It’s been a little over a year since Pivot debuted their new mid-travel trail bike the Mach 5.5 Carbon. But even then while Fox was being tight-lipped about their suspension update, Pivot had built in Live compatible ports and was talking up the Mach 5.5’s futureproof frame. Now that Fox Live Valve is out of the bag, that Pivot Mach 5.5 might be your first chance to get ahold of some next gen suspension tech.
2019 Pivot Mach 5.5 trail bike with Fox Live suspension
It’s been rumored for quite some time (years really), but Pivot was one of the first to confirm some details of Fox Live Valve last May. Now what’s being claimed as “the most sophisticated trail bike suspension ever developed”, the new Fox Live Valve is finally here promising a fork & rear suspension that automatically optimizes itself to the terrain you are riding, on the go. And the same Pivot Mach 5.5 Carbon that we first rode last year in Moab, is one of the first trail bikes to neatly integrate and make available the new suspension tech.
Pivot CEO Chris Cocalis tells us, “We began working with Fox on this project almost three years ago when the Mach 5.5 and the Live system were in their earliest prototype stages. Even then in its most basic form, we realized the performance benefits and knew we had to integrate it into the Mach 5.5.” Since then Fox Live Valve has apparently come a long way, evolving to offer more tuning possibilities and getting so fast that it samples the terrain 1000x per second and makes suspension adjustments in just 3 milliseconds.
Want to get the full low-down on Live Valve, head over to our First Look article. And keep your eyes open as we come back soon with our First Impressions from actually riding it.
Suffice it to say Live Valve is set to make the Mach 5.5 pedal like a hardtail, climb techy trails like an XC race bike, then descend like an enduro bike. Suspension always in the perfect mode, and all you have to do is sit back and pedal.
Pricing & Availability
Pivot’s Mach 5.5 Carbon is actually available from right now with the upgrade to Fox Live Valve suspension. You can get it in their Pro & Team level complete bike builds, which range in price from $8,200 to $11,100 and include the spectrum of X01 Eagle, XT/XTR 1×11, XX1 Eagle & XTR 1×11.
That looks like it will add $2,000 over the standard builds, with the PRO XT/XTR 1x your entry into Fox Live spec. The complete bikes are available in every frame size and looks like it is already waiting for you in some of Pivot’s select dealers worldwide.
