Skip to main content

Lapierre Spicy 527 bike


Enduro courses in europe, the land where this bike calls home, make most U.S. courses seem smooth. So the Spicy 527’s 6-inch-travel aluminum frame is beefy as hell, along with its component spec, including the 160-millimeter RockShox Pike and Michelin’s Advanced Reinforced Gum-X and Magi-X rubber–some of the burliest tires on the market.

Make no mistake; the Spicy came to shred. Scanning the geometry chart will reaffirm this notion, but one steep descent will solidify it. There’s a sense of fearlessness and indestructibility that come with the Spicy. But those things apparently aren’t very light. At 34.5 pounds with pedals, you’ll need some strong stems to get up the climbs. To help you with this is Lapierre’s E:I automatic shock system, which uses sensors on the bike to read the trail and rider and automatically switch the shock between modes.

The second-generation E:I system has been pared down to the bare necessities–3 sensors, a battery and a processor cleverly tucked next to the stem. There’s just one button and an L.E.D. Riders can cycle between open, medium and locked, or stick it in auto mode and forget about it–which is what this thing is all about.

It’s pretty cool: Accelerometers on the fork and stem, and the internal cadence sensor on the bottom bracket constantly tell the shock whether to be open, medium or locked. When coasting it’ll stay open even if the trail is smooth. It figures, if you aren’t pedaling you don’t need platform. But once you start pedaling, it’ll automatically close the shock until the accelerometers feel an impact. It’s pretty fast, but not quite fast enough to call the transitions seamless.

It takes a couple pedal strokes for the cadence sensor to realize that the crank is turning. The system can get confused on undulating terrain, constantly going from open to closed instead of putting itself in the medium setting. Also, there’s a bit of lag in at the RockShox Monarch shock’s switch. All these things will improve as technology advances.

Once I stopped looking down at the constantly changing L.E.D. and realized that the servo wasn’t a robot chasing me down the trail, I found that the system allowed me to focus on the trail instead of flipping switches, which is really the whole point. There’s no question that Lapierre’s system works. Perhaps this is the future of suspension technology. But is it better than mechanical systems that are stiffer when pedaling, softer when shredding already?

PRICE 5000$

Popular posts from this blog

ENVE M50 29" Wheels

Utah based company ENVE have been making drool-worthy carbon components for some years now. Despite the fact that carbon rims are becoming more and more common on mountain bikes these days, you can guarantee that ENVE wheels will be a talking point when someone is eyeing off a steed. Instantly, the big bold logos on each rim scream "fast", "light" and to some extent, "expensive" The kids call this 'bling'.

KONA SHRED

With a reputation for no-nonsense ruggedness and a background in the always progressive and punishing riding of Canada, Kona have been building hardcore hardtails for longer than almost anyone else. The Shred is the most expensive bike on test but it’s a proper trail tank.

iXS Asper BC shorts

THEY AREN’T CHEAP, but these well made and feature packed shorts are the epitome of classic mountainbike-specific functionality, and on the bike they don’t disappoint.

Gusset Magnum stem

SO GOOD Gusset’s 50mm stem is nicely CNC machined from 7075 alloy and the faceplate and internal steerer clamp are available in a range of five anodised colours to complement the black body. The hidden steerer clamp keeps sharp edges to a minimum and removes stress from the body of the stem. Out on the bike, the stem proved flex free and bombproof.

GT Zaskar Evolution

While some bike models last just a couple of years, others change with the times to stay at the top of riders’ wishlists. In the second part of this series looking at the evolution of bikes that enjoy enduring popularity with UK riders, we turn to the GT Zaskar – a bike that was at the forefront of our sport for a long time and still has plenty of appeal today.