LONGTERMERS
£8,200 • 29in • saddleback.co.uk
MONTH 6: High mileage means high maintenance. James gets the tools out this month, but some jobs are too big to tackle at home.
THE RIDER
JAMES BRACEY
Position Freelance writer
Mostly rides South Wales
Height 6ft 1in
Weight 75kg
THE BIKE
n 29er enduro race bike with 165mm rear travel married to a 170mm-travel fork
n Four frame sizes, all with proportional chainstay lengths
n Flip-chip and an angleset-friendly 1.5in head tube offer lots of adjustability
n Ready-to-race Pro spec with Fox Factory suspension, DT Swiss wheels and Maxxis EXO+ Assegai tyres
Anew year and a fresh start – January is the perfect time to carry out some vital maintenance on the Firebird. Top of the list was to swap the rear derailleur cable, inner and outer, as it had started to get pretty graunchy over the last couple of months and failed to deliver the boringly precise gear shifts the 12-speed Shimano XT drivetrain is typically known for.
And Pivot ’s designers and engineers have to be praised, as the Firebird is a home mechanic’s delight to work on. Despite running internal routing, Pivot has provided wide entry and exit ports (along with a large BB hatch for dropper routing), making replacing the cable nearly as simple as if it had been externally routed.
With the bike elevated in the workstand, I noticed that the blanking plate covering the port used when the bike is equipped with Fox Live Valve, was missing. This is located on the underside of the top tube, entirely out of the way, so I’m not sure how it disappeared, or if it was even there in the first place. I’ll see if I can get a replacement from Saddleback.
While on the subject of maintenance, I’ve realised that both the Fox fork and shock are well overdue a service. There hasn’t been a drastic change in performance, but I have noticed some odd sucking noises coming from the shock, and I’m sure with the amount of riding the Firebird has done, getting them serviced can’t be a bad thing. Even if it ’s just a lower-leg service on the fo
