Pivot Updates Mach 4 SL with New UDH-Compatible Rear Triangle

Feb 15, 2022 at 13:24
by Alicia Leggett  
Team XTR World Cup

Pivot has updated its Mach 4 SL, its full-suspension cross country 29er, with a new rear triangle that fits a SRAM Universal Derailleur Hanger and two fresh color options.

The 100mm cross country bike remains largely the same as in past years, but the reworked rear triangle aims to "future-proof" the bike for anticipated drivetrain and components changes, Pivot said in a press release.

bigquotesAt Pivot Cycles, we launch new bikes when we have a “mic drop moment” a significant technology advancement or re-design... But between complete re-designs, we’re never letting up. Relevant updates like the Mach 4 SL’s UDH-compatible rear triangle are evidence of our belief that no effort is too small if it improves the rider’s overall experience.—Pivot CEO & Mach 4 SL designer Chris Cocalis

Team XTR 100mm

Notable features of the Mach 4 SL V2 include Live Valve integration, built-in frame protection, space for a large water bottle on all sizes, and a starting frame weight of 1845 g / 4.0 lb. Complete bikes start at 9.4 kg / 20.9 lb. The bike is designed for 100mm to 120mm forks.

The Mach 4 SL is available now from Pivot dealers and comes in five sizes from XS to XL. This edition's two color options are Black Sunset - black with orange lettering and decals - and Greystone - grey with blue lettering and decals. Pricing starts at $5,999 USD and ranges up to $13,499 USD.

More information is available at pivotcycles.com.



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117 Comments

  • 87 5
 All bikes should have UDH
  • 39 2
 Yet to find a local bike shop that stocks a UDH which kinda defeats the purpose.

In fairness they aren’t stocking 11spd chains right now either but you get my point.
  • 22 0
 @Superburner: Sounds like supply chain issues and/or bad bike shops... Also, with the UDH people should feel more comfortable buying an extra $20 hanger and keeping in their garage for years.
  • 7 6
 the udh itself is wimpy though, excited for the cnc equivalents to show up, north shore billet is doing one but unsure of others
  • 15 2
 @Superburner: i have 30 something udh's in stock, and 11 speed chains
  • 18 0
 UDH just came back into stock in this area. Shop is stocked. I assure you, as a shop dude, UDH makes our life vastly easier and we welcome every company to use it.
  • 2 0
 @5afety3rd: wheels and nsb have their billet versions
  • 18 1
 @5afety3rd: a billet derraileur hanger?
They are meant to bend before the frame by design.
  • 20 0
 @5afety3rd: That’s suspiciously large quantity of hard to come by bicycle components. Have you been in Germany in the last month frequenting truck stops?
  • 8 1
 @5afety3rd: It's supposed to be wimpy. That's the whole point of a hanger.
  • 6 0
 @5afety3rd: isn't the point of it to be a breakable point that can be easily/cheaply replaced, rather that the derailleur itself being damaged? Not trying to flame anyone, but just wanting to make sure I understand the design purpose. Cheers
  • 2 0
 @Superburner: placed massive orders a year ago. Hoarding some things to keep this available to save vacations
  • 2 0
 @WY228: not that wimpy. I guess it’s better than a specialized hanger though. It’s the fact of the two material construction. It’s a thin aluminum plate, with composite reinforcement. I’ve seen a few rotate, breaking the composite part off, and damaging a rear triangle because of the rotation, I’d much rather have something stiffer that will snap before it rotates. Not like I see a dozen bent hangers a day or anything.
  • 1 1
 @Mcphisto1978: it’s how it breaks. Read my other reply for more specific reasons
  • 1 0
 @5afety3rd: if you give me a shop name I’ll give you an order.
  • 1 1
 @Superburner: in person only.
  • 6 0
 @5afety3rd: my specialized amazing derailleur hanger will bend if I look at it wrong
  • 1 0
 @5afety3rd: good to get that context.
I wonder what their reasoning is?
  • 2 4
 @5afety3rd: You clearly don't understand the point of a der hanger
  • 1 0
 @Will762: hahahahaha
  • 1 0
 @waldo-jpg: exactly my point
  • 2 0
 @5afety3rd: I've always wondered about billet hangers. A broken hanger is a bummer but if the part that is designed to fail doesn't, won't that just wreck the part that isn't supposed to break?
  • 13 0
 @Will762: to clarify a little cycling history for you. A breakaway derailleur hanger is not intended to break to save the derailleur. It’s intended to break to save the FRAME. Prior to this design, a hanger was part of the frame and not removable or breakaway. A derailleur hanger must be strong enough to handing loads induced by shifting. Servo actuated derailleurs (Di2, AXS) especially generate side load. If a hanger bends too easily from either rubbing the derailleur against an object, or poor shifting habits, it is likely to contact spokes at speed, throwing a chain, or spokes catch the inner derailleur cage, ripping the derailleur off, sometimes enough to cause frame damage. Therefore a hanger must be strong to a degree. It’s a designed failure point. It’s much better to wreck a derailleur than a frame.
  • 1 0
 @Mcphisto1978: cost is the reason for that construction method.
  • 4 0
 @dcreek: a well engineered billet design will break before the frame.
  • 2 0
 @5afety3rd: Fair point. I'm far from a SRAM fanboy but I'm a fan if the UDH. It's compatible with all derailleurs, available online from all the retailers for $15 and SRAM open sourced the design to let anybody make their own. I have a hard time seeing the downside.
  • 2 0
 @dcreek: oh don’t get me wrong, I’m a fan of the idea and especially the open source platform so companies like NSB and Wheels MFG can do their own take on it.
  • 26 1
 "future-proof the bike for anticipated drivetrain and components changes." Is this confirmation of a direct mount Sram derailleur?
  • 27 0
 “Futureproof”?! The industry laughs in the face of your wishful thinking!
  • 4 0
 @BiNARYBiKE: Bring on the 36" wheels! /s
  • 6 42
flag DoubleCrownAddict (Feb 15, 2022 at 15:35) (Below Threshold)
 @BiNARYBiKE: Future-proofed derailleur hanger, just as rear derailleurs are finally getting close to being replaced with gearboxes.
  • 33 15
 Every Beta article that gets shoved onto the PB homepage makes me want to visit less and less. Yuck. If you're going to post them, at least give them a native comment section so that we can complain about how much we don't want to see them.
  • 60 0
 did you know that you can toggle a button in your profile setting to turn off the Beta posts?
  • 9 0
 @pmhobson: no, but I definitely will.
  • 10 0
 @pmhobson: you deserve all the upvotes!
  • 4 0
 @pmhobson: thank you kind sir.
  • 24 1
 @pmhobson: Is there a way to turn off the comments hijacking other articles to complain about something the poster doesn't even have to see, let alone read? Wink
  • 2 0
 @dancingwithmyself: man I wish
  • 2 0
 @pmhobson: it’s nice to have the reminder of how far we’ve fallen
  • 4 0
 The Beta article links do have PB comment sections, but you need the link from the RSS feed to get in there.

https://www.pinkbike.com/news/opinion-complete-bikes-shouldnt-come-with-dropper-posts.html
  • 1 0
 @pmhobson: you sir, are very much appreciated. My news feed looks so much nicer now. Thank you.
  • 1 0
 @pmhobson: Done and Upvote!
  • 3 0
 Honestly, the articles they're posting just don't seem that interesting and are causing me to questions the need for BETAs existence. What's with the recent one? Oh, you think a $5k bike shouldn't include a dropper post? What's next? You gonna ship without a bar and stem or cranks because those are personal preference too? Feels like they're trying to be controversial for the sake of being controversial.
  • 1 0
 @pmhobson: doesn't work for the RSS feed. There is also a Beta badge on the relevant posts on the homepage, but that doesn't exist in the feed either.
  • 1 0
 @justinfoil: cool
  • 1 0
 @blazersdad89: after using the "reader view" in the browser view menu, I read the article and it basically said- Buy a bike that lets you customize your dropper post length. i.e. Direct to Consumer brands.
  • 19 2
 "complete bikes shouldn't come with dropper posts"

Jfc that's some low tier clickbait
  • 8 0
 you say that, and i suppose you got a point... but for me personally i wouldnt mind since nothing comes with the dropper i want, so it would save me the hassle of selling an OEM post if the bike didnt come with a seatpost

I'm not entirely sure how to word this so bear this me. I know that this would be a bad thing for many less experienced customers, but if i were buying a bike (from a bikeshop or otherwise) i would rather the bike was not specced with a dropper, saddle, pedals, grips and to a certain extent bars and stem than come with those components but now i don't get along with them and have to change them out anyway. also precut steerers make me rage and should be illegal.

i just think it would be much better if you bought a bike and then the bike shop was like "right, now lets find the longest drop dropper we can fit in the frame for you, oh we don't stock a oneup 240mm, we'll order it in for you if you like?" "we'll help you pick out a saddle that you find comfortable" which are your preferred pedals" "what is your preferred stem length" "here pick your favourite grips off the shelf" "which bars work best for you"
  • 3 1
 not to mention that would incentivise people to buy from their LBS rather than online (ignoring choose your own spec brands like bird, propain and last)
  • 4 0
 @GumptionZA: Are you prepared to only save like $100 bucks off the price of the bike that is sold without a dropper? Because they're swapping a wholesale OEM dropper for a wholesale OEM solid post and can adjust the price accordingly. But meanwhile you're going to be on the hook for a full retail priced dropper.
  • 1 0
 @justinfoil: definitely some kinks to be worked out
  • 1 0
 @GumptionZA: one point the article made (and I mentioned in other comments) is that many consumer direct companies "Evil, Fezzari, Orbea" allow you to customize these options when you buy the bike. You're last paragraph sounds like the ordering process at Fezzari honestly.
.
note: you can read the article using the "reader view" function in many browsers, you just don't get images.
  • 9 2
 That's my kind of bike - especially with a 120 up front. I don't have anything on my local trails that require more than that, but I have a LOT of that kind of trail... more than I've ever been able to ride in one day.
  • 85 1
 Sounds like the 170/170 Spire would be a perfect bike for your trail system
  • 5 0
 About 80% of my riding is suitable for a bike like this but the other 20% is the reason I bought a 140/130 Revel Rascal and built it up light. Ideally I'd have a bike like this Pivot and a 150 bike but can't justify two bikes.
  • 2 0
 Rode this bike at Sedona MTB festival a few years back. Didnt't think I'd have that much fun on a short travel bike on the rocky/ledgey terrain. Was pretty impressed overall. Not in love with the live valve rear sus, but still enjoyed the bike.
  • 6 0
 Now if they could stop selling an “XT” build with only one XT part while the rest are SLX
  • 7 1
 You guys need to stop hanging on to the past and Pivot to the future.
  • 3 0
 "At Pivot Cycles, we launch new bikes when we have a 'mic drop moment'"

I think this is probably more of a light bulb moment. Many others got there first regarding UDHs.
  • 2 0
 I hope the next iteration takes the cues from how they made the T429 lighter than the previous. I feel they could make a really lightweight XC bike. I’m not sold on live valve. Maybe license the Orbea Squidlock.
And I am a fan of Pivot. I have three.
Hump
  • 4 3
 "At Pivot Cycles, we launch new bikes when we have a “mic drop moment” a significant technology advancement or re-design"

Oh yeah, is that so? Let me explain why that statement is ridiculous, on the example of SuperBoost - Which, by the way, literally just exists because in 2016, back when he designed the first-gen Pivot Switchblade, Mr. Cocalis was of the frankly ridiculous opinion that 650B-Plus bikes were gonna be the future. 157 SuperBoost from the get-go served no other purpose and had no real-world advantage other than to marry 27,5"-Plus tires to ultra-short chain stays and a 2x drivetrain that would have been considered obsolete even by the standards then. What he had created with the first-gen Switchblade was not only a bike that comprised of this unholy menage a trois of absolute peak bullshit design criteria, but also a new hub standard that literally no one wanted, needed or benefited from. Not even kidding, combining those three was actually the reason why SuperBoost 157 was invented. Needless to say that all three of those design criteria are nowadays considered a bad idea, to put it lightly.

That should give you some insight into what Pivot considers a "mic drop moment".
  • 1 0
 157 should have been the standard for 29ers from the beginning. Anyone over 175 pounds could tell you how terrifyingly flexy 135/142 hubs were on big wheels.

148 is fine, but 157 already existed on damn near every downhill bike at that time. Pivot’s mistake was trying to rebrand it “super-boost plus”. Apparently it was just a joke but every idiot on the internet thought it was a new standard so they were crucified for it.
  • 2 0
 So are they going to stop carrying the standard derailleur hangers? I own a Mach 4SL, but I'm not going to even think about purchasing a $1500 rear triangle for just the UDH.
  • 2 0
 You should probably just stock up on them. At that price you could buy 100.
  • 1 0
 We still have stock on the original hanger for alloy frames...
  • 3 0
 global.pivotcycles.com/collections/part-1/products/rear-derailleur-hanger-through-axle-12mm
  • 4 1
 Does "future-proofing" include including the next 10 years of inflation in the price?
  • 1 0
 Better hope your ASSets keep up with inflation.
  • 3 0
 Hmm looks like not all of them come with a dropper though. Beta approved XC/DC?
  • 2 1
 This is the only plastic derailleur hanger I have had. My experience is not good; 2 failed in less than1.5 years. The plastic failed both times. Hopefully my run of bad luck with them is over.
  • 5 1
 Big shout out to the folks at NSB for the metal UDH's!
northshorebillet.com/products/sram-udh-derailleur-hanger
  • 4 0
 Are they failing while pedaling, or due to a strike? If it's the latter then I'd say it's doing its job perfectly.
  • 1 0
 @ScreamingNarwhal: their other hangers are awesome as well. I got a Specialized sandwich-style hanger from them, and it's burly af. Turns out my old hangers were decently straight still, it was just the crap GX Eagle b-pivot causing issues, but still glad I have that nice hunk of metal down there staying nice and straight.
  • 2 0
 whoa, they're plastic? Now I like the idea as much as plastic press fit BB's glued into a carbon frame
  • 1 0
 Wow, I have a spare in my kit and never even noticed. Depending on the specific polymer (and any fillers) might it be more elastic than an aluminium equivalent, i.e. less likely to permanently deform?
  • 4 4
 Remember last time Chris Cocalis got overly excited about a new mech hanger? m.pinkbike.com/news/Shimano-Officially-Introduces-Direct-Mount-Rear-Derailleurs.html

At least this time there isn't any new bullshit about it integrating with the axle better or making the dropout stronger (bullshit since the old DM hangers had identical shape as the normal hangers at the axle/dropout area).
  • 2 1
 ...or when he tried to establish a new rear hub standard for literally no good reason.
  • 1 0
 @Muscovir: He had a good reason for SuperBoost: to fit 27 Plus tires with silly short chainstays and a front mech. Of course, it could be argued there was no good reason for any of those things at the time, and especially if there was a good reason for all of them to be together, but SB 157 is a good solution for that non-problem.
  • 1 0
 Came here for the comments about slack STA and short reach........shocked not to see them. Pinkbike after-dark is much more mellow?
  • 2 1
 Did you know that it costs $57 to get touch up paint for a Pivot from a third party? Ibis has it for their bikes for under $20. Future proof that!
  • 1 0
 Make the derailuer mount solid with nothing to bend. Put a replacement hanger on the derailuer. Wait a derailuer you can fix? No money in that . Carry on.
  • 2 0
 Used to be that way: hangers were part of the steel dropouts, and could be bent back if the break-away b-pivot bolt wasn't enough to mitigate a catastrophe.

With alloy and carbon coming along, bending a hanger back in case of catastrophe became difficult, so replaceable hangers appeared. With replaceable hangers now in existence, the break-away bolts faded away, possibly because more gears and/or clutches put more force on the bolt such that it needed to be stronger.
  • 1 0
 @justinfoil: Santa Cruz also had beefy derailuer mounts. The drop out was bolt on. So Al or carbon it can be done .
Yes my hardtail still has a steel incorporated hanger. Park tools makes a great hanger alignment tool. Never used Al break away bolts as you mentioned they probably break too easy.
Universal break away hanger is probably best . Easy to carry a replacement if they are all the same .
Geared hub with six speeds would solve everything for me .
  • 3 0
 K.I.S.S.
  • 7 5
 It just needs Superboost to be rideable now. 148 so weak.
  • 2 0
 Future proofing in mountain biking doesn't exist.
  • 1 0
 UDH, BSA bb, pick a standard for seat post diameter and one for cable pull as well.
  • 1 0
 Really?! Pivot changed the color and derailleur hanger and it was worthy of a post on Pinkbike????
  • 1 0
 Is there a downcountry build?
  • 1 0
 I think the 120mm fork option is the DC build. Even though the Spark race bike has 120/120 lol
  • 1 0
 @Daweiknowdaway: The 120 fork version of this bike was annihilated in the PB review.
  • 1 0
 That's the Trail 429, except it has Super Boost.
  • 1 0
 @bikewriter: It did, but there was some context to the review. The reviewer that "annihilated" it wrote a glowing review on his other site. In my opinion it's the Live Valve that was the issue. 4 inches of DW Link travel is plenty efficient.
  • 1 0
 @chsad: I thought it was the 120mm fork slacking out the angles making the handling seem like a marketing afterthought to fit into the DC niche. As a non-DC bike it's a raceday weapon.
  • 1 0
 @bikewriter: Yes, that was the second conclusion that was made in the review. That said, same bike glowing review on cycling tips by same reviewer, with the 120 fork. I would agree, the Mach 4 SL is more XC then DC, but compared to my last Epic (non-evo), it feels DC to me!
  • 1 0
 In my eyes it looks like the head tube angle is a little steeper
  • 1 0
 Compatible Rear Triangle, it better be.
  • 3 2
 Future-proofing but sticking with the PF BB?
  • 1 0
 Finally. This is the one upgrade I’ve been waiting for.
  • 2 1
 Pivot is making major strides for a few years now.
  • 1 1
 Still disappointed that max tire width is only 2.35. When I read that on their site, I said nope.
  • 1 0
 I run an Aspen 2.4 on my Mach 4 SL with plenty of clearance. Pretty wide rim too (28mm internal).
  • 1 0
 I'd forgotten that Fox makes a 32 fork...
  • 1 0
 need threaded bb, frame storage. tool integration bouncy post
  • 1 0
 Singlespeeds don't need UDH compatible rear triangles.
  • 1 0
 Pivot is over priced chinese crap
  • 1 1
 I mean, seriously, up to 13.500$
  • 1 1
 Still no threaded BB...
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