Test Lapierre Overvolt GLP II: The light-footed balance queen

The French are a proud people and always strive to invent products that are incomparably unique. Maybe you do not understand the new concept right away, but placing the battery above the motor instead of installing it in the down tube gives the Lapierre Overvolt GLP II a previously unknown central weight distribution, which gives the rider maximum agility. The concept gives the e-bike the lightness and balance in the terrain like a professional trail machine.

by Rolf Fleckenstein

When I arrived in Alpnach today to test the Lapierre Overvolt GLP II, I had no idea what to expect. What was the thinking behind the design of the two GLP models, how should they differ from the other E-MTBs? They were classified by other magazines as race e-bikes.

Unique frame concept
At the moment, most E-MTBs are based on the patented in-frame concept, in which the battery is installed in the down tube. This also applies to Lapierre and its "Overvolt" series. Just take a close look, you can see the same concept on numerous E-MTBs from a wide variety of brands: a removable battery is installed in a large down tube. This is exactly why the E-MTBs from a wide variety of bike brands are so similar; it's the same bike concept. The exception are the models "Overvolt GLP II Team" and "Overvolt GLP II Elite" of the French brand Lapierre. In the development of this new model type was, as usual, the multiple MTB downhill world champion Nicolas Vuilloz in charge, who developed the GLP concept - GLP stands for Gravity Logic Project (so is oriented to gravity) - with his team. His goal was to build an E-MTB that is really fun and playful to ride. Optimal weight distribution was obviously the focus of the developers. To achieve this, they broke away from the existing in-frame concept and aimed for a central weight distribution by positioning the motor and battery centrally. This shifts the weight distribution from the wheels to the center of the frame, which "lightens the load" on the wheels and makes the bike more stable and agile. This frame concept not only centers the weight of the bike - after all, the motor and battery provide the greatest weight - but it also makes the E-MTB lighter, because already the 500 Wh battery used is 1.3 kg lighter than the usually used 625 Wh battery in the down tube. So on the one hand, the overall weight has been significantly reduced by this new design and on the other hand, the weight distribution has been optimized for handling on the trails, which is now perfectly balanced.

Further development model 2020
Unlike last year's model, the deflection rocker has been...