Levo weight loss 27.5 to 29er

[junglie69]

I converted to 29er some while ago with some fairly basic Roval Traverse rims from a 2019 stumpjumper. For me 29er really works although as a heavyweight I really need stronger wheels. So have gone DT swiss EX511 rims and Hope pro 4 hubs. What really surprised me was the weight saving, getting on for 1kg.

Existing:
Front rim and tape. 1015
Rear rim and tape. 1250
2 x tubes @ 320. 640
2 x Butcher Grid 2180
1130 Cassette. 538
Total. 5623

New:
DT Swiss EX511 32 hole 29er rims and tape
with Hope Pro 4 hubs. 2153
2 x Minion DHF 29 x 2.5 tyres. 2030
Stans. 180
1150 10 x 42 cassette ( still all steel ). 398
Total. 4761

Difference. 862

I realise it’s an ebike and weight isn’t the main issue however I hadn’t expected to save nearly a kilo going up to 29er from 27.5 and not a bit of carbon in sight!
The weight of those tubes, it’s worth going tubeless for that weight loss alone.

 

[khorn]

I have a set of 29" carbon wheels also with Hope hubs and I saved around 1.8 kg based on the stock 27.5" Levo setup. I would say that I clearly can feel the difference in weight.

Karsten

 

[Halcon]

Thanks for the info, Specialized never lists the weights, i can see why.

 

[Halcon]

khorn, what carbon wheels do you have? Inner width? Tires?

 

[khorn]

I have some Chinese good quality 25 mm inner width 32 holes carbon rims with Hope Pro 4 and Sapim spokes. Tires right now are Maxxis Aspen 2.1 but will put some MM on them soon.

Karsten

 

[Gary]

Simply fitting 2x 2.75x2.5 exo DHFs and going tubeless would have saved the same amount of weight but a good few hundred quid.

 

[khorn]

I had the wheels already and wanted to feel how the Levo coped whith the 29”. Some of my local trails are quite flat and and solid ground so I wanted to see if there are any benefits. For sure there are, quicker handling and much better acceleration not to mention that it rolls so much better. The last part is due to the Aspen tire but at the expense of grip. That tire is plain dangerous if it is slippery. My weight differences were with tubeless 2.8 Butchers and tubes in the Aspen tires.

Karsten

 

[MattyB]

I had the wheels already and wanted to feel how the Levo coped whith the 29”. Some of my local trails are quite flat and and solid ground so I wanted to see if there are any benefits. For sure there are, quicker handling and much better acceleration not to mention that it rolls so much better. The last part is due to the Aspen tire but at the expense of grip. That tire is plain dangerous if it is slippery. My weight differences were with tubeless 2.8 Butchers and tubes in the Aspen tires.

Karsten

Yes, but Gary’s point is well made - none of your weight saving is due to your choice to turn it into a 29er, it’s really just the cassette, tyres and the conversion to tubeless that have done it. Those are all things you could have done just as easily with the original wheels.

 

[Gary]

@MattyB I actually meant it'd have been at least as much of a weight saving without changing to a lighter cassette. 27.5 exo TR DHFs are sub 900g.
There's no way I'd ever contemplate putting a 10T cassette on an Ebike

 

[junglie69]

My choice of cassette is neither here nor there. The reason for the post was to show the weights in detail. I was not expecting to save weight by going 29er and that you could shed nigh on half a kilo just by going tubeless. I didn’t save weight in the wheels as I went for strength and stayed with alloy if I had gone carbon I would have shed the additional that khorn did. Fitting 2x 2.75x2.5 exo DHFs as Gary suggests would have been a struggle on 29er rims!

 

[Gary]

Fitting 2x 2.75x2.5 exo DHFs as Gary suggests would have been a struggle on 29er rims!

Haha
Maybe that's what all these folk mean when i hear them say Ebikes get you fit?

Sorry, Dude. you're thread title makes it sound like you'd switched from 27.5 to 29.

Anyway. most Emtbs have far too heavy/draggy tyres fitted from new so it's really a no brainer to lighten them by changing tyres and going tubeless

 

[khorn]

Yes, but Gary’s point is well made - none of your weight saving is due to your choice to turn it into a 29er, it’s really just the cassette, tyres and the conversion to tubeless that have done it. Those are all things you could have done just as easily with the original wheels.

I did not try the 29" wheels in order to gain weight savings in the first place, I did it in order to see the difference in ride characteristics of the Levo. I'm 110 kg kitted up on a 23 kg MTB so searching for a few grams here and there I find a waste of money. However, saving weight on the rotating mass will give the biggest difference in riding characteristics. When that is said, I find it unrealistic to lighten the stock setup 1.8 kg. In my case the difference is between stock setup running tubeless and a a set of 29"ers with tubes with the same cassette as on the stock rims. Maybe 500 grams lighter tires and that's it, not that it matters at all. I did actually like the 29"ers on the Levo and as I already have them I will run either setup depending on the environment I'm going to ride in. Also BB height is raised about 1 cm and that gave me 0 pedal strikes compared to when I'm riding the 27.5"ers where I usually have a few on each ride on the same trails.

I like to have more than 1 option

Karsten

 

[Adasb]

I've heard from a couple of sites that many tall people prefer the 29" on the Levo.
I tried a set of 29" wheels on my Levo also, and far preferred the handling as well. I seem to recall that you had the choice of size when buying new (Late 2016), but these days you only get 27.5"?

Fingers crossed 29er is an option again when the new bikes drop in 2 weeks...