Levo - Fork / Shock customisations ?

[StuR]

Is it possible to get a bit more rear travel on a Levo without messing up the geometry ?
Im sure i read somewhere that its been done

Ideally need to keep the eye 2 eye length the same
Could go about 4mm longer with 2 sets of offset bushes
Maybe a different yoke
Or a longer stroke
Anyone build a custom shock ??
Obviously need to be aware of potential frame/shock clearance issues

I did make some brief enquiries but haven't had a chance to pursue it

Any thoughts ??

 

[Rob Rides EMTB]

Yep, I'm sure there's some people here that have increased both shock and forks.

 

[Rob Rides EMTB]

@James_MTB did you change shock travel on your pimped Levo?

 

[Dax]

There's someone on here who got 150 out the back, think it was built by TF Tuned so might be worth giving them a call on Monday, theyre usually very helpful.

 

[bradmcam]

Bike Yoke makes a yoke that takes a standard 190x51 shock, you get about 6-8mm travel extra travel from the 3mm extra stroke.

Rockshox make a Super Deluxe trunnion mount coil that is 185x55, you may be able to make this work with a new yoke and some offset bushings to get it back to 190 eye to eye. You would likely get close to 12-15mm extra out of this. You would really need to check if the 'trunnion' part is too big to fit the frame mount though. Generally a trunnion would be too big on an air shock but it might work on this being its a coil with no air can.

 

[StuR]

Found the original post.It was from @Kiwi in Wales TF tuned did the mod
159 mm travel
I'll be ringing them this week

 

[levity]

Bike Yoke makes a yoke that takes a standard 190x51 shock, you get about 6-8mm travel extra travel from the 3mm extra stroke...

Mrs levity are I both use the Bike Yoke with a 190x150mm Manitou McLeod shock. Can’t say we really notice the small increase in travel, but the McLeod shock performs MUCH better than the OEM Monarch or Fox shocks we tried.

 

[Kiwi in Wales]

Hi All,

I have been a bit busy with other things lately so have not had much time to visit the forum.

TF Tuned are the people to contact if you are based in the UK. Greg and Dave created my custom shock. It took a few attempts as the Specialized website eye to eye measurements were incorrect so the first attempt ended up being too long.

I will not go into all the gory detail of what we tried and what did and did not work as I do not what to confuse things

The following is what was done to my 200mm eye to eye Cane creek DB Coil with a 57mm stroke
1. Changed the 200mm shock body for a 190mm shock body.
2. Shortened the stroke down to 55mm.
3. Installed an off set bush.
4. Using their on site lathe TF Tuned skimmed 1mm off the connection point of the shock and yoke.
5. I weigh 75KG all kitted up so for the above stroke I went with a 525lb spring which gives me what I wanted on the sag front which is 30%.
6. TF Tuned tuned the shock to my weight and riding style.

The end result was the DB Coil shock length was reduced to 187mm which was almost the same length of the my original Fox air shock which was 185mm. See the picture below regarding where I took the measurement. The Fox shock had a 45mm stroke. I now have a 187mm x 55mm stroke customised DB Coil. That gives the DB Coil shock an increase in stroke of 10mm. Travel wise I believe it has increased to around the 159mm? Please Feel free correct me if you think my travel calculation is wrong.

There is still room for a bottle in my bottle cage as well although it is a very tight fit....

Since my last post, I have also put some SRAM Roam 60 Carbon 30mm wide wheels on the Levo. Running a 2.6 Magic Mary DH on the front and a 2.8 Butcher on the back. I will be changing the Butcher back this week to a Magic Mary 2.6 DH as the grip is far superior and the side walls are indestructibly thick.

I have also changed out the ‘Pushed’ Fox 36 180mm to RS Dual Position 180mm to 150m Lyriks and loving them a lot more than the Fox 36’s as to me, they feel a lot nicer on the small to medium hits as in, I can’t feel them anymore, they are that good

Hope the above answers your questions and is helpful to you all.

 

[StuR]

Hi All,

I have been a bit busy with other things lately so have not had much time to visit the forum.

TF Tuned are the people to contact if you are based in the UK. Greg and Dave created my custom shock. It took a few attempts as the Specialized website eye to eye measurements were incorrect so the first attempt ended up being too long.

I will not go into all the gory detail of what we tried and what did and did not work as I do not what to confuse things

The following is what was done to my 200mm eye to eye Cane creek DB Coil with a 57mm stroke
1. Changed the 200mm shock body for a 190mm shock body.
2. Shortened the stroke down to 55mm.
3. Installed an off set bush.
4. Using their on site lathe TF Tuned skimmed 1mm off the connection point of the shock and yoke.
5. I weigh 75KG all kitted up so for the above stroke I went with a 525lb spring which gives me what I wanted on the sag front which is 30%.
6. TF Tuned tuned the shock to my weight and riding style.

The end result was the DB Coil shock length was reduced to the same length of the my original Fox air shock which was 185mm. See the picture below regarding where I took the measurement. The Fox shock had a 45mm stroke. I now have a 185mm x 55mm stroke customised DB Coil. That gives the DB Coil shock an increase in stroke of 10mm. Travel wise I believe it has increased to around the 159mm? Please Feel free correct me if you think my travel calculation is wrong.

There is still room for a bottle in my bottle cage as well although it is a very tight fit....

Since my last post, I have also put some SRAM Roam 60 Carbon 30mm wide wheels on the Levo. Running a 2.6 Magic Mary DH on the front and a 2.8 Butcher on the back. I will be changing the Butcher back this week to a Magic Mary 2.6 DH as the grip is far superior and the side walls are indestructibly thick.

I have also changed out the ‘Pushed’ Fox 36 180mm to RS Dual Position 180mm to 150m Lyriks and loving them a lot more than the Fox 36’s as to me, they feel a lot nicer on the small to medium hits as in, I can’t feel them anymore, they are that good

Hope the above answers your questions and is helpful to you all.

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Thanks . That's a very comprehensive answer??

 

[James_MTB]

@James_MTB did you change shock travel on your pimped Levo?

No, still 135mm

 

[Mambat]

Great comprehensive feedback!!! Thanks Kiwi... Much appreciated.

 

[Tori]

Great thread, I'll be keeping an eye on this if/when I decide to switch out my shock.

 

[Rob Rides EMTB]

I have also changed out the ‘Pushed’ Fox 36 180mm to RS Dual Position 180mm to 150m Lyriks

Hi mate, so just to check, are you running 159mm on the back and 150mm at the front?

 

[Kiwi in Wales]

180mm Dual positon Lyrik on the front which allows me to drop down to 150mm if I feel the need.
159mm on the back
Plush, plush plush

 

[Tori]

180mm Dual positon Lyrik on the front which allows me to drop down to 150mm if I feel the need.
159mm on the back
Plush, plush plush

You've turned your Levo into a Kenevo! (almost)

 

[Hinett]

With Specialized bringing back the stumpy evo should call yours the evo levo

 

[Kiwi in Wales]

You've turned your Levo into a Kenevo! (almost)

Hi Tori,

That was always my plan.

I bought the 2017 Levo secondhand at a really reasonable price to allow me to make the move into ebikes and with the view to carry out some major mods.

Now that it is done, I am really enjoying it.

 

[Rob Rides EMTB]

The end result was the DB Coil shock length was reduced to the same length of the my original Fox air shock which was 185mm. See the picture below regarding where I took the measurement. The Fox shock had a 45mm stroke. I now have a 185mm x 55mm stroke customised DB Coil. That gives the DB Coil shock an increase in stroke of 10mm. Travel wise I believe it has increased to around the 159mm? Please Feel free correct me if you think my travel calculation is wrong.

Sounds like the compression ratio of the Levo is 3:1. You had a 45mm stroke giving 135mm of travel. You now have a 55mm stroke shock, so does that make it 165mm rear travel (3x55=165)?

 

[Kiwi in Wales]

Hi Rob,

Looks like I made a mistake. I did the calculation using 46.5mm for some reason....... not sure why.... However, I have just taken all the air out of my old Fox rear air shock and compressed until it bottomed out and you are right it is a 45mm stroke so.....

135 divided by 45 x 55 = 165

An extra 6mm of travel I did not know I had. Thank you ?

While I was checking this I also double checked my sag and with the 525lb spring I am running 18mm sag which is around 33% to 35% sag. No wonder the back end feels plush. Happy days ?

 

[Rob Rides EMTB]

Hi Rob,

Looks like I made a mistake. I did the calculation using 46.5mm for some reason....... not sure why.... However, I have just taken all the air out of my old Fox rear air shock and compressed until it bottomed out and you are right it is a 45mm stroke so.....

135 divided by 45 x 55 = 165

An extra 6mm of travel I did not know I had. Thank you ?

While I was checking this I also double checked my sag and with the 525lb spring I am running 18mm sag which is around 33% to 35% sag. No wonder the back end feels plush. Happy days ?

Super nice! So you're running 180mm F and 165mm R. Bet it's a ripper!

 

[Kiwi in Wales]

Super nice! So you're running 180mm F and 165mm R. Bet it's a ripper!

?

 

[Dax]

So a 50mm stroke would give 150mm...Wonder if that would be easier to package, require less custom work?

 

[Rob Rides EMTB]

So a 50mm stroke would give 150mm...Wonder if that would be easier to package, require less custom work?

Possibly. I'm meeting up with TF Tuned soon. I spoke to them at Malvern Festival. They said my Ohlins can go to 170mm, so I might aim for a 170F and 150R, slackens it up a little too with that configuration.

 

[Dax]

If they came with that travel out the box, I would have bought a Levo.

 

[Tori]

Possibly. I'm meeting up with TF Tuned soon. I spoke to them at Malvern Festival. They said my Ohlins can go to 170mm, so I might aim for a 170F and 150R, slackens it up a little too with that configuration.

Let me know how it goes Rob. I've been very happy with the suspension on my bike currently; for my riding it seems perfectly adequate and well suspended, even on some jumps I've been doing. However, as I've learned from riding dirt-bikes, a bit more suspension travel is a good thing.

 

[Kiwi in Wales]

Possibly. I'm meeting up with TF Tuned soon. I spoke to them at Malvern Festival. They said my Ohlins can go to 170mm, so I might aim for a 170F and 150R, slackens it up a little too with that configuration.

The team at TF Tuned are a great bunch. I have used their services for servicing and customising my suspension for a number of years now. They have completed a number of custom builds for me and have always delivered what I wanted. Their Shock Technicians and Customer service has been second to none.

They are not the cheapest out there but to me, they are worth every penny spent.

 

[Rob Rides EMTB]

I've just had a reply from Ohlins about changing the air spring travel length:

"Thank you for your inquiry.
We can offer to you following:

Air Spring length 160 mm, € 102,48 net (in stock)
Air Spring length 170 mm, € 109,50 net (in stock)
Working time for installation € 40,00 net
Plus shipping costs!

We hope that our offer will have your interest and would be pleased about an positive feedback."

So around €150 Euro for the change, plus shipping costs to Germany.

 

[Rob Rides EMTB]

If they came with that travel out the box, I would have bought a Levo.

The marketing folks wouldn't have let that happen! Needs to be a big enough difference between the bikes

 

[Mambat]

Sounds like the compression ratio of the Levo is 3:1. You had a 45mm stroke giving 135mm of travel. You now have a 55mm stroke shock, so does that make it 165mm rear travel (3x55=165)?

Hi Rob

You are correct, the Levo is 3:1 leverage ratio, my CC DBCoil Inline is a 51mm stroke therefore i'm running 153mm in the rear.

No wonder it felt more bottomless

 

[ccrdave]

Hi Rob

You are correct, the Levo is 3:1 leverage ratio, my CC DBCoil Inline is a 51mm stroke therefore i'm running 153mm in the rear.

No wonder it felt more bottomless

I am not sure thats correct, rear shock on my levo is 197x48 travel is 135 if your assumption is correct my rear travel should be 48 x 3 =144