Hey guys!
I don't know about you but when I look at this bike I feel like jumping on it and going for a ride
even though it's so late in the season.
So why don't we take a close look at this 2021 Commencal META HT, this is my custom build.
I built mine with 29er wheels, and in this configuration
it's very close to what Commencal Canada calls a 2021 META HT Race.
This color is matte graphite and it looks really really nice,
and in my case I covered it with the 3M film pretty much everywhere,
as from the factory the frame is not protected in any way, even here on the down tube.
And talking about the wheels, these are ARCH MK3s from Stan's,
with the Maxxis Minion DHR II front, and I have a Rekon Race in the back.
The hubs that I have here are Hope 4s,
made by the Brits for the muddy or nasty outdoor conditions.
I plan to ride this in all seasons so why not?
That takes me to the fork which is a Pike Select Plus,
this is a 2020 model that comes with all the goodies
like Charger 2.1, the Maxima Plush oil inside, and also the new DebonAir,
so a lot to like about this, I'm going to do an in-depth video about the fork.
Geometry of the bike is pretty aggressive,
I have 65 degrees head tube angle and 74 degrees seat tube angle.
Now this head tube it's fairly long for a Medium frame, this is 120 mm,
and I've used the Cane Creek 40 for my headset because I've had only good experiences with it.
I mentioned that this is a Medium frame, and I am 5'10".
I have built the bike with a 60 mm stem thinking that it might be short.
That's because if you look at the Reach of this bike, so bottom bracket to the head tube, that's only 420 mm.
However, in the sag position, with about 25% sag,
that's going to end up being 435-440 mm so it's not too too short,
but again I built this with a 60 mm stem thinking that the bike is going to be short.
I'm going to have to replace this with a 50 because right now I think I'm a bit too stretched.
That's because I'm using this with the Raceface NEXT, so carbon bars that are 785 mm uncut
and with that large wingspan, I'm even closer to the bars than otherwise.
Lock-on grips and if you look at the brakes,
these are the 4-piston caliper Deore that I've reviewed on my channel not too long ago.
I coupled those with a full Shimano drivetrain.
An SLX shifter that is I-SPEC EV,
and if you look here, this is a Shimano dropper remote as well, which I got to like quite a bit as of late.
You can see the beautiful frame in more details in the video that I've done about that a couple of months ago,
but if I'm continuing on here to the back, the dropper post that I have,
this is actually a cheapo fresh takeoff, it's a Bontrager Line Elite, 150mm,
and the seat is something I had in my parts bin, is a Giant Contact saddle.
I only like it because it's fairly short, otherwise nothing special about that.
And that kind of takes me down to the drivetrain, which is very similar to what Commencal uses for their 2021 build,
even though I didn't inspire myself from that.
SLX cranks that I've reviewed not too long ago,
Shimano PD-M520 pedals, this is a 32 tooth chainring.
Chain is actually an XT not an SLX,
XT is also the cassette, the 10-51T and the SGS derailleur.
I have individual videos for these parts so I'm not going to spend too too much time on it here.
I already mentioned the Hope4 hubs and also the 4-piston Deores that I reviewed not too long ago,
They're very powerful, powerful enough that I only installed an RT86 160 mm XT disc in the back,
and I coupled that with 180 mm disc up front.
Plenty, plenty of power and good modulation with these 4-piston brakes, definitely good for trail riding.
I got the SLX cranks because they're pretty much like the XT's with a different color.
I installed an XT / SLX threaded bottom bracket because they seem to last a bit longer.
And the cranks that I got are 170 mm, again this is a Medium frame, I thought it would give me a bit more clearance.
My fork right now is 140 mm, I am planning to change this to 150
but with that 140 mm fork I can tell you that my bottom bracket under sag is at 320 mm, so 32 cm.
That's with the 29er x 2.35 Rekon Race in the back, and the DHR2 x 2.3 up front.
I am probably going to upgrade this or change it to a Maxxis Dissector 2.4 and maybe a Rekon 2.4 in the back,
but that's probably going to be a spring-like project.
Tire clearance up front with these 2.3 tires is plenty of space,
so I can probably run a 29 x 2.6 up front no problem, obviously if I'm okay with the weight of that tire.
In the rear with the 2.35 Rekon Race, I have tons of space here on the seat stays,
the limiting factor it's going to be the chainstays, you see how much I have left, it's about a finger,
so I can put something fatter than that, probably 2.4, I don't think you can fit a 29 x 2.6 in there.
Even though I didn't aim for lightweight, in the current configuration, with the bottle cage and the pedals,
this bike is at 12 kg / 26.5 lbs, so about 1.5kg lighter than the Commencal Canada configuration.
Now how does this ride? I know some of you guys asked me already if this is a harsh hardtail or is nice and compliant,
and the answer is - I don't know what to tell you.
I haven't had a hardtail in a long time, and in riding this, yes, it feels like a hardtail,
but it's not something that I didn't expect or i was surprised by.
So I think it's a good hardtail, don't expect it to be squishy in the back because it's not going to be.
And the funny thing is I didn't even plan to run this as a 29er to start with.
What I planned to do was to have it with fatter tires, mostly to give me a bit more crush in the back.
And what I have here is a 27.5 wheelset with 31 mm ID rims.
I have 2.6 Maxxis Minions installed on it, and yes,
I am still waiting for the Micro Spline for the Sun Ringle so I can install these on the bike.
So that's my next plan, I'm gonna try and ride this with 27.5 wheels as well,
hope I'm gonna be able to put in a couple more rides before winter really takes hold here.
And that's the end of my quick check of this custom 2021 META HT AM guys, what do you think?
Would you buy one of these if you could get it?
Let me know what you think in the comments below.
Also hope you found this useful and if you did
don't forget to like, subscribe, keep an eye on social media,
and until next time, hope to see you guys on the trails.
Cheers guys, cheers!