Commencal Meta Power SX 400
Wheel Sizes: 29’’ front / 27.5’’ rear
Suspension Travel:
- Frame: 170 mm
- Fork: 170 mm
Geometry Highlights:
- Sizes offered: S, M, L, XL
- Headtube angle: 64°
- Reach (size Large): 485 mm
- Chainstay length (size Large): 450 mm
Drive System Highlights:
- Motor: Bosch Performance Line SX
- Torque: 55 Nm
- Power: 600 W
- Battery: 400 Wh with optional 250 Wh range extender
- Display: Bosch System Controller
- Remote: Bosch Mini Remote
Frame Material: Aluminum
Price: Complete bikes $5,500 to $7,400 USD / €6,000 to €8,200 (w/ VAT)
Intro
Commencal has offered a ‘Meta Power SX’ with the full-power Bosch CX drive unit for a while now, but now they’re adding a variant with the lightweight Bosch SX drive system to their lineup. While it’s got some things in common with the longstanding Meta Power SX, the new version is far from being the same bike with a smaller, lighter drive unit swapped in. Let’s check it out:
The Frame
The new Meta Power SX 400 is the first eMTB to get Commencal’s “Virtual Contact System” suspension layout, which we’ve already seen on their T.E.M.P.O. and Meta V5 bikes. It’s a dual mini-link arrangement, producing 170 mm of rear-wheel travel as implemented here; Commencal doesn’t go into further detail about the suspension kinematics.
As per usual for Commencal, the Meta Power SX 400 is offered in an aluminum frame only, and it’s a dedicated mixed-wheel setup (as with other recent Meta SX variants, including the standard Meta Power SX, which uses Bosch’s full-power Performance Line CX drive system).
The Meta Power SX 400’s cables are all internally routed but (happily) are fully guided internally — an unusual but welcome move for an aluminum-framed bike — and don’t go through the headset.
[The stock headset appears to be an Acros unit that could support headset cable routing, but there are ports on the downtube so you can forgo it, and the stock photos show the cables routed through those non-headset ports.]
Other frame details are relatively conventional, but sensible. There’s room for a water bottle inside the frame on all four sizes, and the frame includes an accessory mount underneath the top tube forward of the rear shock (room for that might get tight on the smaller frame sizes, and we’re not sure if it’s offered on the whole range). The rubber chainstay and seatstay guards look to offer good coverage, and there’s a custom integrated upper chain guide to help with chain retention. All the pivots use through axles with locking collets to keep everything snug.
Drive System
The Meta Power SX 400 gets Bosch’s Performance Line SX drive system. This is either confusing or convenient, since “SX” is already the moniker Commencal has used for their longer-travel, mixed-wheel Meta variants. The SX drive system itself has been popping up on a ton of recent bikes and occupies an interesting middle ground in the current eMTB drive system market.
The SX drive unit is nominally a “lower power” option, but it’s actually got the same rated peak power as Bosch’s “full power” CX drive system (and Shimano’s EP801 as well). Relative to those options, the SX actually offers less torque rather than less power — a stated 55 Nm for the SX instead of 85 Nm for the CX and EP801. In practice, we’ve found the SX drive unit to require a relatively high cadence to achieve that high power output and, as a result, it tends to run through its relatively small 400 Wh battery somewhat quickly.
[Check out our review of the SX-equipped Mondraker Dune for a lot more on that.]
Fit & Geometry
Commencal offers the Meta Power SX 400 in four sizes, Small through XL. Reach figures range from 440 mm up to 510 mm, with stops at 460 and 485 mm along the way. The stack height starts relatively tall on the smaller frame sizes (636 mm for the Small) but doesn’t grow all that much across the size range, with the Medium frame clocking in at 641 mm and the Large and XL sharing a 645 mm figure.
All four sizes get a 64° headtube angle and matching 77.5° effective / 74.2° actual seat tube angles. The Small and Medium frames get 445 mm chainstays, with the Large and XL bumping up to 450 mm.
The Builds
At least for now, Commencal is only offering two builds on the Meta Power SX 400. Full specs weren’t available ahead of the launch, but here’s what we can pull together from the available information:
- Drivetrain: SRAM GX Eagle
- Brakes: TRP DHR Evo
- Fork: Fox 38 Performance
- Shock: Fox Float X Performance
- Wheels: DT Swiss HF 1900
- Dropper post: n/a
- Drivetrain: SRAM GX Transmission w/ X0 crank
- Brakes: SRAM Maven Silver
- Fork: Fox 38 Factory
- Shock: Fox Float X Factory
- Wheels: DT Swiss HFR 1700
- Dropper post: Fox Transfer Factory
Some Questions / Things We’re Curious About
(1) How does the longest-travel implementation of Commencal’s VCS suspension layout perform, and how does the Meta Power SX 400 ride in general?
(2) Does the Bosch SX drive system offer a reasonable range on what is presumably a fairly heavy bike? And does this drive system’s weight savings make enough of a difference to descending performance to feel justified?
Bottom Line (For Now)
The big boom in Bosch-SX-equipped eMTBs has largely been focused on mid-travel Trail bikes, but the new Meta Power SX 400 joins the Mondraker Dune and a few others in putting the lightweight drive system into a burly Enduro bike.
So, how coherent does that pairing feel in what we expect to be a fairly heavy bike, and how does the Meta Power SX 400 stack up against other lower-power Enduro eMTBs, including the Dune and Trek Slash+? We’re working on getting one in for review to find out, so stay tuned for much more on the Meta Power SX 400 if and when we’re able to make that happen.