Pivot Trail 429 Carbon 29 Race XT Mountain Bike

Brand	Pivot
Category	MOUNTAIN
Seller	Backcountry

With changes abound in the bike industry, we appreciate when we see a tried-and-tested bike back for another year. The Pivot Trail 429 Carbon 29 Race XT Mountain Bike is one that fits the bill for us time and again. Its redesign in 2018 brought the Trail from its Mach-429 roots into more progressive geometry that's a little slacker, a little more capable, and arguably a little more fun. This year it comes back to offer all-mountain versatility, Shimano's newest 12-speed drivetrain, and a sleek and stealthy new color option that breaks things up from the regular blue-or-red color scheme (not to worry though, while it's now offered in grey you can still get it in red and blue). This build of the Trail 429 is a privateer racer's mix of Shimano's SLX and XT drivetrains, both of which benefit from the trickle-down largesse of the only-weight-and-speed-matter XTR group. Perhaps the most natural place to start when diving into the new Trail is with its completely reshaped frame that gives the bike its progressive geometry. Unlike the smooth swooping top and down tubes we saw on the Mach 429 Trail, the Trail 429 is a bit more direct, with a more angular approach that brings the bike into the cutting edge with clean lines, a slacker head tube to instill confidence and composure on steep lines packed with chunky granite, and a steep seat tube that keeps you dialed in the cockpit when you push your way up punchy switchbacks laced with root lattices. On top of this new geometry, the Trail also sees a feature we've been longing for over the past generations: internal cable routing. This makes for a cleaner setup with cables that are neatly tucked away, and its done without upping the price from its externally-routed forefather. We've had a sneaking suspicion that Pivot's Super Boost spacing wasn't just for the Switchblade, and the new Trail confirms it with a stretched out rear hub that boasts a whopping 157mm width. This wide hub means a few things: first, it allows for a ...   read more