What’s high-tech, utterly silent, great to look at, and costs more than your first car? It’s gotta be the new Shuttle SL from Pivot Cycles.
Mountain bikes are already hefty rides, built to withstand a lot of abuse. Add in an electric motor and battery, and electric MTBs can get pretty dang heavy. And now here comes Pivot, absolutely changing the rules on all of us.
Pivot has had the Shuttle eMTB for about five years, but now we have the new Shuttle SL, which barely looks like an e-bike and weighs less than just about anything but a high-end, purely human-powered mountain bike – at only 36.25 lbs., which is less than the 40 lbs. quoted for the Schwinn Ranger you can get at Target.
We wouldn’t normally say something like this, but the Shuttle? The thing is, frankly, gorgeous.
At a quick, first glance, you might not even realize it’s an e-bike. The Fazua Ride 60 system keeps everything super-compact, with a drive unit that weighs only 1.96 kg (4.32 lbs) and still has a maximum power output of 450 W and 60 Nm of torque.
Then there’s the 430 Wh battery, which weighs only 2.3 kg (just over 5 lbs.) and should provide enough of a charge for three to four hours of good climbing — though, if you need more range, the Shuttle SL will be compatible with the Fazua 210Wh range extender, which should be available in 2023. To charge up a completely drained battery, it should take about three and a half hours, and the charging port is located in front of the bottom bracket.
The frame on the Pivot Shuttle SL uses an integrated battery design, which means that you’d have to remove the motor from the frame in order to physically remove the battery. According to Chris Cocalis, Pivot’s founder, the fixed battery position, “allowed us to build the frame with wall thickness similar to our analog bikes (Switchblade) and also identical stiffness numbers. We estimate that we saved over a pound (about .6 kg) by this and have better frame stiffness without the removable battery. It is also quieter than the battery with the release mechanism because there is no latch rattling or movement. Finally, it enables the bike to look very traditional (not like an ebike) which was important for us.”
The Shuttle SL also has Ring Control, a multi-function remote that lets you change assist modes. The top of the remote uses colored lights to show you which mode you’re in (Breeze, River, or Rocket) and how much battery power you have left. You can also hit the Boost function, which can offer 4- or 12-second boosts of the full 450 W of power. And just to really round things out, you can pop the panel up on the Ring Control to access the USB-C charging port in case you need to top up your phone or other devices, too.
The bike has Bluetooth and ANT+ connectivity, so riders can manage updates through the Fazua app. The app’s dashboard allows you to adjust the power, support, and ramp-up settings. Obviously all of the wiring and cable routing are housed internally to keep this beauty looking sleek.
The Shuttle SL will come in four models: the Ride, Pro, Team, and Team World Cup builds. Pricing starts at “just” $8,299 for the Ride, while the most expensive model, the Team WC build, comes in at $11,999. For people who’ve already reserved theirs, shipping in the US is set to start in mid-September.
Pivot Shuttle SL E-bike Gallery
SOURCE | IMAGES: PIVOT CYCLES, VIA BIKERUMOR.
