- So, this is Yoann Barelli's brand new bike for 2017,
after swapping from Giant.
He's now riding this Commencel Meta AM.
It's 160 mil travel bike and it's got 170 mil fork on there
just to rake it out a little bit more.
I think, definitely, a pattern I'm seeing with these bikes
for Andes Pacifico is big tyres and big brakes.
So, we've got these Hutchinson Toro real chunky tyres
and Sram guide brakes with 180 mil rotors
front and rear.
(dynamic music)
so, the Meta AM is 160 mil travel bike
and Yoann's got a 170 mil fork up front,
so bringing that front end that little bit slacker,
more travel on the front.
It's an aluminium frame, you're seeing
this really nice, sort of polish bare frame,
and it's got this Rock Shox super deluxe shock on the rear
with a remote lock out under the bar on the left hand side.
So, Yoann is riding the large frame.
As you can see, it's quite a long bike anyway,
but Yoann's got these five mil offset cups
in the front of the bike
just to give him that bit more space again.
So, it's long, low and slack.
So, the bars are Renthal Fat bars, the oversized 35 mil,
and they're 760 mil wide, paired with a 40 mil Renthal stem.
The first thing I noticed actually about this bike
is the angle of the levers, you see how they're really flat,
so, really quite high on the bar.
I'll have to ask Yoann about that.
Also, Renthal grips.
You've got the reverb dropper post remote here.
Again, you've got that lockout for the rear shock
underneath the bar on the left hand side.
So, a few levers going on on the left hand side
and we've got the sram eagle groupset, that's a one by 12.
And the shifter is there on the right hand side.
The suspension up front, we got this rock shox lyric,
like I said, it's 170 mil travel, air fork.
So it does slacken that bike, off a little bit,
just make it good for those faster trails.
We've got American Classic wheels,
a brand that's renowned for their lightweight wheels.
And Hutchinson Toro tyres, 27.5 wheels on this bike.
We've got sram guide ultimate brakes on this bike.
So, the big downhill style brakes with four pot callipers
and 180 mil rotors front and rear.
So, to the drive train, we've got sram XO rear mech
and that huge sram eagle cassette, so it's 10-50.
That really big gear, just to give you that low climbing
ability, and that's paired with 38 tooth chain ring.
So, much bigger than we see on bikes
that don't have that size cassette.
I guess the average nowadays is probably 34 tooth
chain rings so really big up front.
Also, got this gold chain that's got a bit of black
goin' on in here.
So, I'm not quite sure it's supposed to look like that.
Sram exo carbon cranks and crank brothers malette e-pedals.
So, the Meta is boost.
So, we've got that wider hub in the rear.
Something we're seeing in a lot of bikes moving
over too now, it just makes those wheels stiffer,
with the angle of those spokes.
The bikes finished off with the rock shox reverb,
dropper seat post, and this Tioga Spyder Outland saddle.
We've also got this fabric water bottle that's cageless.
You see it mounts directly to the frame.
So let's have a chat with the guy himself
and ask him about his bike.
So, Yoann, brand new bike for you this year,
change of sponsors.
Does it take you a long time to get used to a bike?
- I'm still trying to figure it out.
- Yeah.
(laughs)
- No, it was quite a big change for me
because I changed the frame, the wheels, the tyres,
and the bows, the seat post, the centre pillars, everything.
So, it was quite a big change for me
and the first time that I jumped on the bike,
I was kinda lost.
- Yeah.
- And then it's starting to come back, I'm getting used to
and it's different bike than the rain in, but it's perfect.
I like it.
- So I guess we're still pre-season,
where Andes Pacifico, what first race of the year?
Are you usin' this as a test?
Or is this--
- Yeah.
- You're just tryin' to go fastest as you can straight away.
- Totally, it's totally a test
because you know sometimes you feel that you are good
and you are feeling well on the bike.
But, you don't really know
if it's actually efficient or not.
- Yeah.
- So, Andes Pacifico, we have five days of resting,
a lot of stages, so it's perfect, like,
you can do one stage, change a little bit some stuff
on the bike, then do another one and see if you
improve a little bit, and see if you're feeling
actually right.
- Yeah.
- So, yeah, for me it's a big test
and see how it goes.
- Yeah, so one thing I've noticed about your bike
is the brake levers.
Why'd you run them so high?
Is there a reason for that?
- So there is a reason.
So I gotta show you.
- Yep.
(laughs)
- So what I figured out is that when you ride
with the levers normal, like that,
you actually use a lot of your thumb to hold your handlebar.
- Yep.
- So and when you force and use a lot of energy
to do that, you get arm burn.
- Yeah, okay.
- So far I've seen injury after 10 minute,
you have arm burn.
- Trying to take some weight back off the handlebars.
- Exactly, and if you put your hands a little bit
more flat, you use more of the palm, the entire hand
to just, like, rest on your handlebar.
So actually ride like that.
It put my body a little bit higher
so I'm looking a little bit further as well.
And, yeah, it's another style of riding
but it's, it works for me.
- Makes perfect sense.
- It's not for everyone.
(laughs)
But, for me it's a, it's perfect.
- Cool.
- It was a game changer.
Too much, too much Enduro, too much Enduro.
- Yeah.
- Never go full Enduro.
- Take his advice.
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And, click down there for an enduro video with Martin Maes,
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- And, if you like my bike, give me a thumbs up.