After riding my blur, im thinking of getting a blur 4x in the summer to take the vacancyleft by my BFe, for a general jumpy/hooning about in the woods type bike. But saw the 2009 Meta 4X VIP and really looks good. Any opinions/experience on either? (and i realise the blur would have to be second hand).

No opinions on either, but if its replacing a BFe, why not just get another hardtail?

It will be far cheaper and you dont really want rear sus for jumps and hooning about in the woods.

I may be completely wrong here but the Meta 4X seems more of a ‘proper’ 4X bike (ie, small and chuckable) whereas the Blur 4X simply seems like a normal Blur with different angles and beefed up a bit. Suppose what I’m trying to get at is that the Blur would build better into a bike that you could ride all day on better than the Meta (unless you’re small or wanted a mile of post showing).

I love my Blur 4X if its any help – came from a Soul onto this and its amazing. Doesn’t climb as well but I was expecting that but it descends and does the tech stuff soooo much better.

Thats what i was thinking Davey, but i do like lots of post on show. I love my blur, and its proper lairy, loads of fun, but i dont want to do too much on it in case i snap it. Only reason im thinking meta is because they dont make blurs anymore, and the yeti4X is even more extreme 4X specific than the meta. Meta VIP in black and green does look nice though.
David, i know i want a full susser. Have a little Transition hardtail for pure jumping, and a Pace 303 for trail work, so got hardtails covered, but love the extra spring from a full suss for launching off everything. Thinking it will be tough enough for the odd black run too, which my BFe excelled at.

What about a Giant Trance X?

Light, strong, short travel, seen loads of people use them for 4X and there cheap

5″ travel tho arent they, not sure how theyd work for my purposes. May have to run it very firm, but never tried Maestro suspension(other than a glory), so dont know how less sag would effect it. Looks a nice frame tho, and would give the option of buying a full bike.

I’ve got a meta 4X that gets used as a trail bike. You’ll struggle if you are much over 5’10” to get the seat high enough for trail riding, but it is a fantastic chuckable bike,with very grippy suspension and the adjustable head angle is handy.
You can run a front mech too if you like by using a clamp on cable stop and a full length outer.

p.s. very reliable too – 2 years and I haven’t had to touch any of the bearings.

I am 5’10 as it happens. Do you have the small or the large?

I have a B4X & my girlfriend has a Meta 4X. Its a good fun little bike, but it’s not a patch on the Blur.

Put it this way, she wants to sell the Meta for a Blur.

She races NPS4X & guess what she uses? And its not the Andorean one 😉

The Meta is a pig to ride anywhere in a trail capacity, the slack seat angle & tiny little frame makes it hard work, not to mention its weight. I’m 6ft & I ride a medium, which is a bit small for me (but I like my bikes that way), means it stays chuckable.

meta for real 4x and woodsy play.,blur for a mini dh bike but more potential for versitility….my impression at least,had a meta 4x but short and too low a bb for real trail riding…and i dented the top tube horribly within 48 hours of building it.
you’d be pushed to get a blur 4x from jungle now tho.dunno if they can still bring them in.apparently there are still stock in the U.S with a 6 week lead time…but all the colour options prob make it worth the wait!

couple of friends have blur 4x as their light dh/xctrail/do everything bike.

as said, the meta is a proper 4x race geometry’d frame in the same way as my intense is, its short, slack seat angle and generally “small”.

I had a Meta 4X as a general do-everything bike. Felt very short-travelled (doh!) – could have been the compression tune on the shock. Low BB (I felt too low for rocky riding). Great on fun on smoothish swoopy stuff. I’m 5’9″ and could get the saddle up high enough with a 410 thomson.

I put a big dent in the top-tube on a fairly minor crash. Swapped it for a Meta 5 which was a better all-rounder for me. I broke my Meta 5 (and don’t think I’m alone in this): I’d only get another Commencal if I bought new with full warranty.

The meta 4x is a brilliant bike. Pedals like a hardtail, feels like it has way more travel than it does and handles brilliantly, it’s a fantastic play bike but not an all day’er. It’s nice and slack so it’s great for sessioning less tech dh runs and twisty fast descents, It’s great in the air too.

Blur 4x shares most of those qualities but is much lighter and feels quite a bit steeper, so more of an “all mountain” machine. Can feel a bit twitchy on take off and in mid air imo.

Out of the two, if I could only have one single bike for a wide variety of uses I’d look at the blur 4x, if I already had a collection of different bikes and I wanted a brilliant play bike I’d get the meta.

The commencal has a far poorer build quality, (I’ve had various of their frames). I was looking at the SC 4x but settled for a trance with some slightly longer forks as my play bike. It rides alot nicer than my old meta 4 (which in pretty close to the 4x).

I’m not sure why people are saying that the Blur has better geometry for trail riding than the meta. If you look at the specs, you’ll find they are almost identical (inc BB height).

glenh – Member
I’m not sure why people are saying that the Blur has better geometry for trail riding than the meta. If you look at the specs, you’ll find they are almost identical (inc BB height).

Probably down to different individual set-ups, builds and just how the bikes feel in general. I ride with people who have small blur4xs and small meta 4x, both of which have pikes. The blur “feels” steeper, and is noticably twitchier.

solamanda – Member
The commencal has a far poorer build quality, (I’ve had various of their frames). I was looking at the SC 4x but settled for a trance with some slightly longer forks as my play bike. It rides alot nicer than my old meta 4 (which in pretty close to the 4x).

I wouldnt go so far as to say the commie has ‘far poorer’ build quality. Also, the meta and meta 4x are very differnt bikes.

the meta and meta 4x are very differnt bikes.

Well the demo people at Madison don’t agree.

The Commencals are nice bikes but I wouldn’t get one again. Flexy, poor paint and break easily – everything from the DH bikes to the xc frames.

Regarding geometry, according to the specs, and both measured with a 100mm fork (I believe):

Blur 4X (large)
Head Angle: 68.5
Seat Angle: 73.5
Effective Top Tube: 597mm

Commencal 4X (large)
Head Angle: 69.5
Seat Angle: 73
Effective Top Tube: 579mm

So the Commy is shorter but has slightly steeper angles. Obviously, with the ubiquitous set of Pikes, the angles are going to be a bit slacker all round.

The Commy also has 100mm rear travel vs the B4X of 115mm (if that makes any difference)

solamanda – Member
the meta and meta 4x are very differnt bikes.

Well the demo people at Madison don’t agree.

So?

solamanda

The Commencals are nice bikes but I wouldn’t get one again. Flexy, poor paint and break easily – everything from the DH bikes to the xc frames.

They are a new brand and they did have some quality contol issues. I’ve not heard of anyone having any problems getting broken frames replaced under warranty.

Regarding geometry, according to the specs, and both measured with a 100mm fork (I believe):

Blur 4X (large)
Head Angle: 68.5
Seat Angle: 73.5
Effective Top Tube: 597mm

Commencal 4X (large)
Head Angle: 69.5
Seat Angle: 73
Effective Top Tube: 579mm

So the Commy is shorter but has slightly steeper angles. Obviously, with the ubiquitous set of Pikes, the angles are going to be a bit slacker all round.

The Commy also has 100mm rear travel vs the B4X of 115mm (if that makes any difference)

So if anything the commencal is steeper than the blur, not the other way around.
But, the commencal has +/- 1degree head angle adjustment too so can be 68.5-70.5 (or about 67-69 with pikes).

Hi swifty, have tried to do the same as you are and its the Blur x4 for me, worked every where OK but for larking is great, last time I saw them quite a few of the Jungle guys and I understand the SC guys have the X4 as their main machine good luck and let us know how you get on….

You can run a front mech too if you like by using a clamp on cable stop and a full length outer.

glenh, could you perhaps post a picture of that clamp-on cable stop on your meta? I’m having a bit of a trouble fitting the front derailleur on mine …

Thanks.