Interbike Demo Ride: Commencal Meta AM

Max Commencal’s vision for his brand is very simple: they build bikes for people who like to have fun riding. By fun, Max means shredding technical terrain, pushing yourself and the bike. To this end, they prioritize handling, suspension quality, and capability over outright pedaling performance. Commencal believes you’ll ride fastest when you’re having the most fun.

Meta AM

We’ll call this our second look at Commencal’s Meta AM. Eric had the first shot at Crankworx early this year, but I was no less stoked to pound this bike out through the desert for a quick spin.

The latest generation of Commencal bikes with the new floating shock—this being the second bike, after the DH race rig to receive the updated treatment—look clean and purposeful.

On the trail, this bike exuded the same purposeful ride, pedaling uphill pretty well and providing an intuitive ride back down that inspired a great deal of confidence. This was a super easy bike to hop on and shred, in many ways feeling more like a 160mm-travel bike than its 150mm of travel would leave you to believe.

Three models of the Meta AM will be offered, ranging in price from $3,500 to $5,600 while frames retail for $1,750. All Meta model will ship with Fox forks. Commencal is expecting to have bikes available in November.

Meta AM 29

We also had a chance to shoot photos of Commencal’s Meta AM 29er. This rideable prototype is one of only a few in existence, and Commencal wasn’t terribly keen on allowing anyone outside the company to ride this bike as it not yet a finalized.

Offering 130mm of travel front and rear and a slack 68–degree headtube angle, the Meta AM 29 appears to deliver on its all mountain moniker, at least on paper. We’re very excited about this bike. It’s looking like the 29 will likely be a 2013 model year bike. Here’s to hoping.

Keep reading

It doesn’t end here, we’ve got a lot more coverage of Interbike 2011, including demo rides.