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.

Its giving me ocd that you did not clean the bike before working on 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

Now just lets wait and see what happens when you ride it properly and get it dirty

whistler bought a whole fleet for rentals, rest the souls in the mechanic pits

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

This whole saga has probably been a nightmare for Commencal

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.

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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.

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 😊

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.

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

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

Love the videos man keep it up!

I‘m happy for you😊. You are literally my favorite Mtb KZfaqr

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 :)

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.

It was the half turn to tighten on the linkage.

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..

👏👏👏Great video!

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

Where did the O-chain video you released a few days ago go?

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 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.

Interesting! Fingers crossed it’s all sorted Lewis…🤞

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🤘🏽

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.

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

The creaking is likely from the massive play in that one link imo.

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.

Ok. Now, let's pretend it was the torque settings wrong, how do you explain the rubbing on the frame?

I hope it holds on, greetings from Germany

The loose parts you tightened with the Allen key was a bit odd , why was it loose.?

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?

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.

So the linkage is now correctly centered?

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

Does the rear end still look misaligned? Wonder if the fresh grease is just masking the movement/creak?

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

Dude, thats creaking awesome! Good news! But I got a feeling the creaking will return in no time. Hopefully it wont.

What is it with bike companies and blaming issues on spacers. It’s like the trek slash all over again.

If you guys had to choose between the meta v5 and the high pivot slash What would you pick and why ?

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.

Im supposed to be getting a V5 soon and I’ve been hearing bad reviews

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.

What’s your opinion on the v5 dh

as for the next video, can you please do the tour of your house and bike garage. 😊

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.

'Comical' should be the name of the company

I had some pivots loose/creaking on my Canyon Spectral CF7. Always check torque never trust the factory!

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

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.

Is the alignment still weird on the linkage?

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.

@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.

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.

So the linkage simply hadn't been torqued up to the correct setting and there was play?

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.

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??

The redemption arc

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!!

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

So u just gotta service it lol and I'd change those washers every few months lol grear inspection as well

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!!!!

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

Gotta have been because of the bolts loosing there torque and creating extra slop 💪🏻

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).

Try ordering a canyon…some interesting things been missing on customers bikes

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.

Pls give us an update after you go ride it a bit. 😎

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.

Shame about the QC issues, expect a bit more from a brand like Commencal. Hubs sounding sick. Which are those?

Is the problems solved tho? You shouldn't get wear from the linkage on a brand new 5k bike 🤔

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..

Good for now, ride it two weeks and give us an update please.

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

Should have sent you new bearings as well.

Thats the problem,,it’s easy to buy ,,if have some issues of the bike its hard to replace the bike ,what’s the point of warranty!

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

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!

Damn son, this brand is going down! 😅🤣

Meta v5 type chalk 2024 no any problem

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 🙄

But wasn’t there one of the linkage bolts loose and one not very tight? That would have been the issue

Had a Meta v4 that I loved but creaked bad. Sold it because I was tired of dealing with it

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 have an RM Altitude and it's silent once you service it. But.... it gets creaky in a few weeks and you can't do anything about it. It's impossible rly, as there are flipchips which get dirty. And the carbon is loud AF, but I like the bike and don't rly care unless it damages the frame As for the bikes - it's not that hard to re-grease the frame - you don't mention the fact suspension manufacturers don't do proper greasing in forks and shocks. I've had a few shocks and EVERY one of them had issues with no grease or excessive grease. I'm not even talking about the air in the damper

Sweet, buy a commencal and get to learn how to become a bike mechanic as well. Win win! 🤣

It comes down to not checking over your bike when you build it.