A Peek at the Pivot Trail 429 for the Mid-Travel Mashup

The Pivot Trail 429 mountain bike blurs the line between cross-country and trail with 120mm of rear travel and 130mm up front.

Singletracks is preparing a massive mid-travel mountain bike mashup for this fall, and we’ll be sharing previews of each test bike as they come in this summer ahead of the full video and written reviews. If there’s something you want to know about any of these bikes, ask us in the comments and we’ll find an answer before the leaves begin to tumble. Be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel to get notified as soon as each video review drops.

Pivot updated their trusty Trail 429 bike earlier this year, and the model again does a great job blurring the lines between a cross-country and trail bike. On this generation, Pivot revised the shock placement, moving it to a rearward, vertical position. This opens up frame space in the front triangle, and gives them the latest and most desirable suspension kinematics. The Pivot Mach 4 SL was the bike that started this trend for the brand, but the Switchblade, Mach 6, and Firebird have since moved to a similar suspension layout. The Trail 429 keeps 120mm of rear travel with a 130mm fork, and 29-inch wheels.

The new Trail 429 went through a geometry change as well, putting the angles at 66.5° for the head tube and 75.5° for the seat tube, with 430mm chainstays and a standover height of 670mm and wheelbase of 1,187mm for the medium. Reach on the bike grew by about 20mm. All of the angles and measurements feel pretty moderate for the lightweight trail bike.

Pivot does make an “Enduro” build for the Trail 429, which adds a 140mm fork. This slackens the HTA by a half-degree at the expense of a steeper seat tube angle.

Pivots certainly aren’t budget builds by any stretch, and the $8,550 Shimano XT/XTR build with Reynolds carbon wheels we’re testing is twice the price as some of the other bikes that are a part of our Mid-Travel Mashup. The Trail 429 has been treating us very well though, and we’re looking forward to dissecting the ins and outs of this bike very soon. Keep an eye out for the full written and video review soon.