It's probably that loose linkage, working in a bike shop so many things can make a noise. When I first started one of the mechanics said he spent 2 hours on a noise, to find it was a dry hanger which just needed a bit of grease behind it.
Introducing... inverse sponsorships. Where brands pay Lewis NOT to ride their bikes out of fear this will happen lol. Trek, Commencal, Evil, who else? I think I'm missing one
In terms of why they sent the spacers, a bike that hasn't been QA'd its hard to determine what might be missing, they sent the spacers as they guessed these might be missing, in reality it was the bolts weren't torque'd to specification. In terms of bikes generally, you buy a big brand bike from a local bikeshop, chances are the local bike shop went over the bike, made sure it's spot on. Mass direct to consumer supply, they might build the bike in their facility, they might not (outsource, usually far east) but either way the bikes are usually mass assembled and some of the care levels can drop. I had a bike from a large-ish brand that do direct to consumer, brake lever was leaking fluid from the compression nut attaching the hose. Me with tools and knowhow sorted it and bled the system (also checked over the rest of the bike), someone without tools and/or knowledge might have to go to their LBS to get it sorted.
I have a Commencal tempo which I built from the frame up and uses the same linkage design as this, but I have never experienced any of these issues. I've taken it through shuttle days and downhill laps and it has only kept on giving. Very interesting to see these issues and I'm glad its fixed for everyones sake, but even with all the trouble I have to say my experience with Commencal has been incredible. They missed a part of the dropper post that I purchased with my frame and they sent it straight to me with express shipping, without any questions asked.
How have you liked your Tempo? I’m thinking about buying one but im not sure how well it’s shorter travel would handle the rocky trails in my area. Seems like a really fun bike on jumps though!
@@Brosef336 The Tempo is absolutely amazing, corners incredibly and is super planted on everything as well as completely swinging off of the jumps. I also have a 170mm 2020 rocky mountain slayer and I can hardly tell the difference in travel on the tempo in the tech. it's not going to win any dh races but I can guarantee its the most fun you will have on the trails.
I had the same issues with my frame aswell. Same creaking after two rides. Upper link bolts were also loose. I did exactly same, cleaned, re-creased and torqued to specs. All the spacers were in place. No creaks anymore. Awesome bike after fixed.
A very good mechanic said to me one time, "if theres something wrong, sometimes water etc can mask the issue" He would assume this level of dirtiness is the good amount, gives you a sense of how the bike is currently
Working on pivots and bearings with that much loose mud and crud hanging around is just Absolutely Cowboy and just asking for crunchy parts! Even just a spray and a wipe before opening up the nuts and guts!!
@andrewbrown8927 good bike mechanic senses, poor use of ocd. Pretty sure ocd means you fold your shirt 15 times or lock the door 13 times. I think you meant frustrated, maybe apalled, possibly even anxious. Pretty sure you didn't contract ocd though. If you did, good luck, I suppose your door locks will wear out 13x faster than normal.
i dont want to be rude, but if im paying 5k for a bike that shouldnt cost that much in the first place, i would expect all this messing around to be done by the company in the first place. i would send it back, theyll only think they can get away with it.
i feel your point, but never ever i saw a bike that was properly torqued and greased from factory. i always take them apart, grease and torque them correctly. more often than not this was neccessary. but for the price bikes cost nowadays i expect something diffrent just as you are...
@@MrVIDEOACEI'm only saying what I said because of the 3 bikes I've purchased (nukeproof scout 29, Vitus escarpe 29, and a haibike allmtn9 ebike) I have had no issues and all these bikes are over 2-5k.
@@jayjavi00totally disagree, just because someone can ride doesnt mean they know squat about mechanics and thats why they employ a race mechanic!! Quality control is piss poor if a bikes allowed out the factory door like that 👎I personally had a bike 4 weeks old creaking from headset and popped the bearings out to find rust and rang the Bike shop asking if the bikes came from factory assembled or if they had to pre deliver them ?? They said they assembled / pre delivered them and i asked if they were scared of grease or something FFS 🤦♂️. I would’ve taken it back to them but shop was 7 hours away as i bought. it on holidays 🙄 I recently bought a Pivot Firebird from my LBS & everything had been removed greased and re assembled the way a pre delivery should be done 👍 Im a moto mechanic by trade & do 99% of work on all my bikes , Lewis clearly isnt but to be fair hes had a bad run with Factory Faults 🤬🤬
Became a member of the commencal facebook page when I considered getting one 3 years ago. The enormous amounts of frame issues I saw people having with them completely put me off though. Cracks, misalignments, creaks, fatigue bursts. Just horrid. Very glad I got a transition in stead. No issues whatsoever and lifetime warranty + the best customer service in all of mountain biking
I'm on my 3rd cf scout front triangle so not entirely true, I also had a hard time with transition trying to get them to honour there warranty, all was resolved in the end but what a pain in the ass and crappy experience
@@paulangove3277 oh that's a very rare thing for me to hear about transition. But nothing in the world is faultless so it has to happen. Sorry to hear it happened to you twice though
Had Commencal in 2012... Meta V2, shock was hitting the frame at bottom out (one supplied with the frame). Commencal send me pdf how to grind the frame to get clearance and paint to cover it up. Sold the frame and never ever again looked at their bikes. Looking at the amount of failures you can see around internet I will stay away for years to come :)
Wow, that´s absolutely wild. But seems in line with their current track record. Supremes been blowing up left right and center everywhere. And now this Meta issue. Also can´t forget the dude whos meta blew up while just riding along. And the old freeride frames also kept disintegrating, with many people being on their 3rd or 4th replacement frame. Love their designs and they work very well, but they´re the absolute worst quality in the whole industry by a mile.
This is a pretty normal gamble we all take when buying a bike online if you don't check everything for grease and torque. I think it was natural to suggest missing spacers, they probably should have just said to disassemble and clean the links to look for properly installed spacers, grease then reassemble and torque to spec.
The whole scene has changed so much over the years. My first dually was a meria 140 back in 2011 and three years later i cracked the rear triangle at the two braces. They took frame with no proof of purchas and replaces the rear triangle. Fast forwars 2014 i purchased a GT force LE and in 2016 the idrive unit started creaking. They found a crack in the rear swing arm in the process and sent a whole new frame back free of charge. I still have that force LE frame and recently rebuilt it with modern parts and 27.5 wheels. Was glorious to see an 11 year old frame in its brand new state. To top it off GT sent me the cable guide assembly from a 2013 frame a few weeks ago free of charge bar shipping after enquiring via a local Bike shop. Now it seems like that level of care and representation is fading.
Glad to see the problem sorted. Bad news is that creaks have a habit of returning from the same place sometimes. I hope that's not the case for your bike.
@@JwallzMTB well flex in the rear is an issue for a lot of bikes, and this really just needed to be retorqued to end the creaking. The chain drop was unfixable until new spacers arrived.
@@humanstrain1 bro doesnt get the point that out of the box these bikes are doing this. The mechanics will have to do that process to however many units they bought before they can even be ridden.
Hello lewis, i purchased the new V5. Same as you, it creaks a ton. And it also has different gap on one side of the rocker. Im sad tho that commencal gives you those spacers and i think because you are a youtuber and lot of people would not buy their bike because of you. But they dont really care that much about us normal people who bought their bikes and are not famous at all. I sent them few emails about the creaking and about that video of yours where you talk about them sending you spacers (you were waiting for them still) but im without a response. I just dont like the fact that they treat you differently than us, even tho it kinda makes sense. Cause for you it may be a bike for a year or not even that. But for some of us it’s a bike for 5 years. And it makes the shitty noise and the rocker link scratches the frame on our bikes too… Sorry for a long comment, love you man. Keep it up… Happy to see every video from you. And love to see some ohnest reaction on the bikes from a pro… Have a good one 😊
i think your next trail/endruo bike should be a scott genius st tuned i own it in irl and its super super sick the way it handles super fast and it looks sick.
end of last year i bought a FRS Frameset and there were also some spacers missing in the linkage, i saw while building the bike and got replacement from commencal but it shows its not only a problem with the Meta..
I brought a bird am160 in june 2019 and ive never had any problems with it whatsoever. The first thing i do with a new bike is check the bolt torques and everything on it was absolutely spot on, all greased and all had loctite. No rattles or creaks since ive had it plus their customer service is brilliant, something big brands seem to lack nowadays..Id suggest lewis looks at bird bikes if he wants something strong, reliable and hassle free. The only thing ive needed to change is pads and discs. I love mine.
I absolutely adore commencal bikes. I am pretty disappointed that they could screw up this bad. I have a Clash and it is such a robust bike. Good luck to you.
Contacted Commencal about the creaking issues on my SX V5 and they sent me out the washers. Installed the washers and have had zero creaking issues. Maybe the SX is slightly different and the rear triangle honestly doesn’t flex a whole lot. Maybe the SX version may have been the better option? But for now, loving the bike🤘🏽
The SX has a longer and stiffer chainstay despite being a mullet. The dedicated 29er meta is more of a big-travel trail/all mountain bike, with compliance built in.
I had creaks on my clash not long ago but it was more of a squeaky sound. As soon as I cleaned the linkage, regreased it and torqued it right the noises stopped and the bike is completely silent! Not sure why it just didn't creak from the start and all the way through but happy its gone now at least.
Hy ! Happy for you to see your problem solved 😉👍🏻. I have two questions please about your bike : is it the silver color ? In which size do you ride it ? Medium or Large ? Thanks 🙂
I've had all sorts of fun and games with Commencal over the last week. To be fair they've sorted some of it out but I'm still annoyed that my frame came with none of the protection systems fitted i.e. chain stay, seat stay and downtube protection. I hope they arrive sometime next week. And based off of this video, I've dismantled the entire frame, greased the hell out of it and torqued it all back up. Fingers crossed.
Funnily enough, I bought a Radon Deft 9.0 and had the same issue. Was driving me nuts. Reassembled the whole rear triangle, greased and torqued it and voila no creaking. Pisses me the fuck off though - spending so much money to get a creaking bike. Rant over. Have a good one and enjoy your bike.
I bought a Ghost gravel bike a while back through a bike shop. They charged me 60€ on top of the price to do the check up. First ride with the bike, all spokes of the rear wheel got so loose that I could wiggle the tire with the rim from side to side in the frame. Nobody cared and thought it was a problem.
Got to check everything. Had the LCS dial pop out on my zeb ultimate fork. Sram said there was a piece missing which I later found on my shop floor. So not missing, just not put together correctly. The problem is fixed but still, 2 weeks without a fork.
Was there any sign of threadlock on the pivot bolts? It's possible they used threadlock and didn't torque it up properly, then when the threadlock goes off it feels like they are tight but they don't have enough bolt tension.
one thing that commencal cannot do everything about is that even if everything is properly secured it can come loose, often the first 500 km with the most problems after that after checking it should not come loose anymore
great to hear it's back on track. what is up with that camera? it's like it's focusing on the background more than what's in the middle of the frame! or just really bad low light performance...hmmm
I have a 2018 commencal meta v.2 27.5 . That bike has seen it all and the frame is bullet proof. Have thought about a 29 er, I’m a teacher so never could actually pull the trigger.
I wonder if slightly "off" torque settings plus shipping to wherever just made things worse/bad enough that it got as crazy as it was. I have a Commencal hardtail. I'm absolutely jinxing myself by saying this but it's been 1000% perfect. I took it to a local shop because I had some questions about fitting certain bags and stuff and the owner/mechanic did a quick look-over. He told me was really impressed with the component spec and assembly. I'm not easy on my bikes (but I'm not a high-consequence sender either...we're mostly XC stuff here in the plains of the US) but it's been SO good. Glad you got it sorted out. In the long run I'm looking at a Tempo (Commencal's short-travel trail bike) and I think it shares a suspension design with the V5. I'm excited to see you shred on it!
It was definitely the fact the pivots were not torqued properly. I recently got a Canyon Spectral 125 and the first thing I did was checked the torque on all the pivot points and they definitely were not torqued properly. I do wonder if things have been damaged riding it as much as you have with loose pivots.
Hello, I wanted to kindly remind you that I sent you a message regarding your videos. Do we have your permission to use them? We would be happy to know if there is any special requirement for publishing your videos that we could fulfill. Thank you! :) Sincerely, Divya
Sadly this seems to be all too common with the bike industry. Quality control is just not the best. Have had 3 sets of pedals from 2 brands that all started creaking within 2 rides and had to be regressed. Forks that feel garbage out of the box until they get a service. Sucks that it's so common now
I feel that no matter how much you pay for a new bike there's always something, and you just have to go over everything yourself once you get your hands on it. I bought an expensive new bike 2 years ago and the frame was no issues, but I had lots of issues with components on my particular bike. Even though a bike is pretty much just the frame, the company obviously still have to be accountable for anything they attach to it before they ship the complete thing out to a customer. That being said, even if you hand pick everything yourself and you assemble it all yourself, there's still no guarantee it will work flawless the first go.
I commented on your last video about this bike. I got the same bike. It was sent to my local bike shop. Picked it up and 2 miles into my first ride the sounds were unbearable. Contacted commencial they said send it back. They even paid for the return. 3 weeks later got an email saying the same thing. Missed QC. Sent me a brand new complete bike ???? ( I only bought the frame) contacted them and they said it was for all the hassle. Wow. Ok. Thanks. 5 miles into my ride the rear pivot came loose and almost sheared off. Sent it back & Got my money back. Never again will I buy commencial. EVER!!
I’d recommend EVERYONE get their new bikes regressed and torqued to spec on EVERY new bike. I’ve seen brand new suspension linkages torqued to all sorts of randoms specs, almost always without any grease. In my years of shop experience and many new bikes, I’ve discovered this seems to be commonplace in the industry.
I think the best use of the spacers is to fill the gaps of the misaligned linkage. Atrocious production quality, but not the end of the world. edit: the root cause is obviously production tolerances which add up from different parts and welding process. you need to compensate for them (you should not need, but Commencal is known for this).
Had a brand new Meta a few years back. Chain would come off absolutely everywhere,even on fire roads. Tried various chain guides they said I should try. Good mechanics couldn’t sort it. Put a new drivetrain on…still same. Commencal….not interested!!!!
Maybe you just needed to put another spacer on the drive side crank shaft. Usually solves problem with chainline. If the chain is dropping on fire roads, it's not the frame.
@@obsorsky Should I have to do all that when I buy a new bike? Should Commencal have taken it back. Should I have to spend hundreds chasing the problem. Possibly the back end out. I’ll never know. It wasn’t my first Commencal but it was my last Commencal.
Crazy to see just how dirty it was behind those spacers on the link. I'm sure commencal don't want to have any big issues with there bikes especially now that there the official whistler bike park bike.
That´s what i thought as well. That´s a lot of dirt in a place where it supposedly shouldn´t be. I didn´t really see how the whole thing is constructed, but i can imagine that being the cause of the high flex. If the bearing assembly isn´t precise, it will lead to ingress of dirt and high amounts of flex.
Ive had to do this a couple of times on mine. Ive found the factory grease to be noisy too. I replaced all grease with maxima waterproof grease and its been silent since
I had a shock bolt come loose on my nukeproof reactor, used some red loctite, and it never happened again. I think it pays to be neurotic and threadlock everything.
My son's Saracen Ariel had a simlar issue with the main pivot bolt. Torqued to spec and seemed to work itself loose after almost every ride. I couldn't give it the works since it was in a carbon frame. A dose of threadlock sorted it right out!
Mine had all the noises too, they had pressed in all the bearings too tight they were semi seized. Popped them out then back in was better. Until it cracked
Commençal is a decent brand as far as i know, they're quite honest and it seems like they want their customers to be happy. I get the opinion that in such a price point the quality control shouldn't miss anything, but with large scale production there's a decent chance for a problem or two
Lewis. Serious question mate. I know you have liked a few of the bikes you have tried over the last year or so. WHICH was your favourite. It seemed like you really liked the Airdrop bike as it goes.
The mechanic who dismantled it should have noticed straight away if something was loose. Torquing things up should be the first thing to check really before you take the bike to bits.
As others have said I'd be livid that you were expected to install the spacers yourself. I'd expect a new bike and a big apology if they believed they sent it non functional
@LewisBuchanan what is the dimensions of the washers (inner outter diameters, thikness, material)? I have the same issue with my meta v5. I wrote to service but waiting to delivery to my country is too long and may by i can buy this washer on the construction market.
Is it the outside bearing race grinding on the painted frame? Or is it the inside of the bearings crunching because misalignment? Better bearings make a difference? Is a carbon frame less likely to make this noise? Curious how this creak comes about exactly. Anyone Explain??
So, here is my thoughts, when you buy a new bike you should send it to a mechanic to get all greased, and the suspension done, because from the factory it don’t come with the right amount of lubrification, my mechanic says it and I have seen some new bikes coming with no lubrification
Did the manufacturer say it missed quality control based on your incorrect assumption that spacers were missing. I would have thought the most likely place for the noise was that loose bolt on the linkage or next on my list would have been dirt in the linkage..
Seems like a quality control issue. Their frames aren't cheap so this should happen, but saying that, mines perfect and I've had no issues. Hopefully your issue is solved as they aren't a bad company, maybe just a bit too relaxed about checking their bikes over before they leave the factory.
I’m surprised Commencal didn’t ask for your stock bike back and send you a full replacement build. Admitting it hasn’t passed quality control should mean it’s not fit for the consumer. There’s a lot of lawsuits around road bikes failing/snapping and injuring people badly but I guess mtb isn’t seen with similar legal protection for bad manufacturing and qc 🙄
Next video: "The creak is back". I've been regreasing and torqueing the linkage on a friend's bike (different brand) and the creaking always comes back within a couple of rides. Tried all sorts of spacers, rubber grommets, whatever... Hopefully that sorts it for you, but in my experience, if there's a misalignment, then it would start creaking again.
I've always liked commencal, but paying 5k for a bike should bot miss any quantity control. In fact there should be 2 quality control checks to make sure everything is torqued up greased and nothing missing. I get that it can happen sometimes, but if your saying that a lot of commensal owners are experiencing the same issue, then thats unacceptable. Hopefully commencal paid for the cost of the labour from the bike shop. I would be pissed if i had to pay out of my own pocket for commencals negligence.
Yo Lew i Got a v10.8 Just wanted to ask if you had the same creaking problem on the Headset and if had it and fixed it how and if not What headset do you own
It's probably that loose linkage, working in a bike shop so many things can make a noise. When I first started one of the mechanics said he spent 2 hours on a noise, to find it was a dry hanger which just needed a bit of grease behind it.
I just love this channel and sponsorship. Proper honesty, it's super cool! Time for bike brands to step up their game
Introducing... inverse sponsorships. Where brands pay Lewis NOT to ride their bikes out of fear this will happen lol. Trek, Commencal, Evil, who else? I think I'm missing one
Given how many he breaks and how frequently he breaks them, it's definitely down to the rider. No wonder the only sponsor he can get is a pron site 🤣
In terms of why they sent the spacers, a bike that hasn't been QA'd its hard to determine what might be missing, they sent the spacers as they guessed these might be missing, in reality it was the bolts weren't torque'd to specification.
In terms of bikes generally, you buy a big brand bike from a local bikeshop, chances are the local bike shop went over the bike, made sure it's spot on. Mass direct to consumer supply, they might build the bike in their facility, they might not (outsource, usually far east) but either way the bikes are usually mass assembled and some of the care levels can drop.
I had a bike from a large-ish brand that do direct to consumer, brake lever was leaking fluid from the compression nut attaching the hose. Me with tools and knowhow sorted it and bled the system (also checked over the rest of the bike), someone without tools and/or knowledge might have to go to their LBS to get it sorted.
I have a Commencal tempo which I built from the frame up and uses the same linkage design as this, but I have never experienced any of these issues. I've taken it through shuttle days and downhill laps and it has only kept on giving.
Very interesting to see these issues and I'm glad its fixed for everyones sake, but even with all the trouble I have to say my experience with Commencal has been incredible. They missed a part of the dropper post that I purchased with my frame and they sent it straight to me with express shipping, without any questions asked.
How have you liked your Tempo? I’m thinking about buying one but im not sure how well it’s shorter travel would handle the rocky trails in my area. Seems like a really fun bike on jumps though!
@@Brosef336 The Tempo is absolutely amazing, corners incredibly and is super planted on everything as well as completely swinging off of the jumps. I also have a 170mm 2020 rocky mountain slayer and I can hardly tell the difference in travel on the tempo in the tech. it's not going to win any dh races but I can guarantee its the most fun you will have on the trails.
I had the same issues with my frame aswell. Same creaking after two rides. Upper link bolts were also loose. I did exactly same, cleaned, re-creased and torqued to specs. All the spacers were in place. No creaks anymore. Awesome bike after fixed.
Its giving me ocd that you did not clean the bike before working on it.
A very good mechanic said to me one time, "if theres something wrong, sometimes water etc can mask the issue"
He would assume this level of dirtiness is the good amount, gives you a sense of how the bike is currently
Working on pivots and bearings with that much loose mud and crud hanging around is just Absolutely Cowboy and just asking for crunchy parts!
Even just a spray and a wipe before opening up the nuts and guts!!
Lol...I was thinking the exact same thing. Clean the bike before working on it! Less change of dirt and crud getting into those pivot points.
@andrewbrown8927 good bike mechanic senses, poor use of ocd. Pretty sure ocd means you fold your shirt 15 times or lock the door 13 times. I think you meant frustrated, maybe apalled, possibly even anxious. Pretty sure you didn't contract ocd though. If you did, good luck, I suppose your door locks will wear out 13x faster than normal.
@@mattpattdevious work 🤣
i dont want to be rude, but if im paying 5k for a bike that shouldnt cost that much in the first place, i would expect all this messing around to be done by the company in the first place. i would send it back, theyll only think they can get away with it.
True
i feel your point, but never ever i saw a bike that was properly torqued and greased from factory. i always take them apart, grease and torque them correctly. more often than not this was neccessary. but for the price bikes cost nowadays i expect something diffrent just as you are...
@@MrVIDEOACEI'm only saying what I said because of the 3 bikes I've purchased (nukeproof scout 29, Vitus escarpe 29, and a haibike allmtn9 ebike) I have had no issues and all these bikes are over 2-5k.
I would have expected some one of your caliber in the bike industry to ha e done all that before even contacting Commecal.
@@jayjavi00totally disagree, just because someone can ride doesnt mean they know squat about mechanics and thats why they employ a race mechanic!!
Quality control is piss poor if a bikes allowed out the factory door like that 👎I personally had a bike 4 weeks old creaking from headset and popped the bearings out to find rust and rang the Bike shop asking if the bikes came from factory assembled or if they had to pre deliver them ?? They said they assembled / pre delivered them and i asked if they were scared of grease or something FFS 🤦♂️. I would’ve taken it back to them but shop was 7 hours away as i bought. it on holidays 🙄
I recently bought a Pivot Firebird from my LBS & everything had been removed greased and re assembled the way a pre delivery should be done 👍
Im a moto mechanic by trade & do 99% of work on all my bikes , Lewis clearly isnt but to be fair hes had a bad run with Factory Faults 🤬🤬
Became a member of the commencal facebook page when I considered getting one 3 years ago. The enormous amounts of frame issues I saw people having with them completely put me off though. Cracks, misalignments, creaks, fatigue bursts. Just horrid. Very glad I got a transition in stead. No issues whatsoever and lifetime warranty + the best customer service in all of mountain biking
Love my spire. Absolutely bombproof unit of a bike
Transition carbon frames are rugged and quiet.
I'm on my 3rd cf scout front triangle so not entirely true, I also had a hard time with transition trying to get them to honour there warranty, all was resolved in the end but what a pain in the ass and crappy experience
@@paulangove3277 oh that's a very rare thing for me to hear about transition. But nothing in the world is faultless so it has to happen. Sorry to hear it happened to you twice though
Now just lets wait and see what happens when you ride it properly and get it dirty
True haha
Give it a couple of weeks before thinking it's fixed
Had Commencal in 2012... Meta V2, shock was hitting the frame at bottom out (one supplied with the frame). Commencal send me pdf how to grind the frame to get clearance and paint to cover it up. Sold the frame and never ever again looked at their bikes. Looking at the amount of failures you can see around internet I will stay away for years to come :)
Wow, that´s absolutely wild.
But seems in line with their current track record. Supremes been blowing up left right and center everywhere. And now this Meta issue. Also can´t forget the dude whos meta blew up while just riding along. And the old freeride frames also kept disintegrating, with many people being on their 3rd or 4th replacement frame. Love their designs and they work very well, but they´re the absolute worst quality in the whole industry by a mile.
This is a pretty normal gamble we all take when buying a bike online if you don't check everything for grease and torque. I think it was natural to suggest missing spacers, they probably should have just said to disassemble and clean the links to look for properly installed spacers, grease then reassemble and torque to spec.
The whole scene has changed so much over the years. My first dually was a meria 140 back in 2011 and three years later i cracked the rear triangle at the two braces.
They took frame with no proof of purchas and replaces the rear triangle. Fast forwars 2014 i purchased a GT force LE and in 2016 the idrive unit started creaking. They found a crack in the rear swing arm in the process and sent a whole new frame back free of charge.
I still have that force LE frame and recently rebuilt it with modern parts and 27.5 wheels. Was glorious to see an 11 year old frame in its brand new state.
To top it off GT sent me the cable guide assembly from a 2013 frame a few weeks ago free of charge bar shipping after enquiring via a local Bike shop.
Now it seems like that level of care and representation is fading.
Glad to see the problem sorted. Bad news is that creaks have a habit of returning from the same place sometimes. I hope that's not the case for your bike.
Had a Meta AM 4.2 never creak like that but the backend did have some flex to it . Played havoc on the bearings was replacing twice a year.
This whole saga has probably been a nightmare for Commencal
they just opened a shop by me and i heard its been empty and everytime i talk to someone about it they bring up this hahaha
I think it was worse for Trek with the dropped chains on their high pivot mess.
hopefully they step up there game now
@@seanrequiredfieldcannotbel1362 chain vs entire linkage and flex from the rear are night and day problems to be comparing.
@@JwallzMTB well flex in the rear is an issue for a lot of bikes, and this really just needed to be retorqued to end the creaking. The chain drop was unfixable until new spacers arrived.
whistler bought a whole fleet for rentals, rest the souls in the mechanic pits
😂
the supreme v5 is fucked to work on
The mechanics in Whistler probably know how to build a bike correctly and check everything before letting someone ride it.
@@humanstrain1 bro doesnt get the point that out of the box these bikes are doing this. The mechanics will have to do that process to however many units they bought before they can even be ridden.
@@humanstrain1 you also put too much trust into people who use rentals. Those mechanic will be busy
It was the half turn to tighten on the linkage.
Hello lewis, i purchased the new V5. Same as you, it creaks a ton. And it also has different gap on one side of the rocker. Im sad tho that commencal gives you those spacers and i think because you are a youtuber and lot of people would not buy their bike because of you. But they dont really care that much about us normal people who bought their bikes and are not famous at all. I sent them few emails about the creaking and about that video of yours where you talk about them sending you spacers (you were waiting for them still) but im without a response. I just dont like the fact that they treat you differently than us, even tho it kinda makes sense. Cause for you it may be a bike for a year or not even that. But for some of us it’s a bike for 5 years. And it makes the shitty noise and the rocker link scratches the frame on our bikes too… Sorry for a long comment, love you man. Keep it up… Happy to see every video from you. And love to see some ohnest reaction on the bikes from a pro… Have a good one 😊
Sorry to hear that. Honestly get in touch with customer support but clean everything and torque everything to the correct amount! Good luck
Pick up the phone and call, hopefully they get you sorted out mate
Sounds like they owe you a full refund then go buy another good bike and keep £2,000 for bikeparks.
ive always had a email back from them
i think your next trail/endruo bike should be a scott genius st tuned i own it in irl and its super super sick the way it handles super fast and it looks sick.
end of last year i bought a FRS Frameset and there were also some spacers missing in the linkage, i saw while building the bike and got replacement from commencal but it shows its not only a problem with the Meta..
I brought a bird am160 in june 2019 and ive never had any problems with it whatsoever. The first thing i do with a new bike is check the bolt torques and everything on it was absolutely spot on, all greased and all had loctite. No rattles or creaks since ive had it plus their customer service is brilliant, something big brands seem to lack nowadays..Id suggest lewis looks at bird bikes if he wants something strong, reliable and hassle free. The only thing ive needed to change is pads and discs. I love mine.
I absolutely adore commencal bikes. I am pretty disappointed that they could screw up this bad. I have a Clash and it is such a robust bike. Good luck to you.
Contacted Commencal about the creaking issues on my SX V5 and they sent me out the washers. Installed the washers and have had zero creaking issues. Maybe the SX is slightly different and the rear triangle honestly doesn’t flex a whole lot. Maybe the SX version may have been the better option? But for now, loving the bike🤘🏽
The SX has a longer and stiffer chainstay despite being a mullet. The dedicated 29er meta is more of a big-travel trail/all mountain bike, with compliance built in.
I had creaks on my clash not long ago but it was more of a squeaky sound. As soon as I cleaned the linkage, regreased it and torqued it right the noises stopped and the bike is completely silent! Not sure why it just didn't creak from the start and all the way through but happy its gone now at least.
Hmmm
Hy ! Happy for you to see your problem solved 😉👍🏻. I have two questions please about your bike : is it the silver color ? In which size do you ride it ? Medium or Large ?
Thanks 🙂
I've had all sorts of fun and games with Commencal over the last week. To be fair they've sorted some of it out but I'm still annoyed that my frame came with none of the protection systems fitted i.e. chain stay, seat stay and downtube protection. I hope they arrive sometime next week. And based off of this video, I've dismantled the entire frame, greased the hell out of it and torqued it all back up. Fingers crossed.
Funnily enough, I bought a Radon Deft 9.0 and had the same issue. Was driving me nuts. Reassembled the whole rear triangle, greased and torqued it and voila no creaking. Pisses me the fuck off though - spending so much money to get a creaking bike.
Rant over. Have a good one and enjoy your bike.
So, is your frame contact/paint chip issue solved? Stopping noises is one thing, but swing arms contacting main frame seems pretty wonky to me.
Well, it would be interesting if its start creaking again when you take it out for another ride. The Carpark test dosen't really convince me. Pease
Hmm true. I’ll report back
@@LewisBuchanan you didnt report back
@@sersolo3112 clearly the proper test didn't go well
👏👏👏Great video!
I bought a Ghost gravel bike a while back through a bike shop. They charged me 60€ on top of the price to do the check up. First ride with the bike, all spokes of the rear wheel got so loose that I could wiggle the tire with the rim from side to side in the frame. Nobody cared and thought it was a problem.
Got to check everything. Had the LCS dial pop out on my zeb ultimate fork.
Sram said there was a piece missing which I later found on my shop floor.
So not missing, just not put together correctly.
The problem is fixed but still, 2 weeks without a fork.
Was there any sign of threadlock on the pivot bolts? It's possible they used threadlock and didn't torque it up properly, then when the threadlock goes off it feels like they are tight but they don't have enough bolt tension.
one thing that commencal cannot do everything about is that even if everything is properly secured it can come loose, often the first 500 km with the most problems after that after checking it should not come loose anymore
I had some pivots loose/creaking on my Canyon Spectral CF7. Always check torque never trust the factory!
great to hear it's back on track. what is up with that camera? it's like it's focusing on the background more than what's in the middle of the frame! or just really bad low light performance...hmmm
I have a 2018 commencal meta v.2 27.5 . That bike has seen it all and the frame is bullet proof. Have thought about a 29 er, I’m a teacher so never could actually pull the trigger.
I wonder if slightly "off" torque settings plus shipping to wherever just made things worse/bad enough that it got as crazy as it was.
I have a Commencal hardtail. I'm absolutely jinxing myself by saying this but it's been 1000% perfect. I took it to a local shop because I had some questions about fitting certain bags and stuff and the owner/mechanic did a quick look-over. He told me was really impressed with the component spec and assembly.
I'm not easy on my bikes (but I'm not a high-consequence sender either...we're mostly XC stuff here in the plains of the US) but it's been SO good.
Glad you got it sorted out. In the long run I'm looking at a Tempo (Commencal's short-travel trail bike) and I think it shares a suspension design with the V5. I'm excited to see you shred on it!
It was definitely the fact the pivots were not torqued properly. I recently got a Canyon Spectral 125 and the first thing I did was checked the torque on all the pivot points and they definitely were not torqued properly.
I do wonder if things have been damaged riding it as much as you have with loose pivots.
The creaking is likely from the massive play in that one link imo.
Hello,
I wanted to kindly remind you that I sent you a message regarding your videos.
Do we have your permission to use them?
We would be happy to know if there is any special requirement for publishing your videos that we could fulfill.
Thank you! :)
Sincerely,
Divya
Sadly this seems to be all too common with the bike industry. Quality control is just not the best. Have had 3 sets of pedals from 2 brands that all started creaking within 2 rides and had to be regressed. Forks that feel garbage out of the box until they get a service. Sucks that it's so common now
Never came across missing frickin spacers in a major portion of the linkage. Junk.
@@DM-hw4cr if you watch the video you'll see that he wasn't missing spacers. It just wasn't greased and torqued properly
What about the issue with the rear triangle making contact/being closer on one side of the main frame? Was that fixed?
I feel that no matter how much you pay for a new bike there's always something, and you just have to go over everything yourself once you get your hands on it.
I bought an expensive new bike 2 years ago and the frame was no issues, but I had lots of issues with components on my particular bike. Even though a bike is pretty much just the frame, the company obviously still have to be accountable for anything they attach to it before they ship the complete thing out to a customer.
That being said, even if you hand pick everything yourself and you assemble it all yourself, there's still no guarantee it will work flawless the first go.
True true
I commented on your last video about this bike. I got the same bike. It was sent to my local bike shop. Picked it up and 2 miles into my first ride the sounds were unbearable. Contacted commencial they said send it back. They even paid for the return. 3 weeks later got an email saying the same thing. Missed QC. Sent me a brand new complete bike ???? ( I only bought the frame) contacted them and they said it was for all the hassle. Wow. Ok. Thanks. 5 miles into my ride the rear pivot came loose and almost sheared off. Sent it back & Got my money back. Never again will I buy commencial. EVER!!
Dude, thats creaking awesome! Good news! But I got a feeling the creaking will return in no time. Hopefully it wont.
I’d recommend EVERYONE get their new bikes regressed and torqued to spec on EVERY new bike. I’ve seen brand new suspension linkages torqued to all sorts of randoms specs, almost always without any grease. In my years of shop experience and many new bikes, I’ve discovered this seems to be commonplace in the industry.
I think the best use of the spacers is to fill the gaps of the misaligned linkage. Atrocious production quality, but not the end of the world.
edit: the root cause is obviously production tolerances which add up from different parts and welding process. you need to compensate for them (you should not need, but Commencal is known for this).
Had a brand new Meta a few years back. Chain would come off absolutely everywhere,even on fire roads. Tried various chain guides they said I should try. Good mechanics couldn’t sort it. Put a new drivetrain on…still same. Commencal….not interested!!!!
Maybe you just needed to put another spacer on the drive side crank shaft. Usually solves problem with chainline. If the chain is dropping on fire roads, it's not the frame.
@@obsorsky Should I have to do all that when I buy a new bike? Should Commencal have taken it back. Should I have to spend hundreds chasing the problem. Possibly the back end out. I’ll never know. It wasn’t my first Commencal but it was my last Commencal.
Crazy to see just how dirty it was behind those spacers on the link. I'm sure commencal don't want to have any big issues with there bikes especially now that there the official whistler bike park bike.
That´s what i thought as well. That´s a lot of dirt in a place where it supposedly shouldn´t be. I didn´t really see how the whole thing is constructed, but i can imagine that being the cause of the high flex. If the bearing assembly isn´t precise, it will lead to ingress of dirt and high amounts of flex.
Ok. Now, let's pretend it was the torque settings wrong, how do you explain the rubbing on the frame?
I'm sure simply tightening that loose linkage and cleaning and lubing all pivot points would have taken care of that creak..
I've been biking 17 years.. creaking is something not torqued correctly 99.5% of the time, the other .5% is dirt where it shouldn't be.
Ive had to do this a couple of times on mine. Ive found the factory grease to be noisy too. I replaced all grease with maxima waterproof grease and its been silent since
Where did the O-chain video you released a few days ago go?
I had a shock bolt come loose on my nukeproof reactor, used some red loctite, and it never happened again. I think it pays to be neurotic and threadlock everything.
My son's Saracen Ariel had a simlar issue with the main pivot bolt. Torqued to spec and seemed to work itself loose after almost every ride. I couldn't give it the works since it was in a carbon frame. A dose of threadlock sorted it right out!
It’s probably just where the linkage bolts loosened up, if it does it again try some locktite
I hope it holds on, greetings from Germany
Thanks
Mine had all the noises too, they had pressed in all the bearings too tight they were semi seized. Popped them out then back in was better. Until it cracked
Commençal is a decent brand as far as i know, they're quite honest and it seems like they want their customers to be happy. I get the opinion that in such a price point the quality control shouldn't miss anything, but with large scale production there's a decent chance for a problem or two
Maybe they did know it missed quality control, presumed it was missing spacers but it just hadn't been torqued correctly?
That seems most likely
Lewis.
Serious question mate. I know you have liked a few of the bikes you have tried over the last year or so.
WHICH was your favourite. It seemed like you really liked the Airdrop bike as it goes.
Meta v5 type chalk 2024 no any problem
bike brands have been pulling the wool over our eyes for years
So the linkage simply hadn't been torqued up to the correct setting and there was play?
The mechanic who dismantled it should have noticed straight away if something was loose. Torquing things up should be the first thing to check really before you take the bike to bits.
So u just gotta service it lol and I'd change those washers every few months lol grear inspection as well
As others have said I'd be livid that you were expected to install the spacers yourself. I'd expect a new bike and a big apology if they believed they sent it non functional
Does the rear end still look misaligned? Wonder if the fresh grease is just masking the movement/creak?
@LewisBuchanan what is the dimensions of the washers (inner outter diameters, thikness, material)? I have the same issue with my meta v5. I wrote to service but waiting to delivery to my country is too long and may by i can buy this washer on the construction market.
glad you have good news 👍
as for the next video, can you please do the tour of your house and bike garage. 😊
So the linkage is now correctly centered?
What is it with bike companies and blaming issues on spacers. It’s like the trek slash all over again.
poor engineering and production quality is not fixed as cheaply as handful of spacer :D
always check the linkage bolts before a ride ?
The loose parts you tightened with the Allen key was a bit odd , why was it loose.?
Is it the outside bearing race grinding on the painted frame? Or is it the inside of the bearings crunching because misalignment? Better bearings make a difference? Is a carbon frame less likely to make this noise?
Curious how this creak comes about exactly. Anyone Explain??
Do you think the linkage will pass the seat stay now? I’d be upset with it eating the paint off at the cost of the bike.
If you guys had to choose between the meta v5 and the high pivot slash
What would you pick and why ?
from where is the mudguard?
Weekly bike check would save alot of drama.
Love the videos man keep it up!
Thanks
Did you ride the bike before you changed the rear shock as it may have been ok with the original shock ? glad you got it sorted in the end
Yup! Rode it before changed shock and still creaked
Im supposed to be getting a V5 soon and I’ve been hearing bad reviews
So, here is my thoughts, when you buy a new bike you should send it to a mechanic to get all greased, and the suspension done, because from the factory it don’t come with the right amount of lubrification, my mechanic says it and I have seen some new bikes coming with no lubrification
Gotta have been because of the bolts loosing there torque and creating extra slop 💪🏻
Try ordering a canyon…some interesting things been missing on customers bikes
Interesting! Fingers crossed it’s all sorted Lewis…🤞
Thanks
Did the manufacturer say it missed quality control based on your incorrect assumption that spacers were missing.
I would have thought the most likely place for the noise was that loose bolt on the linkage or next on my list would have been dirt in the linkage..
Seems like a quality control issue. Their frames aren't cheap so this should happen, but saying that, mines perfect and I've had no issues. Hopefully your issue is solved as they aren't a bad company, maybe just a bit too relaxed about checking their bikes over before they leave the factory.
I’m surprised Commencal didn’t ask for your stock bike back and send you a full replacement build. Admitting it hasn’t passed quality control should mean it’s not fit for the consumer. There’s a lot of lawsuits around road bikes failing/snapping and injuring people badly but I guess mtb isn’t seen with similar legal protection for bad manufacturing and qc 🙄
Good for now, ride it two weeks and give us an update please.
Shame about the QC issues, expect a bit more from a brand like Commencal. Hubs sounding sick. Which are those?
Our youngest son needs a new bike. We were looking at commencall but after seeing all this there's no way we're buying commencall
Pls give us an update after you go ride it a bit. 😎
Next video: "The creak is back". I've been regreasing and torqueing the linkage on a friend's bike (different brand) and the creaking always comes back within a couple of rides. Tried all sorts of spacers, rubber grommets, whatever... Hopefully that sorts it for you, but in my experience, if there's a misalignment, then it would start creaking again.
Creaks can sometimes come from a bad saddle or seat post also.
I've always liked commencal, but paying 5k for a bike should bot miss any quantity control. In fact there should be 2 quality control checks to make sure everything is torqued up greased and nothing missing.
I get that it can happen sometimes, but if your saying that a lot of commensal owners are experiencing the same issue, then thats unacceptable.
Hopefully commencal paid for the cost of the labour from the bike shop. I would be pissed if i had to pay out of my own pocket for commencals negligence.
Yo Lew i Got a v10.8 Just wanted to ask if you had the same creaking problem on the Headset and if had it and fixed it how and if not What headset do you own
What’s your opinion on the v5 dh
wich is the best enduro bike you ever tried for now?