - not sure. I'll have a think, or make me an offer... I've not taken it apart yet! It'll come with free hugs, blue hope head set and seat clamp and a thomson seat post if you need it...

Oh, and it's got a maxle rear end and/or original drop outs.

hora - Member

Horse s**t. I am a fan of neither

Bit odd you asking for a meta on the owners forum then?

Not a fan, doesn't mean I wouldn't ride a £360 large one does it? 🙄

I am however a fan of Santa Cruz products and will happily buy one of these new.

£360 for a large you say?? hmmm...

Mine has no cracks etc... interestingly I've not met anyone nursing a cracked meta whilst out riding either.

Thanks Juan - can't get pics til the weekend (bike currently resides in LBS). They're radial cracks from the main pivot, both sides, unfortunately, though the left is worse than the right.

TBH, I'd quite like to rescue it, coz I like the bike and would only really be changing it to get a shiney new one out of vanity other than this. (Not that that's not a perfectly good reason to change your bike, obviously!)

TSY - thanks - I'll try to get hold of a swingarm, first I think...

Does this jeopardize hugs, though...

My Commie Supernormal developed a crack around the headtube, despite my jay-tasticly cautious style of riding. I used to think the Commencal cracking thing was all mythology, until I experienced it. Never cracked anything ever before in 20yrs riding.

Got my frame re-welded (£40-50) by this chap, whom I can recommend:

http://www.vernonbarkercycles.co.uk/

Good luck with it!

juan - Member
"Well be my guest and do the stats..."

Tell you what, since you're making the allegations, you do the stats. Put up or shut up

Gone the way of most threads, but thanks to all for your help - gonna fix it, one way or another, and ride it some more!

Don't sulk fadda, you can still have a hug.

Not sulking, TSY, I got some good help! (thanks again, all)
Just could see it degenerating, so thought i'd sign off.

Fadda

I have a 2006/7 Meta 5 VIP in my garage that has a cracked headtube. This should fit.

I could strip the rear off tomorrow night and put it in the post on saturday.

I can't remember the exact condition.

Does £30 plus postage sound OK?

Matt

Matt, ygm

diggers - Member

hora - Member

Horse s**t. I am a fan of neither

Bit odd you asking for a meta on the owners forum then?

Exactly what I was thinking, did you get a 2009 in the end Hora?
Bit risky given the issues you like to remind everyone about

Out of over 3000 members on www.commencalownersclub.com I think there has been about 30ish reports of cracked frames, all where (eventually) replaced under warrranty, 2009 being replaced where possible with 2010 models
Commencal even changed their warranty procedure to speed things up because the recognised the issues

I know one person that has been watching a hairline crack on an 09 for well over 6 months, they ride nearly every week, its not I dont think got any worse

I see you have one already,

I have a 2006 Meta 5 5.2 medium with a Cracked frontend and good rear end (bit scuffed but good) if you still want to a rear end to match.

Ace bike IMHO.

OP- sorry for the hijack. Could you post pics up? Radial cracks from the main pivot sounds odd- almost as though the frame had been in an impact (numerous times)? Well trail riding is 'impacts'. Could it have been a loose main pivot? Are you a heavy rider? Like big drops?

Iain if I'm honest in the end I decided against the idea. Even a new redesigned meta. No offence to meta owners (if someone spat vile and contemptous words about SC I'd shrug as it aint my company or employer) but even though (it must have been obvious) why did it take so long for warranty replacements? Frames going to new sales first? Not enough production to cover both demands or was the issue across the whole production? I.e factory/the design wrong from the start? My brand loyalty is skin-deep btw, after all I'm a STW'er 🙂

This isn't an attack on commencal- just the customer service/response to a known issue.

to the original poster... if you dont get sorted with Matts rear end (har har har) I would recommend contacting any commencal dealer who should have quite a few rear triangles knocking about their shop from warranty stuff over the past few years.
I'm pretty sure any rear end up to the new shape from 2008 onwards should fit ok.

Northwind - Member
juan - Member
"Well be my guest and do the stats..."

Tell you what, since you're making the allegations, you do the stats. Put up or shut up

Anecdotal evidence is good enough when Commencal are being discussed, but not Cotic?

I can only speak about what I experience, see and here. Yes I read about the Rocker issue in mbr and a few extra snippets. However internet forums are only the tip of the iceberg in real life.

Not everyone will be a forum user or go onto a forum to moan about something. They'll just deal/endure with the shop they bought from etc.

Intense is another brand that springs to mind with the misaligned rear triangles etc. Who else?

If we're talking anecdotal evidence with no stats backup, I've never seen a snapped Commencal in the flesh but someone on a forum ride cracked their Cotic ti. So, using STW forum patented maths, 100% of cotics crack and 0% of metas crack.

I have a meta for sale that's not cracked... 😉

Hora

It origininaly took long for warranty replacements as Commencal required the cracked frame to be returned to Madison for inspection before replacement. this meant shops had to strip them down and ship them off, wait for it to be dealt with at Madison, then again in Andorra
when the scale of the problem became apparent they changed this procedure so that the shop could instead send hi-res pics of the crack, and the frames serial number by email to Madison, this meant the rider could then keep the frame unti the replacement arrived (none of the cracks I understand resulted in failure, the frames where still rideable)
Many dealers did this well (Real Cycles springs to mind) others continued to insist on the old procedure (I heard of several frustrated Evans customers)
No denying there where problems though, I know a couple of people that where waiting 6 months, but then i know others that got sorted in 2 weeks. Alot depended on the dealer they bought from, not just Commencal/madison

There was also a delay as Commencal/Madison decided it was pointless replacing 2009 frames with 2009 frames so delayed some replacements until 2010 stock was in the country and available

I think now all the problems are behind them. I have not heard of one warranty refusal by Commencal and have heard of a couple where frames where out of warranty or clearly damaged by mis-riding that also got replaced

I own two Commies and yeah I guess I have some brand loyalty to them, I do know a little more about the issues than most that just hear the internet stories though although my next bike wouldnt be a Commie, not unless they come up with a radical re-design and bring the Meta up to date (watch out for the 2012 model 😉 )

Shame really 2009 did alot of damage to their reputation, they are still good bikes and ride well, but thats not enough when your spending £2-£3,000 on something you need security that it won't fail and a warranty of 2 years these days isnt really good enough

So what bike did you go for in the end, or didnt you?

Naughty me went for a large brand new Blur4x. My medium was always a tad too small. Probably the same size of a medium meta5 sadly.

[img] [/img]

Lifer - Member
"Anecdotal evidence is good enough when Commencal are being discussed, but not Cotic?"

Eh, no, anecdotal evidence isn't good enough for either. But then this is a thread about a cracked commencal which is being responded to by other people with cracked commencals 😉 OTOH Juan is demanding people provide stats to prove him wrong, but has never bothered to provide anything to back up his comments, not [i]even[/i] anecdotal evidence.

OH gawd, just looking at the 4x makes me want to rush home and stroke it.

Its like owning the best sex-swing in the world 8)

Chrisrhayes - you don't have a mail address in your profile but could you send pics of your rear end (realised what I did, then left it in for amusement) to me?

And as for pics - i'll happily get some and post them at the weekend. Hora - no apology necessary, I'm no lightweight, but I'm not into big drop-offs or jumps either. The rigorous maintenance schedule that my bikes are subjected to might mean the pivot has been loose, though... 😳

[url= http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/commencal-frame-/190490860251?pt=UK_sportsleisure_cycling_bikeparts_SR&hash=item2c5a23dadb ]This any good to anyone?[/url] - medium 5.5 frame parts.

That does look rather lovely Hora . . . but then I'm a sucker for orange 😛

OTOH Juan is demanding people provide stats to prove him wrong, but has never bothered to provide anything to back up his comments, not even anecdotal evidence.

No I have responded to hora. Which is a big difference. There is a thread lurking on the forum somewhere where this issue have already been discussed.

I'll have a search. I don't dislike either. I owned a orange five so I'm hardly a orange-hater either. The only brand I don't like is Ellsworth because of the I'd....