Levo Gen 3 Cascade Link 2022+ Levo Long Shock Kit

[westcoastmtbr]

Just to add my thoughts to this discussion I fitted the long-shock link and I'm very happy with it. It's on a 2022 Levo Gen-3 Pro S4. I fitted the alloy version of the long-shock link along with a Rockshox Vivid Ulitimate Coil with HBO. I'm 105kg (yes, I know a fat bastard) and live in the Alps so I'm generally climbing technical single-track or blasting down pretty steep and rocky stuff. I have gone with a 550lb spring which seems close enough for now but I bought a 600 in case it was too soft.

I had previously fitted a Vorsprung coil kit and extended the travel to 170mm on the Fox 38 forks. I had always found them to be harsh and very hard to set up, even with a 170 airspring and, whilst they were much better with the coil, they were not as good as I'd hoped. I solved this by fitting a slightly higher rated spring, 55lb/in instead of the 50lb/in I had originally put in and by changing the bath oil to 5wt Fox Teflon from the original recommendation of 0w30 Rockshox and by not using any grease on the bushes, I'm now just relying on the oil splashing about. I also didn't fit the shrink-wrap to the spring as I didn't think a big lump of plastic sitting halfway up it would improve small-bump compliance and it didn't look like it would rattle in a fork as big as the 38 either. I was right on both counts.

With coils all round and a 170/165mm travel setup instead of the stock 160/150mm the ride of the bike is transformed at both ends without, it seems to me, negatively impacting stability or geometry. I can go at least 20% faster on the really bumpy, flat-out stuff, and the improvements in small-bump performance on the flats and climbs coupled with the much better mid-stroke support on single track makes it really very impressive. The bike is finally 'nice', not 'ok'. The rear end is way better than the stock link and Fox X2. The sag was around 28% when I fitted the coil, although it's hard to get a really accurate measurement, and no clearance issues, at least not on my bike. I more go on feel and may experiment with the 600lb spring to see what that feels like but for now the 550 is fine. It pedals very nicely, doesn't bob much and sits up nicely when going uphill. Downhill it just soaks it all up in a controlled and tidy way, like a downhill bike does - you just point it and let the machine soak up the punishment and think about your lines and braking, not hanging on to an out of control bucking bronco. The front end with the Vorsprung coil, lighter oil and no shrink wrap is finally nice, not harsh and constantly bashing my hands. I can probably tune it all a bit better but I found the Rockshox to be pretty good with middle settings, just a little up from middle for rebound. The HBO is on one click for now, I'll see if I need to wind it up for the bike park in summer. For now on alpine single-track and fast, choppy descents and steeps I'm very pleased and the combination of the coil fork and coil rear with revised linkage seems to be very harmonious.

So all in all very positive. Upgrading both front and rear was not cheap, close to 1500 euros and a bit of time to set it all up but, in my opinion, this turns the bike into the weapon it should always have been, not the poorly sprung, harsh pogo-stick it came as when I bought it. The Fox X2 had always leaked and whilst it was very reactive, it would never really sit at the right sag when climbing, even with two tokens, and it always seemed to chew through 60% of the travel just with the weight shift due to the climb - or maybe that is somewhat the link/coil combo that has improved this? The two conversions have added probably 1.5kg to the bike but at a porky 105kg I can always go on a diet if this bothers me and not drinking beer is a lot cheaper than trick components! For an e-bike, it really isn't an issue and coming from dirt-bikes that weigh 105kg (and that's for a light two-stroke, more like 125kg for a four-stroke), 23-24kg is still very light to ride and weight does tend to make the suspension work well if you're not too bothered about doing tail-whips in the air. My days of tail whips, rather like my days of elegant dancing, are now sadly long gone...!

This has been my experience, anyway. I hope it's useful to some others who might be thinking about this conversion...

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Excellent write up. Looking at doing a very similar set up. Have the Cascade Long Kit, and agree it will ride much better with 170 up front.