We spotted this on board Bernard Kerr’s Pivot Mach 6 at Sea Otter, but at the time they were hesitant to tell us much about it. Then, we saw production prototypes during our visit to their Arizona headquarters with a promise that they’d be available at some point in the future.
Now, finally, they Pivot Mach 6 link upgrade kit is here, available for MY2015 and earlier bikes. It includes the “Lawwill” link with fresh bearings for $110. Compare old and new below…
The original stock link is shown on the left (black bike), which looks positively anemic compared to the beefed up version on Kerr’s blue bike. Click to enlarge for detail.
It’s even more obvious from the top, where all the extra material between the stays is quite evident.
The part was originally only available to their sponsored pro riders, created to reduce flex in the rear end under very hard cornering. But that feedback helped steer the development of the 2016 Mach 6’s design, which has a ~40% wider bearing placement on the bottom of that linkage.
Now, you can mimic the new bike’s stiffness at that junction with the upgrade kit, albeit at a slight weight penalty thanks to the extra material. Get it through your dealer, it comes with one bearing installed and the other is pressed in during installation.
