Levo Battery Mount Cracked

[EugeneK35]

Hi
My Levo battery botom mount cracked. I believe its due to flex in the frame, but Specialized refuse to warrant it with the excuse that it's not a manufacturing fault. Have anybody experienced similar? I recommend that you inspect your battery's for hair cracks before the main crack occurs, this will clearly indicate that the frame are stressing the battery and they will then have to replace it.

 

[R120]

What model?

 

[EugeneK35]

2017 Levo Expert

 

[DC101]

What was the outcome of this? My dad's bike has done the same (58yr old easy riding)

 

[EugeneK35]

What was the outcome of this? My dad's bike has done the same (58yr old easy riding)

Specialized refused to take any responsibility for this obvious design fault.

 

[Rusty]

I would look for several instances of this and then kick up a stink.
Personally I hate the drop-of-a-hat lawsuit mentality, but sometimes manufacturers get away with some real bogus shit. I had a Giant carbon frame failure and Giant basically said - you dropped it, tough shit. The problem is, I had only 3 falls and they were slow-speed BS falls where I didn't even unclip and the damage was on the underside of the top bar. A guy I know that does fibreglass repair has a brother that is a CF guy in a F1 team. He reckoned the issue was someone picked the frame up before it was top coated and did not wear gloves - he reckons fat or something from the guys lunch caused the top coat to fail to penetrate.
Took Giant to the small claims court and before the case was even heard they offered to replace my bike with a new 29er.

 

[EugeneK35]

I would look for several instances of this and then kick up a stink.
Personally I hate the drop-of-a-hat lawsuit mentality, but sometimes manufacturers get away with some real bogus shit. I had a Giant carbon frame failure and Giant basically said - you dropped it, tough shit. The problem is, I had only 3 falls and they were slow-speed BS falls where I didn't even unclip and the damage was on the underside of the top bar. A guy I know that does fibreglass repair has a brother that is a CF guy in a F1 team. He reckoned the issue was someone picked the frame up before it was top coated and did not wear gloves - he reckons fat or something from the guys lunch caused the top coat to fail to penetrate.
Took Giant to the small claims court and before the case was even heard they offered to replace my bike with a new 29er.

I have put out there to try and find more cases like this, havent had much feedback yet.

 

[Rusty]

Asked a few guys I know with older Levos and none of them have a problem.

 

[Al Boneta]

Holy shit, I have never seen that one before. But I have never seen a frame flex to such an extreme that it would cause that type of damage either. I have a few empty battery cases, maybe your local dealer has one

 

[Al Boneta]

I have put out there to try and find more cases like this, havent had much feedback yet.

Didn’t realize how old this thread was.

Let me preface this by saying:
I am not defending Specialized, but I would consider the following.
We only have two documented cases of broken mounts. I am not saying that there are not more out there, but if there are only two documented cases and Specialized has sold tens of thousands of these bikes; that doesn’t exactly make it an obvious design flaw.
I have never seen this issue occur in the hundred or so Levos I sold between 2017 and 2018. But if it does occur, I want to take care of my customer and see what I can do to prevent it from happening again.
A couple of things I can think of as to why a warranty replacement wasn’t issued.
Again I am not defending Specialized.
It’s a 2017 model year bike, the battery has a two year warranty. Is it possible, based on the purchase date of the Levo in question, that warranty had expired when this damage occurred?
Did you buy the bike used?
Another possibility. When you said Specialized refused to warranty the battery, did you talk to them directly or did your shop tell you they refused to warranty the battery?
Because if the shop told you that and the battery was technically still under warranty, there is the distinct possibility, the shop didn’t start a warranty claim in the first place or straight up didn’t want to.
I hate to say this about my fellow bike shops around the world, but half them are run half assed. Shops are not fond of providing free warranty service and maybe they just said fuck it.
Did you try another dealer and experience the same result?
When you brought it into the shop for inspection, what was your demeanor? Where you confrontational? Did you come in with an attitude? Where you demanding?
I am not saying you don’t have the right to act or feel that way, there is an issue with the battery and batteries are expensive, but when someone comes at me in my shop in the ways I described, I am not going to be as accommodating as I would normally be.
First and foremost, most shops want to resolve the issue. Believe it or not we are on your side, well most shops anyway.
Speaking for myself, when stuff like this happens I want the issue resolved quickly and at no cost to the customer.
That would be a perfect resolution for everybody, well everybody except the manufacturer. But ultimately, a warranty is not my call. It the manufacturer’s call. And when the customer acts like I am the one who personally made their motor die or their frame crack, it can be pretty disheartening.
Again I am not defending Specialized or the shop.
If you were my customer and I sent in a warranty claim that was refused, I now have to find another resolution. One that is fair to the customer and reasonable to my shop.
So that resolution wouldn’t be me taking a brand new battery out of the box and handing it to you.
I have a stack of dead batteries and I would switch the cases. That would be fair and reasonable.
But I would also go over every inch of that bike to see if flex is indeed the reason or if there is another direct cause.

 

[EugeneK35]

Didn’t realize how old this thread was.

Let me preface this by saying:
I am not defending Specialized, but I would consider the following.
We only have two documented cases of broken mounts. I am not saying that there are not more out there, but if there are only two documented cases and Specialized has sold tens of thousands of these bikes; that doesn’t exactly make it an obvious design flaw.
I have never seen this issue occur in the hundred or so Levos I sold between 2017 and 2018. But if it does occur, I want to take care of my customer and see what I can do to prevent it from happening again.
A couple of things I can think of as to why a warranty replacement wasn’t issued.
Again I am not defending Specialized.
It’s a 2017 model year bike, the battery has a two year warranty. Is it possible, based on the purchase date of the Levo in question, that warranty had expired when this damage occurred?
Did you buy the bike used?
Another possibility. When you said Specialized refused to warranty the battery, did you talk to them directly or did your shop tell you they refused to warranty the battery?
Because if the shop told you that and the battery was technically still under warranty, there is the distinct possibility, the shop didn’t start a warranty claim in the first place or straight up didn’t want to.
I hate to say this about my fellow bike shops around the world, but half them are run half assed. Shops are not fond of providing free warranty service and maybe they just said fuck it.
Did you try another dealer and experience the same result?
When you brought it into the shop for inspection, what was your demeanor? Where you confrontational? Did you come in with an attitude? Where you demanding?
I am not saying you don’t have the right to act or feel that way, there is an issue with the battery and batteries are expensive, but when someone comes at me in my shop in the ways I described, I am not going to be as accommodating as I would normally be.
First and foremost, most shops want to resolve the issue. Believe it or not we are on your side, well most shops anyway.
Speaking for myself, when stuff like this happens I want the issue resolved quickly and at no cost to the customer.
That would be a perfect resolution for everybody, well everybody except the manufacturer. But ultimately, a warranty is not my call. It the manufacturer’s call. And when the customer acts like I am the one who personally made their motor die or their frame crack, it can be pretty disheartening.
Again I am not defending Specialized or the shop.
If you were my customer and I sent in a warranty claim that was refused, I now have to find another resolution. One that is fair to the customer and reasonable to my shop.
So that resolution wouldn’t be me taking a brand new battery out of the box and handing it to you.
I have a stack of dead batteries and I would switch the cases. That would be fair and reasonable.
But I would also go over every inch of that bike to see if flex is indeed the reason or if there is another direct cause.

Thanks for the comprehensive reply.
I have two 2017 levos and one 2018. They where all bought new so both battery’s where under warranty. I have done 11500 km on my bike and my wife about 8000 km on hers so during this time I have had a few battery and motor replacement and in all cases my dealer and specialized have been great. My dealer escalated the cracked/broken battery issue to Specialized technical department in Europe and they responded in writing with the possible cases for the failure none of which made any sense but in essence what it boils down to is that I broke the battery’s in both cases because they will not warrant them but I have now plausible explanation how I managed to do it. There are no external impact damage on any of the battery’s and I have never crashed my bikes hard.
What I find really interesting is that people wash there battery’s allowing water to infiltrate past the rubber switch/selector on the side of the battery. This cause corrosion on the electronics inside which most of the time will make some of the leds on the side turn permanently red. Specialized will replace those battery’s with out asking any questions although it’s the users fault for using to higher water pressure wash on the battery, but they will not replace a battery with bits braking of it although they cant proof its the user who broke it. Strange.
I still think Specialized is the best don’t get me wrong and my local dealer always try there hardest.

 

[EugeneK35]

Just update. Another two of my battery's have cracks and one from a friend. Lost one battery because of water ingress via a crack I wasn't aware of.

 

[Dazzler]

I have put out there to try and find more cases like this, havent had much feedback yet.

Mine has just done the same 2019 Kenevo 4 month old and well looked after, gutted!

 

[Pepisimon]

I've had 2 go , just got back from today's ride, now 3rd one cracked all in the same place ( 5 months old ) crap design and materials

 

[KenevoDan]

I have a 2019 Kenevo Expert and my just cracked at the top retaining bolt. No batteries in stock and my local shop I purchased it from has no idea when I will get it back. I also reached out to Specialized and they said the same thing. I've only been on a dozzen rides or so with it. I think the frame flexed and the battery cracked.

 

[RedThunder]

Same here. Exacty the same cracks and fail. 2019 Levo.

82year old and wanna be Red Bull rampage rider ;-)

So not exactly, giving the bike a kicking.

Should be fixed bt Spesh.

 

[bojang]

Exactly the same case, today I thoroughly cleaned and lubricated the bike and luckily I was unscrewing the battery and noticed that the lower bracket was broken. My bike is Turbo levo HT 2018. The warranty has expired, the new battery is too expensive, what have you done? It seems that this is not just a small problem. It looks like bad plastic, or a flaw in the construction itself.