How long will Specialized make parts for the Levo?

[Surge]

Does anyone know?
Now that the Levo can cost more than a motorcycle, and given how quickly bikes depreciate, it makes sense to know if Specialized will support a 10 year old Levo SL that needs a new motor or circuit board. Thoughts?

 

[Simoto123]

If anyone will it’ll be Specialized I reckon.

 

[Surge]

If anyone will it’ll be Specialized I reckon.

Hope so! And I see there are 3rd party firms that will repair or service.

Is it a Brose motor in the new SL?
I am slowly warming up to the (massive) price difference!

 

[TomH79]

Hope so! And I see there are 3rd party firms that will repair or service.

Is it a Brose motor in the new SL?
I am slowly warming up to the (massive) price difference!

Motor is mahle/spesh

 

[Surge]

How reliable have the Mahle motors been in the Creo? Trading off a Swiss-made Brose for a Spanish (I think) made Mahle is not a great sign... but that may not mean that much.

 

[Peko]

Both are Made-in-Germany. So you will never get a problem with one of them

 

[Beekeeper]

In 10 years time we will all be flying around in e-copters ?

 

[Peko]

From Spesh? Maybe in a Helinevo?

 

[#lazy]

I think after the big war we’ll all be to busy looking for rats to eat than worrying about what spesh have in stock ??

 

[Beekeeper]

I think after the big war we’ll all be to busy looking for rats to eat than worrying about what spesh have in stock ??

These e-bikes are so damn expensive I wouldn’t be surprised if many of us are at the rat-eating stage already ? ?

 

[Surge]

I've asked Mahle this question and they said they are only supplying parts for the SL for TWO YEARS. The motor is designed for a 10,000km service life.

That seems very short! It's a big problem. What do you do in year 3 when you have have 11,000 km on your bike? Mahle is not going to provide parts.

I also asked a Specialized rep the same question and he basically said "not to worry about it", but would not give a straight answer. I asked an SVP at Specialized the same question, whom I met, but he declined to answer.

I know we can turn to 3rd party shops for service, but it's highly disconcerting to know that our (very) expensive Levos can become heavy non-powered bikes in just 2 years.

What do you guys think about this?! Especially those of you who boast covering ~1000km in a few weeks. That means than in ~10 weeks you'll have exceeded the design service life of the motor and gears.

 

[Slowroller]

3 years, sure. 10 years? You're dreaming.

 

[Surge]

Why am I dreaming? The motor and gears are only going to be supported for TWO years. Is that acceptable to you? It's not 3, but I think that's also too short. You have a bike that costs between USD6525 and 16525.
If it's out of service in 2 years, it becomes a (bad and overpriced) Stumpjumper.
If we don't raise this issue with Specialized, no one will.

Hi, XXX,
Thank you for contacting us.

The eDrive unit is developed for a lifetime of 2 years / 10.000km.
In addition to having a two-year warranty. Obviously after those two years of warranty there is the possibility of needing some kind of maintenance. Also depending on the use you give to your bike.
About the electronics I cannot give you details because it is not ours.

Best regards
Sincerely

Abigail


Hello EbikeMotion

C/ Los Orfebres 10, 34004
Palencia, Spain
t: (+34) 810 101 201
e: [email protected]ebikemotion.com

 

[salko]

You are mixing a warranty period (2 years) and obigation to provide spare parts & repair, which is a lot more that 2 years in EU, AFAIK in general it has to be for a lifetime of a product or at least 7 years ...

 

[Surge]

You are mixing a warranty period (2 years) and obigation to provide spare parts & repair, which is a lot more that 2 years in EU, AFAIK in general it has to be for a lifetime of a product or at least 7 years ...

I'm not mixing the concepts. Right now Mahle is saying the warranty period (2 years) is also the lifetime of the product. i.e., they are not committing to anything beyond 2 years.

Hopefully we can change their stance, but for now they are only going to make parts for 2 years.

 

[salko]

Well, every manufacturer has to follow (US, EU, local, etc.) obligations/laws, not matter what they say in their terms & conditions. For example Spesh generally does not give rolling warranty on Brose motors, but in my country we have a obligation law which makes rolling warranty for any crucial components of the product mandatory, so if Spesh sells bikes here, it has to obey these laws.
If this statement really came from Mahle, then they made very clear that they are not staying behind their product(s). And market sooner or later responds to such things ...

 

[Surge]

Right, agreed. It did come from Mahle’s e-bike division. I am not making it up

I have a Levo SL Founders on order, and if I can’t keep it running for a decade, it’s going to be hard to justify the cost, or to buy another e-bike that doesn’t have better support.

Bike manufacturers need to realize that they need to step up their support duration — if they are charging motorcycle fees, then they need more than 2 years of commitment to support the product.

 

[Slowroller]

Why am I dreaming? The motor and gears are only going to be supported for TWO years. Is that acceptable to you? It's not 3, but I think that's also too short. You have a bike that costs between USD6525 and 16525.
If it's out of service in 2 years, it becomes a (bad and overpriced) Stumpjumper.
If we don't raise this issue with Specialized, no one will.

If you break a 10 year old Specialized frame and want a replacement, they're not going to trudge to the back of a huge warehouse and dust off one from the stack they keep just in case. They don't keep backstock like that. In the best case scenario, they're going to offer you a small discount on a new frame. IME, once you get a few years out from new, spare parts start to dwindle, it doesn't matter how much you paid for your bike originally. And that's for regular old bike parts, not the sophisticated electronics we have, motors that only have a couple year model life and batteries that can degrade simply sitting in storage. If you fry a circuit board 8 years in, I think you'll be reduced to ebay for a replacement, Specialized will have long since moved on.

You'll be able to find aftermarket people to supply some of it, like batteries, or rebuild it if you really want to. I think the silver lining to Brose motors dying with such regularity is that you all in the UK can keep rolling warrantying them for a long time.

 

[Paceman]

There are already companies emerging who will service/rebuild the Brose motors. Batteries will hopefully follow or aftermarket alternatives become available.

 

[miPbiP]

Love it as I do, post-warranty resale value (or functionality if I keep it!) on my Levo is definitely a concern.

I'd love an SL too but this issue, wrapped into cost (they're inseparable) is preventing me progressing that.

If Spesh are serious about dominating the ebike market (and it appears they are) they have to resolve this as we're now moving away from tolerant early adopters to mainstream positioning.

 

[Surge]

There are already companies emerging who will service/rebuild the Brose motors. Batteries will hopefully follow or aftermarket alternatives become available.

Yes, this is our only hope. There are companies that will replace all the cells in the battery. And others that will replace bearings in the motor. The circuit boards and other custom parts will only be replaceable if we have spares, however.

 

[Kiwi in Wales]

If you break a 10 year old Specialized frame and want a replacement, they're not going to trudge to the back of a huge warehouse and dust off one from the stack they keep just in case. They don't keep backstock like that. In the best case scenario, they're going to offer you a small discount on a new frame. IME, once you get a few years out from new, spare parts start to dwindle, it doesn't matter how much you paid for your bike originally. And that's for regular old bike parts, not the sophisticated electronics we have, motors that only have a couple year model life and batteries that can degrade simply sitting in storage. If you fry a circuit board 8 years in, I think you'll be reduced to ebay for a replacement, Specialized will have long since moved on.

You'll be able to find aftermarket people to supply some of it, like batteries, or rebuild it if you really want to. I think the silver lining to Brose motors dying with such regularity is that you all in the UK can keep rolling warrantying them for a long time.

I am not aware of any commitment from Specialized for a rolling warranty on their Brose motors in the UK. Where did you get that info from?

 

[miPbiP]

I am not aware of any commitment from Specialized for a rolling warranty on their Brose motors in the UK. Where did you get that info from?

my understanding is motors replaced after bike warranty have a 2 year warranty. so maximum purchase frequency should be every 2 years. (if they're available!).

 

[KennyB]

my understanding is motors replaced after bike warranty have a 2 year warranty. so maximum purchase frequency should be every 2 years. (if they're available!).

Wouldn't this encourage some owners to try to break their 22 month old motor every 2 years?

 

[Doomanic]

There is no rolling warranty on Spesh motors or batteries. This has been covered in several other threads with the definitive answer coming from Spesh.

 

[Kiwi in Wales]

my understanding is motors replaced after bike warranty have a 2 year warranty. so maximum purchase frequency should be every 2 years. (if they're available!).

This is my understanding....

Scenario 1
The motor has a 2 year warranty from new. Anytime during that 2 year period if you have one, two, three or four motors die on you Specialized will replace that motor free of charge. However, when that 2 year warranty expires and your motor dies Specialized will sell you a new motor at a discounted rate and that new motor will have a new 2 year warranty.

Scenario 2
The motor has a 2 year warranty from new. When that 2 year warranty expires and your motor dies Specialized will sell you a new motor at a discounted rate and that new motor will have a new 2 year warranty.

 

[Kiwi in Wales]

Wouldn't this encourage some owners to try to break their 22 month old motor every 2 years?

Yes

 

[Doomanic]

Rolling warranty hasn't done Bosch any harm.

 

[Specialized Rider Care]

Hi All, couple of comments to help here. We definitely understand rider concern here, these bikes are carefully considered purchases and have an expected life long after the warranty period elapses.

1) Some posts are mixing the warranty period with service/support life - I do realise that Mahle's response could be interpreted both ways but in context they were talking about the warranty. The warranty is 2 years on our electronic components but - as many of you point out - there are indeed legal requirements for manufacturers to support products long after a warranty expires. These requirements do vary considerably depending on country - but the more demanding requirements are for manufacturers to provide core parts up to 7 years after the last product is sold. The law is not explicit - more directional - but 7 years is our aim for holding important electronic components.

2) If a bike is classed as a vehicle and therefore has type-approval (for example the 45KPH S-Pedelec Vado) then these are viewed differently in some countries and guidelines are that parts should be held for up to 10 years - as per the automotive industry.

As you'd imagine companies like Mahle and Brose are familiar with supporting the automotive industry and would never simply stop producing core components once the warranty was over. We have supplier agreements and last-time-buy arrangements in place, as you'd expect us to.

 

[Surge]

This is great, thank you for taking the time to reply! I can now enjoy my new Levo SL with more piece of mind.