First ride done on the SL. Will break my feedback into two parts, motor/software and bike.
So the motor, not sure if mine was setup how it ships from the factory or someone had messed with it before I rode it. Settings were 35/35 Eco 75/80 Trail and 100/80 in Turbo. Spent the entire ride in Trail. I need to do more research on how the settings effect the ride, but it was super strong in general. My friend was riding a standard Levo and I had no problem keeping up. In general bike felt very artificial, but I will need some more rides on my updated settings before I can give a definitive answer. A few other notes on the Specialized, it has significantly more overrun. Another thing I noticed was a strange cutoff when hitting any large compressions while climbing. Not sure if anyone else notices this, but the power drops dramatically for .75-1.5 seconds.
Right now I would say that the Trek feels much more natural from a power delivery perspective. It cuts in and out almost instinctively to the point where you stop even noticing it.
Regarding noise, this is no contest and the Trek wins hands down. Most of the time on the Trek you literally can't hear it. Sometimes on the road you can hear a faint whine, but only if you are really paying attention. Contrast this with the SL/G2 which has a high pitch whine that is very noticeable and constant.
One other small point, the screen is much better on the Trek/TQ package. More readable and better information like time/distance remaining along with charge status, etc.
Overall, IMO the Trek is a better motor package based on sound and power delivery. This is a very early opinion right now and subject to change. Sound is obviously not going to be altered at all, but as I tune the Specialized more I expect the gap to close significantly. One last note is that I have never tuned the motor on the Trek and had no idea of the setting until I looked tonight to compare them to the Specialized.
Now onto the bike portion. Spent time moving over my preferred build today. It is the same build I run on everything so no surprises there and it came directly off the Trek. Only differences between the bikes were the frame, rear shock, dropper and cranks. My bike is setup full 29/high rear shock position/-1 headset. So the ride, oh the ride. This is where Specialized shines. The bike rides so well it is hard to describe, It feels very natural and you never get the sense that you are riding an eBike. I rode a pretty nasty climb that I haven't made in months on either my analog bikes or my Trek. It is steep, rocky and rutted (Secret Trail into Elfin Forest for those that are local). The SL just cruised right up it and I felt in complete control never once feeling like I might not make it or getting kicked off line. My buddy on his Levo did not clean it and it is not about power. It is about balance and control and this bike has it in spades.
Descending is more of the same. I am running a Zeb up front, but have the stock Fox rear shock right now. Rode some rough/fast descents that were not particularly steep, just very rocky and loose. Lots of slower loose corners with very fast straights where line choice is critical. The bike just ate all of it up and is super balanced and planted. Absolutely loved it and blows the Trek out of the water in every aspect of ride quality. The front end of the Fuel is very low and the bike gets kicked around way more which can make for some interesting moments. I was able to get the Trek dialed in, but it took me 4-6 weeks. For the SL I just tried to get the rear shock close in pressure, did the parking lot bounce to check rebound and rode. I am sure there is more in the bike once I put a little more time and effort into tuning it. I just took a look at Strava and my time down it would have been the 5th fastest time of the year overall whether analog or eBike. That is on the first ride with zero time spent tuning it. Pretty wild.
So that's it. Trek has a more refined motor/software package and Specialized dominates the ride experience. For me I will definitely be keeping the SL because the ride quality is simply outstanding. I will say that if Specialized released a new SL tomorrow with the TQ motor and 500 wHr internal battery I would literally be first in line for it. The stealth nature of the TQ setup with the compact/nearly invisible motor, smoother power delivery and virtually imperceptible sound is far superior to the Mahle setup. Would happily take a 1 to 2 lb weight penalty to have 500 wHr on board with a range extender add on to do truly epic ride distances. Hopefully some manufacturer figures this out soon because I don't think I am the only one that wants something like this.
As always, let me know any specific questions I did not answer.
A few pics just because
Before it got dirty
Untitled by Sales Punk, on Flickr
Weight (Will work to get this below 40 lbs at some point)
Untitled by Sales Punk, on Flickr
How good does the bronze 5Dev stem look on this setup!?
Untitled by Sales Punk, on Flickr
After the ride
Untitled by Sales Punk, on Flickr
Great review as always.
I do think you should test the Relay. The F60 motor is just as quiet to my ears as the TQ (I've ridden both), very nearly as natural when dialed in, much more powerful when desired, with a 462 watt battery and the best chassis I've ever ridden.
My XL with pedals, 210 dropper, dual inserts, rear DD tire, and the factory bash guard weighs 43#s. (Mezzer fork, AM front wheel with DH rear 27.5" rim, cable 12 speed shifting) My cheap scale is accurate as it's been tested against a Park Tool at the bike shop.
The issue is reliability however as something went wrong with mine last night and it suddenly became 3x as loud.
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! Nimble downhill and stable uphill !
