Lapierre Spicy 516

Lapierre Spicy 516 Demo

No beating around the bush with this one, I have had a blast and absolutely loved every mile that I have pedaled the Spicy 516. It has coped with anything and everything that I personally could throw at it and even when removed from its comfort zone it still never once faltered.

Over the 3 month period I’ve taken the spicy for a considerable number of loops around the local trail centre, used it in my first ever downhill race and shuttled more runs up and down the local downhill spot than I care to count. It offered me absolutely everything I was looking for and more in an all mountain/trail bike.

Check out this short little run down shot at Haldon Forest.

The Ride.

I found the Spicy to be all very predictable when riding but that is no bad thing. Throughout all my time on the bike I never once felt like it was going to bite my head off when you pushed it to far.

I used the Fox I.R.D app on the iPhone to get an idea of what kind of settings I should be running the suspension on the bike but I would take this with a slight pinch of salt. Suspension setup isn’t an exact art and there will never be that "perfect" set up that will work 24/7, as for most of us our riding just isn't predictable enough. You could hit any particular corner 15 times in a row and will probably still take a slightly different line each time. It's always going to be a compromise when it comes to setting up your suspension but after a couple of hours I felt like it was about as close to spot on as I would ever achieve.

The bike remained as standard during its time with us apart from the installation of Renthal's awesome Kevlar compound lock on grips and a bash ring we had lying around!

I found the Spicy to offer incredible front end grip through the flat corners and gave you a real confidence to just put the front wheel exactly where you wanted it to be. The back end wasn't afraid to get a little loose when you really pushed it on the slicker stuff but very rarely did I ever feel truly out of control and a complete passenger heading for a tree flat out.

The Spicy feels planted and inspires confidence when the speeds increase in straight lines and it yearns for you to get off the brakes and let things roll, but it still performs when things get a little tighter and more technical.

It took some getting used to in my head but the bike tracks over cambers and through the rough stuff so well you start to forget about it and after a while it becomes a much lesser event and you can start concentrating on more important aspects of your riding.

Just when you think things can't get any better. Point it uphill flick the switches on the suspension to climb mode and it will happily ascend all day. Thanks to its 28lb build and some pedal friendly angles.

The Spicy defies the impossible.

Conclusion.

The Spicy is one of those bikes that just wants to be ridden hard and fast straight out of the box. It's a strange feeling that you don't experience very often and is very hard to put into words but the Spicy is at its best right when you are nearing your own personal limit. It gives you that little extra to take your riding up a gear.

I leant the bike to my good friend Greg so he could see what I was forever raving on about. One night ride later I received a tweet from him simply stating "Your not getting this one back!"

I think that sums this one up nicely.

 

Thomson dropper post first look

Core Bike 2013: Thomson’s New Dropper Post

Distributor i-ride.co.uk was showing lots of shiny things, but pride of place was reserved for a working version of Thomson’s new Elite dropper post.

The seatpost is cable-operated, with a cam-actuation to ease cable pressure. The handlebar mount is small and neat and should be relatively easy to find room for. (It does have a rather knee-punching shape though, so watch where you put it). Complete weight is likely to be around 450g.

The post itself offers 5in of drop and is infinitely adjustable. It uses an internal hydraulic cartridge with a fixed pressure and incorporates a second ‘check valve’ that stops the feature of some other posts where the saddle lifts up when you try to lift your dropped-post bike by the saddle. There are internal Norglide bearing surfaces as well as a ‘self-adjusting’ system to keep the post free of side-to-side play.

We asked why the cable goes in at the top of the post, to which the Thomson rep told us that if it went in at the base collar, it would then need an internal lever to get to the up/down switch inside, which would add friction and more complication. There is, however, a stealth version in the works for later this year.

 

Cable mount can be replaced by a 'Michael Jackson crotch-grab' style lever

 

 

The post only comes in 30.9 and 31.6 at the moment, though there was also talk of a 27.2 version and, interestingly, a road bike version. The road version would allow a drop for descents, but also allow a shallower drop for cobbled sections where you still need to hover and pedal… That’s probably for next year though.

Core Bike show Visit

Core Bike Highlights

Surly:

First off, Surly has been going great guns this year, with the fat-bikes constantly selling out and other oddball bikes like the new Krampus on everyone’s ‘must ride’ list.

Surly have moved away from thier customary 'earth clour pallet this year and injescted some colour.

The Crosscheck now comes in a lovely Green colourway
 

 

Hope:
Hope have released a line of handlebars - they're a full 800mm wide and come in 10, 20 and 30mm rise versions, with 5 degrees of upsweep and 7 degrees of backsweep

Useful markings are included so that you can get a perfectly symmetrical cockpit

 

Hope's new UK-made grips were announced at Core. They'll set you back £25 and are available in black/white, with red and green colours in the pipeline for their release in March 2013

The New PF41 press-fit BB from Hope. It uses the same proven bearings but locks in place in a similar way to a threaded BB

A fully Hope'd up Giant XTC advanced was on show