Pivot Shadowcat first ride review: lightly outrageous

As far as I can tell, here’s the thinking: Pivot’s bikes have been perceived as super-serious, high-end machines, tuned to within an inch of their lives for very skilled riders. They worried that the majority of us – the people with regular jobs, and less-than-perfect riding ability, were leaving Pivot out when they thought about their next bike.

So the Shadowcat (named in a moment of frustration in a tense marketing meeting, so I’m told) is their answer to that – a bike designed and built specifically to give us regular folks all the benefits of a Pivot – top quality carbon construction for lightness, tons of travel (up-to-160mm forks, 140mm rear) and the geometry to make hopping, flocking, bounding and generally trying to steeze things up as easy as possible.

So. Much. Fun.

I’m an OK rider. I can hit biggish drops, I can clear a modest gap jump, I can handle most of what a UK trail centre can throw at me without embarrassing myself. But the big stuff? The Rampage-style drops, the bus-sized gaps, the downhill run filled with Scandi flicks and stylish drifts? Beyond me. But like the rest of us, I still dream I’ll get there one day.

This bike wants that dream to come true. Have you ever watched Josh Bryceland or Brendan Fairclough just riding down the road? They can’t help themselves. Every bump, every slope, every wall and root they pass is an opportunity to muck about. They pop and jump and hop like fidgety toddlers.

The Shadowcat made me want to ride like that, all the time. My first proper ride was a solo trip on some unfamiliar trails in Sedona, in questionable weather, far from other people and medical assistance.

By rights, I should have taken things slowly – it’s a bad place to hurt yourself. But the Shadowcat was a little devil of a thing – I started gapping over rocks, boosting off bumps and generally hooning about almost instantly. The lightness of the bike, combined with a low stack and short chainstays, makes it really easy to chuck about, and it’s always begging you to do just one more stunt, for fun.

Social Climber

All the lightness in the world won’t make a bike a good climber if the geometry and suspension don’t work well together – you need stability and efficient power transfer to make sure the extra effort isn’t going to waste or making you less stable.

Sometimes a light bike can feel skittish or unstable, wobbling every time you breathe in or shift your weight, but the Pivot’s geometry kept me planted in, rather than on the bike, making it a nimble climber, and the smaller 27.5 wheels rolled the smaller rocks with ease. The lack of weight also helped on technical climbs – it’s easier to move the bike position mid-climb than a heftier or bigger bike would be.

Size Isn’t Everything

Quite why anyone thinks it’s revolutionary to make a 27.5 trail bike in a world where that’s what hundreds of thousands of riders throw their leg over every day is beyond me, but I suppose you have to say something that sounds radical when you launch a new bike, even if it isn’t.

Last time I rode out here on these brutally demanding Sedona rock climbs, I was on a hefty 29”, and I attributed what little success I had to the rolling capacity of those bigger wheels and their ability to monster truck over the humps and ledges.

But the smaller wheel size on the Shadowcat is actually easier to climb with – it’s the power transfer to the back wheel being just that little bit quicker and more efficient. I keep thinking I’m going to get jammed up at slow speed on some awkward lump, but it doesn’t happen, and I can hop out of trouble faster and easier on the lighter, smaller bike.

Travel Vouchers

One thing that marks this bike out in particular is the hefty amount of travel – the 160mm fork (Fox Performance 36, GRIP Damper, 44mm offset) and Float Performance 140mm rear makes the Shadowcat pretty tasty for a trail bike.

What I like about it is that it’s really forgiving – you can get into a bit more trouble than you might on a shorter travel bike – and combined with the nimble geometry, it’s a constant provocation to hit a bigger drop, boost a bigger jump, take a bigger risk.

If you’ve been building up to more technical riding for a few years, from XC on a hardtail to a mild full suspension with the odd trail centre, to smaller jumps and steeper trails, and you’re really feeling the itch to step up to something rowdier, this bike would make you grin from ear to ear.

And although they don’t say it specifically, the short stack, short chainstays and general compactness of the Shadowcat compared to the raft of bigger, longer, racier 29” bikes out there seems entirely designed to favour women riders and/or smaller riders. It’s all the fun of the fair, but in a slightly more manageable package.

A Little Bit More

If I were being super-picky – and I am – I’d really prefer some wider rims and 2.6 tyres on this bike. With all that flickability and playfulness, and given that it’s super light, 2.6 Maxxis Minion DHF/DHR 2.6 would give even more confidence to do all the mucking about this bike is clearly designed for, and the 2.4 Assegai’s are great, but I miss the side bite of a wider, chunkier 2.6 a little on dusty corners and techy wobbles.

It’s a kind of ‘this winning lottery ticket has a smudge on it’ sort of problem, but it does spring to mind every now and again.

All Day Play

In the interests of scrupulous journalistic integrity, plus a chance to see something awesome, I did swap the mountain-goat trails of Sedona for a couple of long XC-ish rides in the Phoenix desert, and spending all day in the saddle of this bike was surprisingly comfortable.

Absolutely minimal pedal bob or unnecessary movement on a constant cadence, and the 76 degree seatpost angle and comfy WTB saddle makes a day’s exploring feel just fine.

Finishing Touches

Couple of other cool things – there’s a moulded frame protector wrapped around the BB and lower downtube, so the inevitable rock scrapes didn’t do any damage, you can fit the proprietary Topeak toolkit to a special frame mount and there’s four mount bolts for water bottles, although they’re right next to each other on the downtube, so I’m not sure what the advantage of that is, as you can only use one or the other.

If you’re a bikepacking wiz who immediately understands the value of that, do get in touch. But not with me.

The Price Of Fun

Yes. Well. The price. In a world where even formerly mid-level full suss bikes are now regularly starting at above £5K, and where parts shortages and other COVID-related issues are pushing up prices, the Shadowcat Pro XT with the cheaper DT Swiss wheels still comes in at a very expensive £7500 – and that’s the only build on offer here (You can upgrade to carbon wheels for another £1250).

There’s no doubt that the build is amazing – top quality carbon as standard (unlike the various different carbon options offered by other brands) and build kit that can rival anything out there, but to me, that’s a heck-ton of money for a bike that’s squarely aimed at everyday riders who want to have a good time.

You can buy a slightly lower spec Transition Scout or a Yeti SB 140 for about 2 grand less, have more options on build, and have money left over to spend a week in Sedona riding them. It’s not that I don’t believe the Shadowcat is worth it – it’s a truly fantastic bike, and I wish I owned one.

But is it so much better than a host of other 27.5 trail bikes out there that a regular rider will feel the difference every time they throw a leg over it? I’m not so sure.

TLDR:

Made for mere mortals, priced for superheroes.