Commencal are going from strength to strength at the moment and they’ve taken their tough trail hardtail bang up to date with 650b wheels. With its skinny rims, crankset and fork, the El Camino certainly isn’t perfect and it’s the least hardcore bike here. The handling, smoothness, speed and all-round agility of the basic bike still make it a real blast for technical trail riding though, and it’s a great base for upgrading over time.
The frame
The El Camino’s frame has been reconfigured to work with the slightly larger
wheels, but that’s not the only interesting feature on this Andorran frameset.
The slightly curved down tube has a big shared weld seam joining it to the top
tube (which has triple cable/hose routing underneath) and the down tube is
flattened to allow for a full-width weld on to the bottom bracket – both
popular twist resisting tricks. On this small size frame, the reinforcing tube
that’s separate on larger sizes is conjoined with the top tube and seat tube.
Despite the bigger wheels there’s still reasonable tyre clearance inside
the tapered rear stays, which end in neat, 3D cut-out forged dropouts for a touch
of class at the tail end. The disc brake mount is the old IS standard though,
complete with extra spacer bracket. While there are mudguard mounts on the
dropouts, there are no matching four-point rack mounts on the seatstays. You do
get fixtures for a water bottle though, and it’s the only frame here that comes
in a full XS to XL size range.
The kit
The most obvious difference between the Commencal and the other bikes on
test is the 650b wheels, which come wrapped in fast rolling but still grippy enough
Kenda Honey Badger tyres. The 22mm rims are much narrower than the hoops on the
other bikes though, so the tyres don’t blow up as big and stable as they could.
The extra diameter also makes the wheels heavier despite the slimmer rims.
The stanchions of the RST Blaze fork are just 30mm in diameter and the
extra length needed to accommodate the 650b wheels makes the resulting twist
and flex even more obvious. The Lasco triple crankset is also on the obviously
twisty list thanks to skinny arms, a square taper axle and pressed steel triple
chainrings. The Commencal bar, stem and seatpost are solid enough to take a beating
though, and the Tektro brakes are essentially the same adequately controlled
anchors as on the Kona.
The ride
While the El Camino’s head angle is significantly steeper than the
Kona’s, its bigger wheels and low BB mean its handling feels similarly stable
and benign. The more we rode the Commencal, the more the smoothing effect of
the 650b hoops became clear. Despite the fast rolling tyre tread, traction was
noticeably better in all the conditions we rode in, from sloppy mud to loose,
drifty gravel, and they hold a slide better when they do let go. The wheels
thump and bump less on rocky trails too so it’s easier to maintain speed, and
the bike just felt more relaxing and less punishing than the others on rougher
trails.
While the El Camino cruised with an easy efficiency, it was less
convincing when we started working it hard. For a start, the cranks flex so
noticeably that it feels like your pedals are bending right round under the
frame if you stomp on them even remotely hard, which hardly encourages your
efforts.
The skinny fork struggles to hold a line on rooty, rocky trails and we
got bullied into the bushes several times by big boulders. The fact the bottom bracket
is so low and the cranks prone to smacking into the ground doesn’t help when you
try to pedal through rocky or rutted sections either. We’d definitely be wary
about the survival chances of the wheels, cranks and fork if you feed them a
regular diet of long drops and heavy landings too.
Learn to accept a vaguer exit strategy than normal though, and the bike
is stable enough to wheedle its way through most trouble. The fork does get
pretty close to coughing up its full travel in a relatively controlled way if
you provoke it hard enough too. The fact you’re not getting hammered through
your feet also makes it easier to float the back wheel through really rough
stretches. In terms of general trail conditions, the Kenda tyres are the best
performing on test, and the Tektro brakes are communicative enough to juggle
the edges of grip in slippery descending situations.
SO GOOD
Fully future-proofed 650b frame Smoother, more controlled handling than
the 26in wheeled bikes here Decent stop and go kit for the money
NO GOOD
Fork struggles to hold a line Square taper cranks flex underfoot Narrow
rims aren’t as stiff or tough as full-fat hoops
650b:
The latest wheel size, also called 27.5in (despite being closer to
27in). Benefits over 26in wheels include a smoother ride and improved traction.
Stanchions:
A suspension fork’s upper legs. The wider the diameter, the stiffer the
fork.
WEIGHT 14.22kg (31.35lb)
FRAME Hydroformed 6061
alloy
SIZES XS, S*, M, L, XL
FORK RST Blaze, 100mm
(3.9in) travel
HEADSET Neco threadless
WHEELS
Hubs: Joytech QR
Rims: Jalco 650b
Spokes: 32 steel
Wheel weight: 2.37kg F, 2.88kg R
TYRES Kenda Honey Badger,
27.5x2.2in
CRANKSET/BOTTOM BRACKET Lasco, 22/32/42t/Neco square Taper
DERAILLEURS SRAM X3 F, SRAM X4 R
SHIFTERS SRAM X4, eight-speed
CASSETTE/CHAIN SRAM PG 820,
11-34t/Yaban
BRAKES Tektro HDC330, 180/160mm
BAR/STEM/GRIPS Commencal, 700mm/Commencal 60mm/Commencal
SADDLE/SEATPOST Velo Commencal El Camino/Commencal alloy
