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Well, this is our first mountain bike product review ever. I think soon it will going to be time for us to write some more skiing content again. But before that I will do some more mountain bike reviews as I got some super good opportunity to test a few very nice and interesting bikes. (More on that later, this post is about the Mach 5 only)

Also, I got some inspiration from this blog and especially this article – it is in Finnish but you English speaking readers, check out the great pics and video; I think we should do more stuff like this here too!

So, when I got a possibility to test ride a real dream bike, Pivot Cycles Mach 5, I couldnt resist the oppurtunity to write about it…(I have tested some other bikes as well during the summer but those were “just” ordinary mass producted bike, when this is…well, a real dream bike). I had an idea to shoot a riding video for the review but unfortunately I had to ride solo today (no friends got any freetime to participate on the ride today). I tried to held he camera in my hand when riding on easy singletrack but even that turned out to be pretty hard and the end result just didn’t work. This time we had to settle only for the photos then.

But let’s move on to the bike itself. The frame has 5.4 inches of travel, Dave Weagle’s DW-link system, 8 bearings, integrated bottom bracket and a direct mount front derailleur (if you’re uncommon with this terminology, read more here). Parts were all top-notch: Stan’s No Tubes tubeless rims with Schwalbe Nobby Nics (2,4″), Progress Hubs, XTR, Progress stem and carbon bar, Fox suspension, Avid Juicy Ultimate brakes etc. No weak points here.

I have to admit that my knowledge of the newest suspension designs is not updated. The last full-susser I had was a Rocky Mountain Switch Ltd from 2003. The suspension design of that bike was pretty outdated even couple of years ago. So, take this with a grain of salt when I say this was the best designed suspension I have ever ridden. And the best bike in general, gotta admit that too. I love the 29ers I have ridden in the recent years but there was couple of things that really amazed me with this bike:

- The speed. On the roads it felt (almost) like I was riding my cyclocross bike, even with quite wide tires and low tire pressure. You could feel the slightest amount of suspension “squat” but it seemed not to effect the speed at all. One word for the rear suspension would be: effective.

- When you hit the downhills the 5,4″ travel did its job and I felt like I was riding a DH bike. Our trails are pretty rooty and rocky but this bike seemed to make those roots to disappear competely.

- Climbing. What climbing? Heh. Of course, compared to a fully rigid single speed every geared and/or suspended bike is superior but still the function of this bike was suberb on this area too – just sit and grind. Or if you want to stand up, attack and hammer, no problems anyway. This a great feature for a full suspension, and makes the bike more versatile and suited for wider variety of riders and riding styles.

I thought that I am a full 29er guy these days but this bike made it clear that it is not only the wheel size that matters, there are so many other factors effecting the handling of the bike too. For example, this bike wheelies just so much easier than any 29er I’ve tested so far (this could be a bad thing too as I was almost on my back at first for a few times!). 26 inch bike is (at least this one is) just better on tight and turny sections or at least you have to do much more “body language” to get the big wheeled bike to turn as easily. Same goes for acceleration, big and tall can accelerate like Usain Bolt but for many riders the little wheel just gets up to speed faster and easier, this is just a fact. Playfull riding, hitting drops and jumps etc. is (still?) also somehow more natural to me on 26 inch wheels.

That said, there was a couple of occasions when I noticed the difference between the wheel sizes. At the beginning of the ride I got stuck on some roots (at low speed) that I think I would just rolled over with my 29er. Traction on the climbs (and suprisingly on some steep, short descent too) was also just a tad worse than on the big wheels – this is also a matter of adaptation and tires & pressures I guess?

What I realized was that I have kind of lost the full suspension riding style. The rigid singlespeed I have rode lately force you to do some very precise, cautious and slow style on technical sections, kind of a “survival riding mode”. While trail bike type full suspension like Mach 5 requires you to just trust the design of the bike and “point and shoot” at speed. Given this, to my suprise I found myself hesitating on some of the most technical little “problems” on the trail. The frame was a little small to me (size M, whereas I normally ride size L, around 19″-20″ bike) and that lead to a slight slack of stability or at least it felt so. I have also noticed that how great the frame ever is it takes a few rides for me to gain the confidence on a totally new, unfamiliar bike. I guess that after a few rides I would just bomb through those said sections and laugh at my current silly rigid bikes, heh (that, of course, if I ever had enough money to buy this bike!).

The verdict

Pros:

- Incredible, effective suspension design – very little suspension “squat”

- Feels like a four inch travel cross country bike on the smooth trails and like a six inch travel heavy duty trail bike on the rough stuff

- Nimble and easy to handle

- Wheelies super easy (could be bad too if you’re used to the typical relatively long chain stays of the 29ers!)

- Stiff frame, didn’t notice any lateral flex at all

- did I say FAST

- The bottom bracket is high enough to give a nice clearance for logs and rocks, while the frame itself still stays relaticely low – the bike didn’t feel too high or squirrely at all despite relatively high BB

Cons:

- Price (do’h, you don’t get good for cheap!)

- Makes you want to desperately buy one!

What a great sport mountain biking is. Big up and thanks go to the www.pyorahuolto.com and Mikko Räty for letting me test an expensive super bike like this. And this is not all; Mikko promised me a testride of Mach 429 and Niner R.I.P 9 too. It will be really interesting to compare these offering and try to decide if a 29″ 4 inch travel bike could beat this beauty? At the moment I really doubt it, but we will see…keep checking the site, I will try to do some more test rides next week!

Roll in Peace!

If you enjoyed this post, then make sure you subscribe to our RSS Feed or Email Newsletter. This article was written by Janne Niini and it’s original location is in HomeboySki.Com skiing blog. For more great skiing articles, please visit HomeboySki.Com!