Are these out and out crawl up hammer down type bikes. Or are they ok on less challenging stuff? Are they hard work on flatter trails as some bigger bikes? Cheers
Not ridden one myself but a friend at the lbs rated his very highly, chopped in his sc bronson for one. Rides light from what he says and comes with a good shock. Has a very nice frame finish to, cable routing could be better but that's being picky.
I've always had my eye one one but not take the plunge yet 🙂
[url= https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7629/17013630837_63d0360bfd_z.jp g" target="_blank">https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7629/17013630837_63d0360bfd_z.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/rVriGH ]IMG_1418[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/people/46064729@N02/ ]ericpandrew[/url], on Flickr
Love mine....
A friend has one - he's not particularly fast downhill but loves it for every ride. He rates it at climbing.
His is fairly bling and light though.
My thoughts so far....
I've not ran mine for too long, a few peak rides, two days uplift at BPW and two days in wales so far, here are my thoughts coming from a 2011 130mm kona, that I cracked the frame on.
I've built this up reasonably burly, and its got more travel/bigger components, and weighs more-or-less the same as the kona.
The bike pedals really well, better than the kona did, and the biggest difference is that if you put the effort in, it seems to reward you with a positive surge forwards that the kona didn't.
The bike is not like some monster truck smash and grab big travel bikes that you have to just point and hold onto (rune/alpine/NP mega types), it feels nimble, like you can pick where you want to be, then launch into the line you have chosen, or swap lines at will.
The rear suspension currently has me in two minds...
As above the bike pedals really well.
It also seems to deal with repeated big-hits like its bottomless
however probably down to the the fox shock, seems to go through its mid travel way too easily, resulting in many pedal strikes (although that may just be me needing to adapt to the new bike)
currently thinking of a CCDBA upgrade...
Its almost too good at everything, and I cant think of many reasons why I would take the 29er HT out of the shed.
Good info ta
If you don't " have to" have 650B maybe look at the mach 5.7C. Picked mine up early last year for a very good price off here and it's been awesome at everything I have thrown at it from xc type rides to bike park Wales. Worth a look
I bloody love mine. Had it about 9 months now. Raced it, Alps'd it, ride it every weekend. It's a blinder of a bike. Climbs superbly and a total hoot pointing down the way. Can't recommend it enough.
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5.7 alloy here...
Climbs like a mountain goat.
It does sit quite low in its travel and I do bash pedals sometimes when climbing.
It's just brilliant....
Really stiff and capable bike, better downhill than most other 6" travel bikes. Read an awesome review here the other day: http://www.freshmtbreviews.com/fresh-mtb-reviews-latest-mountain-bike-reviews/pivot-mach-6-carbon-review/
Been running mine since Feb 2014 and love it, in fact I am lucky enough to have enough disposable cash to buy new every year but this year opted not too im enjoying it so much.
Since I bought mine I have swapped the Float X for a CCDBAirCs and put some LB wheels on.
Came from an SB66c so found it a bit tough to do steep technical climbs but you soon adapt, going down is an absolute hoot.
The only issues I have found is the cable routing past the shock which needs care and a lot of frame protector stickers (inc the CCDBAir), the lack of somewhere to place a bottle and the BB/Chain-stay bearing area which can get ingress of dust and basically rub the frame, this is resolved by sticking a cut up inner tube over the bearing area!
Can never get Dropbox to work properly when traveling but lets give it a go.....
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?dl=0[/img]]Ready for Chiang Mei trip[/url]
I looked into buying one of these - the reach on them is unbelievably short - the reach on an XL Mach 6 is only 425mm - that's closer to a medium on most 160mm bikes.
Not surprised it feels "nimble".
Follow up to this - I bought the frame two months ago after demoing one through Rush Cycles. Colin the owner is great to deal with, sorting out the fitting of the invisiframe and giving me a great deal on the price. Building up was "fun" with loads of head scratching trying to get the cable routing done. I followed the cross over the shock as pivot recommend with a bit of Velcro to protect the shock body. Went for a large at 5'11 and it fits great with 50mm stem. It definitely isn't one of the new long top tube geo bikes but is in no way cramped. I rode the medium as a test and that felt ok so it doesn't feel as short as the numbers suggest. The dw link is second to none IMO. Fsr bikes I've owned felt too active to me. Vpp I just couldn't get on with. I was never sure what the suspension was doing - like I was always trying to second guess it. The dw link gives the support for pedalling while allowing it to be loaded when needs be. I reckon this gives the bike it's playful feel and it feels like you can move it around the trail at will. Always feel in the right spot on the bike you never feel to far back for a sudden climb or too far forward for a descent. Downhill it handles as much as I can. Really comfortable ride too. It's weird but I just don't have that beat up feel after riding it. Makes you want to ride all day. All in very happy with not a single bit of buyers remorse.