Welcome to PIVOT CYCLES

Mach 4 is No BS

Hello Adam, I thought I would share some feedback on my recent purchase and build of a Mach 4. For comparison purposes I have been riding longer travel trail bikes for the last 6 years or so. I have been an avid Santa Cruz fan (and still am) and have owned the Heckler, Nomad and most recently still own and ride a BLT daily. I wanted a second bike that was lighter, quicker, etc than what I already had. I have hesitated getting a new bike because I did not want the twitchy, nervous style of XC bike I used to ride.

So after a lot of thought and shopping around I left my SC stable and I decided to try your bike sight-unseen. The reviews were positive, the names behind the design were strong and I wanted something different. But I had a feeling this might be the one. Either way I had to try it. Your claims were bold and I almost wanted to be able to write this letter and say your claims are BS. (After 20 years of riding I have heard it all and so I can be cynical like that sometimes. No offense.)

So enough of all this. What do I think? Your claims are not BS. The chain line is great. I love big ring riding and this suits my style with little crossover when riding big-big. The frame linkage is VERY stiff for sure. The small bump compliance has to be felt to be believed.

I think this bike might very well solve the paradox between a super plush ride and excellent pedaling performance and efficiency. These two features in the past seem to have been mutually exclusive. I thought my BLT did a good job of balancing these. And it does. This is just better…by a mile. (I realize this is not an XC to XC comparison but I have ridden other XC bikes while shopping around and none made we want to rush out and buy one) I was worried about how this bike would be downhill. I worried about having a harsh suspension to get good efficiency. I worried about nervous handling. I was worried for nothing. I love the way this bike rides, handles, descends, pedals and climbs. I love everything about it. I am most blown away by how this bike moves forward when laying power down. Even with modest power it seems to almost do it by itself (if only right?)

So my friends are all a little worried now because they could never quite understand how I could ride my big bikes so fast. Now they see me on my sub 25lb bright blue Pivot and they openly wonder about being able to keep up. I say good luck.

I also say good job on your home run. I hope you sell a lot of bikes and make a lot of people happy like me.

Best regards, Doug

PS I am very interested in how your Mach 5 might replace my BLT. Yikes! Did I really say that?

My Search for the Ultimate Mountain Bike

Ten weeks ago, after a great summer of mountain biking in Utah, I set out to find the best mountain bike on the market. I love the burn of a long aggressive climb, followed by the thrill of a long, fast descent. So I was searching for the best cross-country bike made.

I started visiting bike shops all along the Wasatch Front, seeking information about good quality cross-country bikes. I gathered information, product catalogs, and the personal preferences of the guys running many of the bike shops. Next I jumped on the web, looking for more information and product reviews. After reviewing the information and revisiting several bike shops, I started to demo the top bikes I had researched. After riding several bikes, I really refined my search.

A friend of mine let me ride his Cannondale Rush on a few rides. We have a local trail that has four or five miles of great down hill with all kinds of different terrain. While riding the Rush that day I knew I had to have a bike with at least the comfort of the Rush and with the nimble feel that you were in control and hugging that trail at full speed.

In Utah we also have some great trails that rise above 10,000 feet in elevation. After riding several of these trails I knew I needed a light, aggressive climbing bike. The best climbing bike I found was the Cannondale Scalpel 1 with a full carbon frame. After four hours of aggressive climbing on the Scalpel, I knew the feel I was after for climbing. For all of its strengths in climbing, it did not handle rocky terrain or the down hill very well, so the search continued.

The one thing that most of the bikes that I rode lacked was the ability to shoot through trails covered with midsized rocks and other obstacles. The bike that best met this need was the Titus Racer X. It held true on very difficult trails. It also dug in on the uphill climb because of the Clevis-style Horst Link.

Now all I needed was one bike that had the feel and the strengths that I had selected as my base criteria. So back to the bike shops I went. After a few more test rides, hours of talking to riders and shop techs, I narrowed my search to the Titus Racer X Carbon and a new bike on the mountain, the Pivot Mach 4. Several bike shop owners and managers gave great reviews on the Pivot; I started searching for a bike to demo. I soon discovered that all the demo bikes in Utah had been sold as the main season wound down.

I didn’t give up on my search; a friend of mine found a Pivot Mach 4 in Moab and road it. He told me I had to get on one, and see for myself how nice of a ride it was. So Saturday morning, November 1st, at 8:30 a.m. a friend of mine and I met Rob and Jason from Pivot Cycles in Moab, Utah. They walked us through how the Pivot bikes need to be set up, to get the most from the bike. Setting the bike up right, will turn a good ride into a fantastic one. After a few minutes of setting the bike up for me, we were ready to hit Amasa Back trail in Moab. Fortunately for us, Rob with Pivot Cycles joined us on the ride.

As we started up the trail I was amazed at how the Mach 4 ate up the rocks on the trail. If you have been on that trail, you know there is no shortage of rocks. The Mach 4 absorbed the rocks like no other bike I had ever been on. Talk about smooth, it was smoother going up hill than what I had set as my standard for down hill.

What was also amazing was that it was not only smooth climbing up and over the rocks, but the traction was the best I had experienced. As I got on the pedals, the bike shot forward taking all my energy and moving forward instead of loosing energy to the suspension. It didn’t matter if I had the suspension set for climbing or for down hill, the Pivot, Mach 4 didn’t have any pedal squat. Wow, what a climber!

After climbing for a little while, we had to try some down hill. We rode back down a few sections of trail. I could not believe it was only a 4” travel bike. I thought it absorbed the rocks going up, it really absorbed them going down hill. Braking on the down hill was great as well. I didn’t experience any brake jack. The bike was nimble, easy to throw around, yet capable of handling everything the trail had to give me.

I was so pleased with the bike; I had to let my friend ride it. I took the Racer X we had brought to compare the Pivot against, and let him take the Mach 4. Only a minute or two on the Racer X and I wanted the Pivot back. The Titus would power through the terrain, but it was not the plush ride that the Pivot offered. My friend was impressed as he rode up and down a few sections of the trail. He too was sold on the performance of the Pivot Mach 4.

I got the Pivot back and finished the climb on the Amasa Back trail. There were several steep climbs where I stood up on the pedals to again test the Mach 4, with the suspension wide open, and it climbed with all the power I could give it. I was impressed that it absorbs the rocks and bumps better than any cross country bike I had been on, yet never robbed me of the power I needed to climb the aggressive hills.

After a short break at the top to talk and enjoy the beautiful view in Moab, we hit the trail to come back down. The Pivot delivered an impressive down hill ride. It shot through the midsized rocks that bounce most bikes around, and handled the jumps like a five inch travel bike. Pivot has hit a home run with this bike.

After stopping for lunch and reviewing all the benefits of the Mach 4, we talked Rob into letting us take the Mach 4 on one more ride. We wanted to try a different kind of terrain, so we took the bike out on the Slick-Rock trail. Once again the bike delivered a stellar performance. I couldn’t believe how it climbed, it performs better than a hard tail, yet delivers a nimble comfortable ride. I felt like me and the bike were one.

After a full day of riding, I still felt like I could have just kept on riding. I felt great for that much time in the saddle. I was more than impressed with the performance of this bike. I wonder if the employees at Pivot really realize what they have? I can honestly say after months of searching, I have found the best cross country mountain bike on the market. I have found my next mountain bike—The Pivot, Mach 4.

Leon Clark

Business Manager and biking enthusiast

Pivot Love Down Under

I am now a proud owner of a Mach 4. Over the last 5 years I have enjoyed riding a Santa Cruz Blur, but during recent months I have been on the lookout for something that I thought might be an improvement over the Blur. I do enjoy the technology involved in nice mountain bikes and have been waiting for some kind of advancement that would offer me something special. I had considered some of the newer Carbon Fibre suspension bikes, but I am not yet convinced that full carbon and rock gardens are a great match up.

Then a friend mentioned the new Pivots – after a fair bit of internet researching, it was obvious that these new Pivots were employing some newer technology and ideas, so I became very interested. Now after a few rides, I am delighted with the purchase.

It is easy enough to read great technical reviews about the Mach 4 on various web sites, so I won’t bore you with more of the same. But what impresses me is that when I am riding the Mach 4, I look down and notice things like the down tube sitting across to the left instead of in the middle. I notice the main pivot also positioned to the left and the rear end of the pivot further offset. I notice the lack of a front derailleur clamp. I notice the pivot point located in a position that is almost impossible on a normal frame.

Do all these strange differences make it a better bike? Who knows – it seems to. But the reason I am impressed is because I know that the designers obviously dispensed with the usual design constraints and designed this bike from a “clean sheet” and with open minds. What they came up with was a design that puts things where they need to be, and not where its just easy to put them.

I know that I am riding a bike that was “designed” and not just copied or upgraded. Well done Pivot Cycles – thanks for adding to my riding enjoyment.

Mach 4 Is The Best

Having ridden various styles of frame from hardtails to freeride frames, from Trek to Cannondale, I can honestly say the Pivot Mach 4 is the best frame I have ever rideen. The design of the wheel path and the DW Link provide a plush suspension and yet bob free ride. Your efforts in a pedal stroke are delivered entirely to the forward movement of the bike every time. This results in an effecient and yet compliant ride unseen before in the MTB design world. Pivot have overcome so many design floors that are continuously presented. Seemingly simple and yet powerful design features (larger bottom bracket, E-type derailer and stiff rear triangle) that translate into a comfortable, compliant and effecient ride no matter the conditions. The geometry is outstanding; the head angle isn't too aggressive but never lets you feel like you need more control. The cockpit and wheel span are beautifully spaced and in good balance. The geometry allows you to race short course cross country or sit in the saddle and comfortably complete a 24 hr solo. Not quite as light as some of the carbon blah blahs but the superb ride quality and finish are worth their weight in gold.

I purchased this frame at the beginning of the season before Australia had a distributor and had to pay import taxes, exchanges and more. Worth every cent!! And now Australia has a distributor, I recommend Pivot to all who ask about the sexy bike I'm riding.

Well done Pivot!

Thanks Adam and I hope I can send photos of the podium next time.

Nick

Here it is, if you are interested; my completely biased and skewed review of the Pivot Mach 5 and the Yeti 575. As you know, I am a Chris Cocalis groupie from way back. Chris built my first Titus FCR hardtail in 92 and I'm still riding it. The other six Cocalis era Tituses in our garage also continue to be ridden and loved. The Motolites, however are tired, hence the exploration into their eventual replacement. Believe it or not, the 99 motolite is my first ever FS bike so my knowledge consists of Horst link suspension and what I hear or read in the magazines or online. Chris lives where we live and rides where we ride, mainly South Mountain. He was building long travel trail bikes 10 years ago long before everyone was doing it, because that's what our mountain calls for. Of course I was excited when he teamed up with Dave Weagle to design the Pivot. Pete and many others urged us to also check out the Yeti 575.

Both bikes feel very comfortable. The Yeti did seem a bit tall in comparison, although L's spreadsheet tells us the BB heights are comparable. In spite of the tall feel, I hit my cranks many times on the Yeti test ride; random? or due to pedal bob? One trick of the pivot is that they went with an internal headset that significantly lowers the front end height; kind of cool if you like to run tall forks like we do. The Pivot did feel a tiny bit quick steering and I did feel like I was looking over the front of my wheel on the waterfall. They had a 110 stem and and 32 Talas on there, so I think this will be corrected by my 90mm stem, 150mm fork. The yeti steered kinda slow with a 32 talas and 90mm stem. Might be slower with the marz 55 or Z1 that we will run. I think L calculated a 68 HA on the pivot with our forks and a 67 HA on the yeti.

The Yeti rode kind of like the motolite only better. It climbs great and soaks up all the bumps large and small. It did bob slightly but noticeably. I suppose I could've turned the pro pedal on, but I never remember to do that sort of thing anyway on a ride. On the descent we were a little surprised that it felt a bit harsh. We had heard all about its plushness, but did not experience it. I did get a bit of bucking bronco feel, which improved somewhat when I slowed down the rebound. Still I was underwhelmed by its descending feel. I was using all of the travel, so less air probably not an option. In the air, the yeti performs like the 4 bar; you have to really compress and preload to launch. In the air, we thought the frame felt a little long. Landings were fine.

The Pivot has a totally different ride. It feels the worst on the fire road; it seemed like I felt every small bump. Not quite as harsh as a hardtail, but definetly more harsh than ML or 575. On the trail, this feeling disappears and the bike becomes a climbing machine. I had read about the rearward axle path of the DW link rolling over the square edged bumps and its for real. The yeti and moto have a dead feel over these bumps but the pivot rolls on up. I do a lot of standing to climb and this bike does that great. There is no bobbing whatsoever, pro pedal in off position. Seated climbing good too. We got to the top thinking party over; it climbed so well it will have to suck on the descent. To the contrary, I had more fun coming down Natl on this bike than I think I have ever had, FR bike included. The bike seems to just fly down the trail, but in total control; The bike seemed to disappear from under me on the rough stuff. I literally could not feel the rear suspension working, because I could feel nothing (but the harsher fox AIR fork). Popping it into the air was effortless and it was easy to place it back down where I wanted and continue on. Very flickable. The Pivot felt feather light and the YEti just felt heavy, even though both weighed in at about 27 lbs. The Pivot rides like no other bike I have ever ridden. It feels like cheating. Pivot says the production frames sport a fox shock with softer valving than the proto demo. It should ease up the small bump compliance. I cant wait to ride it with my Z1 on it.

Yep, they are on order ;)

	Mach 4 is No BS Hello Adam, I thought I would share some feedback on my recent purchase and build of a Mach 4. For comparison purposes I have been riding longer travel trail bikes for the last 6 years or so. I have been an avid Santa Cruz fan (and still am) and have owned the Heckler, Nomad and most recently still own and ride a BLT daily. I wanted a second bike that was lighter, quicker, etc than what I already had. I have hesitated getting a new bike because I did not want the twitchy, nervous style of XC bike I used to ride. So after a lot of thought and shopping around I left my SC stable and I decided to try your bike sight-unseen. The reviews were positive, the names behind the design were strong and I wanted something different. But I had a feeling this might be the one. Either way I had to try it. Your claims were bold and I almost wanted to be able to write this letter and say your claims are BS. (After 20 years of riding I have heard it all and so I can be cynical like that sometimes. No offense.) So enough of all this. What do I think? Your claims are not BS. The chain line is great. I love big ring riding and this suits my style with little crossover when riding big-big. The frame linkage is VERY stiff for sure. The small bump compliance has to be felt to be believed. I think this bike might very well solve the paradox between a super plush ride and excellent pedaling performance and efficiency. These two features in the past seem to have been mutually exclusive. I thought my BLT did a good job of balancing these. And it does. This is just better…by a mile. (I realize this is not an XC to XC comparison but I have ridden other XC bikes while shopping around and none made we want to rush out and buy one) I was worried about how this bike would be downhill. I worried about having a harsh suspension to get good efficiency. I worried about nervous handling. I was worried for nothing. I love the way this bike rides, handles, descends, pedals and climbs. I love everything about it. I am most blown away by how this bike moves forward when laying power down. Even with modest power it seems to almost do it by itself (if only right?) So my friends are all a little worried now because they could never quite understand how I could ride my big bikes so fast. Now they see me on my sub 25lb bright blue Pivot and they openly wonder about being able to keep up. I say good luck. I also say good job on your home run. I hope you sell a lot of bikes and make a lot of people happy like me. Best regards, Doug PS I am very interested in how your Mach 5 might replace my BLT. Yikes! Did I really say that? My Search for the Ultimate Mountain Bike Ten weeks ago, after a great summer of mountain biking in Utah, I set out to find the best mountain bike on the market. I love the burn of a long aggressive climb, followed by the thrill of a long, fast descent. So I was searching for the best cross-country bike made. I started visiting bike shops all along the Wasatch Front, seeking information about good quality cross-country bikes. I gathered information, product catalogs, and the personal preferences of the guys running many of the bike shops. Next I jumped on the web, looking for more information and product reviews. After reviewing the information and revisiting several bike shops, I started to demo the top bikes I had researched. After riding several bikes, I really refined my search. A friend of mine let me ride his Cannondale Rush on a few rides. We have a local trail that has four or five miles of great down hill with all kinds of different terrain. While riding the Rush that day I knew I had to have a bike with at least the comfort of the Rush and with the nimble feel that you were in control and hugging that trail at full speed. In Utah we also have some great trails that rise above 10,000 feet in elevation. After riding several of these trails I knew I needed a light, aggressive climbing bike. The best climbing bike I found was the Cannondale Scalpel 1 with a full carbon frame. After four hours of aggressive climbing on the Scalpel, I knew the feel I was after for climbing. For all of its strengths in climbing, it did not handle rocky terrain or the down hill very well, so the search continued. The one thing that most of the bikes that I rode lacked was the ability to shoot through trails covered with midsized rocks and other obstacles. The bike that best met this need was the Titus Racer X. It held true on very difficult trails. It also dug in on the uphill climb because of the Clevis-style Horst Link. Now all I needed was one bike that had the feel and the strengths that I had selected as my base criteria. So back to the bike shops I went. After a few more test rides, hours of talking to riders and shop techs, I narrowed my search to the Titus Racer X Carbon and a new bike on the mountain, the Pivot Mach 4. Several bike shop owners and managers gave great reviews on the Pivot; I started searching for a bike to demo. I soon discovered that all the demo bikes in Utah had been sold as the main season wound down. I didn’t give up on my search; a friend of mine found a Pivot Mach 4 in Moab and road it. He told me I had to get on one, and see for myself how nice of a ride it was. So Saturday morning, November 1st, at 8:30 a.m. a friend of mine and I met Rob and Jason from Pivot Cycles in Moab, Utah. They walked us through how the Pivot bikes need to be set up, to get the most from the bike. Setting the bike up right, will turn a good ride into a fantastic one. After a few minutes of setting the bike up for me, we were ready to hit Amasa Back trail in Moab. Fortunately for us, Rob with Pivot Cycles joined us on the ride. As we started up the trail I was amazed at how the Mach 4 ate up the rocks on the trail. If you have been on that trail, you know there is no shortage of rocks. The Mach 4 absorbed the rocks like no other bike I had ever been on. Talk about smooth, it was smoother going up hill than what I had set as my standard for down hill. What was also amazing was that it was not only smooth climbing up and over the rocks, but the traction was the best I had experienced. As I got on the pedals, the bike shot forward taking all my energy and moving forward instead of loosing energy to the suspension. It didn’t matter if I had the suspension set for climbing or for down hill, the Pivot, Mach 4 didn’t have any pedal squat. Wow, what a climber! After climbing for a little while, we had to try some down hill. We rode back down a few sections of trail. I could not believe it was only a 4” travel bike. I thought it absorbed the rocks going up, it really absorbed them going down hill. Braking on the down hill was great as well. I didn’t experience any brake jack. The bike was nimble, easy to throw around, yet capable of handling everything the trail had to give me. I was so pleased with the bike; I had to let my friend ride it. I took the Racer X we had brought to compare the Pivot against, and let him take the Mach 4. Only a minute or two on the Racer X and I wanted the Pivot back. The Titus would power through the terrain, but it was not the plush ride that the Pivot offered. My friend was impressed as he rode up and down a few sections of the trail. He too was sold on the performance of the Pivot Mach 4. I got the Pivot back and finished the climb on the Amasa Back trail. There were several steep climbs where I stood up on the pedals to again test the Mach 4, with the suspension wide open, and it climbed with all the power I could give it. I was impressed that it absorbs the rocks and bumps better than any cross country bike I had been on, yet never robbed me of the power I needed to climb the aggressive hills. After a short break at the top to talk and enjoy the beautiful view in Moab, we hit the trail to come back down. The Pivot delivered an impressive down hill ride. It shot through the midsized rocks that bounce most bikes around, and handled the jumps like a five inch travel bike. Pivot has hit a home run with this bike. After stopping for lunch and reviewing all the benefits of the Mach 4, we talked Rob into letting us take the Mach 4 on one more ride. We wanted to try a different kind of terrain, so we took the bike out on the Slick-Rock trail. Once again the bike delivered a stellar performance. I couldn’t believe how it climbed, it performs better than a hard tail, yet delivers a nimble comfortable ride. I felt like me and the bike were one. After a full day of riding, I still felt like I could have just kept on riding. I felt great for that much time in the saddle. I was more than impressed with the performance of this bike. I wonder if the employees at Pivot really realize what they have? I can honestly say after months of searching, I have found the best cross country mountain bike on the market. I have found my next mountain bike—The Pivot, Mach 4. Leon Clark Business Manager and biking enthusiast Pivot Love Down Under I am now a proud owner of a Mach 4. Over the last 5 years I have enjoyed riding a Santa Cruz Blur, but during recent months I have been on the lookout for something that I thought might be an improvement over the Blur. I do enjoy the technology involved in nice mountain bikes and have been waiting for some kind of advancement that would offer me something special. I had considered some of the newer Carbon Fibre suspension bikes, but I am not yet convinced that full carbon and rock gardens are a great match up. Then a friend mentioned the new Pivots – after a fair bit of internet researching, it was obvious that these new Pivots were employing some newer technology and ideas, so I became very interested. Now after a few rides, I am delighted with the purchase. It is easy enough to read great technical reviews about the Mach 4 on various web sites, so I won’t bore you with more of the same. But what impresses me is that when I am riding the Mach 4, I look down and notice things like the down tube sitting across to the left instead of in the middle. I notice the main pivot also positioned to the left and the rear end of the pivot further offset. I notice the lack of a front derailleur clamp. I notice the pivot point located in a position that is almost impossible on a normal frame. Do all these strange differences make it a better bike? Who knows – it seems to. But the reason I am impressed is because I know that the designers obviously dispensed with the usual design constraints and designed this bike from a “clean sheet” and with open minds. What they came up with was a design that puts things where they need to be, and not where its just easy to put them. I know that I am riding a bike that was “designed” and not just copied or upgraded. Well done Pivot Cycles – thanks for adding to my riding enjoyment. Mach 4 Is The Best Having ridden various styles of frame from hardtails to freeride frames, from Trek to Cannondale, I can honestly say the Pivot Mach 4 is the best frame I have ever rideen. The design of the wheel path and the DW Link provide a plush suspension and yet bob free ride. Your efforts in a pedal stroke are delivered entirely to the forward movement of the bike every time. This results in an effecient and yet compliant ride unseen before in the MTB design world. Pivot have overcome so many design floors that are continuously presented. Seemingly simple and yet powerful design features (larger bottom bracket, E-type derailer and stiff rear triangle) that translate into a comfortable, compliant and effecient ride no matter the conditions. The geometry is outstanding; the head angle isn't too aggressive but never lets you feel like you need more control. The cockpit and wheel span are beautifully spaced and in good balance. The geometry allows you to race short course cross country or sit in the saddle and comfortably complete a 24 hr solo. Not quite as light as some of the carbon blah blahs but the superb ride quality and finish are worth their weight in gold. I purchased this frame at the beginning of the season before Australia had a distributor and had to pay import taxes, exchanges and more. Worth every cent!! And now Australia has a distributor, I recommend Pivot to all who ask about the sexy bike I'm riding. Well done Pivot! Thanks Adam and I hope I can send photos of the podium next time. Nick Here it is, if you are interested; my completely biased and skewed review of the Pivot Mach 5 and the Yeti 575. As you know, I am a Chris Cocalis groupie from way back. Chris built my first Titus FCR hardtail in 92 and I'm still riding it. The other six Cocalis era Tituses in our garage also continue to be ridden and loved. The Motolites, however are tired, hence the exploration into their eventual replacement. Believe it or not, the 99 motolite is my first ever FS bike so my knowledge consists of Horst link suspension and what I hear or read in the magazines or online. Chris lives where we live and rides where we ride, mainly South Mountain. He was building long travel trail bikes 10 years ago long before everyone was doing it, because that's what our mountain calls for. Of course I was excited when he teamed up with Dave Weagle to design the Pivot. Pete and many others urged us to also check out the Yeti 575. Both bikes feel very comfortable. The Yeti did seem a bit tall in comparison, although L's spreadsheet tells us the BB heights are comparable. In spite of the tall feel, I hit my cranks many times on the Yeti test ride; random? or due to pedal bob? One trick of the pivot is that they went with an internal headset that significantly lowers the front end height; kind of cool if you like to run tall forks like we do. The Pivot did feel a tiny bit quick steering and I did feel like I was looking over the front of my wheel on the waterfall. They had a 110 stem and and 32 Talas on there, so I think this will be corrected by my 90mm stem, 150mm fork. The yeti steered kinda slow with a 32 talas and 90mm stem. Might be slower with the marz 55 or Z1 that we will run. I think L calculated a 68 HA on the pivot with our forks and a 67 HA on the yeti. The Yeti rode kind of like the motolite only better. It climbs great and soaks up all the bumps large and small. It did bob slightly but noticeably. I suppose I could've turned the pro pedal on, but I never remember to do that sort of thing anyway on a ride. On the descent we were a little surprised that it felt a bit harsh. We had heard all about its plushness, but did not experience it. I did get a bit of bucking bronco feel, which improved somewhat when I slowed down the rebound. Still I was underwhelmed by its descending feel. I was using all of the travel, so less air probably not an option. In the air, the yeti performs like the 4 bar; you have to really compress and preload to launch. In the air, we thought the frame felt a little long. Landings were fine. The Pivot has a totally different ride. It feels the worst on the fire road; it seemed like I felt every small bump. Not quite as harsh as a hardtail, but definetly more harsh than ML or 575. On the trail, this feeling disappears and the bike becomes a climbing machine. I had read about the rearward axle path of the DW link rolling over the square edged bumps and its for real. The yeti and moto have a dead feel over these bumps but the pivot rolls on up. I do a lot of standing to climb and this bike does that great. There is no bobbing whatsoever, pro pedal in off position. Seated climbing good too. We got to the top thinking party over; it climbed so well it will have to suck on the descent. To the contrary, I had more fun coming down Natl on this bike than I think I have ever had, FR bike included. The bike seems to just fly down the trail, but in total control; The bike seemed to disappear from under me on the rough stuff. I literally could not feel the rear suspension working, because I could feel nothing (but the harsher fox AIR fork). Popping it into the air was effortless and it was easy to place it back down where I wanted and continue on. Very flickable. The Pivot felt feather light and the YEti just felt heavy, even though both weighed in at about 27 lbs. The Pivot rides like no other bike I have ever ridden. It feels like cheating. Pivot says the production frames sport a fox shock with softer valving than the proto demo. It should ease up the small bump compliance. I cant wait to ride it with my Z1 on it. Yep, they are on order ;)
Tell us about your Pivot! Send you Pivot love stories and photos to info@pivotcycles.com (put “Pivot Love” in the subject heading). If we select your story, we’ll send you a token of our appreciation. – the Pivot crew.

	Copyright © 2010 Pivot Cycles, All Rights Reserved. info@pivotcycles.com