Commencal’s latest e-bike is called the Meta Power SX 400 and it’s designed for just one thing – going downhill, fast. The Andorran brand has given the bike 170mm travel front and rear but instead of a full power motor like Orbea’s new Wild e-bike with 170mm travel – and indeed most bikes in this DH e-bike category – it comes with a svelte Bosch SX to keep the weight low.

How low? 21.9kg is the claimed weight from Commencal, which makes it pretty chunky compared with the best lightweight mountain bikes out there. It’s actually quite impressive though, given the build kit on the Meta Power SX 400, it’s an alloy framed bike for starters and the DH casing tyres and 38mm stanchioned fork all add weight. All told then, it looks like an absolute ripper, and looks like it could realise the potential we saw in the under-powered Specialized Kenevo SL.

The Meta Power is built for descending, and looks to pick up where the Specialized Kenevo SL left off

Commencal Meta Power SX 400 need to know

• Alloy frame enduro e-bike with 170mm travel front and rear
• Mullet wheels, with 29in up front and 27.5in following behind
• Bosch SX motor generating 55Nm torque and 600W peak power
• Bosch 400Wh battery and PowerMore 250Wh range extender

The Meta Power SX 400 comes in four sizes, from S-XL, with Large coming in at 485mm in terms of Reach. That puts it pretty closely in line with the YT Decoy SN we tested earlier in the year. That Decoy SN is probably the closest competitor to the new  Meta Power then, with the German bike sporting a 170mm fork and 160mm travel at the back. The Decoy SN gets a hair more power though thanks to its Fazua Ride 60 motor, and it comes with a carbon only frame.

The Meta Power gets a 64° head angle, and proportional chainstay lengths split across the four sizes, with the bigger bikes getting a long pretty long 450mm, and the small and medium using a 445mm. The rest of the bike is as you’d expect, long, low and slack.

The VCS virtual pivot point suspension is a setup we really like, with tons of grip

How will the Meta Power Ride?

The new bike uses the brand’s trusty VCS virtual pivot point suspension design, which is the same setup we tried on the Commencal Meta V5 Race last year. I’d hazard a guess then that this new bike will prove really planted with a ton of grip and support then, like the Meta V5. The V5 analogue bike proved itself pretty heavy on the scales, at over 16kg, but it was still agile and playful. We’re expecting much the same form the Meta Power SX, given that Commecal has picked the SX motor over the newer and arguably better CX power unit from Bosch.

The principal reason you’d pick the SX is for its weight advantage, but Commencal says it also offers less friction or drag and a more natural pedalling experience. It’s interesting the brand hasn’t followed the market trend to pick the more powerful motor though, and it’ll be interesting to see how it’s received compared with the latest Bosch Performance CX Gen 5 unit, or indeed the hugely disruptive DJI-powered Amflow PL Carbon Pro.

The Essential bike gets lower tier Fox suspension

Meta Power range and pricing

There are two bike in the Meta Power SX 400 range, the Signature with a “glittery white” paintjob, and an Essential in “glittery black”.

The Signature uses Fox Factory suspension with a Float X shock and 38 fork, SRAM Maven four-pot brakes, SRAM AXS T-type drivetrain with a blend of GX and XO, and burly DT Swiss HFR1700 wheels shod with Schwalbe Super Gravity tyres.

The Essential gets a Performance Elite Fox 38 and a Performance level Float X shock. There are TRP R2 brakes, a SRAM GX and NX drivetrain, heavier DT Swiss HFR1900 wheels and the same Super Gravity tyres.

UK pricing doesn’t seem to be available yet on the Commencal site, but in the EU the Signature is listed as €8,200 while the Essential bike costs €6,000. They’re down as being available to pre order from February 2025.