We brought you coverage of Lapierre’s alpine launch of their revised Zestys earlier this summer, but now at Eurobike we’ve seen their updated enduro bike the Spicy. Based on the same OST+ suspension design, we were teased then about the new longer travel Spicy, which had seen racing this year at the Enduro World Series. The bike gets some industry standard enduro geometry tweaks, plus a minor but important reworking of the e:i Shock Auto brain to allow it to work on bikes with short stems – those which often need it the most.
Join us after the break for pics, details, pricing, and availability…
The new 27.5″ bike had its geometry redesigned in a collaboration with Lapierre athlete, ambassador, and R&D member Nicolas Vouilloz, for a racier and more aggressive ride for the increasingly technical Enduro courses. The Spicy also gets longer overall travel in the latest version, with 165mm out back paired with 160mm forks. The carbon bike will be available in the Team and 527 editions, both of which share the same carbon main triangle and seatstays, with aluminum chainstays.
Like most new trail bikes we’ve seen this season the frame gets longer toptubes, with slackened angles and short, wide cockpits, plus the Spicy gets a shorter seattube for more standover. Frame reach increases 16-20mm depending on size, while stems drop 10-20mm to 45mm across the board, and everybody gets 780mm bars and dropper posts.
The OST+ suspension system moves its pivot point to improve the suspension curve in the latest iteration. With the suspension redesign, comes new bigger pivots for more stiffness, reliability, and easier maintenance. The update also brings 10mm more tire clearance out back, and more space in the main triangle to either locate the e:i Shock battery in more secure spot or to use frame-mounted bottle. All bikes are spec’ed with 1x drivetrains, but a direct-mount front derailleur can be mounted to the chainstay.
A lower-priced bright yellow all-aluminum Spicy 327 is also available. The 327 uses the same OST+ design and descends just as well as the version at more than twice the price, but comes without the climbing-friendly e:i Shock system to keep costs down.
Lapierre have also worked to make the new short stems compatible with the excellent e:i Shock Auto system. That’s good news for the Spicy which will really benefit from the shock that automatically is always in the right position for either climbing, rolling trails, or descending. But also it will be great for the Zesty which will often benefit from some shorter stem options for a more playful ride.
The new Spicy will be available from all Lapierre dealers in October 2016, at prices range from the 3200€ aluminum 327, up to 7000€ for the carbon Spicy Team. More info is up on Lapierre’s UK site.
