Commencal Messed Up BIG TIME…

alternate title, lewis discovers the bullshit normal consumers deal with

Really like someone of this level (sponsored rider) giving honest opinions on products that the general public buy themselves. 100% agree if you pay £5000 for a pedal bike it should NOT be missing a quality check…. Poor job commencel!!!!!

I have the same bike, same experience. Luckily I’m in Squamish and the shop here has been very helpful in solving the issue. They put the 4 spacers in which solved 80% of the issue. Brought it back and they took the linkage apart, identified the tolerance issue, only used 2 of the 4 spacers, applied some grease and put it all back together. Bike is silent and feels great now. Still lots of flex but I personally like that, especially when running a stiffer carbon wheel. I agree this shouldn’t have come out the box like this, but Commencal has been very supportive in making me happy, so points there!

I wish more reviews had this level of transparency. It’s far too frequent that heavier and/or aggressive riders spend their hard earned money on a bike that can’t withstand a season of riding without developing tolerance issues or defects.

Linkage touching the frame is just bad engineering

I really appreciate these kinds of videos. Brands need to be accountable when they sell a faulty product to consumers. Because mountain bikers are so passionate, they're willing to put up with a lot to do their sport. I think the industry can get a bit lazy as a result. There are tons of great companies out there, and I don't want to suggest designing a bike to work flawlessly is an easy task, but I have had tons of issues on the level of the one you're experiencing here (e.g., shipping the wrong parts, missing pieces in install, lengthy warranties, strange failures, etc.). Yes, it may just be an 'honest mistake', or a 'minor problem' in isolation, but if you ride a lot, you tend to have half a dozen 'minor problems' a year coming from various products on your bike. This ends up equating to a couple months of missed riding time while things get shipped and replaced, a big frustration as a passionate consumer. I'm super glad to see more people bringing these issues to light. Hopefully this results in companies putting a bit more effort in QC and real world testing.

I've had a Commencal Clash V1 for 5 years, done 4 race seasons on it and all I've had to do is regrease everything, bearings are still in great condition, no play or signs of wear. Its been absolutely bomb proof! Working in engineering we see stuff like this all the time, unfortunately it just takes one person to be having a bad day or someone going into work hungover, things get missed!

Totally unacceptable, wouldn't even waste my time. They better start making quality a priority or they will continue to lose business. Thanks for sharing Lewis.

Same thing with mine. I will say commencal has great customer service, as they should knowing they FU@KED UP. Sent my frame back and 2 days later they sent me a brand new one. ZERO issues with the new frame. Quiet as.

love the very direct feedback. Too many channels are protecting the sponsor brands even if there is issues.

My right ear enjoyed this.

They 100% should have just replaced and sent you a new frame that's been properly checked. Specialized fully replaced mine after doing the same.

I just got my Meta V5. I took the suspension linkages apart the first day because of issues with bearing grease on past bikes. Found that the lithium paste that they use was already starting to bind up in the bearing. Washed that JUNK out and replaced it with synthetic grease called “super lube” and it’s been amazing since 🤫. I’ve ran this grease in all of my bike bearings am super happy with the results

I absolutely love this format bikes have so many manufacturing issues and no one talks about it. You only see it in MTB Forums. And someone like Lewis just notices stuff immediately. Please buy a Transition next :)

This guy is every brands worse nightmare

Rear wheel steering: it’s the new thing 🎉🎉🎉

My friend's team races DH on commencals. They had snapped a few shocks before they realized the rear end is not centered right. They now run custom shock spacers for each frame that are up to like 5mm different thickness. Fast frames but kinda dodgy

I had my v4 meta sx get warrantied for alignment issues of the linkage assembly and got a new frame. Probably missed QC as well because they didn’t bat an eye once they got it back and looked it over, had a frame in the mail the same day they got mine in their shop.

Good honest review! Cant wait to hear how the spacers change things!

I own a 2023 Knolly Chilcotin. It devoloped a loud creak that i eventually and painfully isolated to the bare front triangle. Even working almost directly with Noel, the owner and engineer, the only solution was a crash replacement of the front triangle for $600. The replacement did not match my rear triangle. New front is blue, old rear is raw aluminum. The other option was a full v6 2024 replacement frame for $1,200. A great deal, but not in my budget. Crashing didnt cause this creak, but because of wear and tear on the frame, it was deemed a crash replacement. Just leaving this information in the ether.