another lapierre zesty bites the dust.

Northwind

dogboy73 wrote:

Should have recommended an Orange Five Pro - MBR trail bike of the year

The Zesty 514 was joint trail bike of the year with the Five Pro! And FROM MBR, where "It's as good as an Orange Five" is much like saying "It was handmade by the gods and presented to us in a golden chariot, goes up hills under its own power, descends like a V10, is impervious to all physical harm and and will get you laid so often, you'll sometimes ride other bikes just because your genitals are all worn"

lawman

breezer wrote:

My 09 514 is fine, my friends 09 714 with carbon rear is also fine and he chucks it off 7 foot drops, rides in the Alpes etc.

exactly my point!!!!! my current bike is pretty much an xc ht with 140mm forks and the frame weighs barely 1.5kg, given thats it been ridden damn hard over the last 3 years from xc to some pretty gnarly dh tracks, wharncliffe for example and even been used on some street and trials riding, im frankly more convinced than ever that the only reason frame break these days is through a small, difficult to spot manufacturing fault, or just being plain stupid with the thing :roll:

as for the orange 5, lets be honest we wouldnt exactly go moaning about our home grown bikes now would we????

RealMan

richg1979 wrote:

erm yes, carbon is apperntly stronger than ally.

Ok then..

richg1979

ok, hes got a result... well sort of.

lapierre do have a large stock of rear triangles and are aware there is a fault with this part, its the front triangle thats the long wait apparently.

the problem is the part is in france and theres a big volcano messing everything up, so with a bit of luck he should have the bike back a couple of days after the flights are back to normal.

will it last longer than few rides is the question, the guy in the shop did say if there was a long wait he would give him a refund and will refund him if it breaks again as it would not be fit for purpose

fingers crossed.

silveringsurfer

I used to work with windsurfing boards which often used carbon laminates. It was fairly common to get boards that broke unexpectedly. Upon examination it would often be down to a lack of resin so that the carbon was 'dry' and therefore prone to cracking. This would often effect a batch of boards. I remember repairing an identical split in about 10 boards and all were faulty due to dry cloth in the same place. With any machined process involving resins and other chemicals there is a chance of quality fluctuations due to material inconsistencies and as the previous poster stated they look cosmetically perfect until loaded upon which they snap.

The same has probably happened to a batch of Zestys. When weight is such a big issue the manufacturers are always trying to reduce the amount of resin used and so the chances of a batch slipping below the 'strong enough' threshold is increased.

5 yrs is actually a pretty good warranty on a carbon product that's going to be used as hard as it is. I know it's a hassle but with something as high tech as that the chances of issues are much more likely due to the incredibly fine tolerances whether it is alloy or carbon. If we were happy to have bikes with 10lb frames we would never snap them due to the amount of metal or resin but many complain when the frame is deemed overweight for it's class. Look how many manufactures had to add material to frames and components to get them through tougher European testing regimes this year that shows you how close to the bone our kit is cut for the sake of weight.

richg1979

Thewaylander wrote:

but i don't think its down to the carbon its a construction flaw surely, as Yeti have been running rear cabon swing arms for a while now no issues..

yeti have had a few issues with broken stays on 08/09 575's, no probs after they have strengthened the problem area though.

im sure lapierre will get this prob sorted.

dwclay99

richg1979 wrote:

hes not a happy bunny, he now hates this bike, i think if they fefuse a refund he will go to france and burn the garlic stinking, onion eating factory to the ground.

http://www.bikeradar.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=16089047

sound familer?! my post only last week!

richg1979

its not fair to blame lapierre on the non lapierre parts but you have had a couple of frame problems i see.

hes giving it another go if they manage to get the parts without much delay, just hoping it is a defect in the lay ect.

time will tell.

bike-a-swan

RealMan wrote:

richg1979 wrote:

erm yes, carbon is apperntly stronger than ally.

Ok then..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tensile_strength

Carbon fibres themselves are stronger. The properties of a full composite layup depend on the resin and layup pattern used. But yes, carbon can be stronger than ally. Santa Cruz seem to be happy enough they can build strong bikes out of it, as does pretty much the entire aircraft industry, just for starters

GHill

It's impact resistance where carbon traditionally falls down, but that seems to be a thing of the past. Look at the carbon Remedy for instance, and the Nomad alluded to above.

bike-a-swan

I love the kevlar (i think) integration in the downtube on the remedy. That and the flax in that Dutch (?) road bike that was reported a year or so ago are just really cool ways to use composites. My next idea? Screw that woven cosmetic layer they all put on top and put fibre optic cable on top of a reflective layer- instant colour change bike!

GHill

I'm not sure if it's technical Kevlar, but the "carbon armor" is a polymer shield that's going to be a lot like Kevlar. It does seem pretty cool.

breezer

I can name frames from many companies that I know have snapped or cracked, most companies suffer a bit. The thing is you never ever hear about it in magazines unless its an official recall like with some handlebars and stems recently. They just test the bikes for a couple of weeks then give them back. Ok sometimes they have "longtermers" but when its only a handful of frames with issues its less likely they will see it and report on it so its left to the internet and we all know how word spreads on that for good or bad.... Everyone I know thats had an issue with the frame from which ever company that made it has had it replaced. The only problem is when you buy second hand as 99% of warranties only cover the original owner and they normally rule out stuff like downhill racing unless its a full on "DH" bike

richg1979

ok bit of an update.

the bike shop have said they have heard nothing back from lapierre and it will prob be a few weeks :?

why has it gone from " yes there in stock and available" to "thinks its going to be a few weeks" even though they have said they have had no contact with lapierre.

i think someones telling porkies.

starbuck310

Broke a Zesty and he snapped his fuel ex9 in half.

He must be really unlucky. Frames do break I know but you got to admit if you keep breaking frames maybe he's doing something wrong?

Zesty 714 owner carbon all the way

richg1979

hes no light weight at around 15.5 stone but does nothing the bikes shouldnt handle, no big drops or jumps, only cannock chase really so nothing harsh at all.

he has a old gt aggressor that he was using for about 4yrs with out any prob, not even a buckled rim. and hes used my yeti and my maxlite a few times with no probs.

lugsey2k5

my zesty 514 10 is doing superb after a month of hard riding every few days. loving every minuet of it. I hope your mate gets it sorted my bike was shipped from France and took 2 weeks which wasn't bad due to no XL's in the country. Only minor floor iv found and its one stated in the mags is the bottom bracket hight is rather low but this is only a tiny floor and not caused any problems

x-isle

Northwind wrote:

dogboy73 wrote:

Should have recommended an Orange Five Pro - MBR trail bike of the year

The Zesty 514 was joint trail bike of the year with the Five Pro! And FROM MBR, where "It's as good as an Orange Five" is much like saying "It was handmade by the gods and presented to us in a golden chariot, goes up hills under its own power, descends like a V10, is impervious to all physical harm and and will get you laid so often, you'll sometimes ride other bikes just because your genitals are all worn"

I almost agree, but I wouldn't think god was French (if there was a god that is!)

timmys

richg1979 wrote:

ok bit of an update.

the bike shop have said they have heard nothing back from lapierre and it will prob be a few weeks :?

why has it gone from " yes there in stock and available" to "thinks its going to be a few weeks" even though they have said they have had no contact with lapierre.

i think someones telling porkies.

Trouble is it will be quite a long chain of communication;

Your mate -> Bike Shop -> Hotlines (the distributor) -> Lapierre

It is the shops job to keep up the pressure, so if they are a bit useless keep hassling them.

richg1979

its a large well known bike store so it thought they would have been on top of it, hes not a patient person and im wont suprised if he gets locked up if they start taking the piss.

Ste Rankin

Having had my '10 zesty for 6 weeks or so now, and pushing fairly hard around Cannock Chase, I can only blurt out great things!!

Im not exactly a whippet, being around 16.5 stone camelbak'd up etc, I hope your mate was just unlucky and the replacement will do what its supposed to!!

Adding to what others have commented, the 7 and 914 Zestys are full carbon frames with no (?) reported failures!! I concur with the bad batch theory

richg1979

good news is his lapierre was repaired yesterday so he collected it this morning.

bad news is now the front traiangle has cracked where the top of the down tube meets the bottom of the top tube at the steerer tube.

fair enough 1st crack could have been a manufacturing fault but cracked twice in 6 rides in two diffrent places????

looks like back to the shop and an even longer wait by the looks of things.

lawman

so he picked it up yesterday morning and its snapped already???? sorry mate but he must be doing something very wrong, had he ridden the bike before he cracked it or was it already cracked when the bike was rebuilt???

richg1979

Doing somthing wrong? Enlighten me on that one please. He pedals it and steers it around cannock chase, if theres another way to ride a bike id like to know how.

I never noticed the crack when it went back to the shop and thought they would have seen it in the shop as it does stand out.

cgarossi

He's doing nothing wrong. If he was and the frame snapped, he would probably be nursing some nasty injuries right now, which I assume he isnt.

Instant replacement or refund.

lawman

richg1979 wrote:

Doing somthing wrong? Enlighten me on that one please. He pedals it and steers it around cannock chase, if theres another way to ride a bike id like to know how.

I never noticed the crack when it went back to the shop and thought they would have seen it in the shop as it does stand out.

so was it cracked before he rode it????

Oxygen Thief

Couple of threads on here about Lapierre's snuffing it. Think I'll def steer clear of teh French frog shite.

richg1979

If he seen the crack he wouldnt have ridden it.

The bikes not been abused or crashed and still has the little nobbles on the tyres, it not been jumped or done anything you wouldnt see Someone on a £99 barracuda doing only the barracuda wouldnt be broke.

lawman

seems its cracked doing nothing out of the ordinary, but hey what do i know got any pics of the cracks???

Oxygen Thief

got any pics of the cracks???

Not past the watershed yet!