ok before someone says all bikes have issues and you only hear the bad bits i know all that , but I've washed my levo only 3 times since mayas i worried about water ingress .In summer its only dust and not that much of a issue but last weekend it was caked in mud so i had to clean her up , today i put battery in and connected up got red blue flashing for few secs then all was ok , rode 10meters then it died , nothing apart from leds on battery . i find it pretty crap that this seems to be a known problem and specialized should be sending out updated parts that work to all levo owners and not just hoping some are ok and fix the ones that aren't , the shop are sending me a new cable but when people are spending thousands surely specialized should be more proactive about it ??
levo know problems rant ....
- Thread starter nobbyq
- Start date
So how do you know it is a cable fault? Sounds more like you got the battery to motor connector wet or dirty when you washed it. You say you put the battery in....so was it out when you washed it? Try cleaning the battery to motor connection?
- Thread starter
- #3
ive cleaned everything and dried it , guy in shop said 99% power lead issue .
My 2020 levo did exactly the same today. It’s done 79km total and just went dead. App said water ingress fault.
Took me a while to get home from where I had broken down, took it straight back to shop, they swapped a cable from a new showroom bike in about 15 mins, didn’t even have time to finish the brew they made me?
Bike is kept inside and is like new, no signs of water ingress at all.
Very happy with the dealer Cycle Gear in Halifax and how they dealt with it. I’m a little worried now about the bike stranding me again though.
Took me a while to get home from where I had broken down, took it straight back to shop, they swapped a cable from a new showroom bike in about 15 mins, didn’t even have time to finish the brew they made me?
Bike is kept inside and is like new, no signs of water ingress at all.
Very happy with the dealer Cycle Gear in Halifax and how they dealt with it. I’m a little worried now about the bike stranding me again though.
Sorry to hear. Isn't it covered by the warranty?
Re-read and obviously it is covered though frustrating.
Kontakt 70 Super painted into non rubberised ingress points around connectors may help.
While you're at it, to protect the motor, some thick waterproof grease around ingress points around the motor - crankshaft bearings primarily. I wonder if the 2020 models have improved seals around the crankshaft?
Last edited:
- Thread starter
- #8
That’s all great but there shouldn’t really be a need to cake parts in anti moisture grease or spray , these problems been ongoing since the gen 2 levo came out , should be redesigned but that’s not going to happen , frankly reading all the stories about the brose motor makes me not want to ride to far from home !
I agree. That's why I wonder if the 2020 models are any different. They should be. If not best solution is to cake it up.
No one wants their bike to not work .. It's OBSCENELY frustrating and does make you worry.
From what we know, each version of the motor and bike is actually more reliable as they improve things from previously discovered problems.
Most people ride around in the mud and water and have zero problems. In the last two months I think I've managed one ride when it wasn't pi55ing down and everytime I look at the bike when I get back and I'm frankly amazed that it's still working. It's so wet that half the time a good chunk of the mud has been blasted off just from all the water spray .
But yes, unfortunately, some people do still have problems. Batteries can fail, sensors can fail, cables might be faulty. You might have a faulty part, the dealer will change it. You might have just been unlucky and the connection didn't seal correctly if there was dirt on it or a small metal particle got picked up on the plug and stopped it closing all the way - there's dozen's of possibilities. The plug got nudged as you were cleaning and water got in and was sealed in ? Who knows.
Either way, you should be able to get it fixed quickly and be out again soon and hopefully you can just put it behind you and enjoy the bike.
From what we know, each version of the motor and bike is actually more reliable as they improve things from previously discovered problems.
Most people ride around in the mud and water and have zero problems. In the last two months I think I've managed one ride when it wasn't pi55ing down and everytime I look at the bike when I get back and I'm frankly amazed that it's still working. It's so wet that half the time a good chunk of the mud has been blasted off just from all the water spray .
But yes, unfortunately, some people do still have problems. Batteries can fail, sensors can fail, cables might be faulty. You might have a faulty part, the dealer will change it. You might have just been unlucky and the connection didn't seal correctly if there was dirt on it or a small metal particle got picked up on the plug and stopped it closing all the way - there's dozen's of possibilities. The plug got nudged as you were cleaning and water got in and was sealed in ? Who knows.
Either way, you should be able to get it fixed quickly and be out again soon and hopefully you can just put it behind you and enjoy the bike.
CjP
PRIME TIME
FWIW I’ve had not one problem with my 2020 Kenevo.
Mud, snow, rain, high pressure washes, all good!
Shit happens and you just got unlucky, Specialized will fix it and you’ll be on your way in no time.
Positive thoughts mate and you’ll be shredding in no time!
Mud, snow, rain, high pressure washes, all good!
Shit happens and you just got unlucky, Specialized will fix it and you’ll be on your way in no time.
Positive thoughts mate and you’ll be shredding in no time!
Jeez Nobby, are you just suffering from SADS or pissed that you didn't buy the Canyon ? You've had the Levo just over 5 months and apart from your wheels being shite, you've not had any electrical problems or motor problems and yet you cast such wisdom as this on the Rotwild thread:
You say you've had three Canyons before and two of them had to go back, so based on that you'd have had problems with whatever you bought.
In 9 months on the Forum, you've managed a whopping 4 positive reactions .. that's less than 1 every two months, not a lot floats your boat does it ?
Inbetween you've ooozed helpful information and positivity like :
You've just stated that things haven't improved with 2020 bikes getting the same problems as 2018 bikes. Where do you begin. They're completely different motors. Your's is a 2019 bike not a 2020 bike. 2020 and 2019 bikes have been known to have TCU failures from water ingress. The TCU is a separate unit mounted on the top bar. The TCU on the 2018 is inside the battery, so they completely different and can't suffer "THE SAME PROBLEM".
You don't even know what the problem is with your bike. At the moment it's just assumed it might be a cable problem. However, before if failed you'd started a thread about battery range problems in the cold with a loss of 6 miles per charge. So maybe you have a battery problem ? maybe you have a problem with how you store or charge your battery ? Maybe you're just unlucky and you have a knackered battery and a knackered cable.
As @Christian says, spesh will fix it & positive thoughts. Winging about it like I am now doesn't make any difference !
Spesh'll fix it.
What I find curious is that some experience problems whilst others do not. I have had my Levo comp since April and had no problems except for the Rev forks needing an early lower leg service. There are also instances of people suffering repeated failures. If Spesh identified a systemic failure of course they would modify that part. If however they find no fault with the warranty parts returned to them what are they to do? I think a fault that develops whilst riding is unlikely to be the same as what appears to be the bulk of problems that occur after washing/cleaning the bike. In the latter case there seems to be a definite cause and effect.
I am not the least convinced that any conclusions can be made based on lbs diagnosis or parts changed. Indeed failure to identify the fault correctly is the most likely cause of repeated problems.
Laying the blame for failure on a cable is very suspicious in my mind. In my experience cables are only damaged by heat or rubbing against something and the damage is clearly visible....and can be tested as faulty with a meter. Most electrical faults are at contacts and connectors. The most vulnerable connection is the motor to battery plug/charging point mainly because it is regularly disconnected. It should be left closed when washing. It is also possible to contaminate by plugging in the charger if the charger lead connector has not been protected when not in use.
In summary, finding the root cause for the problems experienced by some is what we need to improve reliability and I am not convinced laying the blame on a cable is helpful until and unless someone specifies what exactly in the cable has failed.....broken wire/ corroded wire/ broken soldered joint/ short across soldered joint/ bad soldering (dry joint).
I am not the least convinced that any conclusions can be made based on lbs diagnosis or parts changed. Indeed failure to identify the fault correctly is the most likely cause of repeated problems.
Laying the blame for failure on a cable is very suspicious in my mind. In my experience cables are only damaged by heat or rubbing against something and the damage is clearly visible....and can be tested as faulty with a meter. Most electrical faults are at contacts and connectors. The most vulnerable connection is the motor to battery plug/charging point mainly because it is regularly disconnected. It should be left closed when washing. It is also possible to contaminate by plugging in the charger if the charger lead connector has not been protected when not in use.
In summary, finding the root cause for the problems experienced by some is what we need to improve reliability and I am not convinced laying the blame on a cable is helpful until and unless someone specifies what exactly in the cable has failed.....broken wire/ corroded wire/ broken soldered joint/ short across soldered joint/ bad soldering (dry joint).
Can you tell me if the cable is sealed where it enters the plug? I guess without cutting it open you cannot see how the wires are connected to the terminations inside the plug. I am interested to know if that split is exposing the terminations to water ingress or if the termination block is separately sealed with a bladder or waxed in.
E-bike surgery ... time for a live stream !
A stupid question - is that the end which plugs into the battery ? or the other end ?
@Specialized Rider Care sorry to drag you in again, any ideas on what causes that failure, how people can look out for it and how it can be avoided ? Post no. 17
How the motor connector is assembled gives a clue to its construction. There are no obvious visible ways to take it apart so it looks like the cable is connected into the bottom half and the top half then glued onto it. If the only point at which it is sealed is where the outer cable sheath enters the plug then yes water could get in .....but it could easilly be sealed again with epoxy and any eater ingress dried out...so why change it? How does water get to it when washing anyway?
Bryan Wells
Active member
hell i'm on my secound motor in 3 months, one died due to water dmg i believe and the new one has a red/blue fault code every other turn on for weeks
....probably indicating that the original motor was not faulty!!
Bryan Wells
Active member
wrong, the original motor was a runnaway, this one is not
Yes different symptoms but a common denominator could be a sensor signal.
So a pic on the other thread has answered some of my questions. With the cable entry end of the plug broken off you can see that the only seal for the plug connections is indeed where the cable sheath enters the plug. The split some experience does therefore allow dirt and water into the connections area of the plug.
Having established that I fully agree there should be a general recall to check that plug together with research to identify why it should split. My first thought would be that the plug is case hardening due to heat.
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