Rose Grant and Chloe Woodruff's Custom Pivot Bikes - Cairns XC World Champs 2017

With the 2017 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships in Cairns now upon us, the curtains are starting to lift on all the custom painted glory that we have come to expect from a World Champs event. Today has marked the first scheduled day of events here in Cairns and first on the block was full on day of XCO practice for both men and women from all age categories. Some riders have been careful to keep their worlds bikes under wraps, but for the eagle-eyed, there was still plenty to be found.

Pivot Cycles were one of the brands that made little secret of the fact that they were getting custom worlds bikes done for all their sponsored athletes leading into Cairns. However, on the ground, they have kept them under close guard. Today on course, Stans-Pivot Pro Team's Chloe Woodruff and Rose Grant's American showpieces were on full display, so we caught up with them this evening to get a closer look and understand the subtle differences between the two.




At first glance, you would be lead to believe the girls are on identical bikes. But upon closer investigation, they each run a different bike. Chloe is only 5'2" so has opted for Pivot's Mach 4 model, while Rose is an above average 5'8" and has chosen to run the Mach 429SL model.



Typically, elite level racers are very particular about their bike setups, but when questioned, both Chloe and Rose proved not to be like many, in fact, they were very laid back about their setups.

Explain to us a little about your bike setup and how you have setup your bikes for this course in Cairns?

Chloe runs the Mach 4 as this is Pivot's most suitable XC style 27.5" wheeled bike. She has played around a little bit with 29" options but felt the smaller wheels created a much more balanced bike when paired with the smaller frames. The speed trade off is next to none she feels and is as happy as can be with it. Her Mach 4 runs 100mm travel front and rear, as opposed to the stock 115mm setup. (XS frames are 100mm off the shelf though)

Rose runs the 429SL as this is Pivot's purebred race machine with 100mm of travel at both ends and rolling on 29" wheels. Being taller than most other women, Rose can ride a medium sized frame with no issue and prefers the 29er for roll over and handling vs a 27.5 wheeled option.



Rose runs the new Podium SRD, which gives her a few small advantages over teammate Chloe. The Podium SRD rim has a slightly wider profile than the Valor found Chloe's bike. allowing Rose to run lower pressures and have a more square tire profile. Chloe opts for 18 PSI in the front and 19 PSI in the rear, while Rose runs 19PSI in the front and 21PSI Rear. Keep in mind though, Rose has a 6" and likely 10kgs on Chloe so tire pressure is a little subjective.

For Cairns, both have opted for the Maxxis Ikon in a 2.1" width with the EXO casing for a little more sidewall protection against the rocks


The additions of the dropper post to both bikes are a strong point of interest. An addition that is becoming a much more regular sight on XC bikes.
Both are running 120mm Fox Transfer posts to help with technical descents. Chloe mentioned that the dropper is something she has been running for several years now and is a small penalty in weight for the ability to move that seat out the way and be able to stomp the descents. Chloe had hers paired with a Wolftooth Light Action Lever as this is the easiest to operate after recent thumb surgery while Rose is running the stock Fox Transfer under-bar lever

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MENTIONS: @pivotcycles / @cameronmackenzie

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Reviews and Tech Chloe Woodruff