Value, build kit options, al la carte options, ease of purchase, quality

Scram Level R brakes

I was looking to get an aggressive HT bike to ride while my girlfriend rode with me while she was using my tricked out Stumpy. I got the Meta AM ht race version and added a reverb 150mm Dropper and it came with a LYRIK FORK! Oh my did I start to drift away from my Stumpy. Let me say, when I go riding now without my girl friend, it is the Commencal AM Ht that is put in the truck and taken to the trails. I tried the sram Level R's it came with but very quickly replaced with Shimano XT's ... problem solved. Was gonna replace the SRAM NX drive train but ... it never misses a click!

This bike is incredible. the Lyrik up front is a premium fork and smooth and yes ... buttery. The Maxxis 2.4 tires provided incredible stickiness on these gravel Southwest trails I ride. 780mm bars I thought were a bit silly until they gave me more leverage and confidence on the point it down side of things. The Alpha in house parts and very solid.

Finally, did a lift up and some steep decent on this thing. Wow! I could not believe how fun it is. Bit bouncy at times on rocks during the decent but hey, it is a hard tail. This bike is dialed in with the geometry; slack head angles, short chain stays. If you want playful, you will find yourself popping of anything and flicking it around. Took it to our local crappy park, pump track and had a blast.

Local bike shop where I bought my other bike was cool and did a great job assembling a mail order bike at a fair price. My key wrench guy even commented when I came to pick it up how sweet he through it was. Thanks Global Bikes for being cool with that!

In closing, I find myself choosing my Meta AM ht almost all the time when I go ride. My Stumpy is a tricked out $4k ride. This Meta race version is $1.5k and an incredible bike for the $$. Going to buy another Commencal HT frame $299 and build another one. I swear this bike has improved some of my riding skills.

Similar Products Used:

Kona

Value, Rick shox yari fork, is dropper post, tubeless wheels, slack geometry yet still climbs wonderfully

Hardtail :)

I bought this bike as it checked off every single box in what I was looking for in a bike. First one VALUE. After working in bike shops for the past 20 l years, I found myself burned out of the bicycle industry and taking a job where I no longer have the ability to get bikes at wholesale prices. Yet I still want quality parts and the most bang for my buck. Commencals here in America are by far the best value you can get in a brand new, highly engineered performance mountain bike.

Second box that needed to be checked was a rock shox fork. Most of the bikes in my price range had the sector fork or even a recon or xc 32. I've had the secktor before and it is an awesome fork. What I really wanted was a pike but...they come on bikes out of my price range. The meta hardtail comes stick with a 160mm Rock shox Yari, motion control, 35mm stanchions, blacked out....yeaaaah.

Third box was dropper post and the meta ht I chose comes with KS's budget, 100mm externally routed eten...perfect.

4th box on my "parts wish list" was tubeless wheels. Boom...the commencal meta ht had those. A little gorilla tape and some stand valves and sealant and I was Rollin sans tubes!

That's it for the reasons I bought this bike now a little on how it performs. Climbing steeps with a 65 degree head angle takes a tiny bit more front biased riding position. I made that adjustment easily. This bike loves techy climbs. Here in the southwest, where I'm currently residing and riding for the winter, pretty much everything I ride has rocky, chunky climbs. The meta ht loves this stuff. Going back to a hardtail is refreshing after riding dual suspension for so many years...the instant power to the pedals is inspiring. Also having the bike not sag out under g-outs when climbing is a plus for me...maintains a a constant head angle and easier to keep weight on the front end. When it gets really rocky I do stand more (or just position my weight heavily in the nose of the seat) than on a dual suspension but that's just making me stronger and not as lazy.

Descending and jumping on this bike is a blast! It's so playful. The slack head angle makes me want to rail steeps and drops as though I have a dually. It does start getting a little heinous in super fast rocky descents and anyone on a full sus will start to pull away but that's not what I bought this bike for. I ain't racing no Endur-bro's with it, although I could...it's my super tech climbing, have fun smashin the descents soul gratifying scream machine. This bike is badass and has made me love mtbing again. But one if you're on a budget and want to improve your skills and line picking/launching prowess. And if you ride it for a year you can upgrade all the parts to one of Commencals dual suspension frames for about a grand and mostly everything will bolt right up....they always have good deals on their site for frame sets as well as completes - http://www.commencalusa.com

Similar Products Used:

Chromag, norco

Sturdy frame, confidence inspiring geometry, great component spec, and my experience with customer service has been top-notch.

Although they have a presence in the US and ship bikes from their California location... it can be hard to try one before you buy. I had to take a leap of faith (which luckily paid off big time).

This is an extremely capable enduro/AM hardtail. The headangle is slack, the chainstays are short, and it's very fun to ride. I bought the "Race Plus" version of the Commencal Meta HT AM (2015) which came with a 160mm Pike. The front end was super tall. I rode it for a month tweaking the suspension, tire pressures, etc... and I hated it to be honest. Finally I removed a couple headset spacers and the bike instantly came to life!

I ride this bike on technical NE trails, bike parks, etc... you name it and it can do it. It is so much fun to ride. It will blast through and roll over anything in its path. A very stable, playful, and confidence inspring ride. I definitely recommend Commencal.