commencal meta 666 vip build

marcevs72

hi all.picked up a commencal meta 6 vip frame from someone local that spent lots on a new frame in the silly black Friday madness and got the frame for the bargain price of £160 inc headset.i decided to strip my giant trance x3 and use bits for the build inc wheels,rear shock,race face crank and seat and then got a few bargains in the sales inc rockshox sector forks,shimano xt brakes inc floating discs and xt mechs and shifters.just finished today and cant wait to get out onto Dartmoor tomorrow.

rockmonkeysc

Odd choice to replace a Trance. I think I would rather the Giant frame, better rear suspension, lighter and less fragile

The Northern Monkey

Oooo cracking

rockmonkeysc

The Northern Monkey wrote:

Oooo cracking

I see what you did there. Clever.

marcevs72

the trance was ok but this rides an awful lot better and as for cracking...frame perfect and don't know of anyone that has had problems unless they are chucking bike off stupid drops and not respecting their kit.

The Rookie

Try googling Meta 6 crack......

marcevs72

i did before buying and also had advice from someone that used to race for commencal and runs a bike shop near me and there was a problem with meta5-6 frames up to 2009 ish and the later bikes like mine have been fine with no reported cracking around the seat post/top shock mount.

rockmonkeysc

There has never been a frame with a worse reputation for cracking. I knew a few people who had them and they all broke the back end at least once.

The Rookie

http://forums.mtbr.com/bike-frame-discu ... 65728.html
http://ride.io/forum/index.php?topic=257757.0

Better, but not infallible, as long as it definitely is a 2010 frame.

rockmonkeysc

Commencal must have a lot of confidence in their frames. The Supreme DH has a six month warranty which excludes DH use!

The Northern Monkey

I had a Meta 5, went for the carbon swingarm as the alu ones had a habbit of cracking. Then the seat tubes started cracking so I got rid quick.

I like the Meta 5/6 but if there was ever a frame I wouldnt touch with a barge pole, it would be this era Meta.

I remember Merlin cycles selling the frames off for about £250 with no warranty as they couldnt guarantee they wouldnt crack!

marcevs72

nice to see friendly advise etc and a warm welcome to a new member on here...no lets slate his bike and tell him how shit it is :roll: .well the problems were sorted around 2010 when they changed the factory that was making their frames and also the design and as this is a later one it has thicker wall tubing for the seatpost and the top shock mount is completely different with welding to top tube as well as the seat post eliminating the cracking issues there.

FuriousStyles

Well first of all great build and great looking bike. Bit taken aback by the negative posts. A lot of manufacturers have had issues over the years yeti, Kona, evil to name a few. Yes commencal had well documented issues. This was during 2008 and 2009. Before and after this they haven't had issues that I'm aware of. Get it out, get it dirty and have fun. It'll take a ton of abuse no problem I'm sure.

poah

marcevs72 wrote:

nice to see friendly advise etc and a warm welcome to a new member on here...no lets slate his bike and tell him how shoot it is :roll: .well the problems were sorted around 2010 when they changed the factory that was making their frames and also the design and as this is a later one it has thicker wall tubing for the seatpost and the top shock mount is completely different with welding to top tube as well as the seat post eliminating the cracking issues there.

sadly that's how certain people roll on this site and you've met a couple of them.

nice bike, looking forward to see how it progresses

rockmonkeysc

There used to be loads of these frames around, you would see loads of them at trail centres, where have they all gone? I can't remember the last time I saw one.
I would sell it before it breaks, the swing arms still break at the drop out on the later models, they just fixed the front triangle.

marcevs72

cheers bud,next on list is a nice wheel set and maybe a better rear shock but other than that its spot on for what I need and after selling the bits left over from my 2009 giant trance x3 its cost me about £450 to build so well happy.

russyh

I have always liked the look of the meta, don't know much about the history of breakages. But as long as you happy and it doesn't kill you then there is no problem.

marcevs72

the problems were with 2008-2009 frames but people still seem to think they are all crap etc.

The Rookie

See links to failed 2010 above....

rockmonkeysc

marcevs72 wrote:

the problems were with 2008-2009 frames but people still seem to think they are all crap etc.

Pre 2010 models broke everywhere. Later models broke mainly at the drop outs and the curve in the swing arm. That curve is just wrong, in an area where strength is needed they put in a curve which is going to be a weak point.

marcevs72

well after a month of hard riding it hasn't snapped or cracked anywhere like some people said it would...some new bits of bling added as well.some nice superstar components ds25 wheels,short stem and bash guard.next is going xt 1x10.

mike hunts alpine

Looking good.

marcevs72

been a busy few weeks...fresh satin black paint with new graphics from indiprint,full xt 1x10 set up with superstar n/w,dropper seatpost and some super tackys.

paul.skibum

Looks nice! Got to hope it doesnt crack now!

Thewaylander

Crunch!!!

rockmonkeysc

Looks cracking.

marcevs72

ha ha ha ha........frame was crack tested when stripped and absolutely fine.wonder if I would get the same comments if I had a kona,giant,gt etc as all had certain frames crack/snap in the past.this is the updated spec frame after the problems they had with cracking as got the larger seat tube and shock mount moved so welded on both top tube and seat tube to stop cracking.nice to see people do their homework on here.

Twelly

Ignore them, just go out and ride it and have fun..






..... until it cracks

russyh

I like what you have done to it, the black and green go really well together.

poah

how do the barons compare to the maxxis

marcevs72

barons great in proper deep muddy conditions but bloody awful in drier stuff.the super tackys give mad amount of grip and will use them all the time now