Lapierre enjoys a high profile in its native France, a reputation which is certainly unhindered by being the bike of choice for multiple World Champion Nico Vouilloz. But oddly enough the bikes haven't been available in the UK, until now.

Hotlines, one of the leading suppliers of mountain bike brands in the UK for the past 15 years, has begun importing Lapierre into the UK this year, with the 2008 range now in stock.

Lapierre has a long history, having been founded in 1946 by Gaston Lapierre in Dijon, France. The company's production and R&D is still based there. Obviously it wasn't doing MTBs in 1946, but today there's a full range of mountain and road bikes.

The Lapierre range covers race, trail, enduro and DH. Much of the longer travel options (there's a single pivot for the short travel race bikes) are based around Lapierre's second generation short-link FPS2 suspension design.

This design is used on the company's 100mm X-Control, the splendidly-named 140mm Zesty and 160mm Spicy, plus the 241mm DH-230 bikes. All bikes are assembled in France using strict quality control methods and intensive in-factory testing.

Head over to www.hotlines-uk.com and www.lapierrebikes.com for further details.