Up next in 10
Commencal's rowdy enduro bike gets a major update for 2021 and we have been lucky enough to get a first look and review of this 170mm, 29er bruiser. The 2021 Commencal Meta AM 29 Team Edition boasts an all-new frameset with a longer reach (495mm on this large bike), steeper 78.5 degree seat tube and slack 63.6 degree front end. The build includes the new 2021 RockShox Zeb, 520% SRAM GX Eagle and super sticky Schwable Addix Soft tyres. We'll have a full review in the coming weeks.
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[Music]
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hey everyone andy from singletrack
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magazine here and i'm out in this park
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on this pretty nice day with this
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amazing
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bike and i am stoked this is a 2021
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commensal meta am29 team edition
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and it's one of the very few bikes
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that is out in the wild even if you want
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to buy one of these bikes now you can't
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you can only pre-order them they don't
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go on
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they don't get shipped to customers
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until august 14th
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so for this one to be in this park with
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me just about to hit the trails
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is super exciting especially for me
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because for the past
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year or so i've been riding the previous
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generation
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of this bike and i really like it it's
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been my go-to bike to go for rides
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and it's also been my go-to bike to test
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out components
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i really like that old bike so this new
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one
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has got some really big shoes to fill
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luckily
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it has some really big numbers to fill
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those shoes with
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for example the reach this is a size
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large bike and it has a reach of 495
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millimeters
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now that's long but especially for
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commensal that's
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really long because as a brand they
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don't traditionally do
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aggressive geometry bikes but as we've
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seen with the new tr
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and the new am that has changed now
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what's
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really good about this is commensal have
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been smart with the angles
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they haven't just slapped a massive
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reach number on here and said okay done
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they've been really clever with the
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angles too so the seat tube on this bike
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is 78.5 degrees
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that's pretty steep and it puts you in a
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really good seated
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climbing position it also means that the
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effective top tube length
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is just 636 millimeters so don't look at
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this reach and think
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it's going to be too long it's actually
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really nice and compact when you're sat
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down
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but then when you stand up you've got a
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really long wheelbase
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the wheels are really far out in front
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of you and behind
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and you're sat in the frame ready to
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rail around corners and hit jumps
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the front end on this bike has a 63.6
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degree head tube angle
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that is very slack but with the short
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offset fork
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the wheel isn't miles out in front of
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you another really nice change on this
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frame is the seat tube
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height it's just 440 millimeters
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and that's on a large some brands you'll
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find 440 millimeters on a medium
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and that means we can get away with a
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much longer dropper post
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and actually if i was going to complain
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about anything on my previous commensal
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it is the seat shoe is a little bit too
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long so they fixed it with this
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the frame changes don't stop there
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though another
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little niggle i had with the previous
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generation bike was the inside
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uh disc brake mount the internal disc
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brake mount and what i mean by that is
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it sat on the inside of the chainstay
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and that made the back end
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very wide and it could rub on your shoes
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now come on sal has changed that
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they put a regular post mount on this
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bike that
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narrows down the back end and it should
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improve
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heel clearance so lots of really good
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changes on this throughout all those
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changes they've also increased the space
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in the frame
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so you can easily put a bottle cage in
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there and a full size bottle
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the cable routing has completely been
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redone it's all revamped and new and all
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the bearings are at double
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sealed enduro bearings so it should
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last really long and it shouldn't need
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servicing very often either
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changes continue though we've got a
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lower stack on this bike i can't
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remember the reach or the stack height
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on it
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off the top of my head but compared to
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my other commensal
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the front end is much lower too
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so yeah a lot of changes it kind of
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looks similar to the previous generation
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bike
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but there's so much has changed
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suspension travel hasn't changed though
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the front has 170 millimeters and the
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rear has 160 millimeters
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but the shock stroke has changed
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this shock on this bike is a
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62.5 millimeter stroke
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yeah the previous bike was 60
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millimeters this is 62.5
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the overall eye to eye is still 230
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but the actual stroke has changed so my
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new
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tiny details have changed on that and
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commensal have done that
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so they can improve small bump
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sensitivity
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and they also still have that nice
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progression and ramp up at the end
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the whole idea about this bike is yeah
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it might not be the lightest
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but the kinematics the suspension should
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ensure
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that this rides light it feels light and
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it's lively and playful
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and to be honest lively and playful
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aren't the kind of things we
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tend to associate with a big 170 mil
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travel 29er
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but they did it with the previous bike
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and i'm sure they've done it with this
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one too
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yeah it's 29 inch wheels front and rear
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and on this the team edition bike
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we've got dt swiss ex 511
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wheels front and rear we've got really
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nice
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schwalbe addicts compound tires front
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and rear we've got a magic mary on the
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front
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and a big betty on the rear i don't even
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think the big betty has been released
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yet
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but it's got one on here we've got the
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brand new
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shram gx eagle drivetrain on here this
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is a little bit different to the eagle
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drivetrain that i've been trying on the
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my other commensal because this has the
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alloy
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chain set on here whereas i've been
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using the carbon one but everything else
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is the same
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it still has that massive 52 percent 52
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tooth
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cassette and 500 percent
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520 range so
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yeah it might be big yeah it might be a
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little bit heavy but it doesn't matter
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i've got
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massive gear to climb up everything and
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i've got a really
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nice seat tube angle and affected top
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tube
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for really nicely positioned climbing
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too
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other different bits and bobs on this
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bike are the forks
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the previous generation bikes all came
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with lyrics
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or 36s and this has got the monster
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zeb on here the rockshox zeb it's a 170
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mil travel fork i've not ridden
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on the zeb yet i wasn't luckily enough
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lucky enough to have that fork
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but ross did review and he says i will
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like it so
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i'm very interested to see how good this
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fork will be
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the rear shock is a rockshox deluxe
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ultimate so it has a compression lever
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and rebound and it's an air shock so
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super duper easy to set
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up obviously the zeb fork has
6:57
compression and rebound and it's an air
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fork great performing rock shock
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suspension front and rear the dropper
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post on here is a
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kind shock lev and this i've not really
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used kind shark
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dropper posts very much but everything
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i've read about them seems to be good
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and this one actually feels super smooth
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so i'm really interested to see how well
7:16
that lasts
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finishing kit we've got a fabric saddle
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and that is probably one of the most
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comfortable saddles on the market
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and we've got a bunch of commensals own
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brand
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components the ride alpha components the
7:30
ride alpha bar
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i've been using that bar on my previous
7:34
bike even though i have changed stems
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i've kept that common style bias a
7:37
really nice comfortable
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sweet back and rise yeah really great
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bar
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the stem is a new 40 mil stem slightly
7:45
shorter than
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the previous bike and we've got common
7:48
cells alt uh ride alpha
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single lock on grips and that means
7:52
there's one lock on so you can use
7:54
all the length of the grip and have to
7:56
worry about an uncomfortable lock at the
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end
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and oh the brakes are sram code
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rsc brakes and what's really nice
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the views got these titanium bolts for
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the calipers which just looks really
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trick
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so that's it that's the new commental
8:12
meta
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am 2 9 team edition 2021 bike
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looked rad cannot wait to ride it so
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what i'm going to do now is
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get home get changed get it dirty on the
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trail
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and i'll give a full review in a few
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weeks time see you all soon
#Sports