[the Inbred]

Some pictures:

http://gallery.mac.com/dusin_b#100020&bgcolor=black&view=grid

First ride was this morning on a smoothish trail. Noteworthy -

When pushed, this bike responds and stiffens. Nice.

At 30lbs, this bike doesn't ride like a 5.5" travel bike. I believe it felt better than a Scalpel Team I rode a couple months back. The Mach4, assuming it rides the same, should make for a fine race machine.

Small bottle only on a medium frame, and that barely fits. Small frames have only one mounting location, and that's under the downtube.

For me, the Revelation with the floodgate almost wide open was a fine match to the dw-link suspension.

 

[crisillo]

nice, short report!

thanks! :thumbsup:

 

[TiEndo]

Nice Inbred.........What size frame is that, The weight seems a bit high with the build you have on there.....enjoy

 

[EGF168]

Very nice!:thumbsup: The weight seems to be quite high for your kit, too heavy if your right about it, if it's anything over 28lbs with that kit I'll have to ditch te Mach 5 from my list of possible next bikes cos I'm a fast but week rider.

 

[coolhandluchs]

Frame weight

Very nice!:thumbsup: The weight seems to be quite high for your kit, too heavy if your right about it, if it's anything over 28lbs with that kit I'll have to ditch te Mach 5 from my list of possible next bikes cos I'm a fast but week rider.

The shop where I test rode a Mach 5 weighed the frame when it first came in and got 6.2 lbs, which is comparable to a Turner Spot (good news for those of us who pound on our bikes). There are lots of examples of 28-30 lb Spots in the Turner forum, but if you're looking for an uber-light 5+ inch travel DW-type bike, you'll have to look at the Ibis Mojo lineup, or go extra light on your parts spec. That kind of defeats the (uhm, my) idea of an all-purpose bike, but if you're looking at a racier bike, the light spec should be fine.

Of course, if you're buying the complete bike, you're more or less stuck with what's hung on it.

 

[tscheezy]

At 30lbs, this bike doesn't ride like a 5.5" travel bike.

I guess I'm not understanding exactly what this means.

 

[the Inbred]

I've ridden a Spot, Motolite in 5", and an Intense 5.5...all in the ~30lb range. the Mach5 was more stiff and efficient, while at the same time, maintained the plush feel in the rougher sections. Maybe it was my set up on the other bikes, but for me, personally, the Mach5 pedaled better. I am coming off a 4" Motolite that was a pound less.

 

[celluloid hero]

Looks great! Pivot sure blinged it up with those red ano bits.

Not sure where all the weight could be though. Coz it sure looks to be about 28 lbs to me. The only place I could guess is maybe the XT wheels are heavy.

 

[tscheezy]

Gotcha. Thanks for expanding on that.

 

[the Inbred]

So after Warda, Sunday morning, I headed over to the Greenbelt backtrails followed by Walnut Creek. I couldn't have been happier with how the bike performed at either location. This Mach 5 absorbed everything from the larger bumps down to the stuttering stuff. Of course, most 5" bikes will do that. However, most 5" bikes don't pedal anywhere near as efficiently as the Mach5. A section of trail referred to as the Hill of Life was the most revealing...That section of trail really allowed the bike to display what it is capable of. At no point did I feel out of control. Going up, the bike felt planted to the ground. I did open up the fork completely, and that helped. However, the Mach5 climbed better than my Motolite. Basically, that was my best Greenbelt ride to date.

For kicks, I threw the RP23 into the softest setting, the floodgate on the Revelation was just about wide open, and travel was set at 115mm.

Bike weight is more like 28 and some change (as opposed to 30 that I mentioned earlier) with with LUST Larsens, and XT wheels. I9s are due in tomorrow, at which point I'll likely also toss on some lighter tires. Didn't realize UST tires were so damn heavy.

 

[the Inbred]

...

and, it's complete.

featuring

and

(just got the QR adapters today)

Yea Larsen TT

Yea SB8

I've converted a fair amount of people over to Specialized Toupe saddles. This guy is a nice MTN compliment. Speccy's nailed saddle shape.

Tight fit on a medium 5" frame. Mach 4s have better clearance.

All thanks to...

comes in at 27lbs with bottle, pedals, and saddle bag. wheels are impressing me more with each ride (well, the rear at least. have yet to ride the front wheel). nice, solid build. love this bike.

 

[crisillo]

very nice!

 

[MintSauce]

Mmm....wonder if they'll be doing a 29er version of this?

 

[dean a]

Word on the street is there is a 29er version coming.
Congratulations on your new bike. (Very sweet)
If you want to try to drop some weight that Thompson stuff is very very nice but not that light (anymore)
There’s about 60 grams in going to Hope M4 rotors.
I have seen bottle cage’s that slide the bottle in from the side that may help you but don’t know were you would get one from??
That’s a very nice Enduro I 9 wheel set.
You would be hard pressed to find the limit of these wheels on a “performance”5.4” travel pivot.
Hopefully Fox will bring out a through axle version of the Talas in 09
This would enable you to enjoy the full potential of the Enduro’s
It would be cool if you could ride the hell out of it and do a nice big review for us (Potential Mach 5 Buyers)

575,Mach 5, Rocky ETSX ??

 

[crisillo]

Hopefully Fox will bring out a through axle version of the Talas in 09

very likely

E-Thru

 

[the Inbred]

yeah, i was staring at my bike yesterday and realized that it'll take a little too much money for me to justify dropping that extra pound. I do dig those Hope rotors, though.

i've got a sideloading Arudel cage. it helps a lot.

i've ridden the bike enough to write a substantial review. i've ridden flat open trails, flowing trails, rock-laden technical trails. i can very comfortably compare this to a Motolite and a RacerX.

I went with the I9s for the TA ability. I'm kind of diggin' DT's RWS set up.

 

[dean a]

will that axle go through an I nine or does it have to be a special shimano hub?

 

[tscheezy]

The 15mm fork and hubs do not exist yet. Maybe by this spring. I bet a few hub manufacturers (I9, Hope, etc) will offer retrofit kits for the new system.

 

[coolhandluchs]

Nice build

27 pounds sounds good to me! :thumbsup:

After some more test riding, I'm looking at a Mach 5 or a Tomac Snyper. They're both just really nice bikes. The Mach 5 feels like it'll handle the techy stuff & switchbacks a bit better (shorter wheelbase, higher BB), while the Tomac feels like it'll be a bit more stable at speed (slacker HA, longer CS). I think the Pivot's suspension feels a bit better all-around (especially after I remembered to turn off the propedal on the 2nd test-ride :blush: ), but it's a very, very close thing. I'd be happy with either one.

(Disclaimer: I've still only had a chance to ride parking lots, school yards, construction sites, etc on these bikes. There's still just too much damn mud on the trails rft: )

It's gonna come down to how generous my wife feels and what kind of a deal I can get. C'mon tax return...

 

[yogiprophet]

very likely

It's about time.