2000 Commencal Supernormal - sent to try me

[renaldo]

I took delivery of this as a complete bike back in February 2014, but its taken me until now to get into a rideable state - and it still has issues and isn’t finished. I must admit that’s largely because I’ve been busy with other things and this has been forgotten on and off.

The bike in question is a 2000 Commencal Supernormal. I have several Sunns, plus a Leon which is made by some key ex-Sunn and ex-Commencal people with Commencal’s old Japanese distributer, so I thought an actual Commencal would be a good fit. Commencal describe this as being their first model, although I believe there were four models based on two frames (steel and aluminium) plus the option to buy frame only in the 2000 range. The Supernormal name apparently comes from the bike being very normal from the necessity of designing and building it in a short space of time with limited resources, but also being super. It won its first race, the Roc d’Azur in 2000 with Christoph Dupouey. Here’s the catalogue pages for this bike – pretty modest spec really:

The frame is described as being made of Nuts A SL tubing. I don’t know the exact type but its 7005 aluminium with T4 and T6 heat treatment. Claimed frame weight for the 45cm model is 1650g.

 

[renaldo]

Re:

When I got it the bike was in a bit of a rough state. Everything was pretty dirty, and lots of things looked pretty worn and cosmetically in poor condition, so I stripped the bike, binned some of the worn-out components (more on that later) and started to clean the rest. With hindsight I probably should have tried what I had first, or at least kept everything I took off it. I don’t have any photos of the complete bike as I got it, just the frame.

The frame was covered in lots of additional stickers, some in slightly odd places. I assumed they were probably covering scrapes, chips, touched-up chain suck, cable rash and other marks, which they were. Importantly though it appeared to be structurally sound with no cracks – I believe these might be prone to the dreaded headtube crack. I don’t know if the Commonfail joke applies to these though or later bikes.

 

[renaldo]

Re:

Paint was apparently fragile on early Commencal bikes, so I feared the worst. I gave it a wash, T-cut, polish and wax, and cut a new chainstay protector from helicopter tape to replace the very yellowed original. I think it came out pretty well, much better than it was to begin with.

Dekerf inspired seat stays:

Big stickers on the top tube, and very little on the rather large down tube. The lack of sticker on downtube in 2000 was something that dealers and Commencal's own reps apparenty did not like at all, and was changed for 2001 and onwards.

Cleaned up BB area:

This was hidden under the red zigzag arrow sticker on the top of the downtube near the headtube junction. Cleaned up as best I could:

And the chain suck cleaned up a little bit. Could probably do more here:

Dropouts on the 2000 Supernormal were 3D Kinesis dropouts. These would be replaced in 2001 with dropouts designed by Phillippe Garcia at Commencal:

 

[renaldo]

Re:

Headtube area. I don’t know the significance of the Lolo A+ and French flag design. Its on both sides of the top tube and isn’t a sticker. I’ve not seen it on other 2000 Supernormals, not that I’ve seen that many of them. You can’t see it on this photo but the model and serial number are engraved on the headtube badge. Mine is 0792

The bike won Velo Vert’s (a French bike magazine) Bike of the Year award in 2000:

This, and the fact that my frame was made on June 2000 did make me wonder for a while if it really was a year 2000 bike, and not a 2001 model, despite the differences between the two I’ve mentioned above regarding the stickers and more importantly the dropouts.

I think this is explained by new ranges not being released until September back then, so the 2001 models wouldn’t be coming out until September 2000. These bikes were also assembled in northern France, and so being built in June meant being in store in June too. The Bike of the Year sticker was made right after the magazine was released in May 2000, and was a very good promotion for the new brand.

 

[renaldo]

Re:

After getting the frame cleaned up I got the bb threads cleaned and the shell faced, and the forks it came with (Marzocchi Bomber Z2 BAMs rather than the original Manitou SX – probably a decent upgrade) serviced. They feel OK, although I think the adjusters on top of each leg are broken as I’m not convinced they do anything and they turn continuously. A further strip and rebuild might be needed.

I have been looking for parts for this on and off and have managed to get some parts that I thought might be a struggle. I like doing the catalogue thing, just to get an idea of what the bike would have been like as it left the shop. To that end I found a pair of M510 Deore hubs on Mavic 221 rims with black spokes, exactly as per the catalogue, and a new looking Vetta Jet 2 saddle that I thought would be a struggle.

At this point I started trying to put the bike back together with the parts I had, and this is where the problems started. Going to fit the front mech I couldn’t get it anywhere near the chainrings as the cage was hitting the chunky chainstays.

Asking around I got suggestions that I needed a shorter cage front mech, which I’ve not been able to find, or that an e-type front mech would fit, which having tried I don’t think it will. What I have found that works is a front mech for 63-66 degree chainstay angles, and its currently wearing a modern T4000 Alivio mech as its all I’ve been able to find so far. The front mech the bike came with was one of the parts that I chucked out……

Going to set up the brakes I noticed that one of the tension adjuster screws was missing. On closer inspection I realised that it was missing because the part of the brake it screws into was cracked – it looks like someone had tried to force a slightly too large diameter screw into it. As an interim measure I’ve fitted some Shimano M570 LX brakes until I can find a replacement set of Avid Arch Rival 50s.

Going to set up the gears, I had all kinds of problems getting them to shift nicely. The shifters weren’t pulling cable reliably so I cleaned them both with disc brake cleaner then lubed with GT85, and was slightly appalled at how much filth came out. They seemed to work much better afterwards, but still couldn’t get the shifting at the rear to index properly, so I took it to my local bike shop. They couldn’t get it to shift either with the set-up I had (a M570 LX rear mech that I think was NOS before I fitted it). It’s likely that the rear mech hanger is bent. I was pleasantly surprised to find that Commencal still stock replacements so I have one on the way. Until then, my LBS were able to get the shifting OK but with a bit of hesitation shifting into some gears, but only by swapping the rear mech – for a modern M4000 Alivio! They don’t know why this worked and my LX mech doesn’t, but they tried them back and forth and this was the only way they could get the shifting to work at all. I’m now tempted to go the whole hog and run a full Alivio groupset on it….

I’m also not convinced the bars I had set aside for this are the bars that came with it. They look suspiciously similar to late 90s Sunn Brute-branded bars, with the distinctive blued finish. I guess its possible they are the same or from the same supplier given the Commencal guys had come straight from Sunn, but also entirely possible and probably more likely that they are Sunn Brute bars that have got mixed up in my spares….both are flat aluminium bars quoted to weigh 145g.

 

[renaldo]

Re:

So as it stands, I finally have a functioning 2000 Commencal Supernormal. I’ve not been able to ride it much so far but initial impressions are good, and I really like it. I’ve been mainly riding a more modern bike (from 2012) and I often find going back to a retro bike difficult in terms of riding position and handling. But so far this feels pretty comfortable and handles nicely. It feels fast and nimble without feeling twitchy or cramped at the front end with the relatively narrow (compared to modern) bars. Acceleration is pretty lively and it seems to roll very smoothly despite the modest spec components.

Plan is to ride it more and look to fix some of the issues and upgrade the parts when I can. When the new rear mech hanger arrives I’ll fit that and try and get the shifting working with a period correct rear derailleur. I’m on the lookout for a period correct front mech for 63-66 degree chainstay angles. I think this will be really hard as I suspect they are quite rare, and most adverts don’t list this. The M570 LX brakes work fine but I’d like to swap them for Arch Rival 50s as they are correct for the bike and I like them. While original the cranks aren’t great and I think some Raceface Turbines would be a great fit.

I also want to find a new seatpost. It should have an unbranded black alloy post with a silver cradle, 27.2mm diameter. Shouldn’t be that hard to find except everything these days seems to have a manufacturers logo on it, like the one currently on it. I do have a Raceface XY that would be a good fit with the other Raceface parts, but it doesn’t seem to fit the saddle rails, and after being excited to find that I’m reluctant to take it off.

I’m not crazy about the pedals either, currently Wellgo MG-1s. I like flats these days but always struggle to find pedals that work well but don’t look out of place on an older bike. Any suggestions?

Specs:
Frame: Commencal Supernormal Nuts SL (Nec+ Ultra Tubing Series)
Fork: Marzocchi Bomber Z2 BAM

Headset: Raceface Real Seal
Stem: Raceface Prodigy
Bar: Alu flat 145g
Grips: ESI silicone chunky

Brakes: Shimano LX M570
Brake Pads: KoolStop
Brake Cables: Jagwire Ripcord
Brake Levers: Avid SD 2.0

Shifters: Shimano LX M570
Front Derailleur: Shimano Alivio T4000
Rear Derailleur: Shimano Alivio M4000
Derailleur Cables: Jagwire Ripcord
Cassette: Shimano HG70
Chain: KMC
Cranks: Raceface Prodigy
Chainrings: TA Specialites Chinook
Bottom Bracket: Shimano UN55
Pedals: Wellgo MG-1

Hubs: Shimano Deore M510
Rims: Mavic X221
Hub Skewers: Shimano Deore M510
Tyres: Hutchinson Python NG Airlight 26 x 2.0

Saddle: Vetta Jet 2
Seatpost: UN Alu 27.2mm

Photos of the complete bike to come when I get around to it. And maybe after cleaning it as its currently covered in dust - although at least finally this is from riding it rather than it sitting around in parts collecting dust!

 

[renaldo]

Re:

And some pics of the complete bike while out on a ride today

I think the Bombers suit it pretty well

Alivio mechs :-/ They actually work OK

I've not used the ESI grips before but really like them so far. Levers and shifters are original and have seen better days cosmetically but work OK.

 

[Conrads]

Always wanted one of these, had a sunn exact 998 flex and still have my Sunn exact ti 000. Never owned an alloy bike.

 

[dazdc5]

Re:

Oops sorry, wrong section .. carry on.

 

[renaldo]

Always wanted one of these, had a sunn exact 998 flex and still have my Sunn exact ti 000. Never owned an alloy bike.

This is my first alu bike, only had steel and ti before. Only ridden it on pretty gentle trails so far, probably not enough to really notice the differences, but it feels pretty comfortable so far.