Pivot shuttle Lt: First ride review
Early September our Pivot demo driver Caleb spent a few days sleeping in my driveway. Oh did we ride, approximately 85 miles and 4 bike models, plus a few lift laps for fun. And ohhh did we get some time on that NEW Shuttle LT. Call me a fan.
Caleb, myself, and my partner Penn took out the Shuttle LTs to TRY and push their limits a bit (we failed). 25 miles – 4,200 vertical gain – and max elevation 10,833. Read on for the full review.
I’ll preface by saying I’m a smaller lady, 125lbs riding a size small (I also ride a small firebird and will say the LT fits SLIGHTLY larger in size). Caleb is 5’11” and was on a medium around 155lbs, and Penn is 6’3” 185lbs riding the large (his everyday bike is a Large Firebird). Our goal was to keep these in Boost mode while ascending to really push the bike battery life.
We started off on some dirt county road and cranked up 5 miles in less than 45 minutes. Average speed was around 7mph in Boost mode, and we never reached 20mph cap out. I was SWEATING. Yeah, you still gotta work on these things. Then we got into some singletrack.
E-bikes are a different game. More momentum needed for tech sections, but not too much? Different riding but So. Much. Fun. Our consensus was if they were our personal bikes we would adjust the tuning a bit, turn down Boost mode and turn up Trail mode. Trail mode was critical for really technical sections, but we spent 90% of our climb in Boost.
By the time we reached the summit at 10,833 feet we were 17 miles in. I had 3 bars of battery left of five, both the guys at 2 left. Again, in Boost or Trail mode the entire way up. 12 miles being single track.
We frolicked through fields and rock rolls back down to the parking lot and made the 25-mile lap in 3 hours and 15 minutes. I still had 3 battery bars left, Caleb had 2 bars, and Penn had 1. We did turn the bikes into ECO mode on the descent (and I turned mine into Walk mode for a short hike a bike section).
The Shuttle LT is so capable. It’s fun, playful, feels like a Firebird but of course a bit more grounded being a sub 50lb E-Bike. But it jumps, loves side hits, and rolls fast.
My preference: If I were to purchase an E-Bike for myself, I would probably go the direction of the SL. Being a smaller female the running joke of the day was my fitness and ability to man-handle a 48lb enduro machine. I had plenty of battery life to be able to scale down to the SL for all day adventures. But the performance of the LT was confidence inspiring, I could roll and drop and jump anything. My partner said he would lean to the LT as his E-Bike choice based on its downhill performance.
There you have it, honest first review of the Shuttle LT. Very fun and fast, lots of battery capability (think 4,200 vertical 90% of the time in Boost mode), and a downhill machine that makes the uphill REAL enjoyable. Reach out if you have any questions on the ride! Pivot is crushing the e-bike game, I can see why these bikes are moving out the door fast. I’m really excited to see what else is ahead.
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Written by Karina Schwartznau, Leading Edge NW rep for Idaho and Montana