Pivot

Mach 5.5 Carbon Pro XT/XTR 1x Mountain Bike - 2018

Improving on the legacy of Pivot's iconic Mach 5.7 Carbon, the Mach 5.5 Carbon Pro XT/XTR 1x Complete Mountain Bike pushes the design envelope with progressive geometry that's longer, slacker, and lower than ever. It handles everything the trail throws your way, from chunky, rock-littered climbs to blistering descents with square-edge hits, sudden drops, and rock rolls just begging for action. Pivot places it firmly into the trail category, with a secondary focus on all-mountain exploration. To be blunt, we just call it "damn capable" and "stupid fun," making it a worthy rig for the aggressive rider demanding their bike to climb like a goat and descend with unflappable composure.

The Mach 5.5 Carbon retains the sought-after benefits of the DW-Link suspension platform, namely the ability to claw up the steepest, chunkiest climbs and soak up square-edge hits on the descent. Once you've reached the summit after a grueling climb, 5.5 inches of rear travel gobbles up loose rocks and smooths out square-edges at high speeds. It's all party up front, with 6 inches of travel providing the confidence to rally across anything in sight, including sections usually reserved for longer-travel enduro rigs. This 20-millimeter disparity between front and rear travel gives you a bit more efficiency for pedaling, but with extra plushness up front for cleaning notoriously technical sections of trail.

Seeing the industry is constantly evolving, it makes perfect sense to see the Mach 5.5 Carbon with a slacker, longer, and lower geometry for riders seeking a progressive trail bike that stays glued to the trail and retains stability at high speeds. The 66.5-degree head tube angle offers composure on high-speed descents, without being overly slack or wandering excessively on sustained climbs with steep, punchy sections. Just a tick shorter in the front than the notoriously long and slack Firebird, the Mach 5.5 Carbon's long top tube gives you ample cockpit room, which is especially welcome if you have a longer reach. This longer front end is complemented with snappy-short 16.93-inch chainstays. Shorter chainstays provide greater maneuverability for cleaning tight corners and uphill sections, as well as lifting the front up and over trail obstacles.

A few key details make the Mach 5.5 Carbon a truly stand-out trail bike. Delving into its carbon frame construction, Pivot employs their proprietary hollow core internal molding process with an optimized lay-up of high-modulus carbon for the lightest weight possible. This method produces a feathery-light frame (claimed as low as 5.7lb) that approaches Mach 429 SL Carbon territory, but with strength and stiffness similar to the enduro-bred Mach 6. In the rear triangle, both the seat and chainstays clear tires of 2.6 inches, which is a nice benefit for riders seeking the added bump compliance and cornering grip of high volume trail tires.

This particular build enjoys the shifting simplicity of Shimano's XT/XTR 1x11 drivetrain, with a 46t bail-out for spinning up steep climbs. The FOX 36 Factory fork is impressively stiff, lending precise tracking for picking apart rough sections of trail and plunging into steep descents. It's finished off with 35mm DT Swiss M1700 wheels rolling on 2.6-inch Maxxis Wide Trail tires for impressive traction and cornering confidence—without the significant weight penalty of a plus-sized tire.