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At this moment have a froggy and a chameleon but the chameleon is up to sell.
So with the chameleon going away I will loose my light bike that permits me to pedal all day.
My question is if I can light my froggy enough to became a bike that is capable to be pedal all day, and to be use as do-it-all bike, or if it is better to change to a spicy, that I know that it will capable to coupe with the job.
I am going from all-moutain rides to some single tracks and some exclusivity descends days.
Most of my rides consist in pedal for 3 to 4 hours, so a bike in the 14to 15kg area is the ideal one.
The Spicy is a faster bike than the froggy in every way. In my opinion.
[i]Most of my rides consist in pedal for 3 to 4 hours, so a bike in the 14to 15kg area is the ideal one. [/i]
I thought you wanted a 'light' bike?
Selling the bike that suits most of your riding best?
The chameleon suit the point of pedal up hill. But on the descents it does not suit very well.
The terrain that I ride is full of rocks so it does not suit the chameleon.
I want a reasonable light bike so 14 to 15kg area is not a problem for me. Obliviousness that lighter better but not to annoyed about it. I am not doing competition and for a all-rounder bike I think that it is a good weight point.
My question is just if I keep the froggy and try to make it in my weight objective it or if I should just sell the froggy and go and buy a spicy.
go for a spicy, the froggy is just too much for anything but descending, to be frank.
Everything is a compromise....
Would say looking at it a Spicey is the better option. More chance of hitting the weight at lower cost.
The froggy looks more like a bike park beast - peddle if you really have to!!
Are you UK or somewhere more mountainy? 180mm may be fun but may be just too much for most things
If you want to stay with the froggy...
What does the froggy come in at currently?
Losing the coil could get 1kg
What forks going air again will yield something.
Wheels could get expensive light weight and taking the pounding a 180mm bike could give them will be tough.
After that your into the £/g teritory.
+1 Spicy
I had a Froggy, wouldn't have dreamed of using it as an all rounder - just too heavy and short (I had the S/M).
Sell them both and buy a Remedy, pedals uphill, rips back down 🙂
HTH
If your riding = Alps then Spicy
other if it's UK riding, then go for a Zesty, coil it if you must.
I've got a Spicy and found it to wasteful compared to the Zesty I now ride which is built identically. It gives nothing away other than an inch of so - which, if you're really honest - are you really needing 6.5 inches in day to day riding?
I'd say the opposite - there's little or no difference, frame wise, between a Spicy and a Zesty. If you'd rather a 32mm fork, go Zesty, if you want a 36/Lyrik style fork (and if you're using a Froggy most of the time, you probably do) then go Spicy.
I am riding in Portugal, so lots of mountains and different terrains.
I know that I could remove more than 1.5kg just by changing the front fork (bos n´dee) and the rear shock( coil fox rc2), and replacing for some air suspension and fork.
But maybe the best and more reasonable option is to change to a spicy, like I had though in the beginning.
The SPicy is a far far more capable bike than many DH wanabees give it credit for; now with a bolt through rear end, it's a serious contender for the all time Mega bike.
Having said that, if I were to do the Mega again, I'd use my Zesty over the Spicy, in the same vein as Nico.
Slight tweaks to a Zesty, like a 36 fork if you must, and so I hear, them fancy bushes, should make it just as capable.
However, if you want an out of the box perfect Alps'y bike, Spicy is your bike (from the Lapierre range).
Putting 36s and offset bushings on a Zesty is a waste of time - the frames are the same, bar different shock arrangements. You'd be going to a lot of effort and expense to turn a Zesty into a compromised Spicy
Have a gander at this month's Dirt.
I did say should 🙂 , never tried it, and never will. I'd quite happy with the Zesty as is, and know exactly what it can handle (which is pretty much anything the Alps can chuck at it).
I'll take a look at Dirt, I didn't know there was an article in there, ta.
Didn't mean the Zesty wasn't capable, it absolutely is - just that those mods that Nic was doing in the past have shaped the newer models, so there's no point to them any more - the front triangles of both bikes are identical now.
BTW - if you do read the Dirt article, be prepared for Steve Jones gibberish at it's finest - it's like he picked out all the phrases he wanted to use, and then randomly dropped them on the page from a height.
I would say go for a spicy. I had a froggy, and great as it was on uplift days etc.. its too big for all days rides. I used to pedal it up the road at Cwmcarn DH but after 2 laps my legs were done.
If I wanted one bike to do it all, Spicy would be the one.
As mentioned last months Dirt has a great article on Zesty v Spicy. Basically says spicy can do it all where as Zesty can get out of its depth when the terain gets more demanding. (I've had 2 zestys and loved them, but would agree with their comments) They also stated the spicy was only marginally slower uphill.
I rode a spicy in Morzine/Les Gets a few years ago and it felt perfect on all the trails I tried.