Pivot has nailed it. The Switchblade is a dialed-in all-around trail bike that is ready to tackle any terrain, and it will do it in style. The rear shock has been customized by Fox for the Switchblade and has made the bike super-efficient on the uphills but plush and bottomless on the downhills. With a modern but reserved geometry, the Switchblade is highly maneuverable and snappy through tight sections of trail but will also eat up choppy straights. It really is hard to find a negative with the Switchblade other than the price, but also there is a ton of technology that is available to be added to the Switchblade should your wallet allow.

Compare to Similar Products

See Our Best Long Travel Mountain Bike Review 2021 Article HERE!

Pivot has revamped the new Switchblade for 2021, bringing some serious technology to the game in some of their more expensive build options. Pivot has found that sweet spot right between the XC, super-efficient bikes, and the Enduro, rock ‘em sock ‘em bikes.

The geo is modern without going over the top in terms of slackness and wheelbase, hitting that perfect Trail bike set up. With a fully customized rear suspension provided by Fox to work with the dw-link pivot, this bike is ready to roll right out of the box.

The Bike

The Pivot can also be fit with 27.5” tires or can be turned into a mullet. This with the flip-chip that will alter the degrees by 0.5-degree and raise the bottom bracket makes it a zippy little character. The rear axle is the 157mm Super Boost. So it will feel different beneath your legs on the initial ride. If you’ve found a set of tires you like, they won’t fit the Pivot unless you find the proper wheels that the tires can go on.

Going back to the technology that is available on this bike, Pivot and Fox have come together to have the availability of Fox’s Live Valve for the Switchblade. The Live Valve is an electronic suspension adjustment system that monitors the terrain 1000 times per second to adjust the suspension accordingly. Allowing you to concentrate on the trail and not the sag. It is battery powered, which needs recharging, but there’s only one battery to power the sensors and the valves. It’s pretty neat.

Climbing

The song Smooth Criminal and the cover by Alien Ant Farm come to mind when writing about the Pivot Switchblade. With the newly customized rear suspension platform, the bike is super snappy. Some say it feels disconnected from the trail, meaning that roots and rocks don’t seem to impact the pedaling as you can just cruise right over them. The Fox shock keeps everything moving well without getting hung up on the little or big things. With the 44mm fork offset, the handling is swift, and the Switchblade will stay on the line you pick for it, no questions asked.

The bike has excellent suspension progression, and you don’t even think of the words anti-squat because it almost seems to have no sag at all while pedaling. It’s an efficient bike, plain and simple. At just over 30lbs, it won’t ruin your legs for the downhills either.

Downhill

Build Options

Each build option on the Pivot Switchblade does have the option of coming with the Fox Live Valve suspension technology—just add $1,900 to the ticket price and you’ll have the most sophisticated suspension technology on the market.

The baseline price for a full build is $6,799, which is bananas in my opinion. It does come with the custom-designed Fox Factory Float DPX2 rear suspension, but it does make the cost hard for a lot of riders to justify. The bike does come in two cool colors: a Horizon Blue and Treeline Green—if that helps at all.

The Bottom Line

This bike will make you feel like a good rider, and after the year we’ve all had, isn’t that something we all want? It also could definitely be a one quiver bike for a lot of riders. It is surprisingly efficient on the climbs, handles really well, and is sporty on the downs. Really, it’s the perfect combo. No, it is not as modern as some bikes on the market these days, but that helps with the climbing and it still can crush some chunder on the way down.

^ Back to Top ^