Morewood Shova LT review

If you went to any of the big downhill races in North America last year you probably noticed more than a few riders on Morewood bikes. With the sudden appearance of the team riders Geritt Beytagh, Cole Bangert, Lisa Myklak and Joanna Petterson getting on the podium at a few Nationals and the U.S. Open, many people wondered where Morewood came from. Well, Morewood is from a little city called Pietermaritzburg in South Africa- a place littered with singletrack. Wanting to make a strong, low-maintenance frame, Patrick Morewood started building bikes in 1998 and eventually settles on a single-pivot chassis design. After becoming well established in South Africa, in 2003 Morewood started a U.S. Division in North Carolina, putting most of their marketing dollars into their race team.

Overview

The Shova LT is an excellent overall gravity machine with a well-built, single-pivot design. Equipped with 183mm of quality travel, it comes with a 135mm thru-axle rear end, a 1.5" head tube and can take a front derailleur. Built up with a high-end kit and you get a super light bike that is equally at home ripping a downhill trail as it is hitting a bike park.

The Technology

All Morewood frames are built in their factory in South Africa using custom drawn 6082 aluminium tubing to construct the single-pivot designs. The 183mm travel Shova LT is their all-round gravity chassis. Featuring a 1.5" head tube, full-length seat tube and the ability to run a front derailleur. The frame uses a large rectangular down tube that is gusseted at the head tube and a low top tube design for increased stand-over clearance. A CNC-machined shock mount links the top and down tubes.

The swingarm is built with square tubing and a 135mm thru-axle rear and. It pivots around the Stable Pivot Interface or main pivot, which features a unique design that Morewood says makes the rear end stiffer than typical single-pivot designs. The SPI system uses a large tube welded into the frame to house the bearing/ axle assembly. The end caps run through the swingarm, the bearings and into the frame, fastening to the threaded axle and producing a system that is stiff and user friendly.

Morewood sells frames and complete bikes but they also do partial builds and custom kits like our test rig. Teaming up with many of their race team sponsors, Morewood built us a very high-end test bike. The bike was leaded with eye candy- from the Industry Nine wheels to the Cane Creek Double Barrel shock. The Industry Nine wheels feature their proprietary aluminium spoke and hub design, and the Double Barrel shock offers adjustable high- and low-speed compression and high- and low-speed rebound damping. Morewood slapped on Manitou's Travis Triple 180mm fork with adjustable TPC Plus compression and rebound damping. The bike also came equipped with SRAM X.0 drivetrain, e.thirteen LG-1 guide, Maxxis Minion tires, Formula Oro Bianco Brakes, SDG I-Beam seat and post, and a Control Tech carbon bar. Aside from personal preferences, you can't get a better spec than that.

The Ride

Morewood positions the Shova LT as both a downhill and freeride chassis. For smaller/ lighter riders and people riding tamer terrain (think Sea Otter, Fontana and Sonoma downhills), the bikes low weight makes it a great downhill rig. It can also accept a front derailleur to cater to riders wanting a long-travel bike capable of pedalling into the woods.

Our test bike came dialled for gravity runs, but weighed under 38 pounds. It is amazing to ride a capable downhill bike that is so light. You can position it any place you want it on the trail and jump everything in between. The Shova LT's geometry adds to the nimble feel, working well for all-round downhilling. While the bike came with a lot of high-zoot products, the standout is the Double Barrel shock, which offers tremendous control and gives the rear suspension excellent performance.

Handling

The light weight of the Shova LT certainly helps its manoeuvrability, but it all starts with the geometry and the combo makes it easy to place your tires exactly where you want them. Sitting at about 14.25- inches, the bottom bracket is low enough to maintain stability at speed without causing you to skim your pedals through every rock section. The 67-degree head angle and 44-inch wheelbase make for a bike that can whip around switchbacks and handle tight turns in the trees, but it is still comfortable blazing fire roads and mowing over rough terrain. The Shova LT is made to perform on a variety of train conditions.

Suspension

While setting up the TPC Plus damping on the Travis fork is commonplace, the high- and low-speed adjustments on the Double Barrel shock always take time to dial in. That's because the four separate adjustments offer a lot of control over the damping. The Double Barrel adds a unique dimension to the rear suspension with a firm feel that seamlessly opens up the damping as it encounters impact. The damping tones down the shock's low-speed movement, providing the Shova LT with excellent pedalling ability without the sticky feel that usually comes with it. IT also helps negate the pedal feedback typically associated with high single-pivot designs and gives the bile quality travel with superb big hit performance. It makes you think that the rear end has 200mm of travel. The firm damping feel rides higher in the travel and uses less stroke to absorb an impact, which will cause you to run a stiffer spring rate in the fork, or a softer shock spring to balance the front and rear suspension. We chose to soften the rear shock spring by 50 pounds.

Descending

Built with nimble handling and excellent suspension, by now you probably know that we were pleased with the Shova LT's downhill ability. It rails over rough terrain as the high single-pivot design provides a good wheel path for absorbing hard hits. You will notice that honking down on the rear brake takes away some of the sensitivity of the rear suspension, particularly on rough terrain or when landing a drop. The bike has good top tube clearance for manoeuvrability and is stable in the air once you get used to riding a light downhill bike. The frame is responsive to subtle input to maintain traction, letting you push the limits in corners and thread the needle through tight sections. We liked the overall package of the Shova LT, providing great performance from a simple, lightweight design.

Chassis

Fork: Manitou Travis Triple; 180mm

Frame: 6082 Aluminium

Shock: Cane Creek Double Barrel; 183mm

Cockpit

Brake Levers: Formula Oro Bianco

Brakes: Formula Oro Bianco

Handlebar: Control Tech Carbon

Headset: Cane Creek

Saddle: SDG I-Fly I-Beam

Seatpost: SDG I-Beam

Shifter: SRAM X.0

Stem: Manitou Direct Mount

Wheels

Hubs F/R: Industry Nine

Rims: DT Swiss 5.1D

Tires: Maxxis Minion DHF 2.5"

Drivetrain

Bottom Bracket: Truvativ Stylo

Cassette: SRAM 11-25T

Cranks: Truvativ Stylo

Derailleurs F/R: e.thirteen LT-1 guide/ SRAM X.0

Pedals: N/A

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