Pivot Cycles launches updated Mach 4 SL
Pivot's new carbon 100mm travel cross-country race bike is a lightweight full sus with the DW-Link suspension system that's been designed for Pivot’s athletes coming into their Olympic year. It's dropped weight over the previous model while also getting longer and slacker.
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Pivot has been focusing on its longer travel trail bikes in recent years, with the Firebird 29, Trail 429 and Phoenix all being released in short succession, which has left the cross-country race lineup looking a little dated.
The new Mach 4 SL takes its name from Pivot’s first ever bike model, the Mach 4, whilst giving it the 29er update for the best rolling speed on fast XC courses. The head angle is slacker, with a longer reach and shorter stays. It’s all geared to providing more confidence on fast, tricky descents that we’re seeing more of on World Cup courses. In fact, those geometry changes are really starting to blur the lines between XC racer and trail bike.
With framesets starting at a claimed 1,845g for an extra-small, it's competitive in it's category and it’s easy to see why Pivot is pretty pleased with the outcome. This new Mach 4 SL is over 300g lighter than it's predecessor, the Mach 429 SL.
Front and centre of Pivot’s priorities with this bike were pedalling efficiency combined with suspension that reacts well to hits under power and under heavy braking. 29er wheels have been chosen, sticking with the fashion for larger wheels in the XC race scene. The frame will take a 2.5" Maxxis Minion which, when combined with the optional Fox Live Valve adaptive suspension system, should make that back end feel very planted.
A new XS size accommodates riders down to 4’10” with a lower stand-over height than the Mach 4 Carbon with 27.5” wheels. She also says that her XS frame will fit a large water bottle.
Combining this hyper-lightweight frame with Fox Live Vale suspension sounds like a recipe for very fast climbing. With that automatic lockout, it’ll be very interesting to see how the Mach 4 SL performs during fast trail riding.
Pivot Cycles President and CEO, Chris Cocalis says “The Mach 4 SL is a total cross-country rocket ship. We wanted to give our athletes every advantage possible in the upcoming Olympic year. With the development of the Mach 4 SL we exceeded all our weight and performance targets. This one really takes both the Mach 4’s lightweight and agility as well as the Mach 429SL’s speedy heritage to an entirely new performance level. The bike just flat out rips.”
Unsurprisingly, all of this tech adds up to a fairly heavy price tag. The frameset with shock comes in at £3,550 while full builds range from £5,250 to an eye-watering £11,800 decked out with Fox Live, XX1 AXS, and carbon wheels.