Price: R69 000 (Build kit: frame, rear shock, fork, headset, bb, cranks)
Get It Now: www.getstoked.co.za

The Pivot Firebird shouldn’t be. It shouldn’t be agile (can you even see the front wheel with all that reach?).

It shouldn’t climb easily (170mm of travel is for lifts, right?). It shouldn’t accelerate (it’s what, 13, 14kg?). It shouldn’t pop off rocks and roots and bend to your whims in the air (because that’s just not what big bikes do!).

But this big 29er with Pivot’s DW-Link suspension does all that – superbly. Of every bike I’ve tried, this one most fully delivers on the promise of a bike that you can ride – fast – on any terrain. I’d take it to the bike park. I’d take it to my punchy XC trails. I’d take it anywhere. This bike shouldn’t exist, but it does. And it’s changing everything.

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