Live: Andi’s Commencal Meta Bike Check

everyone Andy from singletrack magazine

obviously because you're on the single

track channel and I've just realized as

I've gone live I could have used my

gimbal so just bear with me a second I'm

gonna fasten it to a gimbal so you can

have super smooth video instead of

jittery video so while I try and fit you

to my gimbal I'm gonna talk to you about

what I'm gonna do

there's no one here when you're at the

moment so basically I'm gonna go and do

a live video of my comments I'll meta

a.m. to 9 so if you're wondering why the

beginning of this video is all wobbly is

because I was just fastening you to my

gimbal so now you should be nice and

smooth all right hey 1 3 people that are

there I'm gonna do a live bike check of

my comments I'll meta a.m. - 9 SRAM

Edition this is a bike that you may have

already seen on single track world

already because I did a write-up about

this bike late yesterday and published

it this morning and is also a video on

youtube about it as well as this one and

I also have already been live on

Instagram and Facebook so there's more

videos out there of this bike so I got

this bike last year early last year from

comments all thank you so Glenn says

smooth saw it this morning looks sick

yeah Phil it is a sick bike I'm gonna go

through a few bits now if you've got any

questions feel free to ask me and I'll

do my best to answer them so yeah I got

this bike a 20-19 early in 2019 and I've

had it since then basically so it's been

my go-to bike for pretty much everything

and although it is a big travel 29er

it's actually a really playful bike Josh

Evans asked me what frame size is it

this is a large I am 178 centimeters and

yeah it feels great

there was another question there sorry I

didn't see that I'm gonna see if I come

see it do you think the seat angle is

too slack no I don't and also if you

look at this I'm gonna spin this around

so you can see better okay

it kind of looks like because we've got

this here but remember the actual seat

angle is like there oops sorry

there so yeah it looks like but it isn't

really

okay anyway so while we're looking this

way we'll have a look at the bike so

this is the meta a.m. to 9:00 SRAM

edition obviously it's different from

stock because I've changed a few of the

bits on it originally it would have a

lyric on the front and it would have a

common salt stem it would have an fabric

saddle but I'm going to go over a few of

those changes that I've done and if

you've got any questions while I'm doing

that please stop me and I'll answer them

so the first thing I'm going to talk

about because I keep forgetting it is

this that is a bottle of the whitey is

oh yes is oh I'm not pronouncing with

the T now YouTube commenters and the

reason I'm doing that is because it's

got this cool FID lock system here it's

a really small bottle and it doesn't hit

the piggy back right someone has asked

me about the fork so this is a Fox 36 on

here so for Russ empty sorry if I said

that wrong why did you opt for the 36

instead of a 38

well this bike is a 160 ml travel on

this Fork is a 160 more travel the 38 I

had is 170 yes I can put a 38 on here

and yes I will put a 38 on here

but I hadn't ridden for 36 and I wanted

to take it for a ride so I popped it on

here and I will put the 38 on later I

mean I've got an e bike which you've got

the 38 on now which kind of suits that

bike a little bit better than this one

Allen Motul what's your bikes weight no

idea no idea whatsoever and it rides

really well so I'm not really bothered

about weight ok so as this questions

about the four this is a Fox 36

it's the Heritage Edition fork so it has

the bolt through axle and it's also

route via Brown and I'd love to hear

what you guys think of that root beer

brown color because a lot of people like

it a lot of people don't like it so

please let me know what you think so the

36 has got a new chassis design it's got

a new arch here which if this was like a

more like modern frame I could run up

offset headset

and that brings the fork back and

sometimes the arch could hit the head

shoe so that's why they've put this

bigger arched gap there the new 36 got

these air bleed ports on the rear it's

got new VVC damping for the rebound and

also the compression too so a lots of

changes on that so really lovely Fork

I've only been on it twice so far so far

feels pretty good still need to tweak

the adjustments a little bit alright

another change which I've made to this

bike is this stem this is a fun

equalizer stem will you put the zebb on

it once it gets officially released Phil

I have no idea what you're talking about

no idea at all alright anyway back to

this stem so this is a fun equaliser

stem and this is pretty cool because

what you can do is you can run it either

way around I've got it settle like this

so I've got a 10 mil rise if I turn it

around I can have a 10 mil drop and

that's good because if you've got no

space on your steer it means you can got

10 mil rise or drop haha I know you

don't

yes Phil I know nothing about it so you

can actually play around your stack

height even if you've got no steerer or

any spaces so that's a pretty cool idea

from fun and this comes in a ton of

different sizes and a ton of different

colors this is a 35 mil stem with a 31.8

clump so I can use the alpha bars they

also do 35 down into clamp and 42 and 50

mil stem okay in here sorry I'm just

gonna try and face you down I've got a

stash tool so this is a Granik designs -

tool it's got some allen keys in there

talks and it's also got spoke key on

there as well that's a really cool and

handy tool and if you pop over to

Instagram later I'm actually going to do

a bit of a video oh hang on all the way

up there now I'm going to do a bit of a

video to show you how to install this

because it's super super easy and yeah

it's better than a star thing or not I

think ok oh we've lost so got these

these are SD these are gusset s2 tire

grips and they're this extra soft ones

lock-on grips Josh Evans is asking me

how are the V tires holding up haven't

heard great things about the hardy

compound these are not hard these are

the top 40 compound you can see there so

these have got 42 durometer tested

rubber compound so they're quite soft

and these tires are actually like proper

full-on downhill tires so they've got

quite a stiff sidewall so although the

rubber is really nice and it's it's a

slow rebounding the sidewall is quite

stiff so for quite kind of mellow trails

or a bit overkill and but yeah if they

feel good they are a soft tire so in dry

conditions they do sorry in dry

conditions they do wear out quite

quickly but in wet conditions which have

mostly been using this tire these tires

in they last pretty well someone has

asked why do you run so many spaces on

top of your stem do you have it flips

upside down no the reason why I run so

many spacers is because this is a test

fork and if I chop the steerer on this

test fork to sue only this frame I can't

fit it to any other bikes so I like to

have way too much rather than way too

little so I could swap it for frame to

frame that's the only reason all right

so we've already talked about this tire

this is a snap WCE this is a downhill

tire 2.5 by 29 and this tire would have

been used by a lot of the downhill teams

this year the rear tire is a snap trail

and I've already reviewed that as a

review of that on single track world

already this is a 2.35 tire and actually

uses a very similar tread design you can

see the tread design is very similar to

the bigger brother but it's actually a

narrower tire a much faster rolling but

this again this is a heavier wall

thickness then standard so again it's a

bit overkill for mellow trails and stuff

so I will change those to something a

bit faster rolling and lighter these

tires are 52 synthesis wheels these are

the alloy synthesis wheels I've already

tested the carbon ones so as you can see

here because the rims are actually a

reread front-and-rear specific so this

is a wider rim on the rear and we've got

a narrower whoops narrow rim on the

front for the front and there's got this

different spoke counts front and rear -

so the idea being this is a stiffer

wheel for you know shopping and hitting

corners whereas the front wheel is more

compliant and comfortable there you go

what is your bar height how many spaces

below right you know how many bikes I've

got on test I do not know let me read it

I think it's 20 mil yeah it's a 20 mil

rise bar and I've got one 5 mil space or

underneath and I would say I think I

want it a bit lower so what I'm going to

do is I'm gonna put another 5 mil spacer

underneath I'm gonna flip it and that

will not be down 5 mil because this is a

system you can run either way around

hope that answers your question

okey-dokey who else we got in here we've

got some well I'm pressing it the wrong

way can you see the benefit of the

crumple the synthesis technology Josh

the alloy wheels I've only read ridden

like a few times so I'm not gonna say

anything yet but the carbon wheels I was

really impressed with and in when it

comes to the carbon went let me just

turn this runks I'm talking about

something that isn't a bike now so the

synthesis wheels that I've tested the

carbon ones yes I could feel the

difference between those and other

carbon wheels they will way more

compliant but they're expensive they're

really really expensive that's the only

thing so far I've only ridden the Ally

ones a few times they feel pretty decent

but yeah it's too early to tell you I

need to do some back-to-back testing and

I need to get the spank wheels back

because they're a much stiffer rim so be

interesting to see what they are between

each other someone has asked me a

question why don't you use a chain

device or bash guard because I never

lose the chain I've got a narrow wide

here clutch on the rear and yeah I don't

have any issues it's only when they

start to get being worn out and old that

lace I start to lose a chain really and

yeah I just don't

think I've ever needed okay well not

ever needed no I don't need anymore

salut hello alright let's um look so who

else we got we've got new proof horizon

30th anniversary pedals and these are

new well they're pretty new I got these

a call back earlier in the year and as

you can see they've got the cool 30th

anniversary logo on there so forged flat

pedal CNC machine to make super smooth

and super shiny light look at them the

little mint load a nice pins in there

for gripping on your flat pedals sealed

bearings and they're fully serviceable

too which is great and another thing

that I saw at core bike and I got

recently is this this is the new SDG bel

air saddle so yeah the SDG bel air has

let me see so this new rail looks alloy

real rail there it's a much shorter

saddle then it's not really that big

compared to my hand but it's a much

shorter saddle compared to the fabric

saddle that was on it it's really comfy

it's got a really nice soft foam and has

I could cut out in the base there for

more comfort too and I think that's

everything that's everything I've

changed on it yeah I think that's it

okay so I'm going to spin you around

again before I go whoops yeah so that's

it I think that's everything that I've

changed on this comments are meta a.m.

to 9:00 SRAM Edition so for Fox 36 is

over synthesis wheels I've got V tires

and a few other bits and bobs thank for

your questions if not answered I'm sorry

I'll head over into the comments later

and answer any questions that you add

later on if you're interested to know

how the granite design tool is fitted

head over to Instagram and I'm gonna go

live in about five minutes to show you

how to fit that it's really easy and

it's a pretty cool thing and yeah

alright thanks for time and have a

lovely weekend see you all soon