Chris Cocalis and co continue their renovation of their bike range with the worked-over Pivot Mach 6 enduro bike now sporting contemporary geometry.

>>> Pivot Mach 5.5 Pro first ride

Pivot Mach 6 need to know

• 155mm enduro bike
• Carbon or aluminium models
• DW Link suspension
• Longer reach on M, L and XL sizes
• Slacker head angle
• Accepts up to 2.6in tyres
• 27.5 wheels only
• Boost (no Super Boost here).
• $3,899 – $10.398 (UK pricing TBA)

Pivot boss Chris Cocalis: ““The Mach 6 Carbon is one of our most loved and best Pivot designs ever, so we took the update of this model very seriously. This new design takes the Mach 6 performance to another level by maintaining the climbing and all-around trail bike performance that the Mach 6 is famous for, while giving it the aggressive descending capabilities of our longer travel bikes. With the new Mach 6 we continue to expand the boundaries of versatility as both the ultimate enduro machine and the right choice for aggressive trail riding.”

What’s new?

The geometry has been significantly changed, which we’ll go into shortly. But first, what’s not changed?

It’s still a 155mm travel DW Link bike that is designed to work with air shock (no coils here) and specifically the Fox DPX2 shocks.

It’s still 27.5in wheel specific. This is not one of the new breed of either/or bikes that takes 27.5 or 29in wheels.

It still accepts a front mech. This is more a reflection of certain enduro racers who still prefer to run two chainrings. Especially two chainrings controlled by Shimano Di2 electric shifting. Yep, like pretty much all Pivots the new Mach 6 is Di2-friendly.

It still uses normal offset forks (44mm). Pivot haven’t gone the way of Transition and Whyte and started tinkering with reduced fork offset.

The Small and X-Small sizes haven’t sprouted the extra reach that the M-XL sizes have. Pivot state that they believe that shorter riders are still better served with compact handling bikes. On a related note, there are no women’s specific models. This is a deliberate move on behalf of Pivot rather than an oversight; they make a pointed statement that their bikes “intelligently address real-world rider differences” ie. bikes fit different heights, not different genders. There is an option to choose a women’s specific saddle though.

What is new then? Boost spacing. 2.6in tyre clearance. Internal cable routing (although the aluminium Mach 6 dropper post routing is external, somewhat surprisingly).

The carbon frame is made via Pivot’s exclusive hollow core molding process. Which results in a frame every bit as strong and stiff as Pivot’s DH and gravity models.

>>> The new 170mm Pivot Firebird Carbon

Further adding to the stiffness gains alongside the larger diameter tubes are new cold forged upper and lower linkages and EnduroMax bearings.

Pivot Mach 6 geometry

Geometry then. Check out the table above and you can see some contemporary but arguably not cutting-edge numbers. The most significant thing is the change in reach; the Medium size has grown a whopping 44mm in reach compared to the previous Mach 6.

The 65.8° head angle is sure to get a lot of folks eyeing up Angleset headsets and such. The 73-74° seat angle is also something of a neither-nor middle-of-the-road number. The 346mm BB height is similarly MOR. But Pivots have a habit of surprising us when out on the trails. You can’t review a bike from geometry charts alone. It’s all a (still) ever-changing flow of formulas and combos.

Eddie Masters joins Pivot

A bit of bolt-on race team news for you. New Zealand enduro and DH racers Eddie Masters (brother of YouTubing Wyn) has joined Pivot. He joins an impressive line-up of fast and stylish riders: Bernard Kerr, Emilie Siegenthaler and Rupert Chapman. You can safely expect some good results for Pivot in the 2018 season.