OK.. Think I really want a meta power sx.. Love the 2020..but mostly sold and know the 2021 release is this month?? Those who have a commencal how's it been.? Customer relations etc.. Bike.. Reliably.. Want people thaughts before I get Lary end of month on release
New 2021 power sx
- Thread starter Stanny_uk
- Start date
Shane228mtb
Member
I have a 2020 Meta Power 29 Ride(old style). I love the bike so far and I made a post here on my experience with Commencal both here in the US and with the group in Andorra. It has been great and everyone is extremely helpful awesome to deal with. I would love to be able to afford a new 2021 model but this is my first EMTB and I guess I have to hang on to it for a while. My personal opinion is Commencal is hard to beat when you factor in how well they treat their customers.
aklemm
New Member
Keep in mind, the new 2021 Power bikes probably won't be available on August 31st. My take is that Commencal will be releasing the specs and pricing details on their website on the 31st, but the bikes probably won't be available for a few months or even until early 2021. All of the bike companies, their suppliers and Shimano are so backed up right now.
Matt_Rider
Member
Commencal Australia have said the bikes will be available from September 18 to collect.
aklemm
New Member
Hmmm... I'm in the US. Everything I've heard says the Shimano motors/batteries are delayed ?
Props to Commencal if they were able to secure a large supply from Shimano!
Dezmond 22
Member
I have a 2020 SX fantastic bike , had a few niggles that Im pretty sure were just from the mechanic who assembled it here in Australia
Solid bike handles really well , front end is amazing now I have 2 tokens in.
Run tubeless with air-liner front and back never had a puncture and can run low psi without the tyre distorting and rolling off the rim hands down the best mod . I am 88 kg and still run the standard coil spring without an issue it gives way more grip climbing and is plush downhill.
Have had one motor replaced under warranty but pretty sure it was my own fault as I cased a gap landing on the motor hard enough to destroy the guard it eventually threw its toys out of the pram and stopped playing.Was going to swap out the brakes from Sram to Shimano but instead put ceramic pads in now love them.
Solid bike handles really well , front end is amazing now I have 2 tokens in.
Run tubeless with air-liner front and back never had a puncture and can run low psi without the tyre distorting and rolling off the rim hands down the best mod . I am 88 kg and still run the standard coil spring without an issue it gives way more grip climbing and is plush downhill.
Have had one motor replaced under warranty but pretty sure it was my own fault as I cased a gap landing on the motor hard enough to destroy the guard it eventually threw its toys out of the pram and stopped playing.Was going to swap out the brakes from Sram to Shimano but instead put ceramic pads in now love them.
aklemm
New Member
It's mid November now. Has anyone actually received their Commencal yet?
trailrunnerx
Member
I just got mine on Wednesday (November 18th). Picked it up from Commencal Canada
azzwethinkweiz
Member
My 21 meta power sx (ride trim) was delivered this Thursday the 19th. (Guy from commencal called and said they only received a few and that many people where probably gonna be waiting till February because shimanos lack of parts right now) I put it together, set it up tubeless, greased and torque checked everything that day and left it to charge overnight. Yesterday I went for a 35 mile ride. It sure didn't seem like 35 miles though. The bike is amazing. It is my first time riding or even physically seeing an e bike so the honeymoon affect I'm sure is very real.
It's one of my favorite trails to ride and it usually takes me the better part of the morning and into or past lunch time. With the meta power I did the trail in just 2 hours and had an average speed of 17mph... I still can't believe it. It's weird, I was pretty exhausted but the bike made me push myself so hard I didn't even notice till the ride was over. This is probably a slow speed for many people but for me this is blazing fast.
I'll give a quick unorganized first impressions... Please excuse my typos as I am on mobile...
A question I'm sure a lot of people have is concerning battery range. Well after 35 miles I had used 2 out of 5 bars. But be aware that this particular trail does not have a ton of elevation change and is pretty fast and flowing. The elevation gain is around 1900 feet. However I am a fatass. I weigh over 200 pounds and I rode the bike in a way that was not very nice to battery range. I have really poor cadence and I tend to stay in really tall gears and sprint/ brute force my way up hills. I am aware that it is probably bad for the drivetrain.
Negatives about the bike... Well personally I think it is kind of ugly in person but I am definitely not used to that fat down tube yet. The shift lever to shift up is really hard to reach with your thumb. Even after adjusting it and moving it, it still feels really unintuitive (I am used to my other bike that has shimano xtr and the ergonomics are a dream). Also I am not sure how well the rear shock will perform on big jumps and really hard hits. I had aired up the shock to about 250psi with 30% sag and jumps or drops over 2 feet would cause it to blow through the travel. Turning the lockout on helped this a little bit but made the back end much stiffer over the normal portions of the trail. I will have to experiment with this further. The bars are also just a tad more narrow than I am used to. Also the weight makes it a bit of a chore to load if you don't have a platform rack.
Positives:... Speaking of the weight. Yeah it is heavy at around 52 pounds best I could weigh with two scales. But that weight in the rough stuff is actually amazing. This bike tracks more like a dirt bike than a pedal bike through rough rock gardens and other unusual obstacles. You can really just pick the worst possible path, point to it, hold on and pedal through. You feel a bit heavy in sharp turns but I think the overall stability gained is still a positive. If you have any time on dirt bikes and this is your first ebike I think you will immediately feel at home. I was blasting through rough stuff so much faster than I do on a normal bike I actually developed arm pump from holding on so tight. The fork I like much better than the shock, it is super nice, it is insanely plush and is nice and progressive as it nears the end of it's stroke. I think this bike has the base model zeb but for the price I feel like this fork is insane value. I have the highest end fox float 36 (at the time) on my other bike and the zeb holds its own and then some when compared directly in performance. It just lacks much adjustability.
The battery range seems like it may be great too but I need more testing on other trails to confirm. The bike is also super quiet. I was really worried about the dreaded motor clunk shimano and bosch equiped bikes tend to have, but the meta power had none that I could register. The motor is so quiet it rarely gets much louder than the sound of the dirt and rocks underneath the tires. The only time you really hear it is on slow steep smooth climbs and you have it on trail or boost mode. The brakes I was pleasantly surprised with. I saw tons of people trashing these breaks online, but after some bedding in they grab crazy good and have a nice progressive ramp up until they really bite so they're easy to modulate. I'd say give them a try before you go and replace them. I was also worried about the location of the power button on the side of the frame getting hit by my knee in knee pads but this definitely wasn't an issue. Even if your knee did hit it, the button has to be held for several seconds to turn the bike on and off so it seems impossible in normal use.
This is all I can think of for now, hope it may help anyone deciding on these commencal bikes. Feel free to ask any questions and I'll try to answer best I can.
It's one of my favorite trails to ride and it usually takes me the better part of the morning and into or past lunch time. With the meta power I did the trail in just 2 hours and had an average speed of 17mph... I still can't believe it. It's weird, I was pretty exhausted but the bike made me push myself so hard I didn't even notice till the ride was over. This is probably a slow speed for many people but for me this is blazing fast.
I'll give a quick unorganized first impressions... Please excuse my typos as I am on mobile...
A question I'm sure a lot of people have is concerning battery range. Well after 35 miles I had used 2 out of 5 bars. But be aware that this particular trail does not have a ton of elevation change and is pretty fast and flowing. The elevation gain is around 1900 feet. However I am a fatass. I weigh over 200 pounds and I rode the bike in a way that was not very nice to battery range. I have really poor cadence and I tend to stay in really tall gears and sprint/ brute force my way up hills. I am aware that it is probably bad for the drivetrain.
Negatives about the bike... Well personally I think it is kind of ugly in person but I am definitely not used to that fat down tube yet. The shift lever to shift up is really hard to reach with your thumb. Even after adjusting it and moving it, it still feels really unintuitive (I am used to my other bike that has shimano xtr and the ergonomics are a dream). Also I am not sure how well the rear shock will perform on big jumps and really hard hits. I had aired up the shock to about 250psi with 30% sag and jumps or drops over 2 feet would cause it to blow through the travel. Turning the lockout on helped this a little bit but made the back end much stiffer over the normal portions of the trail. I will have to experiment with this further. The bars are also just a tad more narrow than I am used to. Also the weight makes it a bit of a chore to load if you don't have a platform rack.
Positives:... Speaking of the weight. Yeah it is heavy at around 52 pounds best I could weigh with two scales. But that weight in the rough stuff is actually amazing. This bike tracks more like a dirt bike than a pedal bike through rough rock gardens and other unusual obstacles. You can really just pick the worst possible path, point to it, hold on and pedal through. You feel a bit heavy in sharp turns but I think the overall stability gained is still a positive. If you have any time on dirt bikes and this is your first ebike I think you will immediately feel at home. I was blasting through rough stuff so much faster than I do on a normal bike I actually developed arm pump from holding on so tight. The fork I like much better than the shock, it is super nice, it is insanely plush and is nice and progressive as it nears the end of it's stroke. I think this bike has the base model zeb but for the price I feel like this fork is insane value. I have the highest end fox float 36 (at the time) on my other bike and the zeb holds its own and then some when compared directly in performance. It just lacks much adjustability.
The battery range seems like it may be great too but I need more testing on other trails to confirm. The bike is also super quiet. I was really worried about the dreaded motor clunk shimano and bosch equiped bikes tend to have, but the meta power had none that I could register. The motor is so quiet it rarely gets much louder than the sound of the dirt and rocks underneath the tires. The only time you really hear it is on slow steep smooth climbs and you have it on trail or boost mode. The brakes I was pleasantly surprised with. I saw tons of people trashing these breaks online, but after some bedding in they grab crazy good and have a nice progressive ramp up until they really bite so they're easy to modulate. I'd say give them a try before you go and replace them. I was also worried about the location of the power button on the side of the frame getting hit by my knee in knee pads but this definitely wasn't an issue. Even if your knee did hit it, the button has to be held for several seconds to turn the bike on and off so it seems impossible in normal use.
This is all I can think of for now, hope it may help anyone deciding on these commencal bikes. Feel free to ask any questions and I'll try to answer best I can.
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Mines is arriving on Tuesday. I appreciate the amount of time and effort you have taken to provide honest feedback. Was an informative read thats made me even more excited! ? Cheers
azzwethinkweiz
Member
Glad to get you stoked. Originally the FedEx tracking # said Friday delivery, I checked my phone Thursday morning and it had changed to that day. I was like a kid on Christmas. I am pretty confident that you will enjoy the bike... I don't know if you've ridden an ebike yet or not but the difference is crazy. The only problem is I've received a lot of disdain from my bike riding buddies for purchasing a TABOO EBIKE!!!, but oh well, I am pretty sure I can convert them as soon as they swing a leg over it. I honestly haven't experienced anything this divisive for some people in the cycling community in a long time. It kind of reminds me when 29ers started showing up on trails.
But hey, sometimes change is good, at least it definitely is in this case
EDIT: Hey pro tip, if you mount a bottle cage on this bike, be aware that the upper screw mounting hole is super shallow, I had to cut one of my cage screws (for my Fidlock mount) so it wouldn't bottom out on the battery components inside the downtube. Now I don't know exactly what's behind it but the battery is back there and it would be a shame to penetrate that thing with a metal screw lol.
I'm actually the only one left out of my riding buddies who doesn't have an ebike. I was fed up being back of the pack so decided to take the plunge! Sooner or later I'll bet your pals will want a slice of the action!!Glad to get you stoked. Originally the FedEx tracking # said Friday delivery, I checked my phone Thursday morning and it had changed to that day. I was like a kid on Christmas. I am pretty confident that you will enjoy the bike... I don't know if you've ridden an ebike yet or not but the difference is crazy. The only problem is I've received a lot of disdain from my bike riding buddies for purchasing a TABOO EBIKE!!!, but oh well, I am pretty sure I can convert them as soon as they swing a leg over it. I honestly haven't experienced anything this divisive for some people in the cycling community in a long time. It kind of reminds me when 29ers started showing up on trails.
But hey, sometimes change is good, at least it definitely is in this case
EDIT: Hey pro tip, if you mount a bottle cage on this bike, be aware that the upper screw mounting hole is super shallow, I had to cut one of my cage screws (for my Fidlock mount) so it wouldn't bottom out on the battery components inside the downtube. Now I don't know exactly what's behind it but the battery is back there and it would be a shame to penetrate that thing with a metal screw lol.
My partners dad has raced mtb all his life and seems impossible to convince but I just know when I get mine, he'll take it out and have a blast. I think oldskool analog riders just don't want to admit how fun they are when they finally have a go! ?
P. S Thanks for the tip on the water bottle screw and happy riding????
duplex
Member
For those who opted for the power meta sx or the 29, just want to get your thoughts why you decided toward the meta sx. I have a preorder for the 29 but am reconsidering
For me it comes down to your riding style. I'm only 5'8 and like the nimbleness and agility of the smaller wheels. The 29 inch wheels make the bike feel far too big for me! Obviously the 29ers have their positives but not enough to lure me in.
If you like flying down single track at speed, eating up everything in your path then stick to 29, if you like a little bit of fun whilst going downhill then perhaps the smaller wheels are best suited ??
azzwethinkweiz
Member
Basically exactly what Gw0175 said... 29ers roll over stuff like crazy... I bet with the extra heft of an ebike it could really roll over some crazy stuff no sweat. That being said, the SX with 27.5 still feels like a huge bike and I am riding a medium... With 29 wheels it would probably feel absolutely massive. Certain trails it would probably be real good though. It all comes down to personal preference. I think generally speaking if you're more into cross country riding rather than hard enduro or down hill than a 29er is probably better suited. But you can obviously do whatever the heck you want with any wheel size, it's your money do what is most fun for you.
Just got mine today and setting it up. Quick Q, did the main plug inside the motor which connects the battery to the motor unit click together firmly with you or did it just push fit down? I'm not sure how easily it may pop off?
azzwethinkweiz
Member
It had a satisfying click as it seated but it doesn't seem like the most secure connection in the world. I figure if it becomes an issue some electric tape or cable tie might help. I did try to remove it afterwards and it had pretty good resistance so I think it might be fine without further intervention but I know what you mean.
Thanks for getting back to me, I'll have another look soon as I've tried pushing hard but it doesn't seem to click down like I'd expect ??
*edit* gave it another look and got that reassuring 'click' I was hoping for!! Cheers
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azzwethinkweiz
Member
No problem, let me know what you think of the bike when you ride.
azzwethinkweiz
Member
Just an update. Went for a ride today, was on a tarmac section in between trails, so I was standing up sprinting in top gear in eco mode when the left crank arm fell off suddenly. It caused me to go down and run over my left leg... My ankle hurts pretty bad but I think it is just sprained.
It is strange since I went around and torqued everything on the bike and after reading about the loose crank issue from another member I put extra locktite on the pinch bolts... I did notice my cap was loose when I retorqued everything but my pinch bolts where good.
I contacted commencal and e13 is also aware of the issue and for now they're recommending torquing the pinch bolts for the crank to 16 instead of 14... I also lost my cap so I am waiting on a Replacement.
Not sure what to do at this point... Pretty bummed after dropping all that money.
Hopefully my ankle is ok enough I can ride my acoustic bike in the meantime... I assume you shouldn't ride without the crank cap on the meta?
EDIT: Swung by the local bike shop on the way home and Shimano hollowtech end caps fit the e13 cranks just fyi. Cost was $4.50, gonna home home and retorque the cranks to the higher spec.
It is strange since I went around and torqued everything on the bike and after reading about the loose crank issue from another member I put extra locktite on the pinch bolts... I did notice my cap was loose when I retorqued everything but my pinch bolts where good.
I contacted commencal and e13 is also aware of the issue and for now they're recommending torquing the pinch bolts for the crank to 16 instead of 14... I also lost my cap so I am waiting on a Replacement.
Not sure what to do at this point... Pretty bummed after dropping all that money.
Hopefully my ankle is ok enough I can ride my acoustic bike in the meantime... I assume you shouldn't ride without the crank cap on the meta?
EDIT: Swung by the local bike shop on the way home and Shimano hollowtech end caps fit the e13 cranks just fyi. Cost was $4.50, gonna home home and retorque the cranks to the higher spec.
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Read this yesterday! Hope you're on the mend. I'm heading out for first ride on mine this morning so will report any issues ??
azzwethinkweiz
Member
I definitely recommend torquing those pinch bolts to 16nm and adding some extra locktite. I did mine up to 18nm because I am worried it will happen again.
beneseleve
New Member
Did you fix the rear shock? I know what you mean had two rides in the woods no hard trails or big obstacles and used all the travel SAG is also 30%! Is there an option to put tokens in the shock this could help i think.
I kind of solved the shifting problem just changed the possition from brake (inside to outside) and shifter (outside to inside) but still feels a little mehhh.
azzwethinkweiz
Member
I haven't really rode since my left crank came off. If you are unfamiliar with the issue it has become quite common according to commencal and e13. Do yourself a favor and loosen your cranks and torque the cap to 3nm then slowly being both pinch bolts up on the cranks slowly and at the same time to 16nm ... It's only a matter of time before your non drive side crank falls off if the retorque hasnt been done. Just trying to warn people since I messed up my ankle pretty good when it happened... Got a shimano cap to replace the one I lost but gonna wait for the e13 cap to arrive.
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azzwethinkweiz
Member
First ride today since replacing the crank cap and the retorque procedure. I definitely need to get some volume reducing spacers in the fork and shock. Any moderate jump or drop it is pretty brutal the noise it makes when it bottoms out 
I also need to lose more weight lol.
Boost mode is so powerful it is kind of stupid... but it is fun to use on the last bit of the ride and really go ham.
I also need to lose more weight lol.
Boost mode is so powerful it is kind of stupid... but it is fun to use on the last bit of the ride and really go ham.
trailrunnerx
Member
Had the exact same problem happened to me last week, thankfully, I was just cruising down a green trail when it happened so I didn't crash. I was pretty far from home then, but I managed to somewhat put the crank arm back on to ride back. I brought the bike back to Commencal Canada the very next day (I live 10 minutes away) and they fixed it immediately. They said they would replace the crankset if it happended again.
Beside this, I'm super happy with the bike, it handles great and the range is good
Yes that is why I went with the Signature 29er. And man does it eat things up!
Sooo... My left crank came off halfway up a mountain the other day despite tightening them up beforehand. Have lost the cap off the crank so quite annoyed.
azzwethinkweiz
Member
Commencal and e13 both seemed to stress it was critical to do the bolts up slowly and equally starting with the bolt closest to the frame. When reaching final torque you must also go back and forth checking torque until neither bolt continues to tighten any further. If one is done up any tighter than the other, the effectivity of the crank to be clamped onto the spindle will be affected.
I still haven't rode my bike enough post retorque to be convinced that the retorque procedure is an effective solution but time will tell. I also applied torque stripe to the cranks and cap to monitor for movement.
When I lost my cap, I found out that standard shimano hollowtech caps fit btw. My bike shop had those locally until the e13 cap arrived.
Yeah mate I read your initial reply about the torque process and hollowtech caps..thanks for that information. I'm going to take extra care sorting the crank as I don't want to ruin my rides worrying if it'll happen again.
I spoke to ethirteen about the issue and they were happy to help with a replacement cap etc... Commencal have yet to get back to me. Besides this issue, albeit a large issue, the bike performs great, buzzing to get back out ??
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