Levo Gen 2 Actual Rear Travel

[Tedgar]

Surprised my search on this came up dry.

Has anyone else actually measured their rear travel? I have 3 Levos in the garage. M, L and XL. 21019s and a 2020. I am getting consistent results. I fix something to the seat that extends over the rear axle i can get a tape on and run it perpendicular to the floor at the axle.

I get 143mm travel with the stock shock and 146mm with a 210x55 shock. Are these bikes not 150mm?

My super scientific method yields advertised results on my Trek.

 

[Bigtuna00]

I have always assumed travel is calculated using the arc of axle movement. Few 4-link bikes form a parallelogram (probably none?), so measurement in one plane of movement is going to be less than the true displacement.

 

[Tedgar]

Ahh. Now my brain hurts.

 

[Healy]

It gets to a time when its too technical, take it back to basics and ride and most importantly enjoy

 

[CjP]

If you want to measure travel, remove your rear wheel and stick a pencil where the axle goes through. Then get a board next to the bike and cycle the suspension while drawing your line. Obviously remove the coil spring or take out air first. Then just measure the arc.

 

[KeithR]

It really doesn't bother me: as long as I get the feel I want out of the rear, and don't routinely have to deal with harsh bottoming out, the suspension is doing its job as far as I'm concerned.

 

[GrandPaBrogan]

Surprised my search on this came up dry.

Has anyone else actually measured their rear travel? I have 3 Levos in the garage. M, L and XL. 21019s and a 2020. I am getting consistent results. I fix something to the seat that extends over the rear axle i can get a tape on and run it perpendicular to the floor at the axle.

I get 143mm travel with the stock shock and 146mm with a 210x55 shock. Are these bikes not 150mm?

My super scientific method yields advertised results on my Trek.

You’re working under the assumption that wheel travel measurement is the vertical displacement in relation to level ground. Maybe that’s how things are measured for cars I actually don’t know. Try remeasuring the travel of the rear axle from fully extended to fully compressed relative to the swingarm motion irrespective of level ground and see what you get. Maybe Specialized specs are based on that. I believe fork travel is measured that way too (the displacement of the front axle from fully extended to fully compressed) irrespective of the head angle and not the vertical travel of the front wheel in relation to a level plane.

Try not to sweat the small stuff.

 

[R120]

Most bikes dont have the travel as advertised, its pretty common. Brands just tend to round the trail up or down to the nearest 10mm. So a lot fo 150mm travel bikes may actually have 148mm, or 151mm, etc etc

 

[Tedgar]

You’re working under the assumption that wheel travel measurement is the vertical displacement in relation to level ground. Maybe that’s how things are measured for cars I actually don’t know. Try remeasuring the travel of the rear axle from fully extended to fully compressed relative to the swingarm motion irrespective of level ground and see what you get. Maybe Specialized specs are based on that. I believe fork travel is measured that way too (the displacement of the front axle from fully extended to fully compressed) irrespective of the head angle and not the vertical travel of the front wheel in relation to a level plane.

Try not to sweat the small stuff.

Yes I did have it fully extended. The weight of the bike was not enough to create any sag like my moto so I did not have to hang it.

I really don't care that much. I was just curious to see if the 55mm stroke actually added 7mm of travel.