2014 Lapierre Zesty 427

AshW92

New Bike

Where to start? Caught the mountain biking bug this time last year when i purchased my lowly Kona Four, but come January time i felt rather than pour money into fixing/upgrading it i set about buying a new bike. I'd been looking around for a good few months before i went ahead and got my Lapierre, loved the older ones but thought i'd wait and get the new 2014 650b model. Got it for a good price since Wheelbase were doing a trade in offer so got £500 knocked off RRP, so thought i'd take a little bit of that spare money and stop by Evan's Cycle's in Kendal on my way back for these



Having a ride the next day thought i'd better get them on double quick, loving the Saint's now i removed the washers on the pins



And the obligatory 'recently purchased bike in the front room' pictures





Got a few things i've done to it since then (given it was 5 months ago now) and got a few things planned for this summer, such as a 1X drivetrain, Hope Pro 2's laced to Stans rims, Hope 50mm stem and Hope E4's

Current Spec, will update as things change:

Frame: 2014 Lapierre Zesty 427 Large
Forks: Fox Float 32 CTD
Shock: Fox CTD

Chainset: Race Face Turbine Double 36/22T
Gear Shifters: Shimano SLX 2X10
Front Mech: SRAM X7
Rear Mech: Shimano XT Shadow Plus 10spd
Cassette: Shimano XT 11-34
Chain: Shimano XT HG95
Pedals: Shimano Saints

Brakes: Formula R0 F+R
Handlebars: Funn Nico Vuilloz 740mm, 15mm Rise
Headset: FSA Orbit
Grips: SDG Hansolo Lock-On
Stem: Hope FR 50mm, 0deg rise
Seatpost: KS Lev Integra Dropper
Seatpost Clamp: Hope QR
Saddle: SDG Duster, LP custom

Hubs: Race Face Turbine 12x142mm rear, 15mm front
Rims: Race Face Turbine F+R
Tyres: Schwalbe Nobby Nic 2.25 F+R
Rotors: Formula Rotors 180 mm Front and 160mm Rear

AshW92

Seat Post Clamp And Grips

So first thing first, put a lot of miles into the bike and it rides a dream, not had any issues that other people seem to have with the wide chain/seat stays thankfully, although first ride out at Gisburn back in February was dead muddy, resulting in me not seeing a covered up stone and this happened



Not much and only cosmetic, but enough to annoy me on my new bike! Wanted a theme of purple running through the bike, so got onto Wiggle and ordered a Hope QR seat clamp as they were the only people stocking it at the time, and this turned up:



Not only is it a non-QR version, it's also a 31.8mm, not the 36.4mm i ordered. So with that, a swift return and contact my ever reliable CRC, and had these sent out to me





The proper QR version and in the right size, along with new SDG Hansolo Lock-on's which are a good little upgrade from the standard (shite) Zesty ones

It was at this point though that I noticed the fundamental problem with all factory KS Lev's, they don't work and need to be sent back (Whatever you've heard about Jungle is true, they take FOREVER to replace them, never cost me a penny though so can't complain).



They look a little out of place atm, but they will tie in nicely soon once my other parts arrive and i can fit them.

Thewaylander

Nice bike, the frenchies make a pretty bike!

Just don't rail road yourself purely into hope there are alot of good parts out there, on the wheel front yup they are are solid and affordable. but with the brakes they really arent all that at all have a test a round and make a really informed choice alot of people will say shimano here, im personally a fan of formula and sram trail brakes try them. but the honest thing i can say hope have been the worst and least reliable brakes i've seen.

AshW92

Thewaylander wrote:

Nice bike, the frenchies make a pretty bike!

Just don't rail road yourself purely into hope there are alot of good parts out there, on the wheel front yup they are are solid and affordable. but with the brakes they really arent all that at all have a test a round and make a really informed choice alot of people will say shimano here, im personally a fan of formula and sram trail brakes try them. but the honest thing i can say hope have been the worst and least reliable brakes i've seen.

I personally love Hope stuff, factory's only about 20 miles from me and a couple of my mates run the E4's and i've tried them out and love them. Personally don't enjoy Formula's, i think they fade pretty easily and don't have the best stopping power, the new SRAM Guide is tempting like but other than that i fancy the Hope's but thats a little bit down the line

AshW92

Slik Graphics

After seeing a few builds on here having custom made decals I thought i'd better order a set, and how glad I am that I did, the quality is superb and really ties in the front end now. To anyone wondering how to apply them I found removing the old ones and then cleaning up the residual glue with alcohol wipes, then applying soapy water to the forks and applying the decals works really well



Really top quality and fast delivery considering they were from Sweden









Just need to get either my drivetrain or seat and stem combo ordered but it's coming up to the girlfriend's birthday and I think if my bikes takes precedence over her present i'll get a swift kick in the balls so might have to delay it until July

razorrazoo

Before spending out on anything else I'd swap the tyres out (in fact I did). The OEM NN's are a horrible hard compound and you'll get a decent boost in grip.

Here's mine;

Changes to stock;

X-Fusion Sweep 160mm forks (would have liked Pikes but cost was an issue - maybe later)
Hans Dampf front (Trailstar) & rear (Pacestar)
Reverb Stealh (Lev arrived broken, replaced and sold the warrantied lev)
Renthal Fatbars @ 760mm
Renthal Duo stem
RF N/W 30T chainring
DMR Vault pedals

Next step is a replacement rear shock at some point. Would've swapped the seat for a Gobi but the SDG one is actually pretty comfy.

AshW92

Yeah the NN's will be going and probably replaced by 2.35 Hans Dampfs but while they've still got some life in them they will do for now, not the worst grip in the world from them so can't really justify the money to get rid of brand new tyres. Was eyeing up a set of Renthal Lite bars but i'm just undecided on the colour, might look for a set of carbon bars eventually, maybe up the width to 760mm to compensate for the 50mm stem.

What made you go for the X-fusion forks can i ask? Personally i don't mind the 32's, (but that might be down to the fact my old bike had a set of Rockshox Reba's which were awful) and would only swap them out for a set of Pike's

welshkev

just out of interest, why do people buy a brand ne bike and then change nearly all the parts on there?

doesn't make sense to me. :?

and why put 160mm forks on a zesty? why not just buy a spicy? lapierres have had a bad enough reputation for cracking anyway without adding more strain to the angles

AshW92

welshkev wrote:

just out of interest, why do people buy a brand ne bike and then change nearly all the parts on there?

doesn't make sense to me. :?

and why put 160mm forks on a zesty? why not just buy a spicy? lapierres have had a bad enough reputation for cracking anyway without adding more strain to the angles

Why not? Making the bike my own, and generally improving it with better parts rather than just changing stuff for the sake of it for equal quality bits

welshkev

I wasn't necessarily talking about you mate.

but my LBS will build a bike to spec. if you buy a brand new bike and you don't want ABC, you'd rather XYZ on there instead, they'll swap it for you before you even ride it.

I meant more the other guy who'd changed the forks etc. why not just buy the bike you want in the first place? I appreciate things like bar width or stem length may not be ideal so may need changing to suit, but not wholesale changes....as I said, it just doesn't make sense to me.

AshW92

welshkev wrote:

I wasn't necessarily talking about you mate.

but my LBS will build a bike to spec. if you buy a brand new bike and you don't want ABC, you'd rather XYZ on there instead, they'll swap it for you before you even ride it.

I meant more the other guy who'd changed the forks etc. why not just buy the bike you want in the first place? I appreciate things like bar width or stem length may not be ideal so may need changing to suit, but not wholesale changes....as I said, it just doesn't make sense to me.

Fully get you pal, like i said i don't want massive changes just more suiting the bike around me, not sure about the other lad but in my case at the time dropping over 2.5k on a bike was expensive enough, wouldn't have been about to afford a higher spec at the time but can get it there over time

razorrazoo

welshkev wrote:

just out of interest, why do people buy a brand ne bike and then change nearly all the parts on there?

doesn't make sense to me. :?

and why put 160mm forks on a zesty? why not just buy a spicy? lapierres have had a bad enough reputation for cracking anyway without adding more strain to the angles

Bike was an insurance replacement, I have never bought an off the peg bike before, always custom build. I had vouchers to spend at Wheelies (my max cash offer was less so decided to take the vouchers after assessing options), so after lengthy consideration of all the options available the way to get what I wanted was to get the bike and upgrade with the leftover vouchers. Took off all the parts new and sold them so effectively got some cashback too.

Zesty & Spicy share the same frame for 2014 so no problem running 160mm, historically cracking has always been on the stays anyway and as I was intending to swap most of the parts that differ between Zesty and Spicy anyway (and the fact that the Spicy was not in stock) there was no reason not to go for the Zesty.

Parts changed because;

Bars & stem - personal choice, wider bars & shorter stem, if it had come with what I like I would not have changed this
Seatpost - swapped as Lev was back for fixing, wanted a dropper and preferred the Reverb, would have kept the lev if it wowrked out of the box
Forks - Evo CTD forks have basic internals (read any reviews about them as OEM) so was always going to upgrade immediately - I can reduce the travel on the sweeps if I wanted but no point for the sake of 10mm.
Pedals - not supplied with the bike
Narrow wide - prefer 1x10, lighter, leaves space for the reverb button.
Tyres - most tyres on new bikes are a cost saving area, best upgrade for most new bikes is tyres.

razorrazoo

AshW92 wrote:

What made you go for the X-fusion forks can i ask? Personally i don't mind the 32's, (but that might be down to the fact my old bike had a set of Rockshox Reba's which were awful) and would only swap them out for a set of Pike's

Would have gone for Pikes but as the insurance replacement parts are at RRP so out of budget, the X-Fusions are about 40% cheaper and get great reviews (and they are really nice).

Fox 32s are not that stiff and damping is basic on the Evo versions so upgraded because I had the budget to.

AshW92

razorrazoo wrote:

Fox 32s are not that stiff and damping is basic on the Evo versions so upgraded because I had the budget to.

Fair play mate, 32's are relatively basic but do the job now for me, never tested a set of X-fusions so don't know how they ride

paul.skibum

AshW92 wrote:

Not only is it a non-QR version, it's also a 31.8mm, not the 36.4mm i ordered. So with that, a swift return and contact my ever reliable CRC, and had these sent out to me



The proper QR version and in the right size,

Why put a QR seatpost clamp on a bike with a dropper? You never need to use it. The bolt version (albeit in the wrong size) made more sense.

BigStu2

Looking good, where did you get the new fork decals from ??

AshW92

paul.skibum wrote:

Why put a QR seatpost clamp on a bike with a dropper? You never need to use it. The bolt version (albeit in the wrong size) made more sense.

Cause i got the QR version for a massively discounted price, so was saving money

BigStu2 wrote:

Looking good, where did you get the new fork decals from ??

Slik Graphics mate, give them a google. Really good quality and have a bit of give in them for novices (me). I cocked putting them on a bit, had then on and off three times i think. Just used soapy water on the forks each time i went to apply and stuck them back on, wait for them to dry and you're done

EDIT: Just seen you're from Sweden, so are they so you will get free delivery aswell

ej2320

Got some rim decals from slik, haven't used them but they seemed decent quality

jamesh72

I've got one of these, its brilliant.

I've also changed the tyres to hans dampfs, TS front, PS rear.

Also, even though it wasn't a major problem for me, I have had the new narrower seat stays put on - I was occasionally catching my heels until I found that was riding 'toes in'.

This was organised through the LBS I bought it from who were brilliant. No more riding knock knee'd, and there don't appear to be any downsides to them being narrower.

Off to some welsh bike parks in a couple of weeks, can't wait.

AshW92

Thought i'd treat myself, so i've just ordered this from CRC



50mm, 20mm shorter than my current Easton and with a 0deg rise

Myster101

Love the look of these bikes but the purple looks awful on it (IMO of course ).

IDave

I have to agree that purple and yellow do not mix.

Lovely bike, but you should have stuck with a black and yellow colour scheme.

AshW92

Myster101 wrote:

Love the look of these bikes but the purple looks awful on it (IMO of course ).

IDave wrote:

I have to agree that purple and yellow do not mix.

Lovely bike, but you should have stuck with a black and yellow colour scheme.

Each to their own lads, personally i love the purple, looks a million times better in real life

felix.london

yeah would of stuck to the bumble bee colour scheme too...nice bike though

jamesrandall24

looking good!

AshW92

felix.london wrote:

yeah would have stuck to the bumble bee colour scheme too...nice bike though

I know it sounds off considering the fact the from is bright yellow, but it kind of felt a bit dull, at least to me anyway. Gonna go ahead and get the wheels on and see how i feel about it all, worst comes to worst i can always sell parts and replace them with a different colour, all part of the fun

welshkev

I've just read back what I wrote, I sound like a right grumpy fart

I forgot to say - nice bikes though

razorrazoo

welshkev wrote:

I've just read back what I wrote, I sound like a right grumpy fart

I think you had a valid question.

It's unfortunate that even at over £2.5 K there are some big compromises in some of the components on most off the shelf bikes (but do consider that many frames get close to £2K even for aluminium). On the Zesty;

- Shock / fork - both Evolution series (ie bottom of the Fox range)
- Tyres - OEM spec Schwable
- Shifter - SLX (which is fine)
- In house bars (made by Funn)

But on the flip side you get;

- Lovely frame
- Race Face turbine chainset
- Race Face turbine wheelset (rims could be a bit wider)
- KS Lev seatpost

All compromises you can live with but worth upgrading over time.

I'll definitely change the shock on mine at some point and possibly swap out the forks for Pikes if a reasonable deal comes up (if only to get the black stanctions to complete the bike's aesthetics).

AshW92

Hope Stem

Okay so the stem turned up today so i could carry on with the (surprisingly to me) marmite build, and as with an Hope product the quality looks and feels amazing with great anodising.





As previously said it's 50mm in length and a 0deg rise compared to my Easton which was 70mm and a 6deg rise, so no time to waste I swiftly set about swapping it for the Easton. Had a little trial fit and was just a bit too big:



So whipped a spacer off and it fits like a dream, so nipped up the bars, stem and headset and here is how she sits now







Gonna take her out for a spin and set how it feels, will report back how it feels soon. As has been pointed out the purple is a bit hit and miss, but it's one of my favourite colours and in person i think it works, admittedly it doesn't quite look the same on a phone camera

Next plan is probably swapping to a 1X10 drivetrain, then treat myself to a new set of Stans for my birthday next month and go tubeless

DCR00

If you are changing so much on the bike, why not build one from scratch ?

Personally i quite like the colour combo.

For some reason it makes me think of the film Despicable Me. Not sure why.

felix.london

AshW92 wrote:

all part of the fun

Indeed it is. I'm slowly getting rid of the red highlights on my Votec and going into 100% stealth mode 8)

Looking at the before and after shots and it def stands out from the crowd more now I'll give you that!

I'm really digging the Lap graphics on the top tube (front, drive-side) - nice and techie. Didn't used to rate the look of their bikes at all but they've stepped it up a few notches by the looks of things.