Levo Gen 2 2021 Levo Comp - 6 broken spokes in first month of ownership

[bertschb]

I bought a 2021 Levo Comp about a month ago. Since then, I've had six broken spokes on the rear wheel. My bike has Roval alloy wheels and DT Swiss spokes.

I rode my last bike (Stumpjumper Pro with carbon wheels) MUCH harder and only broke one spoke in four years with hundreds of rides.

I've noticed the spokes snap most often while braking. I'm not applying the rear brake very hard because my rear brake squeals like crazy (another story). I do use the brakes for long stretches though because my ride involves a lot of climbing and then descending the same trails.

Do I have a defective batch of spokes? Do I need a new wheel? Is a carbon wheel better for spoke longevity? More spokes per wheel? I'm stumped and need a solution. Taking my bike to the shop every week to get spokes replaced is getting old and expensive.

Has anybody else had similar issues with their Levo???

 

[Dirk74]

That usually happens if the spokes in the wheel have too much different spoke tensions.
The shop should loose all spokes, then tighten evenly, then professional true the wheel.

 

[bertschb]

...The shop should loose all spokes, then tighten evenly, then professional true the wheel.

Thanks for this information. I'll contact my LBS and ask them to do this.

 

[Stp0701]

I bought a 2021 Levo Comp about a month ago. Since then, I've had six broken spokes on the rear wheel. My bike has Roval alloy wheels and DT Swiss spokes.

I rode my last bike (Stumpjumper Pro with carbon wheels) MUCH harder and only broke one spoke in four years with hundreds of rides.

I've noticed the spokes snap most often while braking. I'm not applying the rear brake very hard because my rear brake squeals like crazy (another story). I do use the brakes for long stretches though because my ride involves a lot of climbing and then descending the same trails.

Do I have a defective batch of spokes? Do I need a new wheel? Is a carbon wheel better for spoke longevity? More spokes per wheel? I'm stumped and need a solution. Taking my bike to the shop every week to get spokes replaced is getting old and expensive.

Has anybody else had similar issues with their Levo???

I also have 2021 Levo Comp and broke four spokes on the rear wheel within the first six weeks. The dealer (The Bike Center in Salt Lake City) was great and fixed it each time at no cost. After the fourth, they replaced the wheel. Zero issues since!

 

[bertschb]

Took my rear wheel back to my LBS for the 4th time today with another broken spoke. This time I asked them to submit a warranty claim with Specialized. Hopefully they will replace the wheel and I can ride the bike for longer than two days without breaking more spokes.

 

[bertschb]

Update:
Specialized decided to replace my OEM aluminum wheelset with Enve M635's (carbon fiber). Did my first ride with them today and no spokes broke! WhooHoo. Really impressed with the shop I bought my bike from as well as Specialized. Fantastic customer service!

 

[tacoma22]

Don’t go as low pressure as your regular bike. Depending on your weight..or how fast you ride..some Cush core’s could help as well.


I can get away with a bit lower pressure with my speed but if some of my buddys tried they would destroy wheels lol

 

[bertschb]

Don’t go as low pressure as your regular bike. Depending on your weight..or how fast you ride..some Cush core’s could help as well.

I'm actually running higher pressures on my Levo than my prior analog bike. I ran Cush Cores in my analog bike because I used that bike at the downhill bike park. Much higher speeds and loading and much rougher terrain than where I'm riding this Levo. Compared to my Stumpjumper, I'm riding this Levo like a Grandma just because the place where I ride in the winter is much different than back home. Just glad to have those OEM wheels (and broken spokes) behind me.

I'm going to get a new enduro bike for the bike park next summer. I'll use Cush Cores again for that bike. It will need them!

 

[Mikerb]

the probable moral of the story being that if you break a spoke it is no good just replacing that spoke without re-truing the wheel.

 

[bertschb]

They re-trued the wheel after each broken spoke was replace BUT, I'm thinking they didn't back off on the tension for all the remaining spokes and retighten them equally. Maybe that's what you are referring to?

I'm not a technician but it makes no sense to me that they would replace the wheels. At worst, I would think you could just replace all the spokes if some of them had experienced higher than expected loads after other spokes broke (and the remaining spokes weren't all torqued the same). Either way, I'm a very happy camper because I'm back to riding. The bike is working great right now. I switched to resin brake pads and they are working awesome! Zero noise. I was losing my hearing with the OEM metallic pads.

 

[Mikerb]

They re-trued the wheel after each broken spoke was replace BUT, I'm thinking they didn't back off on the tension for all the remaining spokes and retighten them equally. Maybe that's what you are referring to?

I'm not a technician but it makes no sense to me that they would replace the wheels. At worst, I would think you could just replace all the spokes if some of them had experienced higher than expected loads after other spokes broke (and the remaining spokes weren't all torqued the same). Either way, I'm a very happy camper because I'm back to riding. The bike is working great right now. I switched to resin brake pads and they are working awesome! Zero noise. I was losing my hearing with the OEM metallic pads.

Yes I was assuming the tension on all spokes would be checked first, then the wheel checked and adjustments made to true. Especially on a mtb I cannot imagine that a broken spoke would not apply excess tension on one or more spokes unless maybe the bike was unridden immediately after it broke.

 

[urastus]

I would also guess that it is the same location that all the spokes have broken. Replace the spoke, tighten it up till the wheel is true again without looking at spoke tensions. That spoke is in the same location and at the same tension as it's predecessors, and so the problem continues. It's good to see that specialized hasn't gone for a low spoke count on the rear - that would have made things worse. You could mark the location of the next broken spoke - if the theory is right it will happen again and again unless the mechanic is given the OK to spend more time on it and reset all spoke tensions. Or, buy a spoke tension gauge. I do all my own wheels - new bikes have some pretty wild tensions on individual spokes.

 

[bertschb]

I would also guess that it is the same location that all the spokes have broken.

They actually broke in different locations around the wheel. The reason I know is because they replaced all the broken spokes with chrome plated spokes. No black spokes in stock to match OEM.

 

[urastus]

They actually broke in different locations around the wheel. The reason I know is because they replaced all the broken spokes with chrome plated spokes. No black spokes in stock to match OEM.

that's concerning! I can't imagine they all had high tensions - usually there is one or two per wheel.

 

[Norcalsl]

How much do you weigh?

 

[bertschb]

How much do you weigh?

210lbs (6'4")