Pivot Firebird V5
Wheel Sizes:
- Size XS: 29’’ front / 27.5’’ rear
- Sizes S–XL: 29’’ front / 29’’ or 27.5’’ rear (convertible)
Suspension Travel:
- Frame: 165 mm
- Fork: 170 mm
Geometry Highlights:
- Sizes offered: XS, S, M, L, XL
- Headtube angle: 63.8° (29’’, low; varies by wheel size & flip chip setting)
- Reach (size Medium): 468 mm (29’’, low; varies by wheel size & flip chip setting)
- Chainstay length (size Medium): 433 mm / 441 mm (adjustable)
Frame Material: Carbon fiber
Price: Complete bikes $6,499 to $13,699
Intro
The fourth-generation Pivot Firebird was a big departure from the original Firebird 29 that it replaced (the first two Firebirds were 27.5’’-wheeled bikes) in terms of its geometry, suspension layout, and overall performance. I got along quite well with the most recent Firebird when I reviewed it a few years back and found it to offer an interesting combination of good stability and composure at speed while being just a bit more nimble and quick-handling than a lot of bikes in its class. For the right folks, what combination of traits was rather compelling.
But now there’s a new Firebird, and while it looks a lot like the version it’s replacing, the Firebird V5 gets some meaningful geometry tweaks, a lot more adjustability, and some new features. Let’s check it out.
The Frame
Most of the top-level details haven’t changed much on the new bike. It still delivers 165 mm of rear travel via Pivot’s typical DW-Link suspension layout, and it keeps the same basic layout as the prior-gen bike with a vertically oriented shock. It’s still based around a 170mm-travel fork (Pivot says you can run up to a 180 mm one), and it’s also still compatible with full 29’’ wheel or mixed wheel size configurations (apart from the XS frame, which is MX only). The straight 56 mm headtube carries over, too, to offer easier compatibility with reach / angle-adjust headsets. The Super Boost 157 mm rear wheel spacing that Pivot favors on their non-XC MTBs carries over here, too. And as with all of Pivot’s current bikes and the outgoing Firebird, the new Firebird frame is offered in carbon fiber only, with different layups across the size range to tailor the frame stiffness for typical rider weights on a given frame size.
But there are a bunch of new features and updates. For starters, the Firebird now features Pivot’s Toolshed downtube storage to go with the Tool Dock system (a pair of mounting bolts under the top tube, with a variety of options for mounting various Topeak tools and other accessories), which has been around for a while now.
The Firebird, unsurprisingly, features a UDH derailleur hanger for SRAM Transmission compatibility, but the UDH standard poses one notable challenge for frame designers: it’s tough to package a UDH and chainstay length adjustability. RAAW, for example, offers the choice of a UDH or chainstay length adjustability on the Madonna, but you can’t have both. A few other manufacturers have managed to combine the two (e.g., Nicolai with the new G1), but those solutions tend to be more complicated than just a standard flip chip.
Pivot has come up with a tidy way to have their cake and eat it, too. The Firebird’s non-driveside dropout uses a standard-looking flip chip to toggle between two different chainstay length settings, but the drive side one instead uses a swinging design to match the flip chip. The drive side dropout attaches to the frame with three bolts; the upper one acts as the pivot point, while the other two lock the dropout into one of the two positions. An insert is included to slot into the space between the dropout and the swingarm in the long chainstay setting to better distribute forces from the dropout into the swingarm rather than relying on the bolts alone. We’ll cover the resulting geometry changes in more detail below, but the Swinger Dropout offers 8 mm of chainstay length adjustment between the two settings; the rear brake mount is reversible to maintain alignment with the rotor across both settings.
Fit & Geometry
Pivot has made some notable updates to the Firebird’s geometry — including adding a new XS size — but the larger sizes see some changes, too. The head tube angle has been relaxed very slightly to 63.8°, the seat tube steepened a degree to 77°, and the bottom bracket lowered by 5 mm, though at 25 mm drop, it’s still not all that low compared to a number of other Enduro bikes that are closer to 35 mm of drop. The stack height has been increased by about 5 mm across the board; reach figures remain very similar to the outgoing bike, with the biggest change being that the XL has shrunk by 5 mm, to 505 mm.
All those figures are with 29’’ wheels, in the low flip chip setting. Switching to the high setting steepens the head tube by 0.4° and the seat tube by 0.75°, raises the bottom bracket by 8 mm, and makes slight tweaks to the reach and stack figures as well.
The prior-gen Firebird was Pivot’s first bike to feature size-specific chainstay lengths, which have since propagated to much of their lineup. That continues with the new Firebird, but the addition of the chainstay length adjustment gives an additional option there. The short chainstay setting produces about the same chainstay lengths as the outgoing bike on the Small and Medium frames but is a few millimeters shorter on the Large (435 mm vs. 438 mm on the prior-gen version); the XL frame’s short setting is much shorter than the outgoing bike, now 437 mm versus the old one’s 445 mm. As mentioned above, swapping to the long setting lengthens the chainstays by an additional 8 mm.
The Firebird’s mixed wheel configuration doesn’t get its own dedicated adjustment, so going that route lowers and slackens the bike appreciably. Pivot recommends running the bike in the high setting with mixed wheels for that reason, but they publish a geometry chart for mixed wheels in the low one as well. In high, the head tube angle is 63.4°, the effective seat tube angle is listed at 77° (77.6° on the XS), and the bottom bracket is about 5 mm lower than in the 29’’ / low setting (apart from the XS, which is 3 mm higher than the rest of the size range).
The full geometry charts for all four configurations are shown below:
The Builds
Pivot has historically offered a high number of different build options on many of their bikes, and that’s true of the new Firebird as well. As per usual for Pivot, there aren’t any budget offerings here, with the base Ride SLX/XT build starting at $6,499. There are options for both SRAM and Shimano drivetrains and brakes, but Fox handles suspension duties across the whole range.
All the builds are available with your choice of 29’’ or mixed wheels, apart from XS bikes, which are mixed wheel compatible only.
- Drivetrain: Shimano SLX w/ XT rear derailleur
- Cranks: RaceFace Ride
- Brakes: Shimano SLX 4-piston w/ 203 mm rotors
- Fork: Fox 38 Performance (170 mm)
- Shock: Fox Float X2 Factory (MY25 version)
- Wheels: DT Swiss M1900
- Dropper post: SDG Tellis (XS: 130–150 mm; S: 150–170 mm; M &L: 180–200 mm; XL: 210–230 mm)
- Drivetrain: SRAM GX T-Type
- Cranks: SRAM GX T-Type
- Brakes: SRAM Maven Base w/ 200 mm Centerline rotors
- Fork: Fox 38 Performance (170 mm)
- Shock: Fox Float X2 Factory (MY25 version)
- Wheels: DT Swiss M1900
- Dropper post: SDG Tellis (XS: 130–150 mm; S: 150–170 mm; M & L: 180–200 mm; XL: 210–230 mm)
- Drivetrain: Shimano XT w/ XTR rear derailleur
- Cranks: RaceFace Aeffect R
- Brakes: Shimano XT 4-piston w/ 203 mm rotors
- Fork: Fox 38 Factory Grip X2 (170 mm)
- Shock: Fox Float X2 Factory (MY26 version)
- Wheels: DT Swiss XM1700
- Reynolds Blacklabel Enduro Pro (+$1,200)
- Dropper post: Fox Transfer Factory (XS: 125–150 mm; S: 155–180 mm; M & L: 185–210 mm; XL: 215–240 mm)
- Drivetrain: SRAM X0 T-Type
- Cranks: SRAM X0 T-Type
- Brakes: SRAM Maven Silver w/ 200 mm HS2 rotors
- Fork: Fox 38 Factory Grip X2 (170 mm)
- Shock: Fox Float X2 Factory (MY26 version)
- Wheels: DT Swiss XM1700
- Reynolds Blacklabel Enduro Pro (+$1,200)
- Dropper post: Fox Transfer Factory (XS: 125–150 mm; S: 155–180 mm; M & L: 185–210 mm; XL: 215–240 mm)
- Drivetrain: Shimano XT w/ XTR rear derailleur
- Cranks: RaceFace Aeffect R
- Brakes: Shimano XT 4-piston w/ 203 mm rotors
- Fork: Fox 38 Factory Grip X2 (170 mm)
- Shock: Fox DHX Factory Live Valve Neo
- Wheels: DT Swiss XM1700
- Reynolds Blacklabel Enduro Pro (+$1,200)
- Dropper post: Fox Transfer Factory (XS: 125–150 mm; S: 155–180 mm; M & L: 185–210 mm; XL: 215–240 mm)
- Drivetrain: SRAM X0 T-Type
- Cranks: SRAM X0 T-Type
- Brakes: SRAM Maven Silver w/ 200 mm HS2 rotors
- Fork: Fox 38 Factory Grip X2 (170 mm)
- Shock: Fox DHX Factory Live Valve Neo
- Wheels: DT Swiss XM1700
- Reynolds Blacklabel Enduro Pro (+$1,200)
- Dropper post: Fox Transfer Factory (XS: 125–150 mm; S: 155–180 mm; M & L: 185–210 mm; XL: 215–240 mm)
- Drivetrain: Shimano XTR
- Cranks: RaceFace Next R
- Brakes: Shimano XTR 4-piston w/ 203 mm rotors
- Fork: Fox 38 Factory Grip X2 (170 mm)
- Shock: Fox Float X2 Factory (MY26 version)
- Wheels: Reynolds Blacklabel Enduro Pro
- Dropper post: Fox Transfer Factory (XS: 125–150 mm; S: 155–180 mm; M & L: 185–210 mm; XL: 215–240 mm)
- Drivetrain: SRAM XX T-Type
- Cranks: SRAM XX T-Type
- Brakes: SRAM Maven Ultimate w/ 200 mm HS2 rotors
- Fork: Fox 38 Factory Grip X2 (170 mm)
- Shock: Fox Float X2 Factory (MY26 version)
- Wheels: Reynolds Blacklabel Enduro Pro
- Dropper post: Fox Transfer Factory (XS: 125–150 mm; S: 155–180 mm; M & L: 185–210 mm; XL: 215–240 mm)
- Drivetrain: Shimano XTR
- Cranks: RaceFace Next R
- Brakes: Shimano XTR 4-piston w/ 203 mm rotors
- Fork: Fox 38 Factory Grip X2 (170 mm)
- Shock: Fox DHX Factory Live Valve Neo
- Wheels: Reynolds Blacklabel Enduro Pro
- Dropper post: Fox Transfer Factory (XS: 125–150 mm; S: 155–180 mm; M & L: 185–210 mm; XL: 215–240 mm)
- Drivetrain: SRAM XX T-Type
- Cranks: SRAM XX T-Type
- Brakes: SRAM Maven Ultimate w/ 200 mm HS2 rotors
- Fork: Fox 38 Factory Grip X2 (170 mm)
- Shock: Fox DHX Factory Live Valve Neo
- Wheels: Reynolds Blacklabel Enduro Pro
- Dropper post: Fox Transfer Factory (XS: 125–150 mm; S: 155–180 mm; M & L: 185–210 mm; XL: 215–240 mm)
Some Questions / Things We’re Curious About
(1) None of the individual geometry tweaks that Pivot made to the Firebird are all that huge, but how much do they impact the handling and feel of the bike when taken together?
(2) What about other attributes of the Firebird’s performance? Pivot doesn’t talk about big kinematic changes, apart from the addition of the progression flip chip, but how different (or not) does the suspension feel? And how about the chassis stiffness / ride feel?
(2) How easy is the Swinger Dropout to use? Does it require other tweaks to the bike setup (e.g., changing the B-tension on the rear derailleur since the hanger rotates with the dropout)?
Bottom Line (For Now)
The outgoing Firebird was a very good Enduro bike, albeit one that handled a bit differently from most in certain respects. The updates that Pivot has made with the new version look promising on paper, even if they’re not all that radical, and we’re excited to get the new bike on the trail to see how it performs. We’ll be doing just that in a couple of months once our review slate opens up a little more, so stay tuned for a Full Review to come.