I've been considering getting an eMTB for a while now (over a year) and have always been waiting for the right one to come along.
A few weeks ago, I bit the bullet and bought a Trek Rail 9.9. A bike with an awesome spec and all the top of the range components. I've ridden it on 4 rides over the last 2 weekends, and ridden a lot of the trails that I normally do for comparison purposes. Prior to the Rail, I've had 4 Stumpjumpers over the last 12 years.
The Rail powers round the trails and tackles technical climbs that I'd never be able to do on my Stumpy. I'm 42 years old and of a reasonable fitness - but there are some trails I ride that I just don't have the legs to conquer!
When researching eMTBs, and thinking about buying one, my intention was to ride in Eco. All I wanted was a little bit of a boost when I couldn't find the power... and still get plenty of exercise. I've got 2 young kids, and sometimes get a window of a couple of hours to go riding. I spend most of my time going uphill to get 5 mins downhill (mainly single track). By the time I get to the top, I'm knackered - which spoils the enjoyment of coming down. I thought with a bit of assistance, I could maybe get round quicker and get a couple of shots at the downhill parts.
All of the rides I've done on the Rail have mainly been in the EMTB setting. I tried Eco, but it felt like I could pedal my Stumpy quicker with no power. With the motor off, it feels like I'm riding through thick gloopy mud. A combination of the weight and the motor resistance.
On Tuesday, the Levo SL came out...
It looked like the bike I'd been looking for all this time. Some assist, and relatively light. My Rail is in the shop getting a warranty front brake. I mentioned to the tech that the Levo SL was something I would have bought if it had been out 2 weeks earlier... and he suggested I use their 30 day satisfaction guarantee, and swap it for one. Now scared that I'd miss the power of the Rail, I wanted to try the SL and see how it compared.
I booked a demo day, and collected the bike yesterday evening. It was a Large Expert model. To me, the Expert is the sweet spot in the SL range - for cost v's spec. It's not nearly as well specced as my Rail is, however the retail price is £2000 cheaper. On my baggage scales (best I have!) the SL Expert (size large) weighs 17.70kg. That's without pedals fitted, with tubes on the tyres, and with some naff front / rear reflectors fitted. I have DMR Vault MG pedals on my Rail - so if I was to go tubeless, the 366g for the pedals would be covered. For comparison, my Rail is just under 22kg without pedals - and comes tubeless from the factory. Roughly 4.5kg difference. Last night I set the suspension to the recommended defaults for my weight and adjusted the cockpit to suit. What I forgot was that my pedals were still attached to my Rail which is in the shop. I was going to get out my Stumpy and steal it's pedals - but I thought the plastic ones didn't look THAT bad. Boy, was I wrong!!
With Storm Ciara looming this weekend, and forecasted winds of up to 60mph today, I decided to head out early when they were only forecast at 20mph. I went to a trail that I've ridden on both my Stumpy and Rail. I'd filmed them both for comparison a couple of weeks ago - so I took my GoPro with me today to get a comparison too. It is 510m of elevation from start to finish, and is exactly 10 miles. About 6 miles of fire track, 2 1/2 of technical singletrack climbing, and 1 1/2 of technical singletrack descent. On the Stumpy, it took me 1hr and 20mins. On the Rail, it took 46mins, and on the Levo SL Expert it took just under an hour. The Rail finished the route with 63% battery remaining, and the SL finished with 57%. The SL was in Trail mode for about 80% of the ride, and Turbo for some of the technical climb. I was surprised how little the difference between the Rail and the SL was. I was a bit wary when coming downhill due to the crap slippy pedals, blinding sunlight, and the fact this was the demo bikes first outing and I didn't want to damage it. It also had no mudguard on the front, so I was getting plastered too.
So... what about the bike?!
I found the motor quieter than the Bosch when on Trail (v's EMTB), but louder when on Turbo. I found Turbo mode offered me too much assistance. In Mission Control, Turbo offers 100%... but I'd probably fine tune it to around 80%. At lower speeds, you could feel it assisting - especially when in lower gears with high cadence. Unfortunately, the 12 speed Eagle GX hadn't been set up right, and the first 3 gears were unusable.
I found I changed gear a lot more on the SL than I did on the Rail. The Rail encouraged laziness, as it had enough torque to blast you out of situations when you were a gear or 2 out. The SL is more like a traditional bike in that you need to be prepared for what's coming and in the right gear. I used all of the gears that were working, and would have ideally had the other 3 too. On the Rail, I generally used gears 7-12, and never used the 1-3 at all.
The forks looked a bit spindly compared to my Lyric on the Rail, but they seemed to handle everything that was thrown at them. The rear shock felt good, and seemed to have a minimum bob when pedalling. The brakes also look a bit small, but again handled themselves well. Maybe more aggressive riders would have an issue with them.
The thing I did have a big problem with was the 2.3 front tyre. It washed out several times. Maybe great in California and South Africa where it's dry... but in Scotland in thick mud, it was no use. I'd definitely be swapping that for a 2.6 up front. The rear seemed to cope ok.
The main advantage I found was being able to lift the front, and bunny hop with relative ease. I have big blisters on the inside of my thumbs from gripping the Rail bars so tight! Getting the Rail airborne requires so much more effort.... as well as speed and something like a root / rock to assist, but the SL was quite happy to hop with little effort.
The SL was also easier to manoeuvre through the technical climbs and descents. I find the Knock Block on the Rail quite restrictive, so it was nice to be able to turn the bars as much as I like!
When pedalling past 15mph, the motor dropped off really smoothly... and the resistance from the motor was non existent. I tried riding the bike with the TCU switched off. It was marginally harder than a traditional bike, but not enough that would actually cause any issues.
After my usual circuit, I carried on and cycled a total of 20 miles, and climbed over 1000m. A good bit more Turbo, and I returned to the car with 15%. There were a couple of rocky uphill sections that the Rail powered up, they the SL wouldn't. I can't make up my mind if this was down to missing the lower gears, feet slipping off the pedals, or if it was just lack of power?
Home for some lunch, and an hour on the charger - and I was back out again to try another trail that I often visit. This time only Trail mode, and it conquered everything. These were trails I can usually cycle up, but they're rooty and awkward and if you don't carry enough speed, you can get stuck. Trail was enough of a boost to do this carrying more speed, and not breathing out my ass at the top! Unfortunately this ride was cut short when I had a call and had to go into work to sort something out. The downside to being on call!
For me personally, the SL is the perfect eMTB. I still have to work hard to get where I want to go, but I can get up the sections I usually don't have the legs to. It takes the edge off the climb, and I'd manage to get a lot further in the same time.
Heavy enough to feel planted coming down hills, but light enough to feel manoeuvrable and playful. No naff looking Bosch display - just a few LED's to indicate what's what.
On Monday I'm going to be collecting my Rail, and asking them to order me a Levo SL Expert for an exchange.
Update: I have amended the time of Stumpy vs Rail vs SL now that I have checked the videos and subtracted the standing still times.
A few weeks ago, I bit the bullet and bought a Trek Rail 9.9. A bike with an awesome spec and all the top of the range components. I've ridden it on 4 rides over the last 2 weekends, and ridden a lot of the trails that I normally do for comparison purposes. Prior to the Rail, I've had 4 Stumpjumpers over the last 12 years.
The Rail powers round the trails and tackles technical climbs that I'd never be able to do on my Stumpy. I'm 42 years old and of a reasonable fitness - but there are some trails I ride that I just don't have the legs to conquer!
When researching eMTBs, and thinking about buying one, my intention was to ride in Eco. All I wanted was a little bit of a boost when I couldn't find the power... and still get plenty of exercise. I've got 2 young kids, and sometimes get a window of a couple of hours to go riding. I spend most of my time going uphill to get 5 mins downhill (mainly single track). By the time I get to the top, I'm knackered - which spoils the enjoyment of coming down. I thought with a bit of assistance, I could maybe get round quicker and get a couple of shots at the downhill parts.
All of the rides I've done on the Rail have mainly been in the EMTB setting. I tried Eco, but it felt like I could pedal my Stumpy quicker with no power. With the motor off, it feels like I'm riding through thick gloopy mud. A combination of the weight and the motor resistance.
On Tuesday, the Levo SL came out...
It looked like the bike I'd been looking for all this time. Some assist, and relatively light. My Rail is in the shop getting a warranty front brake. I mentioned to the tech that the Levo SL was something I would have bought if it had been out 2 weeks earlier... and he suggested I use their 30 day satisfaction guarantee, and swap it for one. Now scared that I'd miss the power of the Rail, I wanted to try the SL and see how it compared.
I booked a demo day, and collected the bike yesterday evening. It was a Large Expert model. To me, the Expert is the sweet spot in the SL range - for cost v's spec. It's not nearly as well specced as my Rail is, however the retail price is £2000 cheaper. On my baggage scales (best I have!) the SL Expert (size large) weighs 17.70kg. That's without pedals fitted, with tubes on the tyres, and with some naff front / rear reflectors fitted. I have DMR Vault MG pedals on my Rail - so if I was to go tubeless, the 366g for the pedals would be covered. For comparison, my Rail is just under 22kg without pedals - and comes tubeless from the factory. Roughly 4.5kg difference. Last night I set the suspension to the recommended defaults for my weight and adjusted the cockpit to suit. What I forgot was that my pedals were still attached to my Rail which is in the shop. I was going to get out my Stumpy and steal it's pedals - but I thought the plastic ones didn't look THAT bad. Boy, was I wrong!!
With Storm Ciara looming this weekend, and forecasted winds of up to 60mph today, I decided to head out early when they were only forecast at 20mph. I went to a trail that I've ridden on both my Stumpy and Rail. I'd filmed them both for comparison a couple of weeks ago - so I took my GoPro with me today to get a comparison too. It is 510m of elevation from start to finish, and is exactly 10 miles. About 6 miles of fire track, 2 1/2 of technical singletrack climbing, and 1 1/2 of technical singletrack descent. On the Stumpy, it took me 1hr and 20mins. On the Rail, it took 46mins, and on the Levo SL Expert it took just under an hour. The Rail finished the route with 63% battery remaining, and the SL finished with 57%. The SL was in Trail mode for about 80% of the ride, and Turbo for some of the technical climb. I was surprised how little the difference between the Rail and the SL was. I was a bit wary when coming downhill due to the crap slippy pedals, blinding sunlight, and the fact this was the demo bikes first outing and I didn't want to damage it. It also had no mudguard on the front, so I was getting plastered too.
So... what about the bike?!
I found the motor quieter than the Bosch when on Trail (v's EMTB), but louder when on Turbo. I found Turbo mode offered me too much assistance. In Mission Control, Turbo offers 100%... but I'd probably fine tune it to around 80%. At lower speeds, you could feel it assisting - especially when in lower gears with high cadence. Unfortunately, the 12 speed Eagle GX hadn't been set up right, and the first 3 gears were unusable.
I found I changed gear a lot more on the SL than I did on the Rail. The Rail encouraged laziness, as it had enough torque to blast you out of situations when you were a gear or 2 out. The SL is more like a traditional bike in that you need to be prepared for what's coming and in the right gear. I used all of the gears that were working, and would have ideally had the other 3 too. On the Rail, I generally used gears 7-12, and never used the 1-3 at all.
The forks looked a bit spindly compared to my Lyric on the Rail, but they seemed to handle everything that was thrown at them. The rear shock felt good, and seemed to have a minimum bob when pedalling. The brakes also look a bit small, but again handled themselves well. Maybe more aggressive riders would have an issue with them.
The thing I did have a big problem with was the 2.3 front tyre. It washed out several times. Maybe great in California and South Africa where it's dry... but in Scotland in thick mud, it was no use. I'd definitely be swapping that for a 2.6 up front. The rear seemed to cope ok.
The main advantage I found was being able to lift the front, and bunny hop with relative ease. I have big blisters on the inside of my thumbs from gripping the Rail bars so tight! Getting the Rail airborne requires so much more effort.... as well as speed and something like a root / rock to assist, but the SL was quite happy to hop with little effort.
The SL was also easier to manoeuvre through the technical climbs and descents. I find the Knock Block on the Rail quite restrictive, so it was nice to be able to turn the bars as much as I like!
When pedalling past 15mph, the motor dropped off really smoothly... and the resistance from the motor was non existent. I tried riding the bike with the TCU switched off. It was marginally harder than a traditional bike, but not enough that would actually cause any issues.
After my usual circuit, I carried on and cycled a total of 20 miles, and climbed over 1000m. A good bit more Turbo, and I returned to the car with 15%. There were a couple of rocky uphill sections that the Rail powered up, they the SL wouldn't. I can't make up my mind if this was down to missing the lower gears, feet slipping off the pedals, or if it was just lack of power?
Home for some lunch, and an hour on the charger - and I was back out again to try another trail that I often visit. This time only Trail mode, and it conquered everything. These were trails I can usually cycle up, but they're rooty and awkward and if you don't carry enough speed, you can get stuck. Trail was enough of a boost to do this carrying more speed, and not breathing out my ass at the top! Unfortunately this ride was cut short when I had a call and had to go into work to sort something out. The downside to being on call!
For me personally, the SL is the perfect eMTB. I still have to work hard to get where I want to go, but I can get up the sections I usually don't have the legs to. It takes the edge off the climb, and I'd manage to get a lot further in the same time.
Heavy enough to feel planted coming down hills, but light enough to feel manoeuvrable and playful. No naff looking Bosch display - just a few LED's to indicate what's what.
On Monday I'm going to be collecting my Rail, and asking them to order me a Levo SL Expert for an exchange.
Update: I have amended the time of Stumpy vs Rail vs SL now that I have checked the videos and subtracted the standing still times.
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