I'm not Rob or the Loam Wolf guys, but I have had a bunch of emtbs and here is my short term review:
For reference, I am 51, 5'10 185 lbs and went with a size large.
Over the last 6 years, I have had quite a few e-mtbs - 16 Levo Expert, 19 Levo Expert, 20 Levo SL, 21 Trek Rail 9.8XT and 21 Orbea Rise M10. I have sold all of the above with the exception of the Trek Rail which I love. I really liked the Orbea, but when I had neck surgery earlier in the year, I couldn't justify having two bikes worth 9K each sitting in my garage collection dust. Now that I have fully recovered, I picked up my Team XTR Shuttle SL on Thursday and now have about 20 miles on it.
First, weight. Everyone wants to know. My large with flat raceface atlas pedals and garmin mount and the Pivot tool holder box weighs 40.59 lbs ready to ride set up tubeless. For reference, my large Levo SL with Roval Traverse Carbons was 39lbs, my Orbea Rise M10 size large was 42.2lbs.
Fit and finish - Pivot makes really nice bikes. They definitely put the time in to engineer a great bike...... as they should considering what this thing cost. (more than my first car)
Set up - simple, Fox factory is great stuff and I set mine up with 15% sag up front, 20 in the rear. That seems to be fine for the flowy trails I have ridden so far. I haven't added any tokens, but may add one in the rear eventually. I know some people were worried about the 132mm of rear suspension travel, but I will say it 'feels' more than that. Probably due to the DW link which is awesome.
Handling - So far, I've got about 20 miles of single track. The bike handles really well, especially if you like a quick turning bike. I really like short chainstay bikes, I prefer my bikes to bite hard off the front end and this thing turns great. I know those chainstays aren't the best for steep climbing, but the DW link masks a lot of that, I didn't notice it being overly nose light on climbs. What I did notice is how efficient the suspension is. Again, that DW link more than likely.
Power. This is a tough one. My 'other' bike is a Trek Rail with the brilliant Bosch system. I love my Trek. IMO, it is the best handling monster truck of a full fat out there. But, it's a beast, at 52lbs and anyone who says you don't notice the weight is nuts, because you do. The Shuttle doesn't have anywhere near the power of the Bosch. But, that's fine, because the bike is so light and the DW link is so efficient, I don't think you need the extra power. Sure, if you are going out to ride with buddies who are on full turbo all the time, you are going to need Armstrongian legs to keep up. But anything under full turbo and you will be fine. I haven't messed with the settings on mine yet, just sticking to the factory settings from Fazua and they seem to work fine. In terms of power, it has more than the Levo SL and I would say its on par with the Orbea. What is does infinitely better than both is how quiet the motor is. It doesn't sound like a power drill like the Levo SL and doesn't rattle like a paint can like the Shimano EP8. I haven't heard the new Trek Fuel EXe in person, but the Fazua motor is the quietest thing I have ridden so far.
Who is this bike for? I ride with buddies a lot, but I also spend a ton of miles by myself. Biking is my happy place and allows me to escape from real life and helps keep me sane. I really enjoy riding by myself and most of the places I ride are flowy, rooty with lots of turns and shortish climbs. For this type of riding, the Shuttle SL is simply amazing. When I go out to the mountains, I would take my Trek over the Shuttle, because it is more suited to that type of riding. But for everything else, I'll grab the Pivot.