This isn’t long, but when you expect the bike to ride seamlessly, and you’re pedaling a 38lb bike up a technical climb, it takes some unexpected muscle. I wasn’t pedaling going down into the drainage, but then pedaling back up the trail into a technical climb, the motor felt like it took up to two seconds to kick on. Coming down and out of drainages was where I noticed the delay. The second most noticeable thing, and one that could quickly be resolved too, was a delay in the motor. While it was a small annoyance during our day of testing, Pivot said they were able to remove a washer that interfered with the Ring’s rebound into position. Pressing the remote up, the little lever would stick slightly in that position. Unfortunately, quite a few riders in our group that day suffered issues with the Ride 60. Issues with the Fazua Ride 60 Ring Control on the rider’s left side. The SL ate through battery life more quickly than the LT, but there is still a lot of life for big adventures and Fazua should have a range extender available for the bike soon. The bike gets up to speed quickly, holds it, and rails turns.Īt the end of our 20-mile ride, I had about 60% battery life left. On a couple of hairier sections of the Rainbow trail with high-speed chunk and steep rock gardens, the SL charged ahead without flinching. For the most part, the SL carries itself like a non-motorized bike. The handling matches an analog bike, and the weight does too. The Pivot Shuttle SL has 132mm of rear travel and either a 140mm or 150mm fork.įor much of my time on the SL that day, it was easy to forget I was on an e-bike. They have sleeker, quieter motors, slimmer downtubes and batteries, great component specs, and are lighter than ever. What’s different about this new crop? The Rise, Fuel EXe, and now the Shuttle SL look very unassuming.

Sure there’s the Specialized Turbo Levo SL, but that bike seemed to sit right in the middle, and its light weight was achieved partly through lighter components than it should have been specced with at the time. I’ve ridden a few hefty, long travel e-bikes, and I like the planted feel, long battery life, and power of the larger motors, but this Pivot Shuttle SL ride would be my first experience with anything in the same category as the Orbea Rise, or Trek Fuel EXe. The real question was, why not just opt for a full-powered and full-weighted eMTB, when the weight doesn’t really matter anymore?Īt a press event for Pivot where we were invited to experience their newest long travel Shuttle LT e-bike and mid-travel, lightweight Shuttle SL e-bike, I hoped to find out.

What’s the point of lightweight eMTBs anyway, I wondered into text just six or seven months ago.

Need for sped.exe