Broken Frame: 2018 Meta Power

[Brianjonesphoto]

Hi guys wanted to share what I discovered as I was getting ready for a ride today. Looks like I'll find out what the warranty process is like. Chatting with the guys at Commencal USA on the phone made is sound like a smooth process assuming they can find an XL frame to send me. I really don't want to have to buy parts to make a newer frame work with what I have. 3 rides ago I got a new 27.5 rear wheel built.

 

[Brianjonesphoto]

Still waiting to find out if there is a frame available for me. I did hear back from Commencal USA yesterday with a request from the "engineers in europe" They wanted to see a photo of me on the bike as well as photos of the seat post out of the bike. I'm not sure why the wanted to see me on the bike other than to see if my set up has me riding way back on the saddle. One of the first questions I was asked is if the seatpost was above the min insertion line. I sent them a photo showing the post was inserted well beyond the min line and held next to a straight edge to show it was not bent in any way.

I hope this gets resolved quickly.

 

[steve_sordy]

I can see why they asked about the saddle height. it looks very high up compared to the bar. And that's an XL, just how tall are you?

Best of luck with the frame claim.

 

[Brianjonesphoto]

I can see why they asked about the saddle height. it looks very high up compared to the bar. And that's an XL, just how tall are you?

Best of luck with the frame claim.

I'm 6'6" of 198cm for you metric folk.

 

[steve_sordy]

WOW! That bike looks like a 26er!

Or is that heightism? Nope! Lets not start a new thing for the woke brigade to obsess over.

 

[njn]

I can see why they would ask, as it appears that the damage is where the bottom of the seat post would be.

 

[Brianjonesphoto]

I can see why they would ask, as it appears that the damage is where the bottom of the seat post would be.

Thanks for bringing that up. I hadn’t thought of that.

There is about 25mm of post inserted below the crack.

 

[Brianjonesphoto]

Got the call today from Commencal USA that there is a replacement frame being shipped from Europe. Hopefully I’ll be riding again in little more than a week.

 

[Brianjonesphoto]

Another update. The frame was shipped out last week and scheduled to be delivered to me on Tuesday 7/14. Monday 7/13 I got an invoice from DHL for $267us to pay for import duties. I contacted Commencal ASAP and was told by someone in Andorra “we will take care of that it won’t cost you anything”. Well it’s now Saturday and the frame has been sitting 15 miles away waiting to be released since Tuesday. After a few calls and email I get the response we are working with DHL And for some reason it takes them a while.

I don’t know where the problems lies but would really like a working bike. With corona-parenting my once a week rides (down from 2-3 pre COVID) have been a huge help keeping me sane. I haven’t been riding in 3 weeks now.

I hope this gets solved soon.

 

[Matt_Rider]

Can you pay the fee and get Commencal to reimburse you?

 

[Brianjonesphoto]

Can you pay the fee and get Commencal to reimburse you?

I could, but I’d rather not potentially loose my money. As much as I want to get back to riding I’m hemorrhaging money on another project right now and have not worked in 4 months.

 

[Brianjonesphoto]

Looks like the duties got all sorted. The replacement frame arrived yesterday. I’m almost done with the swap. I have to say I was a bit nervous about doing the frame swap but it has been the easiest bike build I have ever done by far. With the motor removed there is so much access for the internal routing it was a piece of cake.

I’ve gone from mango to bright red. I was secretly hoping for one of the blue 2019 frames. Truth be told I’m just happy to have a functional bike again.

 

[JimBo]

I'm 6'3" (36" inseam tho) with an XL 2018 Meta Power and have about the same seatube insertion.

I always thought the elongated seat tube looked a bit precarious! The main frame is basically the same as their other sizes with the top tube welded at a steeper angle. I'll be keeping an eye on the frame now.

 

[maynard]

Photos of new build ?

 

[Brianjonesphoto]

1 ride so far on the new frame. Any it's much quieter that the broken one. I have a feeling the "seat" creek I had be hearing for a while might not have been the seat clamp/post after all.

 

[Doomanic]

Is it worth getting a 200mm dropper to get as much seat post in the frame as possible?

 

[Brianjonesphoto]

I don’t know. The seat post extended below the crack as it was. If I ever need to replace the post I’ll get a longer one.

 

[Brianjonesphoto]

I got word from Commencal that I didn't need to send the frame back after all. I needed to send them proof it was destroyed. Which is great as not I have an extra rear triangle and linkage just incase. There's a strange feeling to taking a sawzall to your bike. Since I had the opportunity I decided to do a bit of an autopsy.

I believe the crack started on the edge of the weld circled in this photo and went unnoticed for a while. One of the many reasons I don't want a carbon frame.

Here's the inside

You can see that the seatpost extended well beyond the crack.

In the end I'm happy with the way things were handled. The shipping hold delay was a bummer, but it is what it is. The guys at Commencal USA are great to deal with. I think this will be my last orange bike. The only other frame I've ever broken was also an orange full suspension bike.