The Norwegian adventure- and emtb rental company Trye had the 2022 Rossignol Mandate Shift Deore 11 in for a few days, and we got to ride it. Rossignol have been making emtb’s for for a few years. The old model was designed by Felt, but the new Mandate Shift is only sold by the Rossignol brand. We did a video of the test, here we also mention two new motors from Shimano. Chek it out!
Price and availability
We quite liked the old Rossignol bikes. They were functional bikes at a good price. And the price remains a strength for the new bikes too. Rossignol has become a direct-to-customer brand that is selling bikes from their website. Delivery of the Mandate Shift is not spcified. We found prices for two countries. In the US it’s $4.399, and it’s €4.399 in Italy.
Geometry
The test bike has a wheelbase of 1.255 mm, pretty decent for a size large bike. The chainstay length of 450 mm is looking good, This is a tad shorter than the 455-460 mm found on several 29er emtbs. The 65* head angle seems a good figure, and the seat tube angle is surprisingly steep at 78*.
Rossignol Mandate Shift specs
This reasonably priced emtb comes with trailworthy suspension. The fork is a Rockshox 35 Gold RL with 150 mm travel. There are better forks out there, that provides better precision and control , but the 35 Gold RL is a sturdy fork that will handle some speed. The fine Rockshox Deluxe Select+ shock handles the 145 mm of rear suspension.
The Mandate Shift comes with 29er wheels on both ends. Up front is a 2.6″ Maxxis Minion DHF tyre, while the back gets a 2.4″ Maxxis Minion DHR ll EXO+. Brakes are the dual caliper Shimano M4210. Sure, these are good brakes, but we’re not fans of the long brake lever. We prefer levers designed for one-finger braking. We need the rest of the fingers for holding on to the handlebars.
Motor is the Shimano E7000, and the battery capacity is 504 Wh. Rossignol is cutting costs by opting for the weaker 60 Nm motor, and they’re saving money and grams with the smaller battery. And that’s fine by us. We can chose one of the more expensive Mandate Shift models if we want to pay for more power and range.
Going up
Our ride starts with a quite long climb, and we’re immediately reminded of how powerful the E7000 really is. We’ve also borrowed a 2021 Rocky Mountain Altitude Powerplay for this ride. This bike has a more powerful motor at over 100 Nm, still it’s the Rossignol that is opening up a gap on this ascent. The Rocky Mountain motor is more powerful, but it requires more rider input to reach max power. And we’re not up for that in this steep hill. The E7000 is the oposite, I pedal calmly and the motor puts out maximum power. If I try to push harder I realize the motor has nothing more to give.
And the Mandate Shift handles the climb very well. The steep seat tube angle pushes the weight of the rider forwards. We never have to work to keep the front wheel on the ground.
Rossignol Mandate Shift on top
When pedaling on the flatter trails, the steep seat angle provides an efficient seating position. Despite the 145 mm of travel, the rear suspension adds to the feeling of pedaling efficiency. Rossignol opted for a shorter stroke shock. This is perhaps the reason why the Mandate Shift feels responsive when pedalling or jumping.
We’ve ridden lots of 150-160 mm travel full suspension emtbs. Many of these feel big, stable and somewhat slow to handle. The rear suspension travel of the Rossignol is just barely shorter, but it feels a bit different. The bike is more lively and inspiring through the flat forrest trail turns. Even though the suspension travel isn’t that short, this feels like a mid-travel bike.
Rossignol Mandate Shift going down hill from here?
The ride is coming to an end, and the most exciting part remains. Can the Mandate Shift be as good as all the other 29er emtbs when going down hill? We ride the same trails back home, and that long climb has somehow turned into a cool descent! We let go of the brakes and pick up speed immediately. This is really fun, of course. This relatively nimble bike definitely is stable and quite confidece inspiring.
Conclusion
Everything is getting more expensive these days, so it’s refreshing to ride a bike that is not insanely expensive. The Rossignol Mandate Shift Deore 11 is a fine bike, it’s slightly different to a lot of the current 29er emtbs, in a good way!