Pivot’s position in the world of mountain bikes is at the top of the pyramid. Make no mistake, they are a boutique brand. A number of things go hand in hand with this. Firstly, you tend to get frame construction that’s second to none. You also get suspension technology that carries on through different models and frame iterations. And as such, you won’t often see ground up redesigns. The engineers invest early in their design concepts, and refine them from there.
A pessimist might say that boutique brands are too slow to develop and change. But the reality is they have often developed and executed a very good product, and made ongoing refinements to keep it at the top of the tree. Pivot’s DW-Link suspension is an ideal example of a class-leading system that has been refined over time. Their range of bikes from the Mach 4 SL, through to the Trail 429, Switchblade, Mach 6, Firebird, Shuttle and of course the Phoenix show they have every segment of the full-suspension world covered. They even have two bikes without pivots on them, for the hardtail and cyclocross/gravel crowds! You should buy a beer for Dave Heaven from Pivot Australia and ask him about how the Pivot Les hardtail came to being. It’s a good
