It’s been a few years since I had the pleasure of riding the previous Pivot Switchblade. This is a model that has risen to legendary status in my mind. The updated frame has maintained many attributes of the outgoing Switchblade but turned up the dial on speed and stability by just a few notches.

I can imagine the development team’s struggle to improve upon the outgoing bike without sacrificing its keen sense of handling and agility. Thankfully, the new bike has the same agile character with a slight tweak toward better high-speed handling and chunk-eating kinematics.

Climbing on the Switchblade is a precise and motivating experience. The seated position is farther forward, thanks to the steep 76-degree seat tube angle in the low flip chip setting and the agile 432-millimeter chainstay. This, in addition to a small footprint and balanced weight bias, allows the Switchblade to go wherever it’s directed easily. The 480-millimeter reach felt very natural, working well with the high front-end stack height while still allowing the front end to pull up to get over rocks and roots easily. The updated rear suspension curve is astoundingly supple off the top with a light-feeling shock tune that doesn’t spoil the fun.

The new Switchblade felt more traction-focused than I remember the old model feeling. The rear shock hops out of the way when tractoring up rocks and roots. It certainly feels like a bike developed in the desert, where square-edge hits are commonplace. After the supple initial rear suspension stroke, it ramps up like any good DW-link bike. The more power you put into the cranks, the more the rear-end support kicks in to prop up the bike and propel you forward as a climb gets steeper.

Heading down the mountain, the Switchblade couldn’t feel more distinct. This is one of those bikes that has a loud personality. With the short, snappy 432-millimeter chainstays and an ultra-progressive 142 millimeters of rear travel, the Blade slices corners and snaps off lips with urgency. The more rider input you provide, the better your experience becomes. It rewards an active riding style and urges you to find the perfect line through any terrain. If you get off your line and find yourself hammering into brake bumps, the 160-millimeter fork has your back along with the rear suspension curve that hits way above its weight class.

This was the first Pivot I’ve received for review with a SRAM component spec. I was impressed with the lever feel of the Code Stealth Ultimates, which gave plenty of stopping power. The classic Maxxis Minion DHF/DHR tire combo was predictable and trustworthy. I was especially impressed with the lighter-feeling shock tune on the Fox Factory Float X rear shock. This complimented the DW link and allowed the bike’s 142 millimeters of stroke to eat up trail more in line with a 160-millimeter bike. The SRAM XX Eagle Transmission 12-speed drivetrain provided solid methodical shifts with the lovely pod shifter that has a great feel on the thumb.