May 14th, 2014 12:28pm
After a full year of riding, the a long term review of the Pivot Carbon Mach 5.7 is complete - Here is the write up of our findings
With the absolute explosion of "enduro" all mountain rigs hitting the market its hard to decide which bike is the right one for you. Add the wheel size debate to the decision and you are really in for some tough shopping. For me it is a bit easier as I get to ride many bikes and wheel sizes without the risks of having to buy a bad one. Once I find one I love - BAM - that's it. I buy it. That will then be the bike to ride when I need a real riding fix. When riding a strange bike isn't going to cut it, when I want to know exactly what a bike is going to do in every situation.
The bike I turn to every time is the Pivot Mach 5.7 - Carbon. I purchased this bike for its unbelievable ability to be all things to me and do it better than any bike I have tested to date. (We hope to test it against the 650B version very soon.) Read more below the video...
Pivot Mach 5.7 Review - on Bicycle World TV from Bicycle World TV on Vimeo.
For starters - I have raced both DH and XC and when riding each bike in its specific environment they are great, but cross over into other disciplines and each one lacks in key areas. The DH rig that may pedal great for a DH rig still won't get you far up a hill and the XC rig may roll great and even clean some tech stuff, but not without a solid technical rider and lots of "oh shit moments". So I ride this bike taking both styles into account. If this bike leans to one side of the All mountain equation, I would have to say it leans a bit more toward the trail side of riding. But being a good technical rider that suits me just fine.
building a good bike requires you start with a good frame and geometry. The Pivots latest carbon production is super stiff thanks to several details. The bike features a BB92 bottom bracket. The 92mm width takes much of the load off the bottom bracket bearings and allows for a wider lower link. What does this mean to you and me? It means a reallys a stiff bike that won't flex in tortional stesses like when railing corners and longer lasting bearings.
I love to corner hard and snap turns, throw the bike around and accelerate when I pedal. The Pivot Mach 5.7 is a 26" wheeled machine that does all this and more. Chris Cocalis absolutely nailed the geometry with this bike. It features a 67 degree head tube and is spot on with nuetral cornering. If you are coming off a DH rig, you might think this a degree too steep, or if you used to riding XC bikes, then it will feel slack - Owning one of each, I can tell you Cocalis found the perfect angle for this bike. Never understeers simpley goes where you point it. Credit must also be given to the 1.5" tapered head tube and 15mm through axle. Finish it off with a set of stiff Reynolds Carbon AM wheels that have zero flex and you have one snappy machine.
Pivot uses the DW link suspension platform. Although it is highly tweaked by Cocalis to get the most out of his frame and component designs, it remains one of the best platforms on the market. I built this bike lightweight and it comes in at around 26lbs. And you know its light when you start accelerate or climb. The bob free platform allows you leave any shock setting in the open position and get everything out of your efforts including outstanding traction in the seated position. This bike climbs so much like an XC machine you feel like you are cheating knowing you have almost 6" of travel to descend with.
Pivot bikes come with several suspension options. The top of the line FOX build will set you back an additional $1000 or so. We opted for the basic Fox Float 32 option for the initial build and the Fox RP 23 in the rear - knowing we would be testing other suspension on the bike at a later day. Since you cannot judge a suspension separate from the platform to which it is applied we offer the following summary. The Mach 5.7 never felt bottomed out with these suspension components. It was easy to set up and rip. Using the Pivot SAG indicator on the rear shock and using the old school measurement on the front, it really was set it and forget it. Its at about 20 hours into riding time the Fox Float 32 starts to show its short comings. The fork looses any small bump sensitivity it had achieved after the intitial break in. Even though it lost the supple feel, it never lost its ability to handle bigger hits. Research into the fork says it should be rebuilt every 30 hours so we did. And for about three rides it feels good again then quickly fades in the small bump absorbtion. The rear shock continues to be reliable working quite well and has only had one rebuild. Don't judge this bike by suspension components because they weren't bad, but a better suspension would be magic. If you have the cash to get the primo build kit, do it. This bike deserves it and will reward you with many miles of smiles.
It should be noted that Pivot works very closely with Fox to tune their suspension bits to match the ramp up requirements of their suspension leverage rations and it shows. I did find the one flat spot in the suspension. It occurs only so very rarely that it isnt an issue. It only happens when the terrain is in just the right configuration. And for us, our test track has the one place where we can get the suspsenion to feel like someone is giving you a tug from the back of your seat. This happens instantaneously and is a result of a spot in the rear wheels path that actually move backward during the intial hit and only when you have the exact variables of hill angle and terrain composition all acting in sync. I have tried to duplicate this to see if it is a problem, but have been unsuccesful 99% of the time. Only on our track and a few select instances. It's no big deal but worth mentioning.
Having experiece with DH racing, I found the descending capabilities excellent for most any terrain short of full blown Downhill runs. As an all mountain bike, there is nothing the Mach 5.7 won't eat up. The suspension feels bottomless and the bike is so nimble you can throw it around with ease. While we are going to upgrade our suspension to 34 mm stanchion forks upfront for a little more confidence on steep stuff, the FOX never flexed under some extremely long nose wheelies.
Pivot has now had several years to continually fine tune their suspension and have it completely dialed. Even with a fully active supsension, the DW platform offers a super pedal platform that the company describes as anti-squat characteristics. I would agree whole heartedly as this bike sprints like no other bike on the market. You could race this bike in an XC and a light build kit without giving up anything to the XC specific rigs. Want to do an epic Hut-to-Hut Ride or maybe tackle the Whole Enchilada (29 mile Moab ride) - there would be no better bike.
We highly recommend upgrading the bottom bracket bearings the FSA ceramic bottom bracket. The reduction in pedal friction was that noticeable.
We built our bike with Shimano XT brakes and a 180 rotor up front and 160mm rotor in the rear. If there is a better performing brake set offering the same value proposition on the market we have not yet found it.
Our drive train specifications included FSA's SLK Carbon cranks. THese are UCI World Championship Winning XC cranks that were put to the rockiest test any crank could be tested on on a daily basis and their Performance was truly outstanding. Lightweight and super stiff, FSA should be considered by anyone wanting to spec any bike or replacing a worn out drive train. The rings shift fast, smooth and are deadly silent. The metal blend FSA uses are a bit softer than other brands and will wear out faster than some others. But the interchangeabilty of the rings makes changing them a 15 minute job. FSA also played very nicely with the front and rear Shimano XT derailuers.
Again, our bike was not a Pivot Spec'd bike, but with our full carbon build that included carbon cranks, wheels, bars, stem and seat post - Our Large size 5.7 inch bike weighed in at 26 lbs with pedals.
Pivot also has one of the best looking bikes on the market also.
You can tell by our review here how highly we regard this bike. Pivot has added some really nice protective rubber guards near the bottom bracket on the down tube and on the chain stay to provide even more protection to the already stout carbon frame. Their cable routing under the top tube is easily accessed but smartly protected and has room for dropper seat post cables also - someone was thinking ahead.
Speaking of Carbon, I was really not confident on riding a carbon frame here in Arizona, where rocks grow out of rocks. But the Pivot Carbon has more than won me over. If you can swing it, Carbon is darned sweet. Besides the inredible stiffness, the small bump dampening characteristics on 26' wheels is fantastic.
The Mach 5.7 is available in sizes from XS-XL. All of the carbon bikes are matt black with a solid choice of contemporary accent colors.
Prices for the Pivot Mach 5.7 with an XTR/XT Pro Build are just shy of $6,000. Even though that is more than competitive with the bigger brands, thats still a lot of scratch for the averag working man. But if you want the good stuff and ride often, the rewards will leave any questions you may have had about your purchase in the dust.
The Full Monty - The Pivot Mach 5.7 Carbon on here maiden voyage
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