£3,406.42
Size-specificdropper
postoptions—100mm
onS,125mmonM,
150mmonL and
175mm on XLE13TRSwheelsetis
pre-tapedandhas
valvesfittedready
for tubelessVerdict
TheCommençalMetaTR 29 was
neckandneckwiththeYTJeffsy
throughoutthistest,withbothbikes
swappingpolepositionconstantly.
Whenit cametothefinishing
straight,though,therewereseveral
thingsthatallowedtheYTtopull
away.Thebiggestis the£400
differenceinprice,thenthere’s
theextraweightandtheissuewith
heelclearance.TheMeta TR 29 is
afantastictrailbike
that’shugefun
toride—with
moretravelanda
slimmerbackend,
it’dleapfrogthe
YT into first place.commencal meta trail
(^29) British edition
specification
FrameNEC/ULTRA
SL 6066 triple-butted
aluminium,
130mmtravel
ShockFox
FactoryDPX2
ForkFox 36
FactoryFitGrip2,
150mmtravel
WheelsE13TRS
wheelset,Schwalbe
MagicMary/Hans
Dampf29x2.35intyres
DrivetrainSRAM
DescendentEagle
chainset,GXEagle
r-mechandshifter
BrakesShimano
MT520,203/
180mm
ComponentsRenthal
FatBar800mmbar,
RenthalApex50mm
stem,KSLevIntegra
150mmpost,Fabric
ScoopElitesaddle
SizesS,M,L, XL
Weight14.84kg
(32 .72lb)
Contactcommencal-
store.co.uk
Geometry
SizetestedL
Headangle65.7°
Seatangle65.2°
BBheight335mm
Chainstay440mm
Frontcentre
790mm
Wheelbase1,230mm
Downtube750mm
Toptube625mm
Reach 475mm
y
ep,you’renotseeingthings,
thisis a ‘BritishEdition’of
Commençal’snewMetaTrail
29er.We’renotsurewhythe
Andorra-basedbrandhasgone
tothetrouble—maybeit’sjustsaying
goodbyebeforewecrashoutofEurope,
orit couldbebecausethecolouris
synonymouswithfastracingcars.Either
way,theBrexitedition(aswecalledit)is
theflagshipmodelintheMetaTrail29er
rangeand,aswellasthecolour,it comes
withseveralUKcomponents—Renthal
bar,stemandgrips,anda Fabricsaddle.
ThesebitsaregreatbutCommençal
couldhavegoneevenfurtherasthere
arelotsofUKbrands—Hope,USE,DMR
andBurgtectonamea few.Still,you
canalwaysupgrade,orevenaddsome
extraUKbitswhenyoubuythebike
—CommençalactuallysellsBurgtec
pedalsthroughitswebsite.
TheMetaTR 29 is basedontheMeta
TR 27 platform,andthat’sthebikethat
wonourTrailBikeoftheYearbackin
2017.Thisaward-winningbikeseems
to have fallen out of favour, because
there’scurrentlyonlyoneMetaTR 27
listedalongsidefiveMetaTR29ers.
Threeofthosemodelsarespeccedwith
150mm-travelFoxforks,(ourtestbike
included)andtwohaveRockShoxforks
with140mmtravel.Rear travel on all five
modelsis 130mm.
suspension
AlthoughtheMetaTR 29 is basedon
theMetaTR27,therearea coupleof
updatestotheframeandsuspension.
TheMetaTR 29 getsa newreartriangle
witha stifferchainstayyoke.There’s
alsoa thicker-walledseatstaytoadd
furtherstiffness,andyougetbigger
(harder-wearing)bearingsinthelinkage.
Commençalhasalsotweakedthe
mainpivotpositionsoit matchesthe
smallerringstypicallyusedon29ers.
Unfortunately,it hasn’tdoneanything
abouttheheelclearanceissues—the
reardiscmountis stillontheinsideof
thechainstayandthedropoutbulges
outroundit,meaningif youhavefeet
biggerthana size8,you’llcatchyour
heelsonthestays.
Commençalfitsa top-endFox 36
Factory suspension fork to the Meta
TR29.It hasthenewFitGrip2damper,
EVOLspringandgets150mmoftravel
and51mmoffset.It’seasilythebestfork
ontestand,inFactoryorange,looks
prettygood—whoknewgreenand
orangewouldworktogether.
components
We’lllookattheBritishbitsfirst—the
Renthalcontrolsareallgood,solidand
extremelywellmade.TheFabricsaddleis
comfyandreallyneatandtidy,especially
underneath.Onceweleavefordistant
shoresthingsarenotsogreat—theKS
Levdropperhasa smoothactionand
minimalplay,butpullsupwhenyoulift
thebikebythesaddle,whichis annoying
whenyou’retryingtogetthebikeonor
offanuplifttrailer.SRAMGXperformed
flawlesslybuttheShimanoXTbrakes still
hadaninconsistentleverfeel.
performance
TheMetaTR 29 is theheaviestbikeon
testandit’salsothebikewiththeleast
amountofrear-wheeltravel,butit gets
thebestfork,whichmeansyoutendto
ridethefrontmorewhendescending
—thatis youfeedthefrontintorough
sections,whilekeepingyourfeetlight.
Thelackofreartraveldidmeanwe
bottomedit outa fewtimesduring
testingthough.Thisbikerideslikea 150-
160mmbikeandevenhasthegeometry
ofone,sowhythenhasCommençal
limitedthereartravelto130mm?
Still,theMetaTR 29 doeshavea
greatridequalityandwasoneofthe
quickestbikesinback-to-backtesting.
Butwereckonit wouldbeevenbetter
with20mmextrareartravel.It’dgoa
longwaytojustifytheincreaseinweight
andwouldreallycomplementthe
performance of the Fox 36 Factory fork.
29in trail Bikes
72 mbr M ay 2 019
in association with