Hi all
Wanted some advice please if there’s any LaPierre dealers or riders out there.
Went to the Alps a couple of years and hired a Spicy. Absolutely loved it, turned me from an ‘average’ (ha, if only !) rider into a mountain-biking God in about 5 minutes.
Normally ride a hardtail around the Chilterns, which is fine, but I’m in the market now for a new bike.
Want something full-suss and something that is going to take UK trail centres and Alps-type riding in it’s stride, but also won’t be ‘too much’ bike for Southern England at the same time.
I don’t want something too impossible to get up the climbs.
Will stick with the hardtail no doubt around the Chilterns though most of the time, except for maybe forays to places like Aston Hill and the Forest of Dean etc etc.
I definately want to do more UK trail-centre type riding, with annual trips to Europe and I want something that will easily cope with that as well filling me with confidence. Yes, I want a skills-compensator !

So, my thoughts immediately lurch towards a new Spicy as I so nearly married the one I hired in the Alps.

So my question is, has the Spicy evolved in the last couple of years from the machine that I hired to the point where it is too ‘extreme’ really for the UK and I’d be maybe better off with a Zesty, say ?
The fact that the Spicy has a double-ring setup and a slacker head-angle now is slightly ringing alarm bells.

What do you guys think ?

My head is telling me that maybe the Zesty is the way to go, but I can still feel that awesome buzz from 2 or 3 years ago and my heart is telling me to stay with the Spicy (‘specially as it comes with one of those uppy downy seatpost-type things for 2012 !)

Oh, and one other thing, I read that the Spicy has a type of bottom bracket that only Shimano make. Is that still the case ? Wondering if that isn’t a bit of a liability ? does the same apply to the Zesty ?

Any advice gratefully received as always.

Same for the zesty with the Bottom bracket i’m afraid.

I have a carbon zesty, and good as it is in the UK (very good) its out of its depth in the alps for me. Although it copes I prefer a bigger bike for the longer descents.

Spicy is a super allrounder IMO. If you have a Hardtail for longer rides go with your heart and have a spicy 🙂

I have the Zesty but mines a 2009, love it, I have raced motocross at national level for 20 year so downhills I’m fairly quick and hard but the zesty takes it all without an issue (RP23 rear Pike 454 front), it climes better I feel than my genesis core 50 did.

As for the BB i run a KCNC push fit but I have no idea is the new ones have changed from that style.

If you have any questions I would give these guys a call http://www.welovelapierre.com/

Zesty 714 2010. Brilliant for the sort of riding your thinking of and it’s been more than enough for Europe. Have thought about Spicy and booked a demo in Feb. Experience tells me Zesty is a great trail bike. Light, fast and great down and up hill. Ride mostly South Wales and Afan etc. I believe having looked at the geometry etc that there is little to differentiate between the two. You can add a 150mm fork to the Zesty and that narrows the difference even less. Why not try a demo?

Even my Zesty can be a bit of a slog around trail centres (given they’re not all downhill :p ), whilst the Spicy appeals I’d probably only look at one for general riding if I could afford a 916 to keep the weight down. I guess for you it depends on how often you go to the Alps and whether you really prefer to use your own bike or if the hassle of transport + risk of damage means rental is still a good choice.

Zesty slog? One of the lightest around and was ideal for Trans alps, Spain, Morocco. Andora in June so no issues on up hill.

last post is key, “how often will you go to the alps”.

If its just once a year, get a zesty, then hire something bigger in the alps.

Or do you do UK uplift days as well?

I have a zesty 714 for UK trial riding and an Alpine 160 for uplfit days and my alp trips(1-2 a year) Covers me for everything but it is alot of money to spend on bikes.

Good as the Zesty is, on hour long descents in the alps that Fox 32 fork takes some holding onto 😀

+1 for Dans advice. Buy the bike you like riding and if you only go to the Alps once a year then a whole new bike is expensive option. 160mm of travel would enhance the Alp experience but at a cost. And that’s what I’m struggling to justify. Two bikes and maintenance cost when I could just have 1 bike. May just throw caution to the wind though after demo 🙂

I ride a Spicy all the time, it’s great.

Have a hardtail for trail centres and XC spins, but the Spicy wouldn’t be out of place on wither, climbs really well.

New one has ditched the pressfit BB, although I’ve had no problems with mine. NCNC, FSA, RaceFace and others make the BB, and you can get ones where the bearings are servicable, so there’s no need to remove it at all.

They’ve made the new Spicy (and Zesty) a degree slacker, but shortened the back, I don’t think that change nakes it any more or less “extreme”, just improves it slightly.

If you already have a hardtail, then I reckon it’s the perfect addition.

I’m sure i read somewhere that you can turn the 2012 zesty and spicy into each other with no issues ( assuming you have a longer fork and shock to hand.

As an aside, does 20mm extra travel make all the difference for lengthy downhills? Not a pendant, just curious.

Little more than 20mm – the fork is a stiffer, sturdier affair (36mm vs 32), the angles are different – it’s a different beast.

That said, the Zesty is very capable.

As one of our mates is a lap dealer, myself & 5 friends bought 4 zestys & 2 spicys in 2010. The 4 of us still ride our zestys but both spicys have now been sold.
They never had a bad word to say about them but both have been replaced with 120mm bikes.

As a Lap dealer, ive been considering one myself for a while, I thought the old one was too long and not that great in the woods.

However Im considering selling my Covert for the Spicy so will be trying one shortly.
But it will have to be good to replace the Tranny.

The Zesty is such a great all-round bike though, it is hard to fault and certainly the better bike for most UK Riding.
Ive just got used to the 160mm travel and love it so want to keep the bigger bike to go alongside the L/T Hardtail.

It really depends on the setup of a bike, rather than a 20mm difference in travel.

I ride a 160mm bike, that’s lighter than most 140mm bikes. It doesn’t climb any worse than the Zesty, or the 5 I had before it. Most bikes around that sort of travel are fairly agressive in their geometry now so they key to me is really speccing it right.

I’d be just as happy to take mine to the Alps as pootling around the local woods (albeit set up a bit stiffer for local riding).

I’m not sure how much weight difference there is between a Zesty and Spicy frames, I would imagine most of the difference comes from the component spec. 32 vs 36 etc.

Weight wise 916 is only just heavier than Zesty. I don’t want to lose climbing and trail ability. Will I see a big difference between Zesty and Spicy?

I have a 2011 314 Zesty and i couldnt wish for a better all rounder.
ride all sorts of terrain, xc races, Strathpuffer 24 hour and am no slouch. considered a Spicey but didnt think i needed 160mm travel and a year on I still dont.

As per one of the posts above, it may be cobblers, but I am sure that i have read that for 2012, the Zesty and Spicy are essentially the same frame, but that if you buy the Zesty you can buy longer stroke shock and different rocker and essentially turn the Zesty into Spicy frame?

Haven’t they gone back to a proper external BB on the 2012 Spicy?

And isn’t it lighter with (as someone said) slacker angles and (claimed) improved suspension?

Probably more useable than the one you hired then.

The Zesty is a great all round bike for the UK.

We had a lesson/coached ride in Les Gets and the guide was on a Zesty. We rode some pretty steep and rooty stuff and I swapped bikes with him for a while and really liked the Zesty. For flat out downhill of course it’s not the perfect bike but you can ride the trails with it and you can rent for a day or two or buy an older DH bike (as per the many threads here) for your trips to the Alps if that’s the sort of Alpine riding you want to focus on (ie flat out on steep terrain).

I’m sort of in the same boat myself. We’re planning 6 weeks in Andorra / Alps this summer and I’m not sure I want my BLT2 to take that sort of battering again. So, I’m looking for a 160mm bike too.

I reckon my Blur LT2 is fine for what I’d call “slow and technical” DH stuff, like around Chamonix, Les Houches, Granada, Bubion etc, it’s probably more manueverable than a bigger bike which helps with that sort of riding. Just because you’re in the Alps doesnt mean everything is different – sometimes there’s just more of it. But, it takes some of the fun out of the groomed DH trails riding something relatively small, where breaking bumps and the general geometry are an issue.

I was hoping a £2k Fritzz was the answer (similiar debate v a Cube Stereo as Spicy v Zesty above), but I’ve now seen a couple of bad review of the Fritzz and nothing good. So, do I want to spend nearer £3k on a 2nd bike that wont get much use in the UK? Having previously owned a 160mm O6 Enduro I wouldnt ride a bike that size 90% of the time in this country.

So now I’m thinking of a set of Lyriks, 50mm stem and 710mm+ bars to swap onto the BLT just for the trip, back to Revelations afterwards.

I’ll hang up and listen!

scud – Member
As per one of the posts above, it may be cobblers, but I am sure that i have read that for 2012, the Zesty and Spicy are essentially the same frame, but that if you buy the Zesty you can buy longer stroke shock and different rocker and essentially turn the Zesty into Spicy frame?

Front triangles are the same, I think – not sure if differences in the rear are confined to just a rocker – the head angles are different, so there may be more substantial differences.

agentdagnamit – Member

So now I’m thinking of a set of Lyriks, 50mm stem and 710mm+ bars to swap onto the BLT just for the trip, back to Revelations afterwards.

Having chased my mate down hills while he rode that exact setup, I can tell you it works pretty well.

ps – anyone know where I can view a Spicy, let alone demo one. Ideally near Bristol.

I’ve tried 3 dealers and they all say they are stocking Zesty’s but will only get Spicy’s in to order (Psycleworx, Strada Cycles and Leisure Lakes)

Try Evans, not sure where your nearest is, but they have’em.

Thanks to all who contributed, some great thoughts and advice.
Still dunno what to do though !
Cheers
‘Trousers

Spend money on several skills courses with Jedi

Learn how to ride properly

Then you’ll be confident on your hardtail

You will be a better rider

Buy a cheap full sus bike for when you go to the Alps

I had 2009 Zesty which I replaced with a 2011 Carbon Zesty. I was a HT devotee and couldn’t be tempted to FS, but on an off day and a demo Zesty thrust into my hands I gave it a go and was instantly converted.

Don’t worry about climbing ability, the Zesty can climb, and dare I say better as well as my my HT. The bike really stiffens up on climbs and the tension works in your favour. The 2009 Zesty’s didn’t even have the Pro Pedal switch on the rear shock and never struggled.

As above the new Zesty’s are shorter and more nimble but they’ve not lost any of their climbing prowess. Fork compression set and lock out now fitted on the rear shock I’ve not struggled anywhere on some pretty big climbs. I actually ran my ’09 Zesty round a trail in single speed once when I’d snapped a gear cable and then I’ve chose to do it that way a few time since, again no problem.

Most of my ridding is natural stuff in North Wales, The Peaks and The Lakes. The Lakes has seen some really big stuff thrown at it and it’s never struggled. The Dolly Waggon Trail off the back of Helvelyn was a true test.

The only time I wished for more travel was coming off the back of Snowdon down the Rhyd Ddu trail, but that was just because I’d just read up about the Lapierre French chap ridding the Trans Provence on a 160mm Spicy and I was riding like a bag of shite, so I blamed the bike !

For your riding. Zesty every time IMO.

Yes, you are supposed to be able to convert a Zesty to a Spicy (or change a Zesty to a 160mm travel) but that say’s to me that you’d struggle to notice the difference if they’ve made them so similar. You could always get your LBS to switch the shock over for your trip to the Alps, but are you going to ride it that hard !

One final point, a lot of bikes supposedly suited for the Alps and ‘Big Mountain Terrain’ etc only come with 140mm of travel.

From what I heard there have been issues with Zesty frames cracking near the brace/seat tube junction. I have seen one myself, and rummour has it that it is commonplace. The ones with carbon rear triangles are supposed to have bushings at the rear stay junction which have been problematic.

Instantly appealing bike to ride though, just feels right.

From what I heard there have been issues with Zesty frames cracking near the brace/seat tube junction. I have seen one myself, and rummour has it that it is commonplace. The ones with carbon rear triangles are supposed to have bushings at the rear stay junction which have been problematic.

Apparently that was down to a tooling problem in the factory and was rectified. The two I heard about were replaced under warranty.

Demo 516 here in Feb – hands off Im first!

http://thebicycledoctor-thebicycledoctor.blogspot.com/2010/11/lapierre-2011-spicy-zesty-demo-bikes.html

I would’nt put too much store in the Lapierre supplied uppy/downy post…100% failure rate so far 🙁

+1 Havoc 65mm stem 711 bars on 2010 Zesty. Im convinced I should stick with my Zesty but Im still going to try the demo. Lets see what I think after a day at Afan!

NONE both too rear end flexy.. 😮

I like my zesty for everyday XC stuff to big mountain, heavy stuff. General do it all bike.

Just seen the new 2012 Zesty. Awful… 🙁

The top tube is as flat and as wide as an aircraft carrier. They’ve had to put a flat grommit round the stem to stop it looking odd. Also, the frame build up around the head tube is about the size of a small paving slab. I can’t believe it needs that much more extra stiffness.

They’ve come down in price this and you can see why. The build quality and spec’ does not look as good to me.

Interestingly they haven’t changed the Spicy frame that much and last year there was little to difference between the Spicy & Zesty frames.

I’ve always been a big fan of Lapierre and Zesty’s but on this evidence they are turning into over priced, over engineered gimmics, especially when you compare it to one of these:

http://www.whytebikes.com/2012/bike_page.php?ModNo=W-1-002-12

My advice would be to buy one of last years Zesty’s with the better frame and spec’ (still quite a few about with upto £600 off) or go for something like the Whyte… there, can’t beleive I said it 😯 !

I think its the new geometry that attracts me. Cant see the spec has changed much from my 2010 version? Like the look of the Whyte minus the brakes ofc. TBH there are some great bikes around. Each to their own style of riding. Maybe I should demo one.

For info theres some properly cheap 2011 ones available here:

http://www.skiperfo.com/boutique/index.cfm

My mate bought a 516 from them and it cost less than 2k gbp. took a week to deliver.