Pivot Shuttle SL
Wheel Size: 29’’
Travel: 132 mm rear / 140–150 mm front
Material: Carbon fiber
Price:
Complete bikes: $8,300 – $12,000
Claimed weight: 36.25 lb / 16.4 kg (Shuttle SL Team WC)
Intro
The Pivot Shuttle has been around for a few years now, and today they’re launching the new Shuttle SL. But it’s definitely not just the original model on a diet — the Shuttle SL has an entirely different frame layout, less travel, substantially different geometry, a different drive unit, and so on. And the Shuttle SL comes in at an eye-popping claimed weight of 36.25 lb / 16.4 kg for the lightest Team WC model.
The Frame
The Shuttle SL, of course, uses Pivot’s standard DW-Link suspension layout, with the newer vertically-oriented shock that they’ve been moving to in recent years. It’s offered in carbon fiber only and features 132 mm of rear travel, paired with either a 140 or 150 mm travel fork, depending on the build. Pivot’s standard geometry-adjusting flip chip is featured here as well (see the Geometry section, below, for more details). The Shuttle SL rolls on 29’’ wheels at both ends and features fully internal cable routing, molded rubber chainstay and seatstay protection, and some additional armor on the underside of the downtube. An integrated upper chainguide is included, as is a water bottle mount inside the front triangle, plus an extra accessory mount underneath the top tube.
Unlike the full-power Shuttle, which uses a Shimano EP8 drive unit, the Shuttle SL uses the Fazua 60 motor, which offers less peak power and torque (450 W and 60 Nm, vs. 500 W and 85 Nm for the EP8), but is also lighter (1.96 kg vs. 2.6 kg) and is claimed to fully disengage from the cranks when not providing electronic assistance to reduce noise and drag. The Fazua system uses their “Ring Control” system to toggle between ride modes (more on those in a minute), which is designed to work well with left-hand dropper post levers, including under-the-bar versions, while an LED display in the top tube indicates battery level. A phone app can connect to the system via Bluetooth to customize the different ride modes, perform software updates, and so on. The Fazua drive system also features ANT+ capability to connect to certain smart devices. A USB-C port under the display can be used to charge your phone or other accessories off the bike’s battery.
Fazua calls their three riding modes “Breeze,” “River,” and “Rocket,” to indicate the level of assistance they provide; each can be customized through the Fazua app to tailor the exact parameters to your preferences. A walk mode is also featured.
The Shuttle SL uses the fixed version of the Fazua 430 Wh battery, which saves over 500g compared to the removable version, but can’t be exchanged for a second battery on the fly; you’ll need to wait for a recharge. The stated recharge time from a completely dead battery is 3.5 hours, and charging is done through an integrated port on the side of the downtube. Pivot does say that it’s possible to remove the battery for maintenance or replacement if needed, but that doing so involves a complex procedure, including removing the motor, so it’s not recommended for day-to-day use or quick battery swaps. Fazua does have an external 210 Wh range extender battery coming in 2023, and the Shuttle SL is designed to work with it.
Fit & Geometry
Pivot offers the Shuttle SL in four sizes, Small through XL, with reaches ranging from 435 mm to 500 mm; interestingly, the Medium and Large are quite tightly grouped at 465 mm and 478 mm, respectively (the jumps at the ends of the range are significantly bigger). All sizes get a 65° headtube angle (low geometry position) and the effective seat tube angle is 76° in the smaller three sizes, with the XL getting steeper by 0.8°; the high geometry position steepens the bike by 0.5° and raises the bottom bracket by 5 mm (to 22 mm BB drop, from 27).
The Shuttle SL features variable chainstay length by size, as Pivot has been doing with a lot of their recent bikes. That said (and especially for an e-bike) they’re on the shorter side of average, at 432 mm for the Small and Medium, 434 mm on the Large, and 438 mm on the XL. All that adds up to wheelbases that range from 1,186 mm to 1,272 mm — sensibly moderate, for a bike that’s meant to be more of a versatile all-rounder than a full-on gravity-oriented bike.
[It’s also worth noting that the Team World Cup build comes with an external lower headset cup to compensate for the shorter 140mm-travel fork, so its geometry is unchanged, despite the change in fork axle to crown height.]
The Builds
Pivot tends to offer a ton of different builds on a lot of their bikes, but the offerings on the Shuttle SL are a little more pared down. There are four builds, with prices ranging from $8,299 to $11,999, and the three less-expensive options all feature 150mm-travel Fox 36 forks, a Float X rear shock, and so on. The Team WC build steps down to a 140mm-travel Fox 34 fork and a DPS shock, Maxxis Recon tires (from Dissectors on the other builds), and a 180 mm front brake rotor in the name of weight savings.
- Drivetrain: Shimano SLX w/ XT rear derailleur
- Brakes: Shimano SLX 4-piston w/ Galfer rotors (203 mm front / 180 mm rear)
- Fork: Fox 36 Performance E-MTB (150 mm travel)
- Shock: Fox Float X Performance
- Wheels: DT Swiss M1900
- Dropper Post: e*thirteen Vario (S/M: 150–180 mm; L/XL: 180–210 mm)
- Drivetrain: SRAM X01
- Brakes: Shimano XT 4-piston w/ Galfer rotors (203 mm front / 180 mm rear)
- Fork: Fox 36 Factory E-MTB (150 mm travel)
- Shock: Fox Float X Factory
- Wheels: DT Swiss XM1700
- Dropper Post: Fox Transfer Factory (S: 150mm; M/L: 175mm; XL: 200 mm)
- Drivetrain: Shimano XTR
- Brakes: Shimano XTR 4-piston w/ Galfer rotors (203 mm front / 180 mm rear)
- Fork: Fox 36 Factory E-MTB (150 mm travel)
- Shock: Fox Float X Factory
- Wheels: Reynolds Blacklabel 309/289 XC w/ Industry Nine Hydra hubs
- Dropper Post: Fox Transfer Factory (S: 150mm; M/L: 175mm; XL: 200 mm)
- Drivetrain: Shimano XTR
- Brakes: Shimano XTR 4-piston w/ Galfer rotors (180 mm front and rear)
- Fork: Fox 34 Factory E-MTB (140 mm travel)
- Shock: Fox Float DPS Factory
- Wheels: Reynolds Blacklabel 309/289 XC w/ Industry Nine Hydra hubs
- Dropper Post: KS LEV Ci (S: 150mm; M–XL: 175mm)
Some Questions / Things We’re Curious About
(1) The Shuttle SL is impressively light for an e-bike (though the other builds are going to be notably heavier than the wild 36.9 lb claimed weight for the Team WC), but just how much does it feel like a normal mountain bike when the electronic assist isn’t in play?
(2) And who is the burgeoning new class of lightweight e-MTBs, including the Shuttle SL, going to make the most sense for?
Bottom Line (For Now)
The Shuttle SL is an interesting new offering from Pivot — a mid-travel Trail e-bike with a smaller motor and battery than their full-power Shuttle, and a wildly low weight as a result. It’s easy to imagine the Shuttle SL making a lot of sense for riders who want a bit of an electric boost, but find a lot of full-power e-bikes to be too heavy and cumbersome, but we’ll just have to see how it pans out on the trail.
Cool bike. Please do a comparison to the new Fuel EXe if possible.
NOBODY does a better Deep Dive than Blister!
Please compare to the Orbea Rise
This Pivot, the Fuel EXE and Orbea definitely seem to be in a category all their own. It may just be a matter of which one you can get your hands on. Just picked my Wife up the Trek it is pretty amazing, the fact that you can turn everything off and it doesn’t feel like punishment is a real up side to their versatility. Get the work in for a trail ride, or power up and pull multiple laps on your favorite downhill run, and she can lift it up onto our bike rack without having to do some odd front squat variation.