Dirt

For almost 70 years, French bike manufacturing company Lapierre has combined aesthetics, attention to detail, cutting-edge technology and innovation to offer some of the most efficient and beautiful bikes around. The company was founded in Dijon in 1946 by Gaston Lapierre, and Gaston’s grandson Gilles remains the company’s managing director to this day.

Lapierre began with road bikes, but introduced its first mountain bike in 1987, becoming one of the first European brands to enter the market. It sponsored its first mountain bike team only one year later, and, in 2001, introduced an innovative full-suspension mountain bike, the X-Control, which was used by Jérôme Chiotti to win the 2001 French MTB Championship.

From producing just 6,000 bikes each year 50 years ago, Lapierre now makes over ten time that number, with Dijon remaining the heart of its technological development. The current range includes the big mountain Spicy model, designed by mountain bike legend Nico Vouilloz, and the all-mountain Zesty – both models feature OST+ suspension, one of the first intelligent suspension designs dedicated to longer travel bikes.

All Lapierre mountain bikes are tested and raced by world-class athletes, including Team Lapierre Gravity Republic riders Loic Bruni, Sam Blenkinsop, Loris Vergier and Emmeline Ragot. Multiple downhill world champion Vouilloz is still on board too, finishing fifth overall in the inaugural Enduro World Series in 2013 on a specially-built carbon Spicy Team e:i Shock.