Levo Gen 3 Gen 3 Levo Motor Noise

flash

E*POWAH Elite World Champion
Patreon
Nov 24, 2018
1,050
988
Wamberal, NSW Australia
I have this issue... but keep telling myself its how a 17K bike should sound...lol... till I rode Kanuga... and other sworks riders motors were quiet as a mouses ass.

Exactly how my two motors sounded. The third isn’t silent and does increase in volume but so far only to the same level as an ep-8mShimano.

I am keeping a close ear on it as I think it was slightly louder at the end of todays ride. If it goes I’ll keep on Specialised until I get a quiet one.

I’m sure it’s the belt expending with heat build up. I could feel it vibrating on the dodgy motors_ Specialised need to get this sorted and also they need to own up and acknowledge it’s a fairly widespread issue. And they better be working on a proper fix.

Belts snapping on the old and grinding on the new. No wonder the bikes are expensive. They need to factor in three or four motors for each bike.

Gordon
 

BudFox77

Member
Jun 5, 2019
15
0
Italy
I am changing the second motor hoping not to have this issue anymore. It is very embarrassing to ride in a group and only hear your motor screaming like a pissed off cat..

BTW, I have Levo PRO... My previous comp 2019 was silent as a church.
 
Last edited:

GeorgesEBike

E*POWAH Master
Subscriber
Jul 30, 2018
207
392
Verdi, NV
I just swapped the noisy motor on my Gen 3 Levo and the replacement is just as loud. My EP8 on my Bullit is dead silent compared.
 

SteveRS

Member
Jun 9, 2022
107
78
British Columbia Canada
My Levo Expert motor has a slight wine but nothing too loud. It was whisper quiet on my first ride, but at least it isn’t getting louder. I have over 800 km’s on the bike.
 

JSpencer77

Member
Feb 19, 2018
16
13
Concord, NC
I've had my 2022 Levo Comp Carbon for a week and it already needs the motor replaced. I couldn't believe how loud it was compared to my 2018 Levo. Sounds like Specialized is replacing the motors without much hassle at least. Hopefully I only have to do this once.
 

bikeguy11

Active member
Oct 9, 2019
103
65
Oregon
Same exact issue as Flash with the same S works model. I've had probably 10 Levos since they came out and all were pretty much silent, except for this $15k investment. Reached out to Big S several times with no response. And at least for me their rider "Customer Care" phone line is non existent. No one ever picks up the phone. About a month later I got a call, but only after I submitted a scathing review of their product on the Specialized site. Of course, it was never published. They have no record of my 3 voicemails and 2 customer care submission forms. Indeed disappointing to read about the "new and improved" Gen 3 motors.
 

akira

Member
Dec 9, 2021
163
73
SanDiego
Same exact issue as Flash with the same S works model. I've had probably 10 Levos since they came out and all were pretty much silent, except for this $15k investment. Reached out to Big S several times with no response. And at least for me their rider "Customer Care" phone line is non existent. No one ever picks up the phone. Indeed disappointing to read about the "new and improved" Gen 3 motors.
Submitting a Rider Care support request through the Specialized website has been very successful for me multiple times. Typical response is provided by the next business day.
 

SwissChess

Member
Aug 6, 2020
46
25
Switzerland
I have a 2022 Gen 3 Levo Pro and have had 3 noisey motors replaced in 700kms of riding , none of the motors have failed they just get really noisey similar to the one in the video I have linked which is not me


Latest motor was replaced this week and 3kms into the first climb it started making the same noise again so that is motor number 4

I weigh 100kg(220 pounds) and push the bike hard on fire road climbs in Turbo but the bike should be able to handle this and I am only just keeping up with friends on other brand bikes

2 motors have failed without the bikes even being washed
I ride at 90rpm cadence
Shuttle mode set to zero
Acceleration response was set to 40% on latest ride

I have my mastermind TCU set to display rider power and Bike power and I am regularly seeing 250w from me and 700w from the bike on a 25 minute climb

Is anyone else having similar issues as I am about to give up on this bike as it is so loud it is embarrassing to ride
My 6th Motor xxxx-20020923-xxxx (1600km) on my Kenevo (13k km total) sounds like yours. So the five before were silent but broke around (1k to 2k km) Belt, Water. I lost confidence as my Kenevo (Motor) spends too much time at the LBS.
 

Jeff H

Well-known member
May 19, 2019
207
200
San Jose, CA, USA
My front motor mount bolts were also under torqued. I adjusted to 9Nm. All others were at spec.
Regarding the torque spec for the front motor bolts, some docs posted here call for 6 nm and others 9 nm. The consensus seems to be 9 however I compared my paper manual to the pdf version on the USA Specialized website.

Paper manual is version R1 dated 9/20 and calls for 9 nm. (Same as @akira photo)

PDF manual is newer R2 dated 7/21 but calls for only 6 nm. Wtf?

The other posted docs aren’t dated best as I can tell.

Mine turned about 1/8 to 1/4 turn torqued to 6 nm. The other bolts were already at 18 nm per every doc I’ve seen. Gonna leave it at that until more authoritative confirmation.
 

akira

Member
Dec 9, 2021
163
73
SanDiego
Regarding the torque spec for the front motor bolts, some docs posted here call for 6 nm and others 9 nm. The consensus seems to be 9 however I compared my paper manual to the pdf version on the USA Specialized website.

Paper manual is version R1 dated 9/20 and calls for 9 nm. (Same as @akira photo)

PDF manual is newer R2 dated 7/21 but calls for only 6 nm. Wtf?

The other posted docs aren’t dated best as I can tell.

Mine turned about 1/8 to 1/4 turn torqued to 6 nm. The other bolts were already at 18 nm per every doc I’ve seen. Gonna leave it at that until more authoritative confirmation.
I contacted Specialized on this exact item. Rider Support did confirm that 9Nm is the correct torque spec for the front motor mount bolts.
 

Repsol

Member
Dec 25, 2021
189
81
Yorkshire
I've had my 2022 Levo Comp Carbon for a week and it already needs the motor replaced. I couldn't believe how loud it was compared to my 2018 Levo. Sounds like Specialized is replacing the motors without much hassle at least. Hopefully I only have to do this once.

Sounds like you bought my old one off them.
 

iXi

E*POWAH Master
Feb 17, 2019
436
331
Brisbane
Mine is fairly silent in eco at average cadence. In trail and turbo once it spins up there is a distinct whine. It's on par with my E8000 motor
 

danlorek

Member
Dec 23, 2020
3
1
Tegernsee
I recently picked up a 2022 Levo Comp Carbon and the first thing I noticed is how much louder this thing is compared to my 21 Kenevo which is definitely not whisper quiet but similar to my buddies Shimano setup. I also occasionally feel a bit of vibration as well.
It’s pretty damn embarrassing but it seems like there hasn’t been much luck replacing motors with some even doing this multiple times. I think this says Specialized does not have a definitive fix and is just throwing motors at people hoping to find a quiet one.
 

flash

E*POWAH Elite World Champion
Patreon
Nov 24, 2018
1,050
988
Wamberal, NSW Australia
I recently picked up a 2022 Levo Comp Carbon and the first thing I noticed is how much louder this thing is compared to my 21 Kenevo which is definitely not whisper quiet but similar to my buddies Shimano setup. I also occasionally feel a bit of vibration as well.
It’s pretty damn embarrassing but it seems like there hasn’t been much luck replacing motors with some even doing this multiple times. I think this says Specialized does not have a definitive fix and is just throwing motors at people hoping to find a quiet one.

Pretty much... My Expert Carbon's third motor is OK. And about the same as my Pro which turned up after a 10 month wait. Neither is silent under load but neither is louder than an EP8. That'll do me.

Gordon
 

iXi

E*POWAH Master
Feb 17, 2019
436
331
Brisbane
Mine is the same as my old Shimano e8000 it's just a different frequency. At low cadence it's fairly quiet but spin up around 100 rpm and it's whines.
 

danlorek

Member
Dec 23, 2020
3
1
Tegernsee
I went out on a ride yesterday on my 22 (been riding my 21 Kenevo a lot lately) and it was quiet when I started and got super loud after some climbing/time along with a noticeable vibration. It is pretty much identical to the posted videos in this thread so I reached out to the bike shop. :(
 

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