Custom Build | S-Works Levo Frame Up

[Trikk]

Hi riders,
Firstly, thanks the great reads over the last few years. Been a while since I was active on any forum, but here goes.

My new eMTB buld rundown: (Incomplete)

2022 S-Works Turbo Levo:

PART:	DESCRIPTION:
	FRAME
Frame	S-Works Turbo Levo - Blue Ghost Fade - S3
Dropper Post	Rockshox Reverb AXS Dropper
Seat	S-Works Power Carbon
Front Axle	Burgtec Fox Boost 2021+ Front Fork Axle - 15x110mm - Deep Blue
Rear Axle	Burgtec Specialized 172mm Rear Axle - Deep Blue M12 x 1.0mm
	SUSPENSION
Fork	Fox 38 Factory Grip 2, QR 15x110 44mm Rake Shiny Black
	COCKPIT
Bars	Hope 35mm Carbon
Stem	Renthal Apex 40mm
Multi-Tool	Swat Steerer Tool
Grips	Deity Supracush Single Clamp Lock On Grips - Stealth
	BRAKES
Brakes	Hope Tech 4 V4 - Black/Blue
Rotors	Hope Floating Disc Rotor 220mm - Blue - Front and Rear
Caliper Spacers	Hope Mount M - 180-220
Control Mounts	Hope Tech 4 Sram AXS Shifter Mount - RH
Control Mounts	Hope Tech 4 Sram AXS Shifter Mount - LH
	WHEELS
Wheel	Race Face Next R31 27.5" 12x148mm Boost Rear (SRAM XD), 15x110 Front Carbon Wheels
Tires	Maxxis Assegai Tyres - TR - Folding - DD - WT - 3C Maxx Grip - 2.5 Inch - 27.5 Inch / 29 Inch
Cush Core	Cush Core Pro Mullet Kit
Tubeless Valves	Chris King x Peatys - Navy
	PROTECTION
RideWrap	Matte Tailored Kit - RWSPECIALIZEDTURBOLEVO20212729CS3 - Matte
	MISC. ACCESSORIES
Fox Mudguard	Fox Mud Guard Fender - Fox 36/38 Boost X/Large
Bottle	Fidlock Transparant Black 590ml + Mount

And so it begins...

New Bike Frame Day!

Quick mock up with the fork. Bike was wrapped using a tailored kit from RideWrap. Awesome product.

Love this full carbon S-Works Power saddle.

Waiting for parts...

Brakes arrived!

Flashy..

**Drool Noises**

Bars Arrived. Brakes mounted, rear brake line side changed and brake bleed done, AXS Dropper installed, Cranks Installed.

It's Winter here... First time seeing it in the sun.

It's the little things..

As it sits currently..

As you can see it's been a slow process. accumulating parts/money lol, researching etc. Just enjoying the build, taking my time, as I mentioned it is winter here in Australia and not the best riding weather.

Parts still to come:
Stem will be replaced to a Hope Gravity 50mm in Black (Hard to get in Aus)
Full Sram AXS X01 drivetrain, gold cassette, gold chain.
Cascade Link Long Shock Kit with EXT E-Storia (Maybe)
Toying with idea of Blue Hope headset spacers, don't want to get too "busy" and OTT
Hope F22 Pedals (Again, hard to find)
Full decal set, forks/shock/rims
Vorsprung Secus
and some Ti bolts here and there..

Stay tuned for more picture updates, look forward to meeting some new people and having a chat.

Thanks,
Ben

 

[Makaany]

great build

 

[Trikk]

Thanks Makaany,

Fitted the drivetrain this weekend finally…

 

[brentonb]

looking the biz

 

[Trikk]

So the weather finally held off enough for me to get out for the first ride and dial some things in...

A long time coming, almost 2 months to build, I headed to my local spot for a quick shred after work yesterday.

First impressions are great, although I have ridden a Levo before, not as long as this. First time with a mullet wheel size, definitely likes to turn more and 29/29.

Coming from a coil rear 29/29 YT Decoy, the X2 air shock left a bit to be desired at the small end but I'm sure with some more precise bracketing I can dial in the setup a bit further, I've had a DPX2 work really nicely before, hopefully this is the same.

Descending was great, nothing too gnarly yet though, forks are great. Running quite a plush setup, made a few adjustments on-ride just going off feel and the o-ring indicator. A few more rides and I will have it spot on.
Thing loves to jump, my tables and whips were super easy and felt much more easy to get the back wheel around, maybe due to mullet?

Anyways...

Hope Stem and F22 Pedals are ordered.

Next on the list is going to be the decals as I don't like the orange on the forks at all, ruins the whole theme I think.

Stay Tuned
Ben

 

[Trikk]

Took it out yesterday for a really decent shakedown, Fork is suoer dialed now, still can't get the X2 to feel as plush as I like without bottom out. Will get a coiple of volume spacers and go from there.
Here is my ride on Strava if anyone cares lol

Mudguard is on now, bit of rain about lately.

Still waiting for new Hope parts..

Cheers,
Ben

 

[Christurbo]

Nice, are you considering the cascade short or long travel link? I recommend the latter with a nice coil shock.

 

[Trikk]

Nice, are you considering the cascade short or long travel link? I recommend the latter with a nice coil shock.

Yes, considering the long travel link to ramp up to progressiveness and travel of it, looking at the EXT E-Storia to pair with that. Being in Aus, it makes the combo quite pricey though

 

[Trikk]

New Hope goodies arrived...

Getting very close to the final build now.
More rain here has drowned my local spot so no riding this weekend. Next week however is looking mint.

 

[Mamba90]

What an awesome build. What crank length did you go for by the way?

 

[Nobrks]

Nice buildt! Have you weighted the bike ?

 

[Trikk]

What an awesome build. What crank length did you go for by the way?

Thank mate, Cranks are the factory Praxxis Carbon 160mm pair. Haven't had much of a problem with strikes so far, Most likely upgrade to Hope 150's or something when these wear out.

Nice buildt! Have you weighted the bike ?

Thanks Nobrks, yeah currently as it sits with 2.5 DD Assegai's + Cushcore front and rear. 120cc of sealant and empty drink bottle it's weighing 23.8kg. I'm no weight weenie, that seems quite reasonable tbh.

 

[Trikk]

Have gotten in over 400km on the bike now, been great so far.
Shock still sucks, haven't done the volume spacers yet though...

Beautiful shot down at my local spot.


Keen eyed viewers may notice my off colour seat... Had to swap to an old Supacaz spare I had due to this...

The thing got real wobbly on me one ride, had a look and they were both cracked.. Slid them up into the clamp and got it home.. LBS and Spec warrantied it instantly and I now have the Ti railed Power Expert with mirror.. Probably a blessing in disguise as the credit for this seat let me buy the new seat and a new jersey, and new gloves.... lol

Should've gone with Ti rails from the start but I have a carbon fetish haha

Cheers

 

[Trikk]

Few new parts to add to the list.

New seat is great!
Specialised Power Expert with Mirror.

Finally got my hands on the Hope Tech 4 LH mount for the AXS shifter
Makes the cockpit look so neat.

Also swapped grips back over to my old favourites, the Ergon GE1 Factory Evo.
Such a great grip. Had been using Deity Supracush for the last year but forgot how good these actually are.. so I got a fresh set..

And finally I got my hands on the blue Hope headset spacers, glad I did these, really sets off the build. Seems small but it makes a big difference for some reason.

Happy Trails
Cheers,
Ben

 

[Trikk]

Decided to rebuild the Fox 38 air spring today.. mid stroke and bottom felt okay but the initial stroke and suppleness just wasn’t there.
I suspected due to grease covered negative air spring…

The ports were covered and caked in excess grease…

Still amazes me that Fox still hasn’t jumped on their techs to fix this issue.
I think they are going by the mantra “better to have too much than too little”

I have done this to a set of 34’s and 36’s with the same issue.

Had to make a tool for the 38 rebuild though..

Bullet tool for air spring re-assembly. Could’ve bought one, but that’s no fun..

All back together now, lo and behold, supple and nice off the top now like my other forks. It’s seemed like there was a lot of stiction from the stanchions also. Re-soaked the foam rings and slick honey’d the wipers.. perfect.

Highly recommend people do this to their Fox forks, especially 36 and below, it’s even easier than 38’ . Relatively cheap to do and really easy. Biggest outlay is the oil for each side really, but you get enough for years of services..

Plenty of source material on YT on how and why to do this also.

Cheers,
Ben

 

[Trikk]

Another saddle bites the dust…

The top cover over the foam has started to lift up. Looks like the glue has failed or was faulty at that point.
This was after only 2 rides. LBS said it’s pretty rare for this to happen.
Anyways, decided to go for a Ergon SM E-Mountain Pro now. On order, just waiting for it to come in.
Will try that one and if it doesn’t suit me I’m keen to try one of the SQLab 60x infinergy models, they look interesting.

Perfect day for riding last weekend, smashed some PR’s and finally got the KOM I was trying for at my local spot. Stoked on that!

Cheers,
Ben

 

[Christurbo]

Nice updates and well done on the KOM

 

[Trikk]

Got ahold of some X2 volume spacers. Threw in all 3 straight up. Will remove if I can’t reach 95% travel in my normal riding, which I doubt. Opened up the compression circuits and retuned to what I think will ride well with the extra ramp up.

Also got a few Ti rotors bolts, needed some for another build so I’ll swap these ones out for Ti.

Have ordered my SLIK GRAPHICS fork/shock and wheel decals. Should look killer when they’re installed.
Stay tuned

 

[Trikk]

New seat arrived!

Quite comfortable, it is an SM E-Mountain Pro from Ergon. Almost went for the core version but don't like the look of the big bit of core material and I ride so often and so long that I rarely ever get sore.

Got my Slik Graphics kit, will install them this weekend and post up a pic

Also, the X2 with 3 volume spacers is much better. It feels slightly more "Bottomless" now although at can still bottom it on the big huck to flats.
Went from 260psi / slow comp circuits to 3x vol spacers and 230psi / mid-open comp circuits and ended up here:

It was on the bottom later on in the ride, I suspect a wrong line choice was to blame. But we are getting somewhere now... until I slap a coil on it.

 

[Trikk]

Pretty stoked on how the SLIK Graphics kit turned out..

 

[dcrider]

Sick bike!

 

[Trikk]

Shot in the wild.

No major plans incoming, looking to swap rear tire out for a DHR2. The Rear MaxxGrip Assegai is making the front push sightly and makes it a hard to break the rear loose. So much grip on the trails though.

 

[Trikk]

So I ended up cutting the rear Assegai MaxxGrip the other day. Excuse to change over to a DHR2.

Decided to change the front over to a DHF as well. Been at least 5 years on the Assegai front.

The grip level is noticeably different on different parts of the tire. DHF on edge, so much more predictable and planted, whereas the Assegai has a ton of all round grip but is so sketchy on edge at the limit, then it just lets go. This is the reason I initially looked to change back to DHF.
Don’t get me wrong, Assegai is a great tire but if I had to choose it would be DHF all day over the Assegai, I think the hype had everyone jaded.. I probably won’t put another Assegai on the front again, I just don’t like that weird Grip, Grip….No Grip feeling on edge.

Added a couple of other Hope bits like the seat clamp and rear magnet.
Burgtec rear axle installed.
Looking at some Hope cranks I think.

Rear shock is still not the greatest, but that’s no surprise. It’s about as good as it gets at the moment.

Cheers
Ben