The all new Commencal Meta V5 is very different than previous Meta's. Most of this is likely due to the new Virtual Contact System (VCS) kinematics which you will also find on the Commencal T.E.M.P.O. and the Meta SX V5. A high pivot version of this VCS platform is found on the Supreme DH V5.
The Meta V5 feels like a much more playful and sportier bike than the Meta TR V4 but seems to soak up the bigger bumps and chunk better than the Meta AM V4. It's a wild thing they have done with this new bike and I like it a lot.
For reference, this is my personal bike I am reviewing and I did not go with one of the stock builds. I ended up building mine up from just the frame since I would be swapping a lot of components out right away.
The frame on the Meta V5 offers 150mm of rear travel and is made to pair up to a 160mm fork up front. Builds from Commencal are coming with Fox 36, Rock Shox Lyric or Ohlins RXF36 forks. I am thinking if I were racing Enduro on this bike I would step up to a FOX 38, or Rock Shox Zebb, however I think the lighter, smaller stanchion forks play well with this bikes playful personality. If you plan on just riding this thing as a mountain bike, meaning something that you're planning on riding just for fun on a variety of trails or for casual post or pre work rides with your homies, then I would just stick with the less beefy, lighter weight forks. I picked the Fox Factory 36 on this build. The same goes with rear suspension. You can run coil shock with no issues on the Meta V5 or something a bit more linear feeling like the Fox X2. Again, if I was racing Enduro or looking for more of a planted feel and was trying to get the most traction possible through the chunk, I would opt for a coil. But the type of trails I am riding and the type of riding I plan on doing most, I went with the Fox Float X Factory. I like the feel of this shock and it matches my riding style where I like to play on smaller trail features, popping off rocks, roots, and smaller jumps and features.
The frame looks awesome and the welds look strong and overbuilt. But it wasn't perfect. There have been two issues that ended up being easy fixes.
First, there was a horrible noise I was getting after just one ride on it and I ended up having my local shop take a look at it after I had taken it apart, re-greased everything and put it back together and the creaking came right back after one ride again. My shop took it apart again and still the same after one ride. I contacted Commencal and they said there were some tolerance issues in the linkages and they sent me 4 washers and an instruction video showing where those washers needed to be placed. Once I installed those the bike has been absolutely silent.
Second, even on my XL frame the placement of the water bottle cage bosses were up way to far on the downtube and caused a full size water bottle to barely squeeze into place and would rub on the bottom of the shock. I ended up installing a Wolftooth B-Rad attachment and was able to get my water bottle to fit without rubbing.
GEOMETRY
I feel like the geometry is actually fairly conservative for an enduro bike. The reach in the low setting on this XL frame is 495.4mm and a wheelbase of 1293mm. Headtube angle is 64.1 in the low setting and seat tube angle is 77.8 in low. For the chain stays, Commencal is increasing the chain stay length as the frame size goes up. Round of applause for this. Honestly, I think every bike company should do this. An XL should not have the same chainstay length as an XS. Having the right sized chainstay per size allows the bike to ride how it was designed to ride and give each sized rider the same riding experience. The bottom bracket height is not listed on Commencal's geo chart, only the BB drop. However, I measured around 356mm in the high setting and 346 in the low setting. This is a fair bit higher than the Ripmo AF that I rode for about a year and a half which measures at 341mm. The bike feels pretty comfortably for me. Perhaps just a bit short on reach for me, but the wheelbase feels perfect. I did end up swapping from a 25m rise bar to a 38mm rise though. I felt like I was diving forward a bit on steeper downhills, jump landings and with the steeper seat tube angle I was getting a lot of fatigue in my hands on flatter and undulating climbs.
Specs
Frame - XL Commencal Meta V5 - 150mm travel in the Clear Silver colorway
Rear Shock - Fox Float X Factory
Fork - Fox 36 Factory 29 160mm travel 44m offset
Headset - Cane Creek 40-Series ZS56/ZS56 (Thanks for not forcing internal routed HS)
Brakes - Magura MT7 w Loic Bruni Levers
Drivetrain - Sram GX
Tires - Scwhalbe Big Betty Rear and Tacky Chan Front
Saddle - Ergon SMC M/L
: To support this website you can purchase most parts for this build through the affiliate links in the review. Thanks for the support!
Many components without a direct link can be found at Jenson USA.
Climbing
Every ride typically start with a climb, unless you are some kind of psycho and park at the top of a trail and do your climbing at the end of your ride. Climbing on the Meta V5 is much better than I would have anticipated. Older versions of the Meta AM were not great on climbs. I felt like they would sit too far into the travel and it always felt like that a good percentage of my efforts were being tossed aside into black hole of doom. My energy felt like it was constantly being drained with every crank. The new Meta V5 feels quite energetic and has a much lighter feel while pedaling uphill. A lot of this is due to the new VCS suspension platform of course. But I also attribute much of the peppy feel and quick acceleration of this bike to the Forge and Bond 30 EM wheels. It feels as though they add a nice bit of extra watts into my out of shape dad legs. Seated climbing feels calm and relaxed and the steep seat tube angle helps keep my weight centered over the bottom bracket so I don't have to get super far forward on my seat on steeper and more technical climbs. I do notice some pressure through my hands and wrists on long flat sections and more undulating mellower climbs though due to that steep seat tube angle. But I would rather have it when needed than not. Traction is good through rocky, rooty and square edge ledges, however it doesn't have quite the traction of something like the Ibis Ripmo or other DW link bikes. It is super efficient though and I wouldn't say it lacks traction by any means. With 170mm cranks in the low setting of the flip chip, I have not experienced any pedal strikes to speak of. I ran 165mm cranks on my Ibis Ripmo AF and I was still hitting my pedals on stuff all the time which led me to being much more careful when picking lines up the trail. I don't feel a big difference in how the bike feels going downhill and ripping through berms and tighter corners but there is a difference. I feel like the higher BB is worth not smashing my pedals on everything while giving up a very small amount of feeling lower into the bike through corners and high speed downhills. While the V5 is just as efficient as my T.E.M.P.O., it does feel heavier and gets uphill just a little slower. The T.E.M.P.O has more spring in its step for sure. I also feel like this bike is more balanced when climbing than my Ripmo. I am guessing this is because of the longer chainstay on the XL size frame. Ibis sticks with the same length chainstay of 435mm throughout all of its sizes where the Meta V5 goes from 435mm in a size small up to 440mm in the XL.
Going Down
When it's time to point the Meta Downhill things get really fun. And the faster you go on this bike the better it feels. The bike still handles great at slower speeds, but when you really get this bike moving it really comes to life! I would say it handles a lot like the Ripmo, where it has a very sporty kind of trailbike feel. It's super quick changing direction and gets through tighter turns with ease. It has a pretty supple feel right off the top, but the midstroke has a lot of support and lets you compress the bike and pop off all the things! Then when things get rowdy it really keeps up. It has that kind of bottomless feel you hear people talk about and it feels a lot better than my Ripmo AF when hitting bigger drops and hits. My Ripmo AF seemed to get hung up on the bigger stuff and the Meta just seems to eat it up! Running at higher speed sections through the rough this bike feels very planted and gives a lot of confidence. I feel like some of this has to do with what I mentioned earlier with the longer chainstay in the larger frame sizes. I am not a big jumper but on the jumps I am hitting, the bike feels very natural and intuitive getting airborne. The front wheel is easy enough to get up and over things and while I am not riding manuals for more than a few feet, this bike does it with ease. I feel like this bike would make a great bike to have if you can only have one. It's fun on mellower flowier trails but it can also ride the gnarlier stuff and does it really well. You could even do some bike park days on this thing.
Who Is This Bike For?
I would recommend the Meta V5 to someone who likes to ride the faster, steeper terrain, does longer rides in the high alpine, but also wants something that is still fun for mellower terrain too and not feel like they are way over biked. If you want to get something that climbs well, rips downhill, but you can still go have fun on more chill trails too this is a solid choice. If I've left something out that you're curious about be sure to leave a comment and I will get back to you.
UPDATE: After riding this bike a bit it developed an insanely loud creaking noise. I took apart the bottom bracket and the linkage and re-greased everything and after a few hours it started creaking again. I took it to my bike shop who took everything apart and put in a new bottom bracket and after a few hourse it was creaking again. So I reached out to Commencal and they said it was a known issue and there were some tolerances that were off and they needed to send me a washer kit along with this video showing how to install them. After installing the washers the bike has been dead quiet. So if you have this bike or are looking to get one, know that the issue is fixable. I do wish Commencal would have reached out proactively having know about the issue. I also hear of people that are just getting their V5's and are having the same issue. I feel like Commencal should install the washers before sending the bikes out to people if they are not already doing that.
Note: If you get the washer kit and are installing them yourself, it is on the drive-side only.