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High-Pivot: Fad or Rad? With Ryan Palmer & Travis Engel – Video
If you were riding mountain bikes in the mid-90’s, the term high-pivot might conjure memories of bikes like the Cannondale Super V, Trek 9500, Mountain Cycle San Andreas, or any number of other original high-pivot designs. These relics bring back memories—often times painful ones—of the early days of full-suspension bikes. Those original high-pivot bikes were so terrible that they were stricken from designer’s sketchbooks for what we thought would be forever.
But almost everything on mountain bikes has changed since then, including how and where we ride them. And now that we don’t need multiple chainrings or front derailleurs on bikes anymore, we can start throwing more things in the mix, like idler pulleys. The idler pulley is the hero of modern high-pivot bikes—it’s what separates them from the Super V and why high-pivots are better than ever.
Except that bikes without extra drivetrain parts are also better than ever. So, are idlers worth the extra noise, vibration, and maintenance they bring to the table? Travis Engel and Ryan Palmer discuss if modern high-pivots deserve a seat at it.