Levo Gen 2 Mullet gen 2 Levo advice

[Meepmeep]

I'm planning to mullet my stock 2021 gen2 levo and looking for any pointers on the process and if its worth doing in the opinion of any others who have tried it? im a short arse.
My thinking is i buy a mid range 27.5 wheel(incase i end up prefering the 29), swap over the cassette and brake disc with the magnet attached, flip the chip to the high setting and fit 155mm hope specialized offset cranks then take it in to a specialized dealer and get the wheel circumferance altered in mission control. Am i missing anything,would this be all thats involved? Pointers on what wheel to get would be great,its a shimano slx groupset if that makes any difference.
Any advice appreciated, thanks.

 

[Snrbrtsn]

Pretty much, what I’ve done with a Crank brother 35mm wheel, 2.4 (BB) on rear and DT Swiss on front, flip chip set to high
OEM hubs I found poor!
Though I don’t feel the need for shorter cranks
Be sure to get a microspline hub, if sticking with the centre lock brake disc, may limit your wheel options…

I went with std 6 bolt and upgraded discs to magura though admittedly I’ve went through several as prone to running out of true and rubbing, I still run the slx brakes, and likely will until failure.

I had LBS change wheel circumference to 2000mm

In regards to how it rides
Id say stiffer and more playful , easier to throw around, though that’s comparing against stock wheel which I found very flexi
Slight cockpit change required, turn bars and levers to compensate, though once set up - Devine!

Ive changed back & forth between wheels and, prefer the feel of the 27.5”

In regards to thinking you won’t like it after change - don’t see it possible!

Only complaint
Recently replaced rear tyre for soft compound (BB), 5hit on anything but loose dirt or wet! “Very” grippy though really no bad thing, more misusing!

 

[RebornRider]

I'm sure I'll get reamed by the cognoscenti for this, but I thought the "more playful" and "more responsive" of the mullet setup came from the shorter rear chainstay and the corresponding shorter wheel base? I'm not understanding why a slightly smaller diameter rear wheel would result in a noticeable change in playfulness.

 

[Snrbrtsn]

I'm sure I'll get reamed by the cognoscenti for this, but I thought the "more playful" and "more responsive" of the mullet setup came from the shorter rear chainstay and the corresponding shorter wheel base? I'm not understanding why a slightly smaller diameter rear wheel would result in a noticeable change in playfulness.

Not at all!
Most likely you are correct! just my opinion!

 

[Muzza]

I'm sure I'll get reamed by the cognoscenti for this, but I thought the "more playful" and "more responsive" of the mullet setup came from the shorter rear chainstay and the corresponding shorter wheel base? I'm not understanding why a slightly smaller diameter rear wheel would result in a noticeable change in playfulness.

No you should be correct, after all that's why they shortened the chain stay length on the new Levos to take advantage of it.
However , I felt the same way but eventually gave in to all the ra ra on forums to give it a try & must say will never go back to 29. It's noticeably more confident inspiring on tricky fast descents with tight turns & with no noticeable downsides in my opinion!

 

[Meepmeep]

Thanks alot for the pointers boys
I ended up going for a Hope Fortus 30 pro4 and switched from the centerlock to 6 bolt rotor and then ran into the sensor magnet problem.
For anybody else doing this the magnet below doesn't fit because of the hope hub.

Got around this by fitting a bosch magnet that seems to works fine.

Also put a whole new drivetrain on swapping the stock praxis chainring that i couldnt find in stock anywhere for a Burgtec. Booked in to lbs next week for the wheel circumference change. Chains getting a deep clean atm before fitting.
Go out for a decent ride on it tomorrow and see how it all feels.

 

[Snrbrtsn]

Looks sweet, been through so many incarnations with “same” bike that it‘s gotten beyond unnecessarily expensive !
would love to hear your views on the change
surprised at the magnet not fitting, I’m using a crank brother 35mm rear wheel and berkshire bikes supplied mine, thought they were generic, clearly not!

Take into account you can switch between wheel sizes after the circumference change, but think you’ll only do it once then revert to playful mullet with longer chain stay and the same travel!

 

[IronScott]

Thanks alot for the pointers boys
I ended up going for a Hope Fortus 30 pro4 and switched from the centerlock to 6 bolt rotor and then ran into the sensor magnet problem.
For anybody else doing this the magnet below doesn't fit because of the hope hub.
View attachment 92501


Got around this by fitting a bosch magnet that seems to works fine.


View attachment 92502
View attachment 92503

Also put a whole new drivetrain on swapping the stock praxis chainring that i couldnt find in stock anywhere for a Burgtec. Booked in to lbs next week for the wheel circumference change. Chains getting a deep clean atm before fitting.
Go out for a decent ride on it tomorrow and see how it all feels.

I ran into this same exact issue on my first Gen 3 Levo. I ended up fabricating my own mount and glued a magnet. It was a hack but worked. I had tried grinding off the bottom of the factory magnet but ended up breaking it because it is super soft aluminum. I regretted that Hope hub purchase from the very minute I tried to get the magnet working. It was causing my brake rotor to warp at first and I couldn't figure out why. If your solution works, just go with it.

 

[Bndit]

I tried also mullet set up for my Levo, it was still easy to find cheap centerlock DT Swisses last autum . My idea was to run mullet on bike parks and full 29” on trail. On tight berms and deep stuff where you need more room for your arse you could really feel the difference compared to full 29”. But I`m lazy so changing the set up started to feel too much hazzle so I tought I`ll use only mullet on trails too. But my local trails are mainly roots and rocks so I prefered full29” because better roll over. So I ended up selling the mullet wheels and bought Status for the bike parks And I can tell you that the weight difference between Status and Turbo is more noticable than mullet/full 29”…
But I just purchased new set of 29” wheels and couldn`t get centerlock so had to buy that new magnet for six bolt disc. Works fine and I wonder how it doesn`t work with Hopes because discs are standard size and magnet is installed on those disc holes? And disc should be always in same position compared to bike/caliber compination…?

 

[Meepmeep]

The Hope hub sits proud of the brake disc so the factory magnet hits the hub and wont align with the screw holes, could probably fit some washers under it to make it clear the hub i guess.

So far the mullet is the better choice for me, bike feels more agile and manouverable,plus no more arse buzz.

Ironscott,i too was starting to regret buying the wheel when i hit the magnet problem but all worked out in the end, no regrets!