I have been looking at the Commencal Meta range for some time now without taking the plunge. There is a good deal on the Meta 6 at the moment with joplin seat post ect. The 2 things I'm not sure about is the 69 degree head angle with only 0.5 degree adjustment on the XL frame and the stories of the frames cracking at the welds. The 2010 frames have a 67.5 head angle with a +/- 0.5 degree adjustment. That's a big change to last years! Has anyone got a 09 Meta 6 or would you buy one?

If you buy the 09 chances are you will end up with a 2010,
my brothers went at the seat tube/top tube!

hey

I bought the Meta 6.2 a few weeks ago and have been very pleased with it. I think the cracks have mainly been with the meta 5's although I do know of at least 1 cracked meta 6. Having said that Commencal seem to be replacing frames without too much fuss, so buy an '09 and get a free replacement '10! Check the commencal owners club website via the main site.

I bought the large and was also concerned about the head angle. I have the Lyric solo air fork which came as standard and am running Bontrager Big Earl Tires, 2.5 front and 2.35 rear. I have checked the head angle using an ipod touch app (a good one) and it registers at 65.8 degrees, I am also running the the headtube sleeve at -0.5 degrees.

Before anyone pipes up about the accuracy of these apps I have done a back to back check against my other bike, an orange 5. The orange registers at 67 degrees which is exactly what its supposed to be, therefore even if the numbers arent accurate the Meta is still over 1 degree slacker. I did check it prior to changing the tires on the meta and it was still over half a degree slacker than the orange.

All these measurements are static by the way.

The bottom line is that the meta rides really well and has a great spec, especially as I got £800 of rrp! It isnt as well built as the orange imo and too be honest I would have gone for an Alpine 160 had it been the same price but I would have had to spend another grand!

The meta 6 is best suited to going downhill though which it does really well, I have found that steep technical descents that were 'sketchy' on the orange 5 are effortless on the meta 6, which of course means I have now been able to up my game a little. The only downside has been weight, around 35.5lbs. You should also budget for a sensible width bar and to replace the ridiculous stem! Other than that I prefer it to the five!!

Cheers for the reply's. I'm looking at getting the frame alone and building it up myself. Which brings me onto my next question as the Commencal warranty site says that it MUST be built by an approved dealer, I'm mean what the hell! If I buy a frame mail order I don't expect to have to take it to a Commencal dealer to build it. I build all my own bikes and the only thing I get bike shops to do is face the frames.

I read a while back that the head angles were inconsistent on the Meta 6 and 65.8 degrees is a fair bit out. gamo, where did you buy your bike?

If anything goes wrong with the frame are Commencal OK to deal with regarding warranty/replacing or are they worth avoiding altogether. Cheers.

Ive had 2 meta 5s crack which i built both myslef, both were warrantied without question. Commencal wont question the warranty but madison/commencal can take a long time to get a new frame out, first frame took 5 weeks, second frame took 3 weeks.

Ive now got a meta 6 and i love it, however im the guy sailor knows with a cracked one, ill be sending it off again soon. I love the bike so im kinda putting up with it. Hopefully the new and improved 2010 frames will bring a stop to all this cracking crap, just think if your 2009 frame cracks you WILL get a 2010 in replacement, commencal are replacing all 2009 frames with 2010.

Seems the problem ones seem to be large size.

Mines a medium

Russ has a medium so I dont think the problem is just large sizes. I also think these problems are with a minority of frames and was therefore happy to take the 'gamble', especially as the bike is so good.

Sounds like I have been lucky and managed to bag a particularly slack one! With equal size tires it measured 66.5 degrees. I wonder if the Lyrik fork has a longer axle to crown length than the equivalent fox fork which may account for some of the difference?

no

looks like i was just lucky then

I may go for it then if in the worse case scenario is it cracks and I have to wait to get the 2010 upgrade. Cheers for the info.

Sherry it was my brother who bought it, and it was from merlin.