2021 Pivot Shuttle – Lighter Motor, Bigger Battery, More Radness

It’s been a couple of years since we brought you some news about the Pivot Shuttle e-bike. Back then, there were some big changes: a move to 29in wheels, dropping of Di2, more travel and some general slackening and stuff. That progress has been continuing with this new 2021 Pivot Shuttle. While the 160/140mm suspension travel remains the same in number, there’s been a lot going on ‘under the hood’ as the Americans would say.

Pivot Shuttle 2021 and EP-8: Bigger Battery, Lighter Motor

Shimano still supplies the motor, but the Pivot Shuttle now features the newest Shimano EP-8 motor – we already know that it’s lighter and more powerful, which is good, but the Shuttle takes that further by mating it to a massive Darfon 726W/hr battery. In ‘real world’ tests in Pivot-land in Arizona, riders have been getting four hour rides, using a mix of the three boost modes, out of this new setup.

If that’s not enough, there’s a handy to access charge port, up by the head tube of the bike and with a couple of bolts (and an a-daptor kit – Johnny Cash fans) the battery can be easily removed in a jiffy for either remote charging or a pit-stop swap-out (what? you want another four hours of riding? OK then…)

Power is nothing without control, as they say. The Pivot’s geo has been subtly slackened and up front we have the new Fox EMTB 38 Fork for 160mm of hard-hitting travel. Out back, there’s a Fox DPX2 shock with 140mm of rear travel from the DW-Link suspension system. Aiding that control too is a pair of Maxxis Assegai and Minion DHR2 tyres. Needless to say, from Pivot, the bike is full carbon fibre and features SuperBoost Plus rear spacing. There’s a ton of mud clearance too, by the look of things.

Power is nothing without control, as they say. The Pivot’s geo has been subtly slackened and up front we have the new Fox EMTB 38 Fork for 160mm of hard-hitting travel. Out back, there’s a Fox DPX2 shock with 140mm of rear travel from the DW-Link suspension system. Aiding that control too is a pair of Maxxis Assegai and Minion DHR2 tyres. Needless to say, from Pivot, the bike is full carbon fibre and features SuperBoost Plus rear spacing. There’s a ton of mud clearance too, by the look of things.

The new Pivot Shuttle has ‘aggressive geometry for no holds barred enduro performance’ – so no excuses there then. Pivot reckons that the frame size range will fit riders from 5ft 3in up to 6ft 7in.

What does Pivot boss, Chris Cocalis reckon? “With the new Shuttle, we build on our vision of making an insanely capable all-mountain bike that cleanly incorporates electric-assist. With more aggressive geometry, a super-refined integrated design, and a big increase in suspension performance matched to a perfectly tuned dw-link design, the new Shuttle is an incredibly fun bike even without mentioning that it’s pedal assist. Add the superior performance of Shimano’s new EP8 system and the bike’s incredible range and you get a whole new level of eMTB experience,”

And while the previous Pivot went down slightly in price from the 2018 launch model, this XTR-equipped top-end model (the only one currently announced) will come in to the UK at £10,750 from importers Upgrade. The good news, though, is that you can probably have one for Christmas as they should be in stock now – unless they’ve already sold out.

For more, check out Pivot or Upgrade’s websites.