I just wanted to put together a small first ride review on my new 22 Levo Expert.
First off, some of you may know that I am serial bike swapper, this year alone I've had 3 ebikes including this one as I am always trying to find that "unicorn" bike !!
First off was a 21 Whyte E150 s 29er: Great bike but I found the suspension a bit to firm (the rear travel was measured at 134mm by some tester which is a way off the claimed 150mm). It was a great bike for long day rides but a bit of a boat/handful through the twisties.
Next up was a 21 Orbea Wild FS H10: again a great bike and seriously plush suspension that flattered my riding but it felt very short in XL.
To give a bit of context Im 6 foot 1 and longer in body than in leg and always struggle with bike fit. I like a bigger bike but to get a decent reach and length in the top tube I find that I need an XL. unfortunately this means that seat tube lengths are quite long (The Whyte and orbea seat tubes were 483mm) which means I cant run a decent length dropper and find it hard to get over the back of them.
Before plumping for the spesh I looked at and considered loads of bikes: YT decoy, Megawatt, /Whyte e160, Focus Sam and Jam, Vitus etc etc.
I absolutely didn't want to spend this much on a bike, £8750 is a lot of money. I had hoped that Spesh would bring the alloy versions out but there is still no news on them.
However you only live once and I now find myself riding an S5 Levo expert in the dark red colour.
Had my first ride Saturday with a friend around my local woods that I ride most frequently. First ride in nearly two months and to be honest I'm a bit unfit.
Straight away I could tell the bike was a good fit, its easy to move around on and the seat riding position is very comfy. I also found it very easy to get over the back as the saddle could be slammed well out of the way due to the short seat tube.
Suspension wise: I've literally set the sag on the fork and shock and just went riding, no idea what the rebound or compression settings are currently but can tell there is a lot more to come from them. The rear end felt a bit dead to be honest with the standard settings so will definitely having a play. I had to look down occasionally just to make sure it was working. It does feel very progressive and even at the correct sag I struggled to bottom it out.
Cornering: The way this thing corners is unreal, I've had to try and relearn cornering as it wants to corner quicker than I think. It really is easy to thread through the tight twisty tracks and corners likes its on rails round berms. Mullet seems to be the way forward!
Tyres: Still trying to figure these out. I've set them up tubeless and they feel ok so far but not amazing. I'm used to riding with Maxxis Assegai up front and DHR on the back. I found the rear spesh tyre to be very susceptible to pressure and it would squirm around quite a lot when ran slightly lower pressure.
Motor and battery: I ran the motor in trail and turbo most of the time, did 22 miles and 2600ft and came home with 30% battery. The motor feels very natural pedalling wise and very different to the bosch gen4's Ive had before. I couldn't tell much difference between trail and turbo to be honest. Motor is quieter than the bosch motors but still made some noise.
Brakes and gears: I wont mention these as they worked just as expected. However, as a die hard Shimano fan I found the Code RS brakes to be very good indeed.
I like that there is no big display cluttering the bars and it makes the bike feel even more like a normal bike.
Overall so far Im extremely happy with it. Its quiet, there are no rattles and it seems well put together.
Cheers
Steve
First off, some of you may know that I am serial bike swapper, this year alone I've had 3 ebikes including this one as I am always trying to find that "unicorn" bike !!
First off was a 21 Whyte E150 s 29er: Great bike but I found the suspension a bit to firm (the rear travel was measured at 134mm by some tester which is a way off the claimed 150mm). It was a great bike for long day rides but a bit of a boat/handful through the twisties.
Next up was a 21 Orbea Wild FS H10: again a great bike and seriously plush suspension that flattered my riding but it felt very short in XL.
To give a bit of context Im 6 foot 1 and longer in body than in leg and always struggle with bike fit. I like a bigger bike but to get a decent reach and length in the top tube I find that I need an XL. unfortunately this means that seat tube lengths are quite long (The Whyte and orbea seat tubes were 483mm) which means I cant run a decent length dropper and find it hard to get over the back of them.
Before plumping for the spesh I looked at and considered loads of bikes: YT decoy, Megawatt, /Whyte e160, Focus Sam and Jam, Vitus etc etc.
I absolutely didn't want to spend this much on a bike, £8750 is a lot of money. I had hoped that Spesh would bring the alloy versions out but there is still no news on them.
However you only live once and I now find myself riding an S5 Levo expert in the dark red colour.
Had my first ride Saturday with a friend around my local woods that I ride most frequently. First ride in nearly two months and to be honest I'm a bit unfit.
Straight away I could tell the bike was a good fit, its easy to move around on and the seat riding position is very comfy. I also found it very easy to get over the back as the saddle could be slammed well out of the way due to the short seat tube.
Suspension wise: I've literally set the sag on the fork and shock and just went riding, no idea what the rebound or compression settings are currently but can tell there is a lot more to come from them. The rear end felt a bit dead to be honest with the standard settings so will definitely having a play. I had to look down occasionally just to make sure it was working. It does feel very progressive and even at the correct sag I struggled to bottom it out.
Cornering: The way this thing corners is unreal, I've had to try and relearn cornering as it wants to corner quicker than I think. It really is easy to thread through the tight twisty tracks and corners likes its on rails round berms. Mullet seems to be the way forward!
Tyres: Still trying to figure these out. I've set them up tubeless and they feel ok so far but not amazing. I'm used to riding with Maxxis Assegai up front and DHR on the back. I found the rear spesh tyre to be very susceptible to pressure and it would squirm around quite a lot when ran slightly lower pressure.
Motor and battery: I ran the motor in trail and turbo most of the time, did 22 miles and 2600ft and came home with 30% battery. The motor feels very natural pedalling wise and very different to the bosch gen4's Ive had before. I couldn't tell much difference between trail and turbo to be honest. Motor is quieter than the bosch motors but still made some noise.
Brakes and gears: I wont mention these as they worked just as expected. However, as a die hard Shimano fan I found the Code RS brakes to be very good indeed.
I like that there is no big display cluttering the bars and it makes the bike feel even more like a normal bike.
Overall so far Im extremely happy with it. Its quiet, there are no rattles and it seems well put together.
Cheers
Steve
