Earlier this week, we took a look at the training effort Nico Vouilloz was undergoing in preparation for the debut Enduro World Series season. We've since received details of the 10-time World Downhill Champion's all-new weapon of choice for enduro racing – the 2014 Lapierre Spicy Team 27.5.
The prototype frameset is designed to accomodate 650b hoops, in Nico's case SRAM prototypes wrapped in Schwalbe prototype rubber.
Lines are totally different from those on last year's Spicy, with only the suspension linkage and swingarm bearing a strong resemblence to the current model, although the swingarm now sneakily hides the rear brake caliper. Welds appear to be visible on both the front and rear end of the bike, we think this is most likely a fully alloy frameset at this prototype stage.
Vouilloz' new racer also uses the innovative E.I auto-adjust suspension system via a new Monarch Relay shock. E.I is a collaborative effort between Lapierre and RockShox, and uses a series of accelerometers and sensors to manage the compression and lockout settings of the rear shock on the fly.
Up front there's a stealthy, black stanchioned RockShox 160mm Pike fork – a BlackBox development model, no less. Meanwhile, SRAM's XX1 drivetrain will feed power to the rear wheel. We also got a glimpse of Nico's new race kit from Troy Lee Designs:
Nico Vouilloz' 2014 race kit from TLD
This stealthy carbon creation gives us a taster of what to expect from Lapierre in 2014, and has built our anticipation for the Enduro World Series even more.
