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PIVOT Mach 4sl

7K views 18 replies 11 participants last post by  Jurgen70 
#1 · (Edited)
PIVOT Mach 4

Hi everyone! I'm looking at ordering the pivot Mach 4 in size small, with AXS, 100mm fork. Any opinions on this bike? Any thoughts on the weight? Pivot says a medium with XTR weighs 20.9 lbs. I'm not sure where a bike with AXS would weigh in a small. Thank you!!
 
#3 ·
I rode a large this weekend at a Pivot Demo day. Fox Live valve, carbon wheels, full xtr. It did have the 120mm fork.

Take my opinion with a grain of salt as I currently ride a 5.5, although nicely specced out. I am also not a racer. The Mach 4 is fast...damn fast at least to me. Not quite as stable at speed as some others in the lineup but not as slack either. I don't know what it weighed, but easily 4 or 5 lbs lighter than my 5.5. Corners well and accelerates really fast. The live valve is no joke. Felt like a hardtail pedaling, and when it needed the suspension it had it.
 
#5 ·
I keep reading that the Mach 4 sl is not stable on fast technical downhills which bothers me a little, as technical is my weak point.
It's an XC bike. High end XC racers go fast on DHs by holding the bars and taking every hole-shot they can. I do a lot of XC, DH and Enduro racing at high levels and I would easily bet that the high end XC racers are descending faster on their XC bikes than the vast majority of enduro/AM types. It usually takes a crazy technical/steep trail to make a long travel bike "faster" and otherwise the lighter low travel bike lets you get more pedal strokes in and move faster overall, but your sacrifice is some control. You make that up mostly with skills. Another factor is that good descenders are usually good descenders on any bike, you take a good DHer and put them on any bike and they aren't going to miss many beats (me screaming in my head two days ago at the guys riding their brakes on the downhills during my 100 mile wilderness fatbike race).

Although I raced it for a few years with 720, I finally put the bar size on my 429SL for last season that I wanted in the beginning. I ordered Next SL by mistake and thought it was going to be wider, paired it up with a super light ritchey stem that used T20 (not T25) bolts to save weight. The stem was a PITA though because you couldn't easily get to the faceplate bolts and then of course you needed a special torq for it. So I got a Hixon SL bar at 780mm, replacing the stem and the bar. I sweated over the stem-length for a few weeks, but it turned out great. It only saves 5g of weight, but it's an enduro-level layup, so should be much stronger than my previous setup. The benefit with something like this is you can hold the wheel straighter with less effort in the technical...especially the downhills. Even brushing other objects like branches and people has less effect, since you maintain more leverage over your front wheel. This with a dropper post and carbon fiber rims makes for a damn fine machine as far as descending. Sure, it'll always be scarier than a longer travel bike, but at the limit DH on an XC bike is more about skill, a lot less about the bike and parts. Of the bike and parts, again in the XC world, I'd say things like the bar width, stem length, fork stanchion size, rim material and spoke count, all have more to do with how fast you are going to be able to ride DH, than the frame itself. In other words, 32mm fork, noodly aluminum rim, skinny XC bars, you are going to be stacking things up against you. I use a 32 an 34mm stanchion fork and feel I can make up enough stiffness in most races with the other things, like good carbon wheel with good spoke count, but again, going to one extreme here is going to have far more impact than the difference between modern XC bikes IMO.
 
#9 ·
FWIW, it was not unstable at all to me, it was just less so than my Mach 5.5, the Switchblade, and Phoenix(obviously here) I demo'd. It turned very well and I had no problems controlling it. Absolutely great in tight switchbacks both up and down. We have some reasonably techy rock gardens and it handled with ease. The tires were the only thing that held it back, but even off camber and with wet rocks, I never felt ill at ease at all. Did a little two foot drop to flat, felt good there too.

If I were in the market for an xc oriented race bike, it would definitely be on the list. Certainly could fill the bill as an every day trail bike with some more aggressive tires.

Actually of all the bikes I demo'd this weekend this one gave me the biggest smiles... :)
 
#11 ·
Yeah, you really have to look at someone's riding style and what they're comparing it to when you're looking at reviews.

I rode the Mach 4SL on a shop demo for 2 days. I've owned an Epic (new-ish geo) and Stumpjumper SS (old school geo - think steep). These days I ride bikes with more travel (Giant Trance 29, Ibis Ripmo) with the exception of the Stumpy SS, which usually only seems tamer trails. Compared to the Ripmo (and to a lesser extent the Trance), the Pivot absolutely felt less confident (as it should, given the numbers) on the technical sections I ride. It was also much faster on the uphills and more suited to general riding on smoother trails. I could still ride everything I usually do on the trail systems I rode it on (one rocky, with ledges 1-3ft, some in succession and the other XCish with roots, climbs, but nothing overly technical), I just had to be more careful on the steep rocky stuff and I didn't feel quite as comfortable on extended rock gardens. It's been a while since I've ridden the Epic, but the Pivot felt more capable than it did. If I owned both and were choosing between grabbing the Ripmo or the Pivot, I'd probably grab the Pivot 60-70% of the time.

The Pivot had the live valve, but I honestly didn't really see much difference with it on/off. Smooth climbing might have been a bit better, but I'd need a stopwatch to notice.

Edit: After riding both the 4SL and the Trail 429, I'll be picking up a Trail 429. I feel I'll likely grab that 85% of the time and save the Ripmo for steeper/rockier/bike park days.
 
#12 ·
Thank you fontarin! This is a great review!! Really helpful! I dont plan to do any super technical downhills or drops, just local trails around here, and a few races. I am a great climber when in shape. I think the Mach 4 would probably be good for my riding style.
 
#13 ·
My Small Mach 4sl is 23.5 pounds with dropper (125mm), 100mm fork, XX1 group, Enve cockpit, 1,400-ish gram wheels and 650-gram tires (with pedals). I'm not sure how they got a Medium at 21 pounds but whatever. Although it's pretty darn capable for an XC bike, it's still and XC bike. The slack (for XC) head angle allows for more mistakes when you're tired and for more confidence in the downs than older XC bikes. It's a bit lighter than the old Mach 429sl but is also a touch less "solid" feeling. IOW, it feels like an XC bike. But it's fast up and down depending on your skill level.
 
#14 ·
But it's fast up and down depending on your skill level.
This^. I just got back from Sedona, took my 4SL (LV/XTR) and my Yeti 5.5. I didn't ride the Yeti once. The little bike was too much fun to get off of. I actually set a PR on the Hiline descent on that thing. The Fox 34 is amazing for a <4lb fork. I'll punch that thing into anything.
 
#15 ·
hi everyone! Thanks for all the helpful comments! I rode the mach 4 at the Pivot demo yesterday. I really enjoyed it. I used the rear suspension lock out quite a bit. I did not use the remote drop. I really enjoyed the 120 mm fork. I rode the technical areas much better and it was more fun! Once I realized what the fork could do, I felt more confident. So, I’m pretty close to purchasing the bike. I’m thinking of the 120 mm fork, World cup XX1 AXS. I’m thinking of training for a 50 mile race. What do you think of this bike for the race, which I think is not very technical? Is there anything I can do to cut weight down? I dont know if Pivot will have the bike in blue, which is what I want. Waiting to hear back from my local shop.
 
#16 ·
^^^If you wanna cut weight, go with the SC100 fork. The geo is better anyway for racing (even marathon) with the 100mm fork IMO, especially if not technical. Carbon wheels, Rekon Race tires, lighter saddle, stem, bar, etc. Pretty easy to get it to 25 with pedals
 
#19 ·
Hi guys, I recently got myself a Pivot Mach 4SL frame in size xs. I got it in Belgium through the French importer and now I've started building it with the old parts from my Cube AMS team. Got the 100mm factory kashima fox 32 in it, light newmen wheels, XTR shifter and brakes, XX1 cranck, Exustar pedals, Best Passion Zone carbon handlebar with 40mm integrated stem and Carbon seat. Still waiting for my Darimo carbon seatpost. Currently at 9,6kg.
 
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