Lapierre has announced a special edition of its Xelius DRS aero road frameset to mark the brand’s 80th anniversary. Appropriately for the proudly French brand, the launch is on 14 July, the French national holiday.
The 80th Anniversary Lapierre Xelius DRS will be sold in a limited run of only 100 framesets in a special Kinetic Dust colour.
Lapierre says the 'dust' mottling is concentrated in areas of the frame under the highest stress: think bottom bracket, fork crown and seatstay/top tube junction.
"When we were designing this frameset to celebrate the brand’s 80th anniversary, we wanted to embrace the philosophy of Lapierre, which is why we focused on the raw, emotional reality of cycling," says the company's global brand manager, Dorian Tabeau.
According to Lapierre, the frame colour "illustrates the emotional residue of performance" – no, we’re not sure what that means either.
It goes on to state the dark blue "represents Lapierre’s DNA and legacy, while also symbolising the calm before intensity". It’s combined with teal, which it claims "signifies the moment pain transforms into momentum" and champagne, which "conveys quiet satisfaction and a personal victory".
We’re not sure we buy the design-speak, but it does look nice.
Ridden by Picnic-PostNL pro team
The special-edition frameset will be rolled out under Lapierre’s sponsored Picnic-PostNL team at the Tour de France on stage 10 on Bastille Day. Lapierre points out the Xelius DRS’ raw frame weight of 740g and 3D Tubular design, where the seatstays join the front triangle at the top tube rather than the seat tube.
Lapierre was founded by Gaston Lapierre, who set up shop in Dijon making steel bikes such as those used in the 1980s by the French postal service. Latterly, it branched out into full-suspension MTBs and electric mountain bikes, as well as carbon-framed road bikes from the early 2000s, and was closely associated with retired French star Thibaut Pinot, who rode Lapierre bikes throughout his professional career at FDJ.
If you want to buy the Xelius DRS 80th anniversary frameset, it’s available in sizes S, M and L, and priced at €4,499.
