“over the front” on steps
well, the Lapierre Spicy has longer forks and slacker steering, plus a laid back seat-post, so the front will sit higher and your weight will be further back, so yes, should ride steps and very steep bits easier
stem length will have an effect too – if you had a longer stem on the Yeti it will pitch you further forward
Yeti with 160mm forks and short stem would be closer to the Spicy I think – I guess yours had 140mm forks on it? It is designed to take up to 160mm which slackens the angles and makes for a more “All Mountain” set up, but would probably feel a bit lazier up hill. I considered this for mine but decided 140mm was more appropriate about 95% of the time
the converse will be true up hill to an extent. The slightly more relaxed Spicy will probably feel a bit harder work – which seems to be what you experienced.
I think a consideration often ignored is the “along” mountain bit. Everyone talks about climbing and descending, but if a bike is harder work along the flattish bits, it will knacker you out. I think the Singletrack review suggested you had to work the Spicy pretty hard on the traverses
‘orses for courses
oh and I am 15 1/2 stone of burly rugby bloke. The old 575 was maybe a bit flexy, haven’t noticed any flex on the new one. I am no downhill God, but have a Motorbike Enduro background so don’t mess about – passed loads downhill at the Dyfi
so in conclusion
– 575 and Zesty are a better comparison
– Spicy probably closer to the new Yeti 7 (burlier 7 inch version of 575)
– be sure what you are experiencing isn’t due to something like stem length / riding position / fork length, rather than a difference in the frame
if that helps………….
