Insurance replacement for Spicy 916 - choices and confusion

milko9000

After a short but very happy time, the carbon rear triangle on my (second hand) Spicy 916 snapped. Mysteriously; in transit not on the trail. The rear mech hanger also snapped, but some of the frame went with it. Balls. Honestly no idea what actually caused it.

According to my insurance policy I've got £2,500 to spend (got the whole bike for £2K). Their experts (Wheelies UK) tell me Hotlines say that there's no way I can get a frame-only Spicy from Lapierre, it just isn't done. For real?

So I've got options:
Buy a complete Spicy, sell the spare bits to make some money back. I'm thinking this will be too expensive (or too far a downgrade), not sure I can be doing the faff of selling it all. On the upside, I really liked that Spicy to ride, so getting essentially the same thing would obviously be good.

Replace the frame with either a Cove (G-spot), a Turner (5 spot) or Yeti (SB-66 or 575). This appeals because it should be relatively straightforward but having never ridden any of those it'd be a bit of a step into the unknown.

I suppose one further option would be to get cash off the insurers and go second hand again for another Spicy 916, that would be worth considering. Although after what just happened the warranty that comes with new is kind of appealing. As is ditching carbon altogether.

Anyway. If anyone's been in a similar situation I'd welcome advice. Meanwhile I'm gonna read up geometry and see if one of those choices would be essentially like-for-like or better.

lostboysaint

First things first, have you asked Hotlines youself?

milko9000

I have and they pretty much said the same thing, albeit with a bit of wavering... Apparently the only way to do it is some sort of crash-damage-warranty-replacement. But for a 2009 second hand bike they didn't seem to think it'd fly.

Stevo_666

I've also heard the Lapierre will not supply frame only, period. Have a look on the 'we love Lapierre' website, pretty sure they say that IIRC and they are Lapierre dealers.

milko9000

I should add - I loved riding that Spicy but on the other hand it's the only full-sus bike I've ridden. So maybe I'd love all those other frames even more!

estampida

you have the right idea

yeti, moutain cycle, foes and maybe intense

I have just built up a Tomac snyper 140, for a mate and very impressed with the frame

stand out from the crowd

lawman

biased i know, but the ibis mojo HD walks all over the spicy imo, rode a 2009 spicy and its felt no where near as good as my HD despite having an extra 20mm travel either end

milko9000

Thanks Lawman. I have to say though, I'm rather turned off carbon fibre at the moment, which'd rule the Ibis out. Does look nice, I'll happily admit.

hobbitsharley

i have the 516 Spicy all alloy and love it, i have recently been looking at Spesh/Kona/Trek and amny others as i fancied a change but when it gels the spicy just flies, i to am wary of carbon but the alooy spicies are as good as the Carbon, check out ebay for Frames as you can get them every so often
also check on here as they appear as well
http://www.lapierreownersclub.com/forum

Muttly1981

lawman wrote:

biased i know, but the ibis mojo HD walks all over the spicy imo, rode a 2009 spicy and its felt no where near as good as my HD despite having an extra 20mm travel either end

I'm sure Ibis fill there frames with Hellium because there is no way a big hit bike can weigh so little and i though my Meta was light

chick0

Milko, do you have any friends or family in the USA ? If you do, you could do what my friends have done countless times.

Buy the frame on-line in the USA, but get them to post the frame to your friends or family in the States. When they get it, they then separate all the paper work, then post the fame to you with a very low value, and listed as a gift. This will save you having to pay the huge import tax's.

Personally i would be going for one of these with the money you have

http://www.hucknroll.com/santa-cruz-bic ... -w-dhx-air

£1,600 retail price in the USA ( saving about £1000 on UK retail). I would expect you could get it posted fairly quickly for around £100 with an international courier.

mikeysickalrigh

Don't take the cash. They'll prob give you 50% of the total in cash! You pay your insurance so you deserve to get the full pay out.

I work in a jewellers and when people come in and say that their insurance company will only go with certain shops, we tell them to refuse that and say that they're only going with the shop of their choice. After a few phone calls they always get their own way...

jonnyashworth

Ebay - frames come up all the time. or take the buy a bike on ebay and strip it to keep the frame. I bought a remedy 9 (09) on there just for the frame and by the time I was doen selling all the bits I was up about £400. Spicy frames come on fairly regularly too.

lawman

milko9000 wrote:

Thanks Lawman. I have to say though, I'm rather turned off carbon fibre at the moment, which'd rule the Ibis out. Does look nice, I'll happily admit.

tell that to brian lopes seriously tho, the Mojo HD is very well built, and warranty from ibis is utterly superb, they replace pretty much anything under warranty, and even if the bike is outside the warranty period, they'll give replacement parts from minimal cost, not that anything tends to go wrong anyway, ive never seen or heard of a snapped HD, snappierre on the other hand are well documented for their issues on alot of models ...

edit: having just had a look at the link chick0 posted, the rocky mountain slayer royal looks sweet as hell :shock:

milko9000

re: carbon - I know it's tough for big hits and stuff, but it seems to me (and recent personal experience adds to the feeling) that the big hits have to be the 'right' big hits. This might ultimately be irrational of me, but I don't want to be fretting that I've packed the bike into the car correctly or it's busted, and I think I won't be able to escape that now. I read the current MBUK's Ibis feature and I know I'm probably wrong, but still! Falling off along rocks that'd scrape a metal frame might tear a carbon fibre one, and so on.

I may well be the equivalent of a flat-earther on this but in the end it's me getting this bike for me alone and I'm gonna get an aluminium one anyway

The USA idea is a nice one, and I've had a saved ebay search for Spicy frames and bikes on the go too. But I think since the thing's insured and going through that makes it a legit deal with warranty support, I'm almost certainly choosing the Yeti SB-66 tomorrow in eyewatering cyan. After a few sleeps it's the option that leaves me with the least doubts and it being such a hyped bike means I could sell it on easily if I unexpectedly don't get on with it.

Sincere thanks for all the opinions everyone! "Snapierre" made me laugh a lot too

lawman

milko9000 wrote:

re: carbon - I know it's tough for big hits and stuff, but it seems to me (and recent personal experience adds to the feeling) that the big hits have to be the 'right' big hits. This might ultimately be irrational of me, but I don't want to be fretting that I've packed the bike into the car correctly or it's busted, and I think I won't be able to escape that now. I read the current MBUK's Ibis feature and I know I'm probably wrong, but still! Falling off along rocks that'd scrape a metal frame might tear a carbon fibre one, and so on.

I may well be the equivalent of a flat-earther on this but in the end it's me getting this bike for me alone and I'm gonna get an aluminium one anyway

The USA idea is a nice one, and I've had a saved ebay search for Spicy frames and bikes on the go too. But I think since the thing's insured and going through that makes it a legit deal with warranty support, I'm almost certainly choosing the Yeti SB-66 tomorrow in eyewatering cyan. After a few sleeps it's the option that leaves me with the least doubts and it being such a hyped bike means I could sell it on easily if I unexpectedly don't get on with it.

Sincere thanks for all the opinions everyone! "Snapierre" made me laugh a lot too

looks like they yeti will be a great choice, initial reviews are fantastic 8)