Just toying with an idea at the moment and looking at the Zesty 514.

Anyone with one your thoughts opinions.

Thanks
Rich

Bad points? Availability…..

A few stockists seem to be showing stock

i went in evans in nottingham and they had a lapierre in, a spicy 514 i think.
Although I think the lack of availability is a bad point that isn’t necessarily solved once (if) you manage to get hold of one. if they aren’t capable of fulfilling the demand for the bikes, who’s to say they are going to be capable of fulfilling the demand for spares as and when you need to replace bits that are non-generic if there are any specific frame spares you may need.

Crostrax in Leeds seem to have plenty of stock

The only change I’ve made to my 714 is swapping to some proper tires – the race kings are a bit small for the kind of descending the bike is capable of. Other than that I’ve been well chuffed with it and can’t think of anything else I’d change…

Getting hold of them is tricky – some shops will order them in despite knowing some models have sold out. I’d suggest a shop which actually has one in stock and not one which tells you they’ll order one in and don’t give a guaranteed delivery date.

They attract a lot of attention though so if you don’t like random people coming up to you and asking to have a look then its prob not the best choice! I had four ramblers looking at mine outside a cafe the other day, they all wanted to pick it up and generally perv on it…

I have a Zesty 314, bought it about 8 weeks ago. I cant fault the bike, lot’s of people change the tyres due to tread pattern for the muddy stuff.

When I test rode the zesty I found it a bit too stretched out for me. Really impressed with the attention to detail and how well it pedalled though.

In my experience, they are prone to chainsuck…. (I have a 714)
improved the situation by fitting an e13 lower roller, still not gone away though.

pretty noisy on the downhills as well (low chainstay and shadow rear mech probably to blame) – not that bothers me – just makes the ramblers move faster out of my way 😉

other than that – perfect 🙂

Not had any real issues with my Zesty 314, changed the tyres, saddle and seatpost (needed a longer one). I would say be careful on the sizing, they do have a long top tube (I’m 5’11” and went for a medium). Can’t say I’ve had any chain suck (and that includes a few very muddy rides).

they are the best looking bikes around at the moment…

sorry thats no use is it.

As mentioned above Hotlines have absolutly nothing in stock in 314 or 514 so you will need to find somewhere with one in stock (ive got 1x M left in a 514 :wink:). As for the bike ive been mucking around on a demo 514 in the last few weeks, see here:
Clicky

Been out a couple more times on it since including a good thrash around Chicksands and its an epic little machine, took everything in its stride all day – even trippled up on the 4x track on it which i wouldn’t usually attempt on a bike of this type so its obviously pretty confidence inspiring!

Spares availability is pretty good, Hotlines website shows all parts and also a fairly up to date availability too.

Well I have a new zesty 514 and it is the the most complete bike I have ever owned and it looks beautiful. The brakes are amazing and the white fox forks look and good and perform well. The zesty gets many a look from envious bikers. OH ! Mine is for sale its available and with £500 off RRP . I am selling as moving to Thailand ..
You interested ??
Richard Ford

Bad point they are french 😉
On a more serious note, for french people (well most of them) a good bike is a bike that will hurt your back (on climb specially).

Have had a 314 for about 10 months – and love it.

Climbs well (considering 140mm of travel) and the ‘geometry’ gives you loads of confidence going down/over things.

Bought mine from the afore mentioned Crosstrax – who seemed to have some in the shop a couple of weeks ago and did have a 514 test bike earlier in the year (don’t know whether they still have it).

Had a few problems with chain suck on my 714 and it is very noisy on the descents as mentioned above.
Nothing else I can think of, apart from snapping the tubeless valve going down Snowdon but I guess that is more bad luck than anything to do with the bike. The cable routing also collects a lot of muck/grass.

Those are the only bad points i can think of, awesome bike, the confidence it gives you on the descents could be a bad thing too, especially when you should know better 😉