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I got a chance to take the Pivot 429 out on a quick haul through the Sea Otter Demo XC demo course. I was out there for less than an hour so this is definitely not a full on review of the Pivot 429 but more of a couple of impressions I got from the short ride.

When I hopped on the 429 and started pedaling, I instantly noticed that this bike has an almost hardtail-ish racy feel. I attribute this to a very solid/stiff rear that transfers power down without any wasted flex. There was no noodley feeling from the rear that I occasionally get with other fs 29ers. This suspension seems to be on the firm side rather than ultra plush. I personally prefer this setup as it suits my riding style to a “t”.

The demo trail at Sea Otter is not extremely technical but it does have a couple of short climbs one being particularly steep and a couple of uphill grinders. It also has some nice flowy singletrack with stutter bumps, small XC-ish jumps and, on this weekend, sand. On all the climbs around the demo course the 429 to performed very well. Standing and seated climbs were easy and the rear suspension never felt like it got in the way. I was particularly happy with the way the 429 climbed a steep section as the rear felt planted and the cockpit felt comfortable enough to change from a seated position to a standing position and back to a seated position without losing balance or being awkward.

The steering feel of the Pivot is neutral. Not fast like the Gary Fisher G2 geometry but not slow either. The bottom bracket height is almost a full inch taller than my Redline but this did not impede handling, nor did it make me feel like I had too high a center of gravity. I still felt comfortable carving the singletrack at SO although the tires did not give me confidence to rip any of the jumps. The stutter bumps were muted by the suspension but did not disappear entirely as the suspension is more firm than plush.

Overall the 429 is a very fun racy bike that fits my type of riding entirely. I would probably go with a tire with a bit more grip both front & rear if I were to ride this but I could see the Kenda Small Block 8 on the rear being used for races.

Click here for pictures of the Pivot 429 prototype seen at Sea Otter 2008.

Click here for the video of Chris Cocalis discussing the Pivot 429.

Click here for Pivot’s website.

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Most companies that decide to offer 29ers usually start off with a hardtail or fully rigid bike. Pivot, however, decided to come out with a FS 29er using the dw-link suspension design called Pivot 429. The Pivot 429 has 100mm of travel in the rear and optimized for a 100mm travel front suspension fork.

dw-link rear suspension

head tube/seat tube/top tube junction

Tire clearance to chainstays.

Tire clearance to “seat tube” which is further behind on the prototype and will be moved forward in the production bike

Quick word on tire clearance to where the seat tube normally connects to the bottom bracket: This area is replaced by a plate shown in the picture above, but the plate was welded at an incorrect spot. It should be pushed forward on the bike which will provide more clearance for bigger tread tires to fit. The prototype 429 I rode had Kenda SB8 and the tire on this photo shoot had WTB Exiwolfs 2.3.

Rear suspension close-up

Rear dropouts & brake mounts

Chris Cocalis and his vintage 1989 Fox gloves holding the stout rear linkage

Chris & Me doing the interview. Very cool dude

Frameset MSRP: $2199

For those interested, the geometry numbers for the Pivot 429 (can be enlarged)

By the way once RL is done editing (he’s the video master here) we’ll be loading up a video of Chris Cocalis president of Pivot. He’ll be discussing the Pivot 429, something you’ve got to see. Check back here for that and later on I’ll have my impressions of my ride on the 429. Let’s just say its fun, fast & smile inducing.

Click here for Pivot cycles website.

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Last night after a full day of “working”, the boyz and I decided to get some grub. So we drove around Monterey until we found “The Grand Buffet!” As you may know, I LOVE buffets!

Here’s Jeremy enjoying his “pizza” at the Chinese Buffet….who gets pizza at a a Chinese buffet???

Moe enjoying some shrimp.

I then reminded the guys to not look so happy, remember “smiling is for sissies!” Dang they look hardcore!

One of the best parts of the buffet was the chocolate fountain. Jeremy loves chocolate, dude, this guy even took his glass and stuck it under the fountain to catch the flowing hot goodness. Then the owner of the restaurant slapped his hands and scolded him. So after that, he grabbed some of the fruit and decided to follow the rules…look how happy he is!

After dinner we drove back to our 2 star hotel…oh yeah, we like to stay in luxury hotels…The rest of the night was spent working. All of us were either uploading, editing or creating something for Sunday morning.

Check back later today as we’ll be posting more content from the show. We’re actually leaving around noon today since we all miss our families. But through out the week we’ll be playing catchup and posting more goodness. Until then, go to church, ride a bike and enjoy your Sunday!

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Last year the Otter and I met for the first time…is it possible that my experience last year was luv at first sight? Who knows, but when the Otter and I saw each other again today, it was like as if we had just seen each other yesterday…

Some how the Otter got shorter?

Then we were back to our old selves…baaad Otter! Or was it Baad RL?

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