2013 Dirt 100: Commencal Meta SX
COMMENCAL META SX
The rejuvenated Meta range from Commencal was introduced in 2011 with the Mega Avalanche winning Meta AM, an enduro bike designed to take riders uphill with the best of them and then to be thrashed back down any track or trail.
That bike has proved its worth and its ‘floating’ rear shock suspension platform, and the overall intention of the bike, has worked so well that Commencal designer Nico Menard decided to open the floodgates and produce an entire range of all-mountain and enduro bikes with a similar lay-out. This Meta SX is the burliest of them all, with the Meta SL and Meta AM29 fulfilling other less demanding duties.
With 160mm of Commencal’s famously smooth and bottom-less feeling suspension travel, beefed up tubing (over the AM), lower BB and a slacker head-angle this bike is the dangerous cousin of the AM and a bike that can rip on downhills with the best of them. Although not as light as the AM, the SX will still get you up the hills and for that reason we think that Commencal have hit the nail on the head for the modernday British mountain biker.
Price: Frame £1699.99, Complete from £2799.99
Decade: 01792 469 811
www.commencal.com








Didn’t you guys slate this bike in your normal review? Or was that the SL?
I thought it was the AM and that they liked the bike, but thought the attahed dampers weren’t up to scratch. Maybe I’m remembering funny.
The original magazine review was pretty muted. Think I remember it being critical of frame weight, climbing ability, and mud collection issues. Wasn’t glowing anyway, though I think they did like the bike on the downhills.
I still can’t believe the size of the trigger from the FOX dropper… if you meet the guy that designed it hit him in the head, his boss that got it approved as well… unless spare part sales and dealing with warranty claims is becoming a new sport for them.
Weird