Time to get the weights and measure sorted. The custom Zesty and off–the–shelf Spicy come in at 28.24lb and 29.72lb respectively, these scoots are light. Both bikes are size large and even though the wheelbase of each is well matured at 45.5” and 46” for bikes of this size the cockpits feel strangely tight. I wonder how much room there would be for riders over six foot. The Zesty has an XL option but not the Spicy. Whatever, the question is how can you justify not going large with such similar figures? Sorry I forgot…“deadens the ride” maybe the only thing dead is the imagination, the thirst for riding increasingly difficult terrain – comfort zone gone west.

Production Zesty’s are said to come in under 25lb without pedals, and Spicy’s under 27lb. Somehow ours have fattened coming across the channel. The stock bikes share many of the same components and indeed frame parts, including what appears to be almost identical front triangles and chainstays, the Spicy being a few mm longer up in the headtube, so clearly not then. The biggest difference in the two bikes is really the longer stroke shock, bolt through back end and gutsier fork on the Spicy, yet in reality each could feign the other with very little work. The head angles at 66º and 65º are crazy close (although we did have the Revelation set to 150mm), the standover and bottom brackets are pretty much identical, and the prices each cashing in at a penny under five thousand pounds.

Why then have a Zesty or a Spicy when you can in fact (by spending a couple of hundred on a shock and rummage on eBay for a fork) have both!

So why would you? As much as the tales, and indeed facts, have been told that 140 is quicker uphill and 160 downhill it is partly irrelevant, it’s all about getting the tool for the job and one that fits your budget. The pressure to make the correct decision has further increased with the creation of quality 29”x140mm weapons.

The hypothesis then. If Big = comfort. Big = control. Big = grip. Does Big = better?