Lapierre Spicy 2012

sofaboy73

after getting my bike nicked a couple of weeks ago it looks like the insurance compnay have come up trumps and offered me a 2012 Spicy 916 as a replacement. On paper and from the reviews it looks like an awesome bike and right up my street.

However I've never ridden one, can't find anywhere to demo one or even swing a leg over any spicy model and have to go back to the insurance co fairly quickly to give them an answer. would really apreaciate any feedback from Spicy owners / those that have ridden them on the good points and bad points.

I've also been told that they rip through the press fit BB's at a rate of knots - is this true as at £30 a pop theyre no cheap.

Very tempted to say yes as at the back of my mind thinking i can always ride it and if don't like it sell it and still get a fair wack nearly new as its a 5K bike.

any input appreaciated

milko9000

I had an older 916. It was brilliant. Then it snapped. Could always get a better BB if the ones they normally have are bobbins?

Stevo_666

I've got a 2011 model 916 and I'm happy with it. Very versatile - takes a beating doing a bit of downhill but just as happy wazzing round trails in the SE. Good chunky build and only problem to date has been the Fox RP2 shock blowing a seal, but was repaired under warranty (looks like it was a faulty shock unit).

Go for it - there are far worse bikes out there.

ricardo_smooth

thought the newer spicy's were all threaded BB's? (ie 2011 onwards). I know the 2011 316 is threaded, so thought the higher up specs would be?

sofaboy73

According to the spec list, it's a press fit BB. Never used them, don't know what the advantages / disadvantage are??

felix.london

I was drooling over one on earlier in the week. Can't remember what type of BB it had though. Could pop down to the shop tomorrow and check it out (it's a nice fast single track descent from my door to the shop )

Lapierre's are very popular over here - it's mostly Lap's & Spesh's round these parts.

lawman

it should have a threaded bb if its 2012, word of warning though, lapierre can be abit off when it comes to carbon sometimes, they have a history of issues, very much like commencal, a buddy had his 2012 lapierre DH taken back for warranty after just 3 weeks and very little riding, he snapped it clean through the swingarm on his second ride... still waiting for his warranty frame now. What i would do is take it, strip the stuff from the frame and stick it on something thats gonna stand the test of time, carbon nomad, mojo HD or similar.

bjj.andy.w

Test rode one at the wheelbase demo weekend recently, along with a whyte 146s and a trek slash 9. imho it was the worst of the three. Didn't decend as well as the either of them or climb as well as the slash. Got a alu mk2 nomad myself and tbh if the insurance is offering that amount of money I'd be hankering after a carbon version.

sofaboy73

bjj.andy.w wrote:

Test rode one at the wheelbase demo weekend recently, along with a whyte 146s and a trek slash 9. imho it was the worst of the three. Didn't decend as well as the either of them or climb as well as the slash. Got a alu mk2 nomad myself and tbh if the insurance is offering that amount of money I'd be hankering after a carbon version.

I've demo'd the slash (albeit the 7) and it climbed like a pig which worries me about the lappy. Cash might not be an option from the insurance. In what way was it bad?

Stevo_666

It's not a bad climber at all - in fact pretty good for 160mm travel bike. I've climbed places like White Level at Afan no problem. Can't coment on the other two in comparison though.

bjj.andy.w

Sorry, should of said, the slash had a fox talas up front so it steepens the HA up for climbing. As for the spicy it just didn't feel as stable and planted going downhill as the other two or my nomad. Uphill it was better than the whyte ( which wandered quite bad) but not as good as the trek ( probably due to the fork) or my nomad ( just seems to track the ground better and "dig in" up the climbs ) Dont get me wrong, the spicy is a nice bike ( for £5 grand I'd expect it to be ) I just think IMO there are better bikes to swing your leg over.

sofaboy73

bjj.andy.w wrote:

Sorry, should have said, the slash had a fox talas up front so it steepens the HA up for climbing. As for the spicy it just didn't feel as stable and planted going downhill as the other two or my nomad. Uphill it was better than the whyte ( which wandered quite bad) but not as good as the trek ( probably due to the fork) or my nomad ( just seems to track the ground better and "dig in" up the climbs ) Dont get me wrong, the spicy is a nice bike ( for £5 grand I'd expect it to be ) I just think IMO there are better bikes to swing your leg over.

Thanks for the input. As a point of comparison, which model of the slash where you riding? I tried the 7 and so much get the long fork wander, more it just dragged badly. Saying that it was the 7 which I think comes in at about 33lb! The carbon nomey has always been the dream bike, sadly sc isn't one one of my insurance co suppliers (no surprise there). Did the spicy feel sketchy down hill them? As another poster suggested, thinking might take the spicy, strip the kit and sell the frame to by a nomey

bjj.andy.w

It was a slash 9 so it comes with the talas as standard and weighed in around the 30lb mark. RE the spicy It was by no means a bad bike. The speeds I was achieving on it were impressive. It's just that I felt there was more in reserve to get me out of trouble if it went tits up on the other two. Hope that makes sense.

Stevo_666

Moral of the story is, if you own a Nomad, you'll like a Nomad and recommend it to others, if you own a Spicy, you'll like a Spicy and recommend it to others Don't think you'll be disappointed with either, uphill or down.

bjj.andy.w

Couldn't agree more

ricardo_smooth

Stevo 666 wrote:

Moral of the story is, if you own a Nomad, you'll have the most awesome bike for most things Don't think you'll be disappointed with it, uphill or down.

Stevo_666

Bloody Nomad fanbois

bjj.andy.w

Stevo 666 wrote:

Bloody Nomad fanbois

Nearly as bad as them filing cabinet lovers

getonyourbike

I've got a Spicy and think it's great. I've also spent a day on a Whyte 146S and thought that was great too but I didn't ride it up a hill so don't know about how it climbs as a mate (who runs the demo days) brought one along for me to try. I ride XC, DH and race Gravity Enduros on my Spicy. It really does handle well.

sofaboy73

Cheers for all the input. After having a quick play on a 516 to get a very basic feel for the bike ive decided to go for the insurance co offer of the 916. Quick question though, does the anyone know if the carbon version has mounts for a chain device? Nothing listed in the spec list and the guy at Evans' didn't know / couldn't find out. Given the type of bike it is I'm guessing it must?

Stevo_666

sofaboy73 wrote:

Cheers for all the input. After having a quick play on a 516 to get a very basic feel for the bike ive decided to go for the insurance co offer of the 916. Quick question though, does the anyone know if the carbon version has mounts for a chain device? Nothing listed in the spec list and the guy at Evans' didn't know / couldn't find out. Given the type of bike it is I'm guessing it must?

A man of good taste 8) I can't tell you for sure about the chain guide mounts on the 2012 bike - all I know is that the 2011 916 definitely has them.