Bernard Kerr | Pivot Trail 429 vs Switchblade vs Firebird! 🔥

‪@bernard_kerr‬ getting wild on his three favourite ‪@pivotcyclesusa‬ bikes.

Which Bike should I choose. Pivot 429 vs Switchblade vs Firebird

In the UK, the most popular 29” options are the Trail 429, Switchblade and Firebird. They also happen to be Bernard Kerr’s preferred bikes across different terrain when he’s not on the DH bike.

Trail 429

It’s not that long ago that modern geometry in the form of slacker head angles and a longer reach was limited to bikes with 160mm+ travel. This left riders ‘over biked’, which probably didn’t climb as well as they wanted and took away the fun from local trails where much less travel was required. Thankfully, we now have bikes like the Trail 429 which marry progressive, confidence inspiring geometry with shorter, more efficient and playful travel.

The custom tuned, high volume rear shock allows the bikes to ride beyond your expectations of what 120mm should be able to do. It’s still sensitive on small bumps, but quickly ramps up so you don’t use all that travel too easily. Paired with a 140mm travel fork, it’s the perfect ‘all day’ trail bike that can keep up with mates on XC bikes on the climbs but put a massive grin on your face on the way down. For covering the most amount of miles in the most fun, this is the bike. It might not be as fast as the Switchblade and Firebird on the descents but will do everything else faster. Still not convinced on how much this bike can do? Just check out Bernard Kerr sending it on this bike in the Welsh Valleys.

Switchblade

The Switchblade is the more traditional Trail/Enduro bike in the Pivot line up. With 160mm/142mm of travel, it combines a slightly more efficient rear end for climbing, with a confidence inspiring 160mm front for smashing into the roughest of terrain. Featuring progressive geometry, with a relatively long reach of 470mm (size Large) and 66° head angle, it’s roomy and stable as speed for tackling technical, steep terrain.

Why would you choose this over a Trail 429? Simply it descends better. If you want to go downhill quicker, the longer travel will deal with multiple impacts better meaning you can concentrate on hitting the right line faster. Square edges, and casing of gaps will be much less noticeable whilst traction will remain better at all points due to the increase in negative travel. The compromise is the Switchblade won’t be as efficient as the Trail 429 on the climbs and less technical singletrack. However, compared to other bikes in the category, the 142mm travel is shorter and therefor allows itself to be a better all rounder.

So why choose the Switchblade? If you need 1 bike to do all day epic rides, hit the bike park and possibly some uplifts with your DH buddies, this is the bike that can do it all. Efficient but rowdy.

Firebird

The newest bike out of the 3, it is a demonstration of the direction Pivot are going in with geometry and technology. The Firebird is the bike of choice for the Pivot Factory Racing (PFR) EWS squad and was designed with influence from the likes of Ed Masters and Matt Walker to create THE fastest Enduro bike on the market. With the PFR team taking the overall in the 2022 EWS Series, you could say that it’s mission complete.

So what makes a winning EWS bike? The most important aspect is a bike that can descend at almost Downhill bike speeds down Stages which could be part of the World Cup Downhill. The bikes need to be incredibly stable, and take all the big hits thrown at them whilst also not fatiguing the rider to they can do it again, multiple times a day. The Firebird has some of the most radical geometry on the market, with a 64 ° head angle and 488mm reach in size large. This combined with 170mm/165mm travel on 29er wheels creates a bike more capable then many downhill bikes from only a few years ago.

No doubt the Firebird descends well, but in Enduro racing, competitors also have to ride the transitions between Stages which means lots of climbing. If the bike is too heavy or inefficient, then the rider will end up missing the time cut or being fatigued for the descent. Good news is that despite its travel, the Firebird maximises the DW Links pedalling efficiency to create a bike that climbs like one with much less travel.

Is the Firebird too much bike for most people? Possibly. However, if you prioritise your descents over the climbs, enjoy bike parks and hitting downhill runs then it could be the ultimate bike. It wouldn’t be your first choice for doing all day rides on with rough descents (that the Switchblade), but for doing laps where getting to the top is a means to hitting the descent as fast as possible, then this is the bike that will propel you to speeds you haven’t yet experienced.

www.saddleback.co.uk