Meta 5.5 UK why not so good review ?

s1mon

Hi,

The Meta 5.2 get's a really good review but the UK spec'd one don't seem to get a very good review, why ? what's so different. :oops:

Edit, this might be better in the Buying Guide, sorry can a mod move it please.

supersonic

What do the reviews say?!

projectsome

I take it the 5.2 was reviewed in a different country etc? Bikes are generally reviewed for the environment they're going to be ridden in. ie alot of the UK trails are wet or thereabout whereas the trails in the US might be dry.

s1mon

Don't say nothing bad '"This is still a super-smooth bike, but it’s not as outstanding or spirited as it was" but the 5.2 gets a bit more of a star and '"The Meta 5 simply makes any trail a fun place to be. You can’t help but feel confident on it." '

Is it just the spec of the UK model that's different than the 5.2 or have they tweaked the frame at all ?

Daz555

s1mon wrote:

Is it just the spec of the UK model that's different than the 5.2 or have they tweaked the frame at all ?

Which spec/components are different?

toasty

I'd take the reviews with a pinch of salt, everyone isn't going to come to the same conclusion with bike reviews. Metas seem to be on and off flavour of the month for a while now, it purely depends on the bunch of the reviewers on the day.

I think mine's a fantastic bike though, if I could have only one bike it'd certainly be that one. Awesome fun, speedy, jack of all trades beast. I've taken mine on long all day epic rides or lobbed it around the freeride courses at trail centers, very confidence inspiring.

My other two bikes are a Stumpjumper HT (LX kit with Rebas) and Carbon Zaskar Team (XT kit with Fox F100s and some nice ZTR wheels). In the past couple of years I've also had a Specialized FSR XC and GT Avalanche. Nothing is even vaguely comparable to the fun I have on that Meta!

Have a ride on one if you can and see if you like it, the differences between the models won't make the ride feel too drastically different. The Revelations are similar beasts to the Fox F140s.

ride_whenever

were the reviews the same year, they dropped the meta from 5 to 4.5 stars 08-09 because they said the bit of frame flex wasn't ironed out whereas the competition had improved.

lock1981

be the price difference i would think

5.2 good for price

uk not so good

5.1 got second best trail bike come second to orange 5 in mbr got a 9

5.2 got a seven

lock1981

oh i got a met 5 vip and its quality....forgot to say :oops:

rhyko7

at risk of offending people and opening a can of worms:

half the people who write bike reviews havent got a clue, they aint good enough to say what a bike is capable of, so try and look for the trends with reviews-never go off one review,

p.s everyone always thinks they have the best bike too!

ride_whenever

that's lovely, except the reviews normally agree pretty well. Which indicates some fairly good levels of talent.

rhyko7

ride_whenever wrote:

that's lovely, except the reviews normally agree pretty well. Which indicates some fairly good levels of talent.

thats half my point-make sure the reviews match up (im not saying no-one has a clue, but a lot of people really dont, and i think you have to take that into consideration)-i did say look for the trends in the reviews
im not trying to offend people- sorry

Airienteer

It must be the reviwers......IMO it's an awesome bike, and I'm completely unbiased

rhyko7

Airienteer wrote:

It must be the reviwers......IMO it's an awesome bike, and I'm completely unbiased

ive ridden last years 5.5 and thats a really nice bike, very easy to ride fast, just feels right and nicely balanced, some bikes take a while to get used to but i felt at ease straight away on it
i havent ridden the new model so cant comment on that.
i have heard stories from word of mouth of people snapping commencals, people put this down to production variations-am i right in thinking they are hand built. like i said its just word of mouth so i wouldnt read into it too much, its not like i havent heard umteen people snapping the rears on orange fives aswell.

try and test a couple bikes is my advice!

pdid

They do ride brilliantly.

Unfortunately this years models have been plagued by cracked frames, so much so that I won`t recommend the current model anymore. It`s a shame but Commencal have changed where the new models are manufactured and have also redesigned the weld which was a source of many of the cracked frames, seat tube-top tube, on next years model.

The UK spec is black so it would be difficult to spot these hairline cracks. However if you do take a punt and your frame does end up cracking you will probably get a 2010 waranty replacement.

toasty

rhyko7 wrote:

at risk of offending people and opening a can of worms:

half the people who write bike reviews havent got a clue, they aint good enough to say what a bike is capable of, so try and look for the trends with reviews-never go off one review,

p.s everyone always thinks they have the best bike too!

Who is going to purposefully buy something bad though? I demo'd absoluitely shed loads of bikes before buying my Meta. I bought my FSR XC without demoing shed loads, I thought it was a bit arse and sold it after a year.