It’s no secret that Pivot Cycles and its founder Chris Cocalis know a thing or two about building fantastic bikes. Still, we couldn’t help but let our jaws drop when we passed by the Pivot encampment at the Sea Otter Expo. Hanging from an unassuming Feedback Sports digital scale, their all-new Phoenix DH bike seemed to defy gravity, weighing in at a paltry 33.8 pounds.
Heck, our trail bikes weigh more than that.
Featuring a decidedly svelte, 8-pound carbon frame, the Phoenix DH Carbon is built around 27.5-inch wheels and imparts the rear with 204-millimeters of dw-link-controlled travel. Shown above in a stock build configuration—with pedals, the complete Phoenix DH Carbon easily slots in as one of the lightest DH bikes on the market. Oh, and no corners were cut in the arrival at that wispy weight figure either. Sure, the build calls in a set of carbon hoops, but they’re still shod with full-size tires featuring DH casings.
Add in features like slick internal cable routing, dropper post compatibility, and integrated, removable fork bumpers and you have quite the dialed rig.
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- While the frame you see here was manufactured overseas, every piece of hardware—including the mold the frame came out of—was produced at Pivot’s headquarters in Phoenix, Arizona.
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- An integrated bottom-out bumper softens harsh bottom-outs suffered at the hands of shocks with less-progressive bottom-out prevention.
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- Pivot’s new rear linkage allows for much more space to work with when designing around larger wheels.
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- The Phoenix takes its name from both Pivot’s mascot and hometown of Phoenix, Arizona.
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- Even the brake line is routed internally through the front triangle, nearly eliminating any chance of damge from rock strikes or contamination from mud and debris.
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- Here, the Pivot’s 204-millimeters of travel is damped by a Fox DHX RC4 rear shock, although its proprietary shock extension is compatible with most major suspension brands.
Based around the new linkage design Pivot pioneered on the Mach 6 Carbon, this link allow for much more clearance than the old linkage, without resorting to lengthening the chainstays. Additionally, it helps handle the increase in wheel size as well. Still, in the bike’s ideal suspension configuration, wheel clearance with the saddle was still an issue when the bike was fully compressed in its saddle.
Rather than compromise, Pivot teamed up with WTB to engineer the High Tail, which employs a wider set of rails and a larger rear cutout in order to eek out a touch more clearance.
Available this summer, you’ll see the Phoenix DH Carbon well before then (although in all likelihood it’ll be a bit blurry), under Pivot’s sponsored riders at World Cup DH events.
