Bad year :-( bye bye commie (2 Broken frames in one year!!!)

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May 24, 2012, 03:50:19 PM

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[Bigboy]

Ok I really can't believe how little luck I have had with my commies, I was more than happy to put up with the little niggles of poorly seated bearings and dodgy linkage bolts but when you consider I only had the carbon one for 2 months before bending a linkage as a result of a poor quality factory fitted bolt failing and then to take it to Andorra for a weeks holiday and find that the bottom bracket housing had cracked after a fairly piss easy descent, Fair play to SteveB for sorting me out even though he has been moving away from commencal.
I now find this crackon my original commie that I have been using since June when my carbon one expired, arghhhhh!
I have two options, build the brand new warranty replacement carbon frame back up ( which I haven't been able to sell as I would imagine no one wants to dip into the commie world of broken carbon!) this means it basically becomes unsellable and is out of warranty in a few months.
Or I just swap all my shiny parts over to my Specialized hardtail which I possibly have more trust in NOT breaking should I actually want to ride the thing off road!

It probably sounds like I am some sort of Gravity Demon who regularly does 20ft gap jumps, (I don't by the way!) I ride the south downs 90% of the time once or twice a week, have only crashed a handful of times on these bikes and even then they have been fairly minor bumps, nothing I can honestly say I would expect to damage my bikes as they have been. I have owned mountain bikes since they first started to appear on the scene and have been riding for 20+ years doing BMX ,Trials, and then going onto trail riding in the last ten years, I have owned Cannondales, Specialized, Kona, Trek, Gary Fisher, raleigh(everyone has haven't they?) and have never broken a frame , now considering when I was younger the Cannondale took a serious amount of abuse that should have snapped it but I just couldn't do it! I doubt even if anyone from commencal would even bother looking at a Warranty replacement on a 2008 frame, and I doubt even more now if I would trust it enough to ride it.



Rant over, decision made, If anyone wants a brand new 2010 small carbon META 55 frame then for £850 they can have it posted UK only



Nice knowing you guys!

Trev

[Steve P]

It's a shame that poor quality control has led to this, though i guess you've also been unlucky.  You also seem to have had a run of bad forks 
If I were you I would also not trust Commencal again.

In fairness though, the 2008 meta is 4 years old now and was fitted with 160's (unless you were running them wound down a bit?).

Good luck with whatever you get next and post the pics on here 

[Bigboy]

4 Years old with 3 years of riding though! I have run the forks at 140mm for most of its life as I can't stand the slack head angle that they give at 160 on most trails, I have however wound them out and run them soft for some uplift days (probably 5 in total) , oh well not like I can void a Warranty that is out by 2 years! just put a straight edge on the top tube and it has a bow in it (probably about 4mm from end to end) very odd as there is no sign of impact and I don't generally stand on the top tube!

[Steve P]

Fair enough then.  It was not intended as any criticism, I have seen others go there, though not many. 

The bike was a small so I'm guessing you're not that heavy either.
My 2009 cracked in the usual places (not catastrophically) but luckily I've a 2011 warranty replacement (touches wood).

Will be interested to see pics of your replacement.

[willber]

During the two or so years that I had a meta 5 it was replaced under warranty twice. I now own a Santa Cruz Nomad Carbon and the build quality, alignment, materials - just about everything is far far superior to any offering I've seen from Commencal. But then you get what you pay for - bang for buck,Commencal is a fantastic option. That said, I wouldn't own another now.

[cramaj]

Its strange how Commencal got itself in a position to allow such criticism to be levied at it. As I have stated before my 2007 meta 5 has had all sorts of abuse thrown at it over the years from general trail riding, through uplift DH days and an alps trip. It has never missed a beat. Yes I have replaced parts but the bottom bracket and headset took three years before needing replaced and the front hub has only just given up the ghost. The rear still runs on the original hub. No sign of cracking, never had to replace the linkage fittings and a whole head of fun, all for what was £1,250 when I got it (reduced from £1,650 if I remember correctly).

So I am one delighted commy owner and its a shame that they clearly dropped the ball through 2008, 2009 & 2010 and lost customers. Lets hope current & future bikes live up to past standards.    

[Bigboy]

During the two or so years that I had a meta 5 it was replaced under warranty twice. I now own a Santa Cruz Nomad Carbon and the build quality, alignment, materials - just about everything is far far superior to any offering I've seen from Commencal. But then you get what you pay for - bang for buck,Commencal is a fantastic option. That said, I wouldn't own another now.

Thing is I bought what I thought was the best tool for the job regardless of price, I had the money available to buy what I wanted and now I am sorely disappointed. I am riding the hardtail and it is great fun after 6 years of full suspension bikes, I too have looked at the nomad and other 'boutique' brands and have almost decided on an intense tracer 2 (my mate has a nomad so that just wouldnt do would it?`) hopefully that will deliver a bomb proof toy without too much weight penalty, I am not too bothered about weight as after 3 sets of air marzocchi 55 atas I ended up running a coil lyrik which has been virtually perfect for me!