Longtermer – Finally. Matt’s Lapierre Spicy 517

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Tested – 6 months with gaps so far.

From – Hotlines.

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Ahhh – It had been an emotional time with the Spicy – a good year , only marred by the burglary in November

After grieving and wailing for some time, Hotlines the distributor very very kindly helped me out  with a new one and it was shipped to me in early December (It was like an early Xmas present).

First all of a recap of  my Original Spicy part one.

I got the Spicy in early August 2010 – in time for the Trans- Provence.

Over the previous two years up until last August – I’d flitted between the ultra slack (65 degrees!) low BB’d Orange Alpine 5 Limited, which later morphed into the Alpine 160. I was then was the lucky tester of a Blur LT – the proverbial Swiss army knife of mountain bikes (that is said as the most sincere  form of praise).

Between the ownership off the two bikes came the realisation – I definitely prefer bigger bikes! But I don’t live somewhere with a uplift (I don’t want all of my climbs for free anyway) so I did want something that was at least bearable uphill – via Internet searches – and pub discussions of course, a few different bikes came up – but the Lapierre was the was top of the list – I guess I want something like a downhill bike (long & low) but something that will get to the top of the hill, especially with a 320 km race to do on it.

Out Of The Box

Let’s start with the frame.

Starting from the now de-rigeur Tapered head tube the front triangle of  the Lapierre  is a modern looking combo of a vaguely square heavily hydroformed top- tube and a much rounder bi-ovalised down tube join to a seatube that sweeps up and away from the bottom bracket. The top-tube also had a cross brace that attaches to the seat-tube presumably to increase stand over height without reducing strength.

The swingarm is a long heavily manipulated affair attached to the front triangle via a swinglink at the top of the swingarm and attached to the bottom of the frame just above the BB on the seatube.

Lapierre describe their suspension as a virtual pivot design. It looks very much like a traditonal 4-bar to me, but the swing link does change the  shock rate and postion of the shock through it’s travel. More info if here if you’re interested. Basically (braces himself for  a myriad of online arguments) the suspension uses chain growth to counteract pedal induced bob whilst still being fully active when you clatter into stuff -Horst ‘type’ link helps the suspension to remain active under braking.

The rear axle on the Lapierre is the ‘new standard’ 142mm thru axle 12mm QR release design. It’s very similar to the Syntace Design in use.

Rear suspension is dealt with admirably by the ever present Fox RP2 Boost Valve – compression damping is set at firm for those that want to know.

Front suspension is Fox 36 Open Bath TALAS with airspring/rebound damping  and travel adjust .

Cockpit and stop and go is pretty much a ‘get out and play straight away” type of deal. Drivetrain is complete SLX from cranks to shifters to rear mech, with Funn 710mm Bars and 65mm stem, Thompson 31.6 Seatpost, own brand grips and a Fizik Gobi to perch on.

Brakes are Formula RX1 with 180mm rotors either end for hauling the bike up and it comes shod with one of Singletrack’s favourite all rounder tyres, the Continental Rubber Queen UST 2.2’s (don’t let this fool you , they’re much more like a 2.4 compared to most brands.).

Riding and fiddling

Apart from a couple of spins around The Valley the first proper ride I got of it was in Finale Ligure, Italy. Pre-Finale I’d swapped the bars out to some 750mm and changed the stem to a 50mm Easton Havoc stem (it’s kind of become my default standard cockpit). Initial impressions were incredibly stable full on high speed stuff, grippy and with a decent length cockpit (I flitted between chosing a small and medium frame initally -I decided a longer cockpit was for me ) so the shorter stem made no difference to it’s climbing ability, my lungs being the weak link in uphill progress.

The only thing that I came back from Finale wishing for was a Uppy-Downy™ seat post of some kind and the forks, whilst being quintessentially ‘buttery’ down fast stuff, were packing down on slowmo technical stuff – I wanted some compression!

I was also keen to try and drop a few pounds off the bike pre Trans-Provence.

First thing first. The incredibly bling Stan’s Flow rims and and DT 240s hubbed beauties from the Blur were attached to the Lapierre. One of the best thing about these hubs is the total ability to get them to attach to virtually any axle combination. The front hub had been QR15mm and 20 mm the rear swapped easily from a standard 135mm quick release to 142mm design with a couple of adaptors.Partly this to do with the 142mm design actually being a 135mm axle still . The 142mm describes the total diameter of the axle including the frame it bolts in to.

The only other change was forks – Mojo kindly supplied me with a pair of the frankly amazing Fox 36 Talas. and a CrankBros Joplin for undulating singletrack.

And that was that. 320 Km of Trans-Provence and apart from tearing tyres to shreds and eating brake pads it was faultless. It did go from being a very new feeling bike to a well worn friend over that week but that was it.Nothing worked loose, the shocks still worked faultlessly and it had got me out of trouble a number of times when very tired at the end of a long day .

At the end of the week the only thing that I really wanted to have changed was the brakes for something bigger- but I did wonder how it would feel if you could make it a bit slacker and lower…

Then it was gone.

Part two

Like an old friend – but with a few tweaks – The bigger brakes are on – a pair of Avid Code brakes (quite insanely powerful !) a Rockshox Reverb Seatpost  and one of the new Bontrager saddles. I’ve still got the Blackspire bars from the old bike as I was testing new one’s on the Old Spicy – 50mm Stem is now the lovely light weight Renthal Stem.

Cable Routing mess for the moment.

I really haven’t been able to give a proper shakedown yet – But the seatpost seems incredibly smooth – not having to work the brakes so hard to stop is nice -and the Bontrager saddle is a revelation in terms of comfort compared to the old Bontrager saddles…

Over the next few months I hope to get hold of Cane Creek angle adjuster headset (I have a pair of 1/8th 36 Floats to use in the tapered headtube) to play around with head angles and I’d also like to try a coil over shock on the back for a while. Finally I’m hoping to get a two times ten drive train which I’m going to fiddle with and then see if I can live with (Man up to) just a single ring on the front.

Till next time

Matt

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Comments (0)

    excellent review/update thanks Matt. I’m very keen to try one of these, got a genius LT lining up for a trial but i have a feeling the Spicy is going to be ace. is the Talas that useful on this bike?

    Hello Foureyes.. Yep The Talas is definitely useful on long climbs -Though it doesn’t wander much with the fork fully extended either – just feels more efficient especially with the leverage that massive bars give you ;].

    I can’t really advise you on what Bike to get – It does seem like a very small angle difference between bikes can make a big difference to the way they ride and what suits people .. Try em both i reckon and if as all possible with the cockpit that your going to have on the bike once you own it.

    Does it pedal well? ;]

    i found that the wider race face atlas bars (at 785 with a 1/2 inc rise) and a 50mm stem changed the bike from a bike in to a best friend as it made the front far more reactive and the only other addition is a joplin 4 seat post and as mentioned the brakes are good but are not a good match for the spicy (just waiting on some hope tech m4 to turn up)

    p.s during the November i had some funny looks riding through hebden bridge and tod 😉

    hi matt what length of reverb seatpost is on your spicy ? i have a medium sized zesty but i’m unsure of what size to buy i’m approx 175cm tall if that helps i have no idea about the sizes and no one seems to have mentioned anything on verious forum ……can you ( or anyone) advise ? Any problems with the reverb?

    I chose the longer length one of the two (In the 420 Length) – I’n hindsite I guess I could have gone for the 380mm as I don’t have much post showing out of the frame! Either way though the 420’mm completely fits in the frame (There’s nothing interupting it slidng all the way down the frame) – How tall is 175cm? I’m 5’8 ft tall- And so far the post has been superb.

    Hi matt yeah im about 5’8 ish . i was sure if i should have used the lapierre specs on there website for the standard seatpost which was about 350mm i could get away with a 380mm . I think so knowing that the 420 can fit maybe i’ll get that size . Is the spicy nearly the same in sizing to the zesty? are you riding the medium?
    Thanks for your help by the way.

    Quick question, what was the difference between the replacement forks from Mojo, and the original spec forks?

    2011 version? fit cart vs open bath?

    With the Mojo offer on fit cartridges at the mo, and the fact I have the same a 2010 36 talas R fork, I was wondering if it’d be a worth while upgrade.

    ta

    Hi George – Hi Aiden

    My Spicy is a medium – There very similarly sized bike to your Zesty ;]

    George – I had the Full fit Cart RLC fork with compression and rebound – It was the compression damping I was mosty after – Just being able to control the front end on really steep stuff wihout it packing down – saying that they were a lot more sensitive to set up – so it depends how much you like faffing – I think Low speed and high speed compression is worth paying for but it depends on how and where you ride as to whether it’s worth it for you.

    Hi Matt,
    Any up-dates on the Reverb seat post?,
    Trying to convince myself, I need one?,it’s worth the money?,it’s the best one?, it works the best?,and last of all an idiot can service it?, lol.
    Cheers Matt any info would be great,
    Steve

    I like it ;] And I bled the lever myself! Seems durable – we have a whole selection on test in next issue…

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