The rejuvenated Meta range from Commencal was introduced in 2011 with the Mega Avalanche winning Meta AM, an enduro bike designed to take riders uphill with the best of them and then to be thrashed back down any track or trail.

That bike has proved its worth and its ‘floating’ rear shock suspension platform, and the overall intention of the bike, has worked so well that Commencal designer Nico Menard decided to open the floodgates and produce an entire range of all-mountain and enduro bikes with a similar lay-out. This Meta SX is the burliest of them all, with the Meta SL and Meta AM29 fulfilling other less demanding duties.

With 160mm of Commencal’s famously smooth and bottom-less feeling suspension travel, beefed up tubing (over the AM), lower BB and a slacker head-angle this bike is the dangerous cousin of the AM and a bike that can rip on downhills with the best of them. Although not as light as the AM, the SX will still get you up the hills and for that reason we think that Commencal have hit the nail on the head for the modernday British mountain biker.

Price: Frame £1699.99, Complete from £2799.99

Decade: 01792 469 811
www.commencal.com