Pivot launches 429 Trail, updates Vault

New low and slack 29er and revised cyclocross model added to the company’s line

Steve Lloyd ©2015

Published: June 24, 2015 at 9:30 am

Pivot Cycles has two new additions to its line-up for this summer: the 429 Trail is a brand-new trail-oriented 29er that makes use of the latest frame standards, while the Vault gets upgrades intended to take it beyond traditional cyclocross racing.

Mach 429 Trail details

Pivot expects to being shipping the 429 trail next week:
  • 116mm of rear travel
  • Designed around 130mm travel forks
  • 148x12mm rear thru-axle spacing
  • Complete bikes ship with 15x110mm spaced Fox 34 forks
  • Frame with Fox Float DPS shock retails for US$2,499
  • Complete bikes range from US$3,999 to US$7,699 (UK and Australian pricing TBA)
  • Frame weight of 2.67kg / 5.9lb for a medium frame with shock
  • Available in sizes S, M, L, XL
  • Shipping the first week of July

The 429 was made more race-oriented with the introduction of the 429 SL last December. It shed grams, thanks to the use of higher modulus carbon, and added Di2 compatibility. This race-focused version of the 429 made it apparent that the company needed to develop a more well-rounded 29er that retained the pedaling performance of its predecessors in a more progressive package.

The new 429 Trail is more than just a longer travel 429 SL. Company founder Chris Cocalis set out to design a short travel 29er trail bike in the same spirit of the Mach 4 introduced last summer — it’s low, slack and makes use of the latest frame standards for maximum stiffness.

The upper link is a new design, intended to give the bike a more bottomless feel:

A new upper linkage design is intended to give the 429 Trail a bottomless feel

The 429 Trail gets a slight uptick in rear travel from 100mm to 116mm, but more importantly, the bike gets a revised dw-link design that borrows heavily from the Mach 6 as well as from the Phoenix DH. The lower link is tucked cleanly behind the junction of the seat- and down tubes. Pivot developed a new upper link design intended to adjust the shock rate to make the bike feel it has more than just 116mm of travel.

The 429 trail is pivot's first model to incorporate a boost 148 (148x12mm) rear end:

Boost 148x12mm spacing is said to improve clearance and bolster stiffness

Company founder Chris Cocalis is a stickler for frame stiffness. To that end, the 429 Trail is the first model in the Pivot line to employ a Boost, or 148x12mm, rear end.

Upfront, complete versions of the 429 Trail will come equipped with 130mm Fox 34 forks with new 110x15mm front axle standard.

In addition to bolstering frame stiffness, this extra width allows the 429 Trail to be compatible with some — but not all — 27.5 tires. (Pivot states that the 429 Trail will clear 27.5x2.8in models mounted to 35mm-wide rims.)

While the 429 SL features internal cable routing, Pivot opted to design the 429 Trail with external cable routing to make it more user-friendly for home mechanics. The use of external routing along with the user of slightly heavier, but more affordable, varieties of carbon keep the price of the 429 Trail in check.

The pivot 429 trail has a slacker head tube angle and shorter chainstays than the 429 sl:

Compared with the 429 SL, the 429 Trail has a slightly higher bottom bracket, shorter chainstays, a degree slacker head tube angle

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Pivot Vault details

The pivot vault will be available next week:
  • Clearance for 38mm tires
  • 142x12mm rear thru-axle
  • 100x15mm front thru-axle
  • Compatible with Shimano direct-mount rear brakes
  • Compatible with electronic and cable-actuated drivetrains
  • Framesets will retail for US$2,999
  • The single complete model will retail for US$3,899 (UK and Australian pricing TBA)
  • Available in sizes XS, S, M, L,
  • Shipping the first week of July

Pivot has made the Vault more versatile in order to cater to riders looking to stretch the bike's use beyond the traditional ‘cross season.

The updated pivot vault is lower and slacker, with more tire clearance than the previous version:

The updated Pivot Vault is lower and slacker, with more tire clearance than the previous version

The new Vault has a lower bottom bracket, slacker head angle, shorter chainstays and greater tire clearance than the previous version, making it a bit more gravel-friendly.

In addition to geometry tweaks the new bike gets a cleaner, internal modular routing design that allows it to be set up with electronic as well as mechanical drivetrains.

The vault uses shimano's direct mount road brake standard:

The frame also incorporates Shimano’s new direct mount brake standard in the rear, while the fork uses the post-mounts standard. Riders can run 140 or 160mm rotors.

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For more information, visit www.pivotcycles.com.