Enduro hardtail, sure why not?! The new Meta HT AM is the latest all-mountain trail bike to forgo rear suspension for a bike capable of getting hucked off of pretty much anything, and at a lighter weight and lower price. You just have to be hardcore enough to be able to hold on and ride it out. As an entry into aggressive & technical trail riding, it’s hard to argue with using a long-travel hardtail to really refine your bike handling skills. Most of the world’s best mountain bike riders started like that, as did us mere mortals. If you need some inspiration hop past the break with us and watch multi-time junior World Cup DH winner Gaetan Vigé show us how its done, plus get the details on the new bike in three affordable builds…
Paired with 160mm forks, the new 27.5″ hardtail really is up for any type of terrain. There is not just the top Race version that Vigé is having a hard time keeping on the ground, but also a couple even lower priced builds. But even the Origin and Essential models aren’t really entry bikes, getting a solid trail-worthy spec.
The Commencal Meta HT AM Race gets built with a 160mm RockShox Lyric RC fork, a SRAM NX 1x drivetrain and Avid DB3 brakes with a 200mm rotor up front & 180mm out back. The black-only Race bike sells for $1600€ or CAD$2100.
Stepping down to the Essential hardtail, the spec swaps in a 160mm RockShox Yari RC instead. The groupset also drops down to a SRAM X7/X5 2×9 mix and the brakes to Avid DB1s, but the price comes down too, to $1300€ or CAD$1700, with the bike offered in black or orange.
At the lowest tier, the Meta HT AM Origin keeps the Yari RC fork, but goes to an all X5 2×9 group and a set of Tektro hydraulic disc brakes. But like the more expensive bikes, the yellow-only Origin gets the same 650B wheelset with WTB’s tubeless-ready 25mm internal STP i25 rims, but keeps its price just under $1000€.
Each of the bikes gets spec’ed with 2.4″ Maxxis rubber, and Commencal’s Ride Alpha finishing kit. The bikes are mostly in-stock now for ordering online, with the remaining bikes available for pre-order now with about a two week lead time.
