Levo SL Gen 1 A Change of Levo - new things and a better bike - Revolution not Evolution

[Hootch280]

I've ridden a Levo Comp 6Fatte for 3 years - purchased it new in 2017 - its been great and a lot of fun for my stye of trail riding but the SL caught my attention as an opportunity to try something new.
So for those of you that are considering the SL vs the full fat Levo I thought I'd share some of my observations and thoughts
I'd watched some of Rob's YouTube stuff and thought i was taking the right route but there are always a lot of unanswered questions -and a lot of money at stake for a wrong choice. I put my Levo Comp up for sale and it went in a heart beat for good money so a choice had to be made.
I was looking at the SL Carbon Comp or an Expert. With a bit of research I managed to buy a new Carbon Expert with a discount for the price of a Carbon Comp - 6.2K verses 6K so it was a no brainer - and I love carbon.
So it took 4 days for it to arrive and that time as spent thinking about all I'd done to the old Alloy Levo Comp 6Fatte and could or would I need to make those changes to the new bike.
I'd hacked the speed limiter - I don't know why people spend all that money on some gizmo for doing that when 5 mins with your phone and the job is done for free but there you go. I'd changed the front Chain ring to 36 tooth because I found myself always in the top two gears after the 'speed upgrade' - which as done incidentally because in standard from when you hit the limit be work load got real heavy and was very noticeable. I run a Garmin 820 set up on the bike - would this recognise the speed and Cadence now supplied by the bike ? So all this needed investigating and that's what the 4 days waiting were filled with.
OK so now I have the sublime SL and I can answer all those question that may be of interest to others now its been built and ridden some 50 miles.
This bike is so much different from the full fat version and you don't notice the, only 35 Nm of Torgue. When you hit max speed the bike is so light you pass the speed limit with your own input. You don't hit a wall as with the old bike with the motor cutting in and out, resulting extra load on your effort doesn't happen in a noticeable way. I currently can't seee but there you go. I'd changed the front Chain ring to 36 tooth because I found myself always in the top two gears after the 'speed upgrade' - which as done incidentally because in standard from when you hit the limit be work load got real heavy and was very noticeable. I run a Garmin 820 set up on the bike - would this recognise the speed and Cadence now supplied by the bike ? So all this needed investigating and that's what the 4 days waiting were filled with.
any need to hack the wheel size on this SL.This was the main reason on the old bike for hacking the limiter not to do 40 mph
Change the Chainring for a few more teeth - you can't currently. The SL has a 94BCD chainring spider which is Specialized's own and there is but one chainring available on the market and its 30T. Now a Levo Spider 104BCD might do it but you've got to get one and right now, because of the way the bike rides and the tune-ablity of the modes via the App I don't think I'm going o be needing to do that either - but now much time I spend the top gears of the cassette remains to be seen.
Garmin with the new bike combines the speed and Cadence sensor and as result, in Connect you no longer get Cadence data so I will be reverting to adding the Garmin sensors to the bike. I still had to fit, what was my mode shift button on the old bike, to the new on so I can page thought the screens on the Garmin display but the mode buttons no longer work - but it does display selected mode and battery percentage.
The bike is turning out to be perfect for my needs - a new era in eBikes for sure - looking forward to fine tuning it and putting some miles on it.

 

[paquo]

I think there are others but they also make this in an hg+ to work with the shimano link so tou can go full xt

94 BCD (SRAM) Round

 

[Hootch280]

Thanks for that - I'll check that out because Ive struggled to find any 94 BCD chainrings - this give a lot of options

 

[boBE]

You may need a new internet browser. Blackspire and Wolftooth (and probably others) make 34 T in 94 BCD. I installed a Wolftooth on my SL.
Please provide some information on how to hack the speed limit with a cellphone.

 

[Hootch280]

Yep I have admit I only looked at Sram and a few other UK options and didn't think to look further - which is mad since I had the bike shipped from Europe! Wolftooth look like they have what I need - as you found out !
The hack I ran for 3 years on my Levo Comp Fattie. All the electronic options on the market are doing writing to the same bit of code in the ECU of the bike - I looked at the code on my new SL and its still the same as for the Brose motor. The free LightBlue app lets you connect, look at and change the Hex code for different wheel sizes - that is all the Levociraptor is doing for you - at great expense. Each switch position is just writing a new code for different wheel sizes - in mm. and giving you a higher theoretical max speed. You will notice that the mission control App has a wheel size that you can't change - but a Specialized approved dealer can. Also the 15 mph /25 km limit is for Europe and the UK - its 20mph in the US so it is sort of legit to make a change. If you size down to 800mm you never get to the cut off ! Works out at about 90Km ph - way beyond cycling speed !

 

[boBE]

LightBlue is interesting! Specialized has added some checks to the firmware that may block it, Levociraptor does not work for the SL bikes. I guess there is only one way to find out but all I need is to set it for my 27.5" wheels, my LBS can do that *if* they ever get the time.
Maybe someone else can try LightBlue on a SL... "very dangerous, you go first." Raiders of the Lost Ark

 

[Hootch280]

Ha Ha - I'll let you know how i get on

 

[Hootch280]

LightBlue is interesting! Specialized has added some checks to the firmware that may block it, Levociraptor does not work for the SL bikes. I guess there is only one way to find out but all I need is to set it for my 27.5" wheels, my LBS can do that *if* they ever get the time.
Maybe someone else can try LightBlue on a SL... "very dangerous, you go first." Raiders of the Lost Ark

Have you switched out your 29 for 27.5 ? with fat tyres ? Was thinking of that option having had 6Fatties on my last bike and love the grip and the ride.

 

[randycpu]

I demo'd a Levo SL Expert this week and used my Garmin 510 from my 2016 6Fat Levo to record my rides. The Garmin found the speed, cadence, and rider power outputs and they all displayed and recorded perfectly.

I used LightBlue on my 2016 Levo to remove the 20 MPH restriction. In 2018, Specialized changed the architecture to use a "TCU" for the brains. When they did this they added security restrictions onto the Bluetooth connection such that you can no longer use LightBlue (or any other known hacks) to change the wheel circumference to remove the speed restrictions. But do let us know what you discover...

 

[boBE]

Have you switched out your 29 for 27.5 ? with fat tyres ? Was thinking of that option having had 6Fatties on my last bike and love the grip and the ride.

27.5" but not fat, 2.2 wide. I wanted to lower the bike and get quicker steering. after about 600 miles I am happy with how the bike rides and steers on the 27.5.
AS far as I can tell we have to connect to the TCU through the USB port to change wheel circumference and will need to hack a dealer ID and password to do it. Even then there may be a minimum wheel size restriction that is not much smaller than as delivered.

 

[Hootch280]

I demo'd a Levo SL Expert this week and used my Garmin 510 from my 2016 6Fat Levo to record my rides. The Garmin found the speed, cadence, and rider power outputs and they all displayed and recorded perfectly.

I used LightBlue on my 2016 Levo to remove the 20 MPH restriction. In 2018, Specialized changed the architecture to use a "TCU" for the brains. When they did this they added security restrictions onto the Bluetooth connection such that you can no longer use LightBlue (or any other known hacks) to change the wheel circumference to remove the speed restrictions. But do let us know what you discover...

Yep you are right there seems to be no way into the TCU settings with LightBlue - it tried it, it does no harm but it does not accept changes.
Having done about 100 miles now, the way the power is delivered - and the maximum output at 240 Watts, the fact that when the speed limit is reached its not like hitting a wall as on the 2017 Levo when the assistance died. I'm finding, on the same circuits my times, speeds, battery use mirroring previous recordings on the old bike - even in Eco mode - only difference is some more input from myself.

I managed to sort the Garmin connections. It seems that the Power sensor on the older Levos was not a specific connection ( sensor ) to pair with but integral in the Bike connection. So I've ended up with connecting to the bikes Speed / Cadence sensor, the bikes Power sensor and not the bike sensor its self for battery and mode display but using an app for that info and having all the data I was looking to get without needing to if the Garmin sensors.

I've got a 34 Tooth Chainring on delivery - just to tryout, but outside that I'm well pleased with the bike - fits exactly in that gap between the Levo Full fat version and standard FSR's. Miss the 27.5 Fatties but outside that I don't think I will be changing anything else on the bike - which is a first for me. The brakes ( Sram G2 RSC ) are way better than the Glides on the old bike. The GS shifter does have a habit of double bouncing on the upshift when downhill rough riding which is a bit of a pain but I don't think I will be rushing out to upgrade to AXS - although I would like to try it !

 

[Hootch280]

27.5" but not fat, 2.2 wide. I wanted to lower the bike and get quicker steering. after about 600 miles I am happy with how the bike rides and steers on the 27.5.
AS far as I can tell we have to connect to the TCU through the USB port to change wheel circumference and will need to hack a dealer ID and password to do it. Even then there may be a minimum wheel size restriction that is not much smaller than as delivered.

Yep you are right there seems to be no way into the TCU settings with LightBlue - I tried it, it does no harm but it does not accept changes.
Having done about 100 miles now, the way the power is delivered - and the maximum output is 240 Watts, the fact that when the speed limit is reached its not like hitting a wall as on the 2017 Levo when the assistance died. I'm finding, on the same circuits my times, speeds, battery use mirroring previous recordings on the old bike - even in Eco mode - only difference is some more input for myself.
I'm well pleased with the bike - fits exactly in that gap between the Levo Full fat version and standard FSR's. Miss the 27.5 Fatties but outside that I don't think I will be changing anything else on the bike - which is a first for me. The brakes ( Sram G2 RSC ) are way better than the Glides on the old bike. The GS shifter does have a habit of double bouncing on the upshift when downhill rough riding which is a bit of a pain but I don't think I will be rushing out to upgrade to AXS - although I would like to try it !

 

[paquo]

I don't think I will be changing anything else on the bike - which is a first for me.

oh i'm sure you will find something