Levo Gen 3 Levo Gen 3 software update - yes or no

Rocketship

Member
May 23, 2023
36
7
UK
My Levo Pro is saying that it needs a software update. Is anyone running the latest version and did it affect the bikes performance at all?
 

brigcampbell

Active member
May 30, 2022
180
129
SoCal
I'm current and have been since the last update.

For some reason lots of people think specialized is releasing software that might reduce the performance, speed, battery capacity, blah blah blah.

Screenshot_20230704-102746.png
 

Repsol

Member
Dec 25, 2021
189
81
Yorkshire
My Levo Pro is saying that it needs a software update. Is anyone running the latest version and did it affect the bikes performance at all?
Don't get it done, I've just had a new motor fitted and unfortunately they updated both my 700w batteries. I now get 17 miles less from both batteries, EXACTLY the same as what others have reported after having the battery updated, wish I'd never took the battery with me, at least the spare anyway, really pissed off with this. It equates to 0.6 mile to every % when on eco.
 

Rocketship

Member
May 23, 2023
36
7
UK
Wow! Can you just get the motor and mastermind updated and not the battery?

That is shocking
 

Repsol

Member
Dec 25, 2021
189
81
Yorkshire
Yes but my spare battery was showing it needed updating along with the original. Stupidly I took my spare with me for them to do that as well. Before I handed it over to them I said what others had reported about battery performance and loss of range after the latest update, I was sarcastically told not to believe everything what people say on Internet forums, so with that advice I handed it over to them.
I wish I hadn't, I'm in too minds to report this to specialized as they have definitely done something thats caused a detrimental loss in range. Both batteries were at 100% health beforehand too with only 25 charges. You can literally watch the percentage drop as you cycle along.
I checked everything too, settings, tyre pressure, wind resistance, same weather, same flat trail, no brake scuff or drag on the wheels, It's totally ruined the ride, bikes a 2022 levo pro.
 

Alexbn921

Well-known member
Sep 27, 2021
545
511
East Bay CA
Yes but my spare battery was showing it needed updating along with the original. Stupidly I took my spare with me for them to do that as well. Before I handed it over to them I said what others had reported about battery performance and loss of range after the latest update, I was sarcastically told not to believe everything what people say on Internet forums, so with that advice I handed it over to them.
I wish I hadn't, I'm in too minds to report this to specialized as they have definitely done something thats caused a detrimental loss in range. Both batteries were at 100% health beforehand too with only 25 charges. You can literally watch the percentage drop as you cycle along.
I checked everything too, settings, tyre pressure, wind resistance, same weather, same flat trail, no brake scuff or drag on the wheels, It's totally ruined the ride, bikes a 2022 levo pro.
Can you full charge the battery and immediatly check the voltage in the app? I wonder if they have reduced the max voltage down from 42v max to save the battery? it should be 41.8ish fully charged.

Could you also check the voltage at a much lower state of charge like 15-20 and I will check it against mine at the same percentage so we can see if they changed the usable battery range.

more set points the better. 100, 80, 60, 40, 20 would give us a great comparison to check what they did.
 

brigcampbell

Active member
May 30, 2022
180
129
SoCal
Could you also check the voltage at a much lower state of charge like 15-20 and I will check it against mine at the same percentage so we can see if they changed the usable battery range.

more set points the better. 100, 80, 60, 40, 20 would give us a great comparison to check what they did.

That would be valuable data points.

What if the old firmware was incorrectly reporting battery levels? New firmware reports correctly but looks like Spesh "did something" that reduced range.
 

Alexbn921

Well-known member
Sep 27, 2021
545
511
East Bay CA
voltage is voltage. percentage is a calculated value.
Battery health is a feel good metric with zero value. No battery currently used retains 100% of its health after even a couple cycles. It's a slow degradation thats a function of cycles, heat, charging and storage. A near perfect battery would have around 3-5% lose at 100 cycles
 

Repsol

Member
Dec 25, 2021
189
81
Yorkshire
Can you full charge the battery and immediatly check the voltage in the app? I wonder if they have reduced the max voltage down from 42v max to save the battery? it should be 41.8ish fully charged.

Could you also check the voltage at a much lower state of charge like 15-20 and I will check it against mine at the same percentage so we can see if they changed the usable battery range.

more set points the better. 100, 80, 60, 40, 20 would give us a great comparison to check what they did.
Cheers mate will do this
 

Repsol

Member
Dec 25, 2021
189
81
Yorkshire
Can you full charge the battery and immediatly check the voltage in the app? I wonder if they have reduced the max voltage down from 42v max to save the battery? it should be 41.8ish fully charged.

Could you also check the voltage at a much lower state of charge like 15-20 and I will check it against mine at the same percentage so we can see if they changed the usable battery range.

more set points the better. 100, 80, 60, 40, 20 would give us a great comparison to check what they did.
Just checked the one in the bike now which is the original one that came with the bike, its only charged to 98% however it was reading 99% last night.
Screenshot_20230705-180421.jpg
 

Repsol

Member
Dec 25, 2021
189
81
Yorkshire
Can you full charge the battery and immediatly check the voltage in the app? I wonder if they have reduced the max voltage down from 42v max to save the battery? it should be 41.8ish fully charged.

Could you also check the voltage at a much lower state of charge like 15-20 and I will check it against mine at the same percentage so we can see if they changed the usable battery range.

more set points the better. 100, 80, 60, 40, 20 would give us a great comparison to check what they did.
Right just put it on charge to take it from 98 to 100%. It only took less than a hour which seems unusual as previously the last few percentages would take ages as it trickle charges.
However the good news I suppose is that it's showing 42v.
Screenshot_20230705-191520.jpg
 

Rocketship

Member
May 23, 2023
36
7
UK
So why is there less range after the update? Will that become apparent when it’s checked every 10%?
 

Repsol

Member
Dec 25, 2021
189
81
Yorkshire
I think what I'll find is when it's run down to 15% they'll be more volts left hence limiting range, this will be their attempt to protect the battery, I hope I'm wrong and that its a simple cure that's causing the loss.
 

Rocketship

Member
May 23, 2023
36
7
UK
I just read some other threads on this and I think you are right.

The old software had a hard stop when the battery was low, but the new version keeps some in reserve. I’m ok with that.
The other complaint I read was regarding a drop in power response. With the update people have said the bike power delivery has lost its surge and become more linear.

Anyone else had that?
 

Repsol

Member
Dec 25, 2021
189
81
Yorkshire
I've not really noticed that on the 2 rides I've done since having the motor and updates done, each ride has been 70 miles. The acceleration response which I have at 100% seems the same, and that's with riding 35 mile on turbo. What I did have to do though on the way out, was reduce the eco assistance to 20% from 30 to cover the same distance and battery percentage. The surge in turbo feels the same and top speed is maxing out at same mph as before too.
 
Last edited:
Apr 11, 2023
104
20
Japan
In Japan. Levo Gen 3. Mission Control app shows update firmware notice. Went to Specialized bike shop. The owner told me he cannot update my firmware, because the bike is not from Japan. Is this true?
 

Repsol

Member
Dec 25, 2021
189
81
Yorkshire
Right took it for a 76 mile hike today on same trail I've been doing for last year.
I have screen shot battery voltage off mission control at every 10% drop. The battery I set off with was the original what came with the bike. It appears its not holding charge as the day before it was at 98% after previously been 100%. I recharged it back to 100 but within a few hrs it had dropped to 99%.
These are the percentage drops right down to 11%. I've never took it as low as this before but needed to do it for the test.
At 14% the tcu changed colour to orange probably as a warning its getting low.
Screenshot_20230707-160645.jpg
Screenshot_20230708-112024.jpg
Screenshot_20230708-120617.jpg
Screenshot_20230708-124253.jpg
Screenshot_20230708-132630.jpg
Screenshot_20230708-143027.jpg
Screenshot_20230708-150325.jpg
Screenshot_20230708-151923.jpg
Screenshot_20230708-153111.jpg
Screenshot_20230708-153748.jpg
Screenshot_20230708-154752.jpg
 
Last edited:

Dave G

Member
Sep 25, 2022
41
20
Sheffield Uk
Yes but my spare battery was showing it needed updating along with the original. Stupidly I took my spare with me for them to do that as well. Before I handed it over to them I said what others had reported about battery performance and loss of range after the latest update, I was sarcastically told not to believe everything what people say on Internet forums, so with that advice I handed it over to them.
I wish I hadn't, I'm in too minds to report this to specialized as they have definitely done something thats caused a detrimental loss in range. Both batteries were at 100% health beforehand too with only 25 charges. You can literally watch the percentage drop as you cycle along.
I checked everything too, settings, tyre pressure, wind resistance, same weather, same flat trail, no brake scuff or drag on the wheels, It's totally ruined the ride, bikes a 2022 levo pro.
You need to report it, and contact the shop owners as well as the attitude towards you is unacceptable.
 

Dave G

Member
Sep 25, 2022
41
20
Sheffield Uk
You need to report it, and report the attitude of the shop staff as well as this attitude is unacceptable.
Forums are no good if they are just sites for moaning. All others who have experienced this should do likewise, otherwise Specialized continue in ignorant bliss.
 

Alexbn921

Well-known member
Sep 27, 2021
545
511
East Bay CA
Looking at your voltage vs mine at similar percentages shows that they are virtually identical. Within the margin of error.
This means that the battery is suppling the same amount of energy per percentage drop and storing the same amount of total energy. The full and empty points haven't changed.

Good to have data to back up the battery update and know that nothing has changed regarding total power stored.

Specialized reduced power of the motors with a previous update to prevent spikes in motor power that could damage the belts. I wonder if they have increased motor output with more time to dial in the algorithm.

Firmware updates sometimes reset your mode settings and it's worth double checking them.
 

Repsol

Member
Dec 25, 2021
189
81
Yorkshire
Looking at your voltage vs mine at similar percentages shows that they are virtually identical. Within the margin of error.
This means that the battery is suppling the same amount of energy per percentage drop and storing the same amount of total energy. The full and empty points haven't changed.

Good to have data to back up the battery update and know that nothing has changed regarding total power stored.

Specialized reduced power of the motors with a previous update to prevent spikes in motor power that could damage the belts. I wonder if they have increased motor output with more time to dial in the algorithm.

Firmware updates sometimes reset your mode settings and it's worth double checking them.
Yeah that's what I thought about the settings been altered but everything was exactly as before. The only thing i can see with my 2 batteries, is that the original one supplied with the bike, is loosing it's charge slightly. This was the battery I set off with last week. At the destination point I'd used much more % than normal despite it just been in eco. Only thing I can think of is this battery isn't as efficient, but saying that going by today's figures in comparison to the spare battery I put on for the return, the percentage drop looks identical. Even the cadence was the same as last week too I kept it between 85 and 93.
 

thewrx

Member
Sep 4, 2019
187
71
US
I'm guessing that its a clever way to not fully charge the battery so it lives longer and have less warranty claims, without having consumers get frustrated that their bike only charges to 80% after they have left it charging all night. (like those of us with shimano powered bikes)
 

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