Lapierre xr

DrSlow

Squid
The bike actually came with rocket Ron's, have not set them up as tubeless. The RRs I use are the more expensive snakeskin ones. They go up with a track pump on stans crest rims very easily. Even though they have the snakeskin sidewall protection I would not say the sidewalls are all that tough, most fails ( ie requiring a tube) to date being slashes in the sidewalls.
 

asterix

Likes Bikes
Picked up my Lapierre XR 529 this morning. Haven't had a chance to ride it yet but I'm really happy with how it looks.
Hopefully I'll get out tomorrow to see how it handles.
Changes from the stock spec are the wheels; Cobalt 2, set up tubeless.
ESI grips
Niner carbon bar
Specialized Romin saddle
XT pedals
11.3kg which is pretty impressive considering this bike doesn't cost a bucket load of money.





 

jimspr

Likes Bikes
Wondering if anyone has weighed the stock Lapierre bar on the 529? I'd like to swap it out for something like an Easton ec70 which they have on the team, but would like to know what I'd save.
250 grams
Collect my 729 today. Will report more tomorrow.
 

jimspr

Likes Bikes
Xr 729

Took the bike out for its first run today.
Wow!
After coming from a 26", the 29" concept was amazing! In corners like its on rails, climbs like a monkey and installs confidence on the down hill. Having ridden other 29er's, this one feels like and handles like a 26.

Unfortunately I only got to play with it for half the ride. My "mates" wanted to have a go, I ended up not noticing them turn left and spent the 2nd half of the ride on my own.

All 5 of them returned to the car park telling me how good it was. One even going as far to say its the best bike he had ridden! Coming from a crew that ride s works epics, Merida big 9's, trek super flys, giant anthems and Santa Cruz tall boys, I was mighty impressed.
Ended up with 24 PR's on strava. 12 whilst I was on the bike. Thanks boys!

Oh and the EI. It works.
No, It works really really well.
 

DrSlow

Squid
Thanks for the bar weight Jimspr.

New rig looks sweet Asterix. You won't be disappointed. Did my first 4hr on the 529 yesterday. it all worked flawlessly. Still getting used to the faster handling, not twitchy but certainly very flickable in tight single track. Have to exploit that some more. Climbing was a breeze.
 

jimspr

Likes Bikes
Xr 729

Took the bike out for its first run today.
Wow!
After coming from a 26", the 29" concept was amazing! In corners like its on rails, climbs like a monkey and installs confidence on the down hill. Having ridden other 29er's, this one feels like and handles like a 26.

Unfortunately I only got to play with it for half the ride. My "mates" wanted to have a go, I ended up not noticing them turn left and spent the 2nd half of the ride on my own.

All 5 of them returned to the car park telling me how good it was. One even going as far to say its the best bike he had ridden! Coming from a crew that ride s works epics, Merida big 9's, trek super flys, giant anthems and Santa Cruz tall boys, I was mighty impressed.
Ended up with 24 PR's on strava. 12 whilst I was on the bike. Thanks boys!

Oh and the EI. It works.
No, It works really really well.
It Even has my name on it!!
 

Attachments

DrSlow

Squid
Looks like the bar weights are different on the 729 and 529. Just replaced mine on the 529 with an ec70 bar. 322g swapped for 155g so a reasonable saving.
 
I've got the XR 529 with Shimano components.

I've got a bit of an issue with rubbing on the front derailleur when I'm in the big ring and the last couple of smallest sized gears on the cassette.

I've adjusted it out but I don't get a very positive shift from big ring to small ring now and I have a tiny bit of rubbing on the derailleur when I'm in the small chainring and the largest gear on the cassette.

Can anyone provide any advice?

I've had to back to my Mechanic twice and he's out of tricks.
 

silentbutdeadly

has some good things to say
I've got the XR 529 with Shimano components.

I've got a bit of an issue with rubbing on the front derailleur when I'm in the big ring and the last couple of smallest sized gears on the cassette.

I've adjusted it out but I don't get a very positive shift from big ring to small ring now and I have a tiny bit of rubbing on the derailleur when I'm in the small chainring and the largest gear on the cassette.

Can anyone provide any advice?

I've had to back to my Mechanic twice and he's out of tricks.
You'll often find that you will get some rub on the FD in that situation...it's not uncommon. What is uncommon is finding yourself in those particular gears in a MTB situation...
 
First race is down, 80km marathon.

Observaions

1. I need to get the gears tuned better, they gave me trouble all-day. The rear is slower to shift than my old 9sp bike and the front shifting just didn't work. I presume this is all fixable and just tuning. The front shifting was WAY too slow, I got stuck in the big ring on some long climbs which was murder.

2. I need lower gearing, there was tens of "serious" climbs in the course and my cadence was down to 40 in some places - although that was still quicker than walking as evidenced by people I was passing.

3. This bike is AMAZING down-hill, I passed 9 people in one down-hill section. That included hitting a huge mound designed to stop run-off at 50km/ph followed by some fully clenched air-time. Soon as we hit the anything pointing downwards I disappeared from the guys I was riding with. Unfortuantely my lack of sufficient gearing had them picking me up on the climbs but at least I had a head start on them.

Its not love yet, a few small changes and I might be very happy.

I'm running 25% sag in the front and I bottomed it out pretty hard a couple of times, anyone have thoughts on reducing this to say 20% ?

Water bottle cage lost my bottle on the first jump, lucky it was a backup and I had my camelbak on so cage will be replaced in flavor of a TIGHT one.

Pretty happy with the standard bar height which is about 30mm lower than I am used to but that is good, I might like some bars with a small sweep-back bend on them (any suggestions?)

I also plan to change the wheels but these ones seem good until the new ones arrive.
 
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asterix

Likes Bikes
Thought I'd give this thread a bump seeing as how most people would've had their bikes for 6+ months now.
I have a love/ hate relationship with mine.
The bike has got some real things going for it. It is a reasonably light frame & mine fits me like a glove. The short rear chainstays make it easy to get around tight, twisty, singletrack which is predominant on the trails here in SA. The short head tube & negative rise stem also get my weight over the front of the bike & is really comfortable. As others have noted the bike descends really well & feels a lot more capable than something with 100mm of travel.

On the down side. I'm on my second frame since buying the bike in May 2013. My original frame developed hairline cracks in the seat stays & another, bigger, one on the non-drive side pivot, next to the BB. The guys at the shop where I bought it were split as to wether they were paint cracks or more substantial, but the whole frame was warrantied with a minimum of fuss but it was an inconvenience. I hadn't ridden the bike beyond its intended purpose either.
Also, the BB on my bike has creaked like a mother fucker from the get go. I've had it looked at in the shop as i don't have the tools to be able to extract it & it's been fine but then it has developed again after about 10+ hours of riding. I'm not sold on Press fit BB & my next bike will have a traditional out board bearing set-up (Santa Cruz). Easy to pull out & service yourself.
Also, the rear shock (Fox CTD) is currently in Sydney being fixed as the Climb feature on it went from being stiff, but still compliant, to totally locked out. The rebound across all three settings seemed to go as well. Been without it now for 2 weeks. A mate gave me a spare rear shock to put in it to get it going but it has specific mounting hardware as it is in the shock cradle & the replacement wont fit.
Finally....the bike seems to let a shed load of water into the frame when it is washed. I thought it was the internal cable routing holes letting it in but I think the seat tube under the shock cradle is open & lets in water. It's not such an issue now as i plug it when I wash it but it is a pain coz if i didn't it would foul the bearings pretty quickly.

Sorry, my review has turned into a bit of a rant as I'm annoyed the bike has spent more than a month since I've had it in the shop getting fixed in one form or another. I'm at the point where, when i get it back, I'm just going to be waiting for the next thing to go wrong with it which is never good. I think a Santa Cruz Tallboy is in my near future.
Would be really interested to hear from other riders to see if they've had any similar issues.
 

hifiandmtb

Sphincter beanie
Ouch, that ain't great :-(

I do have to say, my TBc has been very reliable & quiet. Going with a conventional BB was great thinking from SC.
 

silentbutdeadly

has some good things to say
You've my sympathies too. I thought they'd be a sweet bike but obviously they are sweet bike with niggles. Sadly I haven't seen one yet in the flesh because the LBS who is their reseller seems to have more of a fascination with Norco and Merida and road bikes in general...either that or the distro can't keep up with supply :eek:hwell:
 

Fifteen.Hundred

Likes Dirt
Have only seen one of these out on the trails.

Judging by the experiences outlined above and the huge thread over on MTBR, it seems as though alot of them spend more time at the LBS for repairs/warranty claims than actually being ridden.
 

DoubleD

Likes Dirt
I love my 529. I kitted out our with xx1 and some light carbon wheels, big negative stem and it's a rocket. Raced it to 3rd in my age group at the national round last month,. Does seem to creak a bit, when it got annoying I used a bit of all thread with washers and nuts to re-press it and it shut up. I'll have to have a good look for cracks sometime but so far so good.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk
 
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asterix

Likes Bikes
Glad to hear yours is still going strong DoubleD. With Carbon wheels & XX1 drivetrain it must be in the low 10kg mark?
 
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