Spotted during the opening day of the 2017 Fort William World Cup, we came across this bright blue Phoenix downhill race bike in the Pivot Cycles race pits and knew something was up. Despite being disguised with the same paint job and build kit as the rest of the Pivot Factory Racing Team bikes that are currently being ridden this weekend by the likes of Bernard Kerr and Emilie Siegenthaler, the big blue Phoenix appeared to be a little more rotund than usual.
Upon closer inspection, it turns out that this is indeed a 29in version of Pivot’s Phoenix carbon downhill bike – the first spotted in the wild.
In a trend that has accelerated rapidly in the first half of 2017, we’ve seen a rush of 29er prototype downhill bikes hit the race scene. First there was the Santa Cruz V-10 29er, then we saw both Mondraker and Commencal bust out big wheels at the Fort William round of the British Downhill Race Series. And then just last week, Trek announced its new Session, which would be commercially available in a 29in version.
There’s loads of hubbub around 29in wheels in the race pits at the Fort William World Cup, with brands including Specialized and Bergamont having provided team riders with wagon wheeled prototypes to test out on the long, hard and rough Ben Nevis race track. But while Pivot is also hiding a 29er race bike, it turns out that neither Bernard Kerr or Emilie Siegenthaler will be racing it this weekend. Apparently the bike is so fresh that none of the team riders have had a chance to test it yet, and with so few spares available in terms of rims and forks, the team will hold off from racing it for the time being. Expect to see it on a race track very soon however…
While Pivot Cycles is staying tight-lipped about the Phoenix 29er, we do know a few details. Firstly, it uses a carbon fibre mainframe that is a 29er specific mould. Unlike other brands, this isn’t a bastard bike made up of a 27.5in front end with offset headset trickery or a custom linkages to squeeze in larger diameter wheels. In speaking with Pivot’s CEO Chris Cocalis, the frame was actually produced nearly a year ago, and Pivot has simply been waiting for components (namely a fork and wheels) to get it all built up.
Like the current Phoenix Carbon, the Phoenix 29er has ‘204mm’ painted onto its side, though we can’t confirm whether it’s packed with the same amount of rear wheel travel as the 27.5in version. Given how specific Pivot is with rear suspension travel for given models and wheelsizes, we’d hazard a guess that this number isn’t necessarily accurate.
Rather than the carbon swingarm used on the current Phoenix Carbon frame, the Phoenix 29er prototype does feature a welded alloy swingarm. While upper seatstay pivot is a little different due to the alloy construction, the bike still features the DW5 suspension linkage that’s laid out in a similar orientation to the current Phoenix, with a shock extender connecting the upper link to the rear shock.
Wheels are custom items from Reynolds. Using 29in diameter carbon rims, the downhill wheels appear to be a beefier version of Reynolds’ current 29 Enduro wheelset, with 157x12mm rear hub and a 20x110mm Boost front hub. Tyres are from Maxxis in the form of 2.5in wide Minion DHF tyres, and the bike is running Fox air-sprung suspension front and rear.
At this point in time, Pivot informs us that the Phoenix 29er is merely a test concept. But given how polished it looks, and the fact that more downhill racers are starting to warm to the idea of running 29in wheels in the first place, we’d hazard a guess that we’ll be hearing more about this ‘concept’ in the future.
Stay tuned for more…
