Levo SL Gen 1 Levo SL 2023 Megathread

[travo]

OK, so more on the rattle that has developed on my SL in the last 50km (it now has 300km on it). It was completely silent when new, but now when riding over even remotely bumpy terrain I get a rattle which is similar to the clicking sound when the clutch engages and disengages. Almost like the clutch is loose.

Will take it to the dealer in the next couple of days, but in the meantime, has anyone else heard this?

It was SO quiet for the first few rides from new, I told several people how eerily good it was 🫤

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I fear mine is going the same way, I get a quite a clunk when the motor engages/disengages and it feels like something is slipping when it takes up, almost like a loose cassette.
I can also hear a faint rattle when pedaling over bumps too, mine only seems to do it whilst pedalling though.
Also, if I roll the bike backwards I can hear the motor rattling.

I'm also convinced I'm getting way more drag once over the cut off limit.
On a flat fire road it's almost too hard to keep pedalling.

Like you mine was really quiet for the first few rides but seems to be getting a bit noisier with age!

 

[LazyTrailRider]

I fear mine is going the same way, I get a quite a clunk when the motor engages/disengages and it feels like something is slipping when it takes up, almost like a loose cassette.
I can also hear a faint rattle when pedaling over bumps too, mine only seems to do it whilst pedalling though.
Also, if I roll the bike backwards I can hear the motor rattling.

I'm also convinced I'm getting way more drag once over the cut off limit.
On a flat fire road it's almost too hard to keep pedalling.

Like you mine was really quiet for the first few rides but seems to be getting a bit noisier with age!

What you’re describing is exactly what I’m also experiencing. I don’t know if it’s just my memory, but I have a feeling the drive whine has also become pretty close to as noisy as my 1.1 used to be…

Such a pity!

Have you had your dealer look at it? I’m going to drop by on Monday and take it up with them. Luckily I have a really good relationship with them, will get an honest opinion.

 

[travo]

What you’re describing is exactly what I’m also experiencing. I don’t know if it’s just my memory, but I have a feeling the drive whine has also become pretty close to as noisy as my 1.1 used to be…

Such a pity!

Have you had your dealer look at it? I’m going to drop by on Monday and take it up with them. Luckily I have a really good relationship with them, will get an honest opinion.

I probably should get it into the dealers, but its not at the point where I hate riding it yet and for most of my riding I don't notice the issues too much.
Going downhill and on jumps the bike feels really good and is quiet, I'm a bit reluctant to go without it for awhile too if I drop it into the dealers!

I'm very keen to hear what your dealer makes of the issues though, if mine gets any worse then I'll have to make the trip!

 

[G-Sport]

I probably should get it into the dealers, but its not at the point where I hate riding it yet and for most of my riding I don't notice the issues too much.
Going downhill and on jumps the bike feels really good and is quiet, I'm a bit reluctant to go without it for awhile too if I drop it into the dealers!

I'm very keen to hear what your dealer makes of the issues though, if mine gets any worse then I'll have to make the trip!

When my gen1 motor got loose I took it to the dealer who confirmed the was a problem and started the warranty process but then I could take it back and carry on riding it until the new motor came in, so I didn't need to be without the bike for much more than a day.

 

[LazyTrailRider]

I'm very keen to hear what your dealer makes of the issues though, if mine gets any worse then I'll have to make the trip!

Showed it to them yesterday, their opinion is that it’s definitely looser than it should be and they’re logging a warranty request.

I’m very lucky, they’re the top Spez dealer in South Africa and a 5min ride up the road from me, so I can drop it off without any fuss.

 

[DrewBroadley]

Picked up my SL2, after tossing and turning on if I get a Kenevo SL2 or this. Seat dropper height was the main kicker. SL2 can go lower, and lowest position is perfect for me.

Went Carbon Comp, as I wanted to do suspension upgrades and it's a good bones of a bike (still carbon frame/swing arm), also don't care about fancy drive trains on an e-bike. It chews threw everything faster, so saves my wallet some pain.

For $50NZD, I got the compression dial to upgrade the shock to the expert version, bonus.

Trying out the Fast Suspension damper in 38's, if I'm happy I'll then commit to their shock also.
Put on my carbon wheels from enduro bike, only weighs 1.2kg more than my Specialzied Enduro Carbon 2019, I'm so happy.

Had a motor error flash up, but then remembered to move magnets across from rear wheel, phew.
Ended up going 29 all around, and it feels so good so far just riding around home and over our jumps/obstacles we have here. First ride this Wednesday.

 

[Ou812]

Anybody know when the UK is supposed to get more frames? I’ve recently moved and my local Spesh dealer isn’t all that great, I was given the runaround when I asked before they tried to sell me a Fuel Ex-E.

 

[Cb750stu]

I emailed Specialized about the very same subject and they said January/February time with possible new colour schemes, they will email when they become available

 

[Ou812]

I emailed Specialized about the very same subject and they said January/February time with possible new colour schemes, they will email when they become available

So not too much longer, that makes my decision a bit easier. I was going to buy a complete comp and just swap all the parts out but I hate the colours. Then I debated buying a Heckler SL but I can’t let myself buy anything with a Fazua motor, plus no frame only option.

 

[LazyTrailRider]

Showed it to them yesterday, their opinion is that it’s definitely looser than it should be and they’re logging a warranty request.

I’m very lucky, they’re the top Spez dealer in South Africa and a 5min ride up the road from me, so I can drop it off without any fuss.

OK, so an update on this: I got my bike with the new motor back on Friday and did a 17km ride with it.

The noticeable rattle is definitely gone, but because I'm now sensitive to it, I can still pick up a very slight version of it coming from the clutch. This makes me think that it's likely to work looser over time again and the fact that it's quieter now is simply because any new mechanical component will have tighter tolerances initially.

Eh, not great, but I guess it is what it is. If it gets to a point where it becomes annoying again I'll take it up with the dealer again, but from a long-term perspective I suspect this is simply part of the design...

 

[Ribinrobin]

What geo settings people running? I've spent 260 miles in the standard and just chucked the steep cup in for a comparison. Not too interested in trying the 29 wheel but might drop shock down to slackest setting too, then go all way to steepest.

 

[LazyTrailRider]

What geo settings people running? I've spent 260 miles in the standard and just chucked the steep cup in for a comparison. Not too interested in trying the 29 wheel but might drop shock down to slackest setting too, then go all way to steepest.

Mine's been 29/29 from the start, with a Traverse SL wheelset.

Have run it stock 64.5/high, and then switched to 63.5/high because I loved that on the Stumpy EVO which I came from. Never had the Stumpy in low and I'm hesitant to flip the SL to low because smashing cranks into rocks on an e-bike has much more damage potential...

It's super planted at 63.5, but because I ride mostly flowtrails I reckon I'm going to flip it back to 64.5 again to get some playfulness back. There is definitely a pronounced difference.

What do you expect to get out of the steep/low setting in comparison to stock/high?

 

[Ribinrobin]

So I ain’t gone fully low just slack on headset. I’m just experimenting with feel, I got all the cups with bike want to experience all the variety’s of handling. I only used the normal so far so will have ago at every setting except 29er.

 

[Ribinrobin]

Tried the slack setting last night locally in wet conditions. My locals ain’t steepest but definitely felt a delayed input in front end. Front felt a bit lazy and needed a lot more weighting

 

[DrewBroadley]

What geo settings people running? I've spent 260 miles in the standard and just chucked the steep cup in for a comparison. Not too interested in trying the 29 wheel but might drop shock down to slackest setting too, then go all way to steepest.

I've converted to 29/29 and put the -1% cup in to help with the raised rear.
Feels about the same as my 2019 Enduro Elite, I'm stoked so far. More handlebar height and grips are my issue atm I need to tune.

 

[p3eps]

I've converted to 29/29 and put the -1% cup in to help with the raised rear.
Feels about the same as my 2019 Enduro Elite, I'm stoked so far. More handlebar height and grips are my issue atm I need to tune.

I'm 29" rear, the flip chip in low, and the headset on the standard cup. I ended up buying SQ Labs bars with 45mm rise and 12° backsweep which sorted out my bar issue!
I don't think I've had a notable pedal strike in the 6+ months I've been riding it. My crank boots have a couple of tiny scuffs, but nothing severe!

 

[LazyTrailRider]

I've converted to 29/29 and put the -1% cup in to help with the raised rear.

Doesn't the dropout flip-chip already address that? Reducing the HA by 1 deg would only compensate for the bigger wheel if raising the rear steepened the HA, which it does not do if you lengthen the chainstay with the chip.

The chip keeps the rest of the geo pretty close to exactly the same between wheel sizes (or at least, it's supposed to, I haven't measured everything before and after).

 

[Theo43]

At the moment, I'm running Aria shock, flip chip in low, headset at 0, and a 170 EXT ERA....best set up of 6(not counting rear shock changes) that I've tried so far. (Stock, 29/29, 29/29 with 170 EXT Era, 27.5/29 slack headset with EXTEra 160 & 27.5/29 slack head,flip in high with Intend Bandit)
The Era 170 is only 11mm longer than a fox 160....so you geometry nerds can tell me what that all works out to mathematically but it works amazingly...on most things.....like 97%.
A fantastic one bike solution.
Running 29/29 is smoother on most accounts but makes it feel very similar to a sized down KSL...especially with a 170 in front.

 

[DrewBroadley]

Doesn't the dropout flip-chip already address that? Reducing the HA by 1 deg would only compensate for the bigger wheel if raising the rear steepened the HA, which it does not do if you lengthen the chainstay with the chip.

The chip keeps the rest of the geo pretty close to exactly the same between wheel sizes (or at least, it's supposed to, I haven't measured everything before and after).

I also changed to 10mm more travel on the front, went to Fox 38’s.

 

[Black Bear Trail]

At the moment, I'm running Aria shock, flip chip in low, headset at 0, and a 170 EXT ERA....best set up of 6(not counting rear shock changes) that I've tried so far. (Stock, 29/29, 29/29 with 170 EXT Era, 27.5/29 slack headset with EXTEra 160 & 27.5/29 slack head,flip in high with Intend Bandit)
The Era 170 is only 11mm longer than a fox 160....so you geometry nerds can tell me what that all works out to mathematically but it works amazingly...on most things.....like 97%.
A fantastic one bike solution.
Running 29/29 is smoother on most accounts but makes it feel very similar to a sized down KSL...especially with a 170 in front.

View attachment 130340 View attachment 130341

That's a bad ass looking bike. I used to just stare at mine sometimes while I was on my computer and it was parked across the room. Mine was black too. I do not like the new colors coming out now, though - yellow and orange, etc. I'm in Japan, and the colors are pretty bad.

 

[Ribinrobin]

At the moment, I'm running Aria shock, flip chip in low, headset at 0, and a 170 EXT ERA....best set up of 6(not counting rear shock changes) that I've tried so far. (Stock, 29/29, 29/29 with 170 EXT Era, 27.5/29 slack headset with EXTEra 160 & 27.5/29 slack head,flip in high with Intend Bandit)
The Era 170 is only 11mm longer than a fox 160....so you geometry nerds can tell me what that all works out to mathematically but it works amazingly...on most things.....like 97%.
A fantastic one bike solution.
Running 29/29 is smoother on most accounts but makes it feel very similar to a sized down KSL...especially with a 170 in front.

View attachment 130340 View attachment 130341

The top set up is wild!

 

[JCU Delt Ox]

Who's taking bets on new colors for 2024? I've been waiting for an "In Stock" notification on an Expert Gloss Smoke S4 for two months now. I'm assuming some other colors are on the way causing the delay. My next choice is the Satin Mystic Blue from the Comp Carbon but I really want GX AXS Transmission.

 

[Losiak]

Who's taking bets on new colors for 2024? I've been waiting for an "In Stock" notification on an Expert Gloss Smoke S4 for two months now. I'm assuming some other colors are on the way causing the delay. My next choice is the Satin Mystic Blue from the Comp Carbon but I really want GX AXS Transmission.

I am waiting for new frame set colors.

 

[Randeken]

Who's taking bets on new colors for 2024? I've been waiting for an "In Stock" notification on an Expert Gloss Smoke S4 for two months now. I'm assuming some other colors are on the way causing the delay. My next choice is the Satin Mystic Blue from the Comp Carbon but I really want GX AXS Transmission.

here is what i found on german site bunnyhop.de some days ago..

 

[JCU Delt Ox]

I really like the silver color on the S-Works but I'm not paying that kind of money. The German site doesn't seem to show anything new yet.

 

[DrewBroadley]

After having the SL2 for a few weeks, I find there's stuff all difference between the Trail and Turbo settings at default.

Does anyone else find that? I find the Trail too powerful anyhow, so will tone it down.

 

[Rich-H]

After having the SL2 for a few weeks, I find there's stuff all difference between the Trail and Turbo settings at default.

Does anyone else find that? I find the Trail too powerful anyhow, so will tone it down.

Are you running the latest motor firmware? This is supposed to give you a clearer separation between default “Trail” and default “Turbo" modes.


MOTOR SL1.2 FIRMWARE RELEASE – 6x.5.0/ 7x.1.06

This motor firmware includes:

• More consistent motor power scaling when using “Microtune”
• Clearer separation between default “Trail” and default “Turbo” mode setting
• Change to these default Tune settings for “Trail” mode, based on rider feedback: 75/60 – (previously 75/80; this only applies to Levo SL2 bikes)

 

[Hoppy]

how easy is it to remove the motor. Mine has started to slip under a decent load.

 

[Pete N]

how easy is it to remove the motor. Mine has started to slip under a decent load.

Gen 1 I assume or you’d be taking it in for warranty?

 

[Hoppy]

Gen 2 but I’m in a situation where I would like to remove myself and do the change with my dealer