Pivot Mach 6 is a dual 27.5 full suspension enduro bike. With 158mm rear suspension paired with a 160mm fork, this bike is the playful little brother of the Firebird. Pivots come with a full carbon frame with internal cable routing, trunnion shock mounting (205xx65), and super boost spacing. The short chain stays at 431mm and has a head tube angle of 65 or 65.5 depending on the flippy chippy. With price ranges starting from $5,899-$13,000, there’s a quality build for everyone. 

I picked up this bike during the winter and built it up as my bike park basher. After spending the full season on the Shadowcat mullet and loving it, I thought id just copy-paste and do make this thing sweet too. I will say I may have gone a bit overboard on this build with weight and part selection but I was trying to keep it a bit more “budget-friendly” if that can even be thrown around on a $6,000 bike lol. 

Parts and build kit

I purchased the Ride SLX/XT build. Pivot has been better with the wording of these builds as of late, but only using one XT part doesn’t quite cut it for me. I would rather have the shifter over the rear derailleur for the nicer spec part if it were me. That being said SLX is a pretty solid groupset and is leaps and bounds above some other brands that use NX on similarly priced bikes (Santa Cruz I’m lookin at you) Anyway, this being a park bike I decided to wrap it in a full-ride wrap kit. Pain in the ass and a poor quality install because I am not patient. It has held up well and protected the frame from a few good falls so far.

The stock build came with Marzoochi Bomber Z1 air fork and CR coil shock. I decided to give the Marzoochi brand a try and purchased a 170mm coil 29er. While this fork feels plush and smooth it is quite heavy at 2658g. After that, I changed the shock out to a Cane Creek Kitsuma with a progressive spring of 450-550 lbs. Keeping the same feel as my trail bike, but is a bit burlier and easier to adjust. I wanted to like the Bomber CR coil but it felt a bit stiff and the rebound knob was hard to access. When I swapped the shocks I was amazed at how heavy it was as well. over 1lb more compared to the Kitsuma. Don’t worry I added weight in other places.

Shifting bits all stayed the same, stock SLX with race face, Raceface cranks. I did change out the brakes to SRAM Code RSC with 20mm HS2 rotors f/r. Keeping the brakes the same between both my bikes has been nice and consistent as well as easy maintenance. One bleed kit, same pads and rotors as spare parts so it’s simple. Completing the build with Deity alloy bars with 25mm rise and a Sun-Single front wheel while using the stock DT1900 rear wheel. The engagement is almost non-existent but using it at the park I don’t notice it much. As much as I wanted to build or buy wheels for this it would have been difficult and expensive. With super boost 27.5 and a mullet build, there aren’t many options at the time. Today it looks like there is a Reserve alloy with I9 1/1 in super boost with the MX option so maybe when I clap these out ill step it up. Last but not least pairing a set of Assegai tires front and rear with cushcore as well. Told you id add some weight back.

Ride impressions

After about 250 miles, I know not a lot but considering bike park season has only been going on for 8 weeks or so it’s not bad. The bike finally feels dialed. I did try it with dual 27.5 and mullet on some back-to-back runs and I just like the mullet setup more. Adding the longer fork, bigger wheel this thing got long and slack. I wanna say it’s about 63 degrees on the head tube angle. Slightly higher BB and a shorter reach.

At high speed, this bike feels planted and super stable. With the suspension being pushed and keeping traction in all types of terrain. I will say with the longer front end the balance point of this bike has changed a bit. I feel like I need to be more aggressive on the front end. The bike feels best on drops and super chunky trails. Great in big bemed corners, but lacks sharp handling skills. It’s a little bit like a boat on some tight trails. The weight of the bike makes it a bit difficult to throw around, but as I get stronger and jump more it’s getting easier and more natural feeling.

Climbing is quite an adventure. It’s super sluggish and slow-moving. As are some enduro bikes in this category. With the 30t chainring and the 51t granny gear, it will get up most hill just not very fast. The Climbing position is quite comfortable though so it makes longer days manageable. I do lock the rear shock out, another reason I upgraded to a nice one with a climb switch.

Final word

Pros

• Plush and bottomless suspension
• Stable at high speeds
• Quality build package with stock parts
• UDH

Cons

• Super boost 27.5
• Stock geometry is conservative
• Not the lightest bike at 38.8lbs after all my tinkering
• Mullet 170mm adds too much stack height (150 or 160 would be better)

All in all, I have been enjoying the bike. It did take some time to adjust to the long and slack front end with the short rear. The suspension feels bottomless and smooth. No big hard bottom outs. I feel like this bike is great for the park, shuttle laps, and big downhill days. I would tend to avoid climbing with this as much as I can but sometimes you gotta suffer to have fun.