A new year brings a fresh look to kids’ mountain bikes for Commencal with an all-new Clash Kids full-suspension enduro bike and re-worked Meta Kids all-mountain hardtails – both in three wheel sizes to fit all ages. They way Commencal puts it, kids “hang out on the Internet watching the DH World Cup and Rampage videos. They film their exploits, jumps…” and someone needs to build them some capable bikes…
2019 Commencal Clash Kids & Meta HT Kids enduro & all-mountain bikes
Commencal has long been the option for solid mountain bikes for little shredders. From balance bikes to pint-sized gravity shredders. But 2019 they step it up a notch with all-new small-sized, but long-travel modern full-suspension Clash enduro bikes with 20″, 24″ & 27.5″ wheel options. Plus the Meta HT hardtail gets overhauled in the same wheel size options, with both bikes getting a sized-down spec updates with disc brakes featuring small-hand-specific levers, proper suspension forks built for lighter riders.
Oh yeah, and classy looking skinwall tires because they look cooler when the kiddos share their next shredit online! These two 11-year-olds are good example. Twin riders Max and Till Alran take to the trails in Languedoc Roussillon, France to show us geezers how it’s done!
2019 Commencal Meta HT Kids all-mountain youth hardtails
Commencal calls the new Meta HT Kids platform ‘endurigid‘, get it enduro rigid. It’s a line of burly alloy hardtails built up with smaller wheelsizes and size-specific fork travel. The twin Alran boys are kicking it in that video on the biggest bike – the Meta HT Junior.
The Commencal Meta HT Junior is a 1200€ triple butted 6061 aluminum hardtail with 27.5″ wheels & 2.35″ tires, a 140mm travel RockShox Recon RL fork, and a 100mm dropper seatpost. It gets a SRAM NX 1x 11 drivetrain with an 11-42 cassette, a small 30T ring, and short 155mm cranks.
Essentially just a downsized version of Commencal’s Meta AM hardtail that uses the same wheelsize, but this bike gets a 3.5cm less reach and more importantly 16.5cm more standover clearance. That makes it a key transition size between a small kids bike and a proper adult-sized bike, said to fit riders 140-160cm/4’7″-5’3″ tall.
For their little brother, step down to the 1000€ Meta HT 24+.
The 11.6kg smaller bike gets 24×2.6″ tires, a 120mm travel Prodigy air spring fork from Commencal house brand Ride Alpha, and a SRAM X5 1×9 drivetrain with kid sized gearing & finishing kit.
The last step down for the kids’ hardtails is the Meta HT 20+, fit down to riders just 115cm/3’9″ tall. For 900€ you get plus-sized grip again with 20×2.6″ tires, the kid-specific SRAM 1×9 drivetrain, and a 20″ version of the Ride Alpha Prodigy air spring fork with 100mm of travel and its 15mm thru-axle.
All of the new Commencal Meta HT Kids hardtails are in stock, and available direct from Commencal.
2019 Commencal Clash Kids youth full-suspension enduro bikes
But it’s not only hardtails for Commencal’s groms. With almost no fanfare at all, they’ve quietly given their Supreme Kids full-suspension bikes a ground-up redesign. Now falling into the newly created Clash family, the Clash Kids all share the same new suspension design with a high single-pivot placed behind the bottom bracket (and behind the seattube) and a rear pivot concentric to the rear thru-axles. Complete details remain thin on the quietly debuted Clash Kids bikes, but they look to get the same performance & spec updates as the Meta HT Kids and the same size options.
The biggest is the 160mm travel 27.5″ Clash Junior. It looks a lot like the adult version of the same bike that gets an extra 5mm of travel (and an even longer fork), but again with shorter reach and more standover clearance. The Clash Junior sells for 2500€ with a RockShox revelation fork, NX Eagle 1×12, a KS Lev dropper post, ISCG mounts, Boost spacing, and 27.5×2.6″ tires.
Size down to the new Clash 24 and you get a bike that looks much the same albeit with more simplified alloy tubing. For 2000€ the 150mm travel Clash 24 gets a Manitou Machete Pro fork, XT 1×11 drivetrain, and 24×2.6″ tires.
Lastly, the smallest wheels come on the 1800€ Clash 20 with 130mm of travel a SRAM X5 1×9 drivetrain, non Boost thru-axles, and 20×2.6″ tires.
All of the new 2019 Clash Kids bikes are available for pre-order now, but not expected to arrive at your doorstep until this summer, June 2019 to be precise.