Hi all,

Looki for a new frame and have got stuck between the absolute bargain that is the CCDB El Guapo from On One -£800

OR doing my load on a shiny Pivot Mach 5.7 Carbon frame

I AM..

220lbs, 5’9″ bloke (fat git) who is 43 and rides trail only- no big hucks for me. I need a machine that will come sub 30lbs but strong enough to take my under skilled riding style yet get me up hills without a seizure.
It will be built up with XTR everything and either 150mm forks on the Pivot or Fox 36 on the EG.

Clearly I am falling into the trap that the EG is top value but has a few errant reviews and might be too much bike for what I need and secondly the 5.7C is uber expensive – what are you thoughts?

Dont want to get the EG then regret it as my other half would not be happy with yet another buy, build, break n sell carry on.

Previous bikes I enjoyed were – 5 spot (Horst), Intense 6.6, Ibis Mojo HD – Bikes I owned but wasnt sure about, Ellsworth Epiphany, Orange 5, Giant VT, Intense Spider.

EG seems such a great deal but at my age may be just too heavy as its 9lbs with CCDB- Pivot will skint me but would be SOOOO MUCH LIVELIER

THOUGHTS?

Pivot. No question. You’ll even be able to look at it without doing a little sick in your mouth. Money spent on bikes is seldom wasted.

Shirley the Titus FTM carbon is more suitable than the EG for what you describe? 135mm travel and more an all rounder than the EG..

try a liteville 301 mk11, you’ll thank me afterwards .

+1 Pivot. Lovely bike.

Just curious, how come you got rid of the Mojo HD? Even though it’s 160mm an XTR build will be sub 30lbs, and they pedal so well. As far as one-bike-to-do-everything goes they are one of the best?

Oooh Liteville.. Chelmer cycles have one of their frames hung on the wall, it sure is purdey…

i have an el guapo – and love it! as do most owners. I guess there are better looking bikes but in the flesh with the right build they do look good.

In your case however i would get the Pivot or a carbon Titus FTM, it will be lighter than the el guapo, and a bit more suitable for the riding you do

+1 for Titus FTM carbon – much more comparable to the Pivot, and sub 6lbs for the frame

Hay gunners I see from your height you’d be a medium 5.7 pivot! if of interest my local store on the south coast has one he is looking to sell on at a big discount possable frame only or my be rolling chassis fox forks dt Swiss wheels or whole bike if your feeling flush. Pm in profile if you need more info.
Bats.

You’ve upset her feelings, I tell her she’s beautiful

For the type of riding you describe sounds like the Pivot would be better.

The El Guapo is nice but really wants to be ridden hard on steep gnarly terrain. The Pivot is more of an all rounder and you don’t need to have big balls to get the most out of it.

The Alu version of the Mach 5.7 frame is also reasonably light and much cheaper than the carbon. I think with the XTR bits and similar high end finishing kit you’ll still come within your weight budget.

gunners

Read between the lines in your post,in fact just read your post.
The answer is there.

Tried a Pivot Mach 5.7 carbon as I really, really liked the look of it. It was horrible. It was compared back to back with a Carbon Nomad, and ally meta am on the whites climb \ skyline descent at Afan. No rear wheel grip or rough stuff smoothing when compared to either of the other two. Felt like my 100mm hardtail.

I have a medium carbon pivot that will be up for sale soon,great frame!

Definitely Pivot, I got rid of my El Guapo, got the Aluminium 5.7 it is so much better an all rounder, but you can still tackle some bigger stuff if you feel that way inclined

Pivot Mach 5.7 by South Downs MTB Skills, on Flickr

eatsdirt, my experience of DW link bikes is the same, good climbers but very poor descender’s, seems to take too much impact to get the back moving and they never seem to keep up and feel very harsh.

Pocket S- I sold Mojo HD as I lost a job three years back- just after I bought it so it had to go. Also i found the medium a bit big wierdly- seemed to sit high in its travel.

Found that four bar are plush but bouncy, single pivot, soft but bouncy VPP a bit stiffer and DW stiffer again. ICT is good but v plush.All sus systems good really- I just prefer something snappy

b45her, interesting. The weird thing is it lacked grip when the climbing was loose or lumpy. But, it did accelerate and feel more like a hard tail when you wanted it to, namely when you can put the pedal power on because it is so stiff.

Doesn’t feel all mountain in any way shape or form and it’s more like I would expect a short travel full suss to ride, you actually had to pick lines on the skyline descent. With the Nomad and Meta I just pointed in a straight line and occasionally squeezed the brakes when my bottle ran out.

they are pretty!

here’s mine where it was designed to be (SoMo, Pheonix, AZ)

yes it is heavy with lyriks, even with some nice bars, post and xt build (and the monarch) but the ride is AWESOME!