Levo SL Gen 1 Levo SL 2023 Megathread

[bryankcc]

its on the concept store, no pics (but sure there was a pic yesterday, colour was silver/white I think)

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Australia has rhe frame only option.

S-Works Turbo Levo SL Carbon Frame | Specialized.com

The Levo SL delivers unmatched ride quality and capability, amplified. For the trail rider who craves serpentine singletrack, sending it skyward, and lives for advancing your skills and fitness. Meet your new bike, the Levo SL. You’ll be blown away by it’s unmatched combination of flawless...

www.specialized.com

 

[George_KSL]

The bicycle can go from 27,5/29 & 63deg HA to 29/29 65.5 deg HA. It can be anything from DH shredder to XC machine for middle-aged weekend warrior decrying modern trends. Pretty much tweakable to anyone's liking :- ).
Moderate seat-tube angle is rather suitable for e-bikes for everyone except tall&long-legged people who are minority and brands know that. Swiping seat on its rails every cm compensates for almost 1 degree so you can make it almost 79 degree seat-tube angle just by minor tweak. Yes it looks bit weird at that point but it's not like every single Specialized bicycle had it different. This "non-radicalness" has been their modus operandi for decade. They do their own thing, others do theirs. They want to sell multiples of what other brands do together and they.. do.

It's been almost 8 months since I converted my KSL to Mullet and I can say it improved almost every single feature of the bike. There is absolutely no downside to climbing.

 

[RJUK]

Hmm, this actually looks quite interesting. Do we know why they got rid of the side-arm? What was the side-arm even for? Added stiffness, or just making the frame look more recognisable?

Considering the carbon comp build - is it possible to upgrade the shock and fork to effectively performance Elite specs? (Grip 2 damper etc?) and any ideas what that upgrade would cost roughly? Otherwise the spec looks OK on that model.

Or is it better to buy the frameset and build it myself? (Not sure if I could get better parts for the remaining money though...)

 

[George_KSL]

It's best to buy the Comp, sell absolutely everything from it, and then build it back ;- ). Most time consuming, most economical and you can buy even better shock with all the money you saved (like the new EXT air).
You can sort of upgrade the fork with new damper but you will still be left with heavier chassis, I suggest against this. The shock can't really be upgraded but it performs the same just lack most adjustability, but you do get the RX Tune from Spec.

 

[RJUK]

It's best to buy the Comp, sell absolutely everything from it, and then build it back ;- ). Most time consuming, most economical and you can buy even better shock with all the money you saved (like the new EXT air).
You can sort of upgrade the fork with new damper but you will still be left with heavier chassis, I suggest against this. The shock can't really be upgraded but it performs the same just lack most adjustability, but you do get the RX Tune from Spec.

Cheers! Yeah, that does sound like a lot of work!

I'm trying to get a test ride, but I guess they might not have test bikes available yet. Just not sure if the SL has enough power for my unfit lazy butt...

 

[Krgolob]

The bicycle can go from 27,5/29 & 63deg HA to 29/29 65.5 deg HA. It can be anything from DH shredder to XC machine for middle-aged weekend warrior decrying modern trends. Pretty much tweakable to anyone's liking :- ).
Moderate seat-tube angle is rather suitable for e-bikes for everyone except tall&long-legged people who are minority and brands know that. Swiping seat on its rails every cm compensates for almost 1 degree so you can make it almost 79 degree seat-tube angle just by minor tweak. Yes it looks bit weird at that point but it's not like every single Specialized bicycle had it different. This "non-radicalness" has been their modus operandi for decade. They do their own thing, others do theirs. They want to sell multiples of what other brands do together and they.. do.

It's been almost 8 months since I converted my KSL to Mullet and I can say it improved almost every single feature of the bike. There is absolutely no downside to climbing.

tall&long-legged people: lol, that's me

I have Levo2 and seat angle is killing me. My butt is almost behind the rear wheel on the way up! It is really hard to tackle roots and rocks uphill without rocketing the front wheel up in the sky. That's why I'm not so keen on slack seat angle and very short chain stay on SL2; I was expected more uphill performance on S6 size. Well on paper at least. We'll see what the reality is.
I just wish they would go for 29/29 with optional 27,5/29 in the first place and not the way around. So more trail than enduro, and that I don't have to buy another wheel just to upgrade trail bike to, khm, trail bike. And leave mullet setup for KSL2.

 

[Dave_B]

best review so far I think

 

[Zimmerframe]

Started a thread to discuss hardware/software changes of the 1.1 to the 1.2 and also what's possible retrofitting/firmware updating as we know more/find out more. This is relevant for KSL and SL, hence the the new thread rather than it getting lost in here ..

Mahle 1.1 to 1.2 - What's Possible and What's Different ?

The SL 1.2 is out in the wild with the '23 Levo SL. From what we know so far, mountings and connections are all the same. It works with the existing battery and range extender (shorter 145mm instead of 160mm cable). The motor is slightly larger due to the two piece aluminium honeycomb casing...

www.emtbforums.com

 

[galaga187]

And rider weight, rider fitness, terrain type, etc

And headwind, skin suit or baggies, tyre type etc.

 

[George_KSL]

@Krgolob

Yeah it's bit surprising they went mullet here as well by default, instead of offering it as alternative and ship it in dual 29". Seems like once Specialized finds some feature to work well and be popular, they just put it across whole range, despite previously not being fan on first design iteration. I remember their designer specifically saying they WANTED Kenevo SL to be dual 29". I am pretty sure they will now say the opposite.
I think you are an outlier who fits different bikes better, something like Pivot SL is almost diametrically different in its approach, far less slack (in both HA and ST), much longer in reach for similar size (although with six S-sized Specialized now kind of gives you option to really almost ignore sizing).

Seems some brands want their trail bikes to be more on agile side of spectrum and others want them to be mini enduro-lites. Specialized definitely gravitates to the latter. As someone who got into biking through the freeride spectrum I am big fan, and I consider it to be the right approach given than e-bikes take away a lot of negatives from these burly bikes (and e-bikes frames by nature have to be a category burlier than normal bikes would be).

If the end-result is 18 KG in lightest reasonable build, why not make it capable as much as it can within its spec.
Rotwild just released cross-country e-bike so there is now something for everyone. It makes sense that no brand will have wide enough portfolio to satisfy everyone with their design intentions. The new SL is almost as universal as bike can be done.

 

[Moe Ped]

Got the beast today, unfortunately their is a big storm coming in so it will be on display in the lounge for now.

Wife is absolutely thrilled

 

[RJUK]

Got the beast today, unfortunately their is a big storm coming in so it will be on display in the lounge for now.

Wife is absolutely thrilled

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Nice. What do these new models weigh?

 

[George_KSL]

Cheers! Yeah, that does sound like a lot of work!

I'm trying to get a test ride, but I guess they might not have test bikes available yet. Just not sure if the SL has enough power for my unfit lazy butt...

Stripping the bike and putting new things on took me roughly 1/10th of the time it took to photograph, write descriptions and sell things on marketplace :- ). Eventually I offloaded it to my wife who is expert at Facebook marketplace :- D.
Yeah it's definitely not fun, but it does save thousands, you can easily build S-Works worthy bike under 9-10K instead of 15 and have something fully unique.

 

[p3eps]

Hmm, this actually looks quite interesting. Do we know why they got rid of the side-arm? What was the side-arm even for? Added stiffness, or just making the frame look more recognisable?

Considering the carbon comp build - is it possible to upgrade the shock and fork to effectively performance Elite specs? (Grip 2 damper etc?) and any ideas what that upgrade would cost roughly? Otherwise the spec looks OK on that model.

Or is it better to buy the frameset and build it myself? (Not sure if I could get better parts for the remaining money though...)

Several reviews said they got rid of the sidearm for weight saving, and also so you could run a bigger shock.
Apparently they listened to the people!!

 

[RJUK]

This is actually seriously piquing my interest. Especially as they've made the carbon comp in a decent colour. (Bored of everything being black.)

Just wondering if there's enough power now. 50NM is what, around trail mode on a Levo?

 

[RJUK]

Stripping the bike and putting new things on took me roughly 1/10th of the time it took to photograph, write descriptions and sell things on marketplace :- ). Eventually I offloaded it to my wife who is expert at Facebook marketplace :- D.
Yeah it's definitely not fun, but it does save thousands, you can easily build S-Works worthy bike under 9-10K instead of 15 and have something fully unique.

Yeah, that's my concern! All the photos and description, then dealing with all the time wasters!

Has it been established if the frame is the same for the carbon comp as the S-Works?

And does the carbon comp get the same exposed carbon yoke, etc?

 

[G-Sport]

Seems to drop down into power save mode at 10% battery. Then drops to crawl mode at 5% .. cuts off completely at 3%.

Keep that in mind if your planning one more climb ...

My first gen SL seems to block trail mode (even when set at 50%) from about 15% battery and gave me no assist at all from about 8%. Maybe something wrong with mine?

 

[G-Sport]

Several reviews said they got rid of the sidearm for weight saving, and also so you could run a bigger shock.
Apparently they listened to the people!!

Pretty sure dropping the sidearm will have made the layup a LOT easier and quicker so probably saved a fair bit of cost too.

 

[RJUK]

Does the new one use the same range extender as the old SL?

 

[Doomanic]

Yes, but with a 145mm cable instead of the old 160mm one.

 

[Killswitch73]

All frames are Fact 11… the comp is an alloy shock extension . The s-works and pro have carbon shock extension.

 

[RJUK]

All frames are Fact 11… the comp is an alloy shock extension . The s-works and pro have carbon shock extension.

Thanks. I had a closer look and yeah, you can see the linkages are painted black, not bare carbon and polished alloy like the S-works. Not a massive issue for me as long as the rest of the frame is the same.

 

[RJUK]

Agh, I've just put down a deposit with my LBS for a gloss blaze S4. Seems stock is low already, and the deposit is fully refundable, so I reserved it whilst I check the reviews.

Unsurprisingly they don't have loaners yet, so I won't be able to get a proper test ride, though they do have a test track that I can try the bike on.

 

[gts66]

Quick question about geo adjustment : being on the tall side(6'3) I wonder if it is safe to keep using stock 27,5" rear wheel but flipping the chip to 29" in order to get longer chain stay and being more in the center of the bike ? what do you guys think ? Also doing that is it needed to extend the chain itself ?

PS : My bike left the warehouse today from Netherland so should be delivered here Tuesday

 

[wildsau2]

everything was pimped up
even the price.
but not the battery, why?
in three years no cap enhancements?

my thoughts: spesh will bring a better battery in 2024, so the 2023 model will be fast outdated

 

[Suns_PSD]

Quick question about geo adjustment : being on the tall side(6'3) I wonder if it is safe to keep using stock 27,5" rear wheel but flipping the chip to 29" in order to get longer chain stay and being more in the center of the bike ? what do you guys think ? Also doing that is it needed to extend the chain itself ?

PS : My bike left the warehouse today from Netherland so should be delivered here Tuesday

The extended CS position also corrects for the taller 29" rear wheel. So if you use that position combined with a 27.5" wheel, the sta, hta & BB will be very slack & low.

Hopefully someone will machine some new CS adjusters or a longer clevis link that will allow people to combine the long CS length with a 27.5" wheel.

 

[Pete N]

Just got back from riding my new comp. Motor noise is the same when under load, yes it’s a lot quite crusing a fire road but once putting down trail power it’s quite similar from my memory of the old levo.

Power is a massive difference it’s night and day.

Bike handles and rides amazing, it’s so good!

I got a weird noise that sounds like a turbo dump valve when I let off

Dealer said they tried the motor in the KSL and it did fit. Take that how you want!

Great bike def a step up over the older model.

This is a little disappointing re motor noise if true. What are you comparing the noise to that you’ve ridden recently?
I see that you last rode the previous SL 3 years ago.

 

[Suns_PSD]

The bike is firmly in the 'trail' category and as such should be sold with dual 29" wheels unless it's the small sizes.

 

[Dave_B]

everything was pimped up
even the price.
but not the battery, why?
in three years no cap enhancements?

my thoughts: spesh will bring a better battery in 2024, so the 2023 model will be fast outdated

my take on this is that the bike was ready about a year ago, but spesh then realised the competition were releasing very quiet 50nm motors, so they delayed the release to address the motor (this is fact as per the loam wolf review). so, back when it was ready, they had not considered a larger battery cause the motor was the same, but they decided they had to change the motor noise and output, but already had thousands of frames built and hence would/could not change the frame to accommodate a larger battery for the higher output motor.

penny to a pound of shit that the revised KSL will have the new motor and a bigger battery.

 

[G-Sport]

everything was pimped up
even the price.
but not the battery, why?
in three years no cap enhancements?

my thoughts: spesh will bring a better battery in 2024, so the 2023 model will be fast outdated

It's 48 volts so I'm assuming 13s2p with 3300-3500ah cells. 18650 Cells significantly bigger than that aren't very durable. Going 13s3p would be a big step up, probably not enough space in the smaller frames to just lengthen the pack.
Going to 2170s would have allowed them to go to 420Wh maybe which might have made sense but would have meant thicker DT etc. Maybe they already had a load of the old batteries to use up?