The 2020 Pivot Switchblade Proves Long Travel Can Slay Every Trail
The Takeaway: A balanced and versatile long-travel trail bike.
142mm rear travel with a 160mm fork
Crisp pedaling DW-Link suspension
Long and low, but slightly steeper than many bikes in its class
Weight: 30.6 lb. (large, Team XTR 29)
Price: $8,999 as tested (Team XTR 29)
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I got the feeling he was trying to make a point.
I’m about 15 minutes into my first ride on Pivot’s new Switchblade, a long-travel (142mm rear/160mm front) 29er trail bike and Chris Cocalis—Pivot’s founder, lead designer, and chief product tester—has me on the first pitches of a challenging 1,000-foot-plus climb on Tempe’s South Mountain. It’s ledge-y and very steep at times. The trail mostly rocks, from hard slab to sand, to loose chunks of all sizes—all of it slippery. It’s a slow speed, grinding, technical, chess match. The kind of trail that requires you to scan well ahead to be sure the line you’re taking on the obstacle immediately in front of you sets you up properly for a crux move further up the trail.
—Five Cool Details—
This isn’t the typical bike-launch first ride, and it’s especially not the type of first ride experience for a long-travel trail bike. PR-flacks aren’t dumb: they curate first rides at launches that avoid technical climbs that can leave a rider frustrated and defeated and instead employ fire-roads or gently graded singletrack—maybe even a shuttle or lift ride—to get to the top of hoot ‘n holler inducing trails. It’s a safe way to ensure a positive first impression.
But I love technical climbs like the one Cocalis is leading me up. And not only do I love them, I feel riding them with a test bike is a crucial part of any bike review because they can reveal a lot about a bike’s climbing performance and overall demeanor. But I usually need to wait until I get a bike home to test a new bike on a chess-match climb.
A bike doesn’t need to excel in these conditions to be a good bike—some bikes are made for goals that don’t involve adept technical climbing. The entire low/long/slack geometry trend is typically not conducive to building bikes for superior technical climbing performance, yet there are a lot of excellent low/long/slack bikes.
But there should be modern trail bikes that are good for climbing technical singletrack. Better yet is one that can climb well and still offer the benefits of the low/long/slack trend everywhere else but especially on descents. Do you know what I call a bike like that? A mountain bike. The new Pivot Switchblade is a mountain bike.
I think that was the point Cocalis was trying to make by handing me this brand-new Switchblade and immediately taking me up the kind of climb that induces bike-tossing frustration. That, yes, the new Switchblade has more travel and is longer/slacker than its previous generation, but, no, it is not a gravity-focused three-quarter scale enduro bike. It is a bike for all parts of the ride, and all kinds of terrain.
Here are the stats on the new Switchblade: 142mm rear/160mm front travel (44mm offset fork), 66-degree head angle, 75.5-degree seat tube angle, 455mm reach with a 620mm top tube (size medium), 19mm of BB drop and 346mm BB height, and 431mm chainstays. These numbers are based on the bike’s low position—switch the flip-chip, and the bike’s angles get a half-degree steeper, and the BB goes up six millimeters. This position functions as a geometry correction for riders who want to run 27.5+ tires, but it’s also there for 29er riders who want a taller and steeper bike.
However, if you compare the new Switchblade to other 140mm bikes, you’ll see that it’s already, in its low position, taller and steeper—it’s even steeper than some 120mm bikes. But the bike’s intended purpose is one of balance and multi-dimensional performance—something it nails like no other 140mm(ish) trail bike.
On the very challenging climb I was navigating, the Switchblade offered clawing traction and excellent low-speed manners. It wasn’t surprising to note the DW-Link suspension pedaled crisply. Still, careful tuning of the linkage and shock valving—something that Cocalis obsesses about—provides a brilliant equilibrium of traction and forgiveness without balance-compromising (and line-bungling) over traveling. The 75.5-degree seat tube angle, on paper, does look slightly slack for a mountain bike launching in 2020, but because the rear suspension is so supportive and keeps the bike riding high in the travel, the seattube feels steeper than some competing bikes with steeper (on paper) angles.
I found the riding position comfortable and well balanced in and out of the saddle, with generous room for weight shifts and body English. Overall, I found the new Switchblade was easy to ride and felt immediately natural—no quirks or surprises to work around.
Snacking at the top of the climb after a challenging and ultimately rewarding game of trail chess, I thought to myself, “If this bike goes downhill as well as it goes uphill, it will be one hell of a bike.”
It is one hell of a bike.
The descent was steeper, looser, rockier than the climb (of course). Challenging and entertaining, but the kind of trail that can lull you into letting off the brakes and letting the bike run before suddenly revealing a feature that threatens to rip you off the bike and send you sailing. A descent that challenges rider and equipment, but a trail you can rip and flow if you believe in your abilities and trust your equipment. If the Switchblade were too steep and too tall, I’d feel it here—I didn’t.
The bike was more stable than I anticipated, but it kept the precise and intuitive handling I felt on the climb. Upfront, a Fox 36 with GRIP2 damper further cemented its place as the best long-travel trail fork going by offering best-in-class sensitivity and control. In the rear is a Fox DPX2 shock with updated internals—designed with input from Cocalis—that he says add support while also improving high-speed oil flow. The quality of the rear suspension is excellent—the ride is buttoned down without harshness; it’s plush without noticeable mid-stroke wallowing.
I did more rides on the new Switchblade, and the word that kept coming back to me was “balance.” This is the best balanced long-travel trail bike I’ve yet ridden. A bike with the travel and modern geometry to rail descents and have rowdy funtimes, yet it climbs so well, and so capably, I don’t think any climb of any type is out of the question. The new Switchblade is a mountain bike and a hell of a mountain bike at that.
Switchblade Details and Models
There is one Switchblade frame: It is carbon and offered in sizes extra small (Pivot say it will fit riders down to 5'0") through extra large. The company used unique tube dimensions and carbon layup to hit unique stiffness targets for each size. It says the frame weighs 5.7 pounds (small without shock) and the bike comes in two colors: bright Horizon Blue and a more subtle Treeline Green.
Critical frame details include: 1x-only design, Super Boost rear axle spacing, press-fit 92 bottom bracket, ISCG'05 tabs, internal hose and housing routing with clamping cable ports, fits tires up to 29 x 2.6 or 27.5 x 2.8, there are provisions for Fox Live Valve, and mounts for a forthcoming tool system. The seat tubes are short and straight to accommodate longer-travel dropper posts, and there is room for a large bottle on all sizes, even with a piggyback shock. If you like a plusher ride, the Switchblade is coil-over friendly.
Pivot offers three build tiers: Race, Pro, Team with SRAM and Shimano kits for each level. Most models can be ordered with 29 or 27.5+ wheels. Add in carbon wheels and Fox Live Valve upgrades for some models and the result is 28 builds starting at $5,499 (Race XT) and topping out at $12,399 (Team XX1 AXS with carbon wheels and Fox Live Valve).
All builds use 1x12 drivetrains, Fox DPX2 shocks, Fox 36 forks (160mm travel, 44mm offset), Fox Transfer dropper post with Race Face underbar remote, Maxxis Minion DHF/DHR II tires, and a Pivot handlebar and stem (35mm interface). All builds feature Pivot's new Factory Lock-On grips, which is in the running for the nicest grip on the market.
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