Based on all the very happy stories here about the fantastic support many of you have received either via your local Specialized Dealer or @Specialized Rider Care here directly, I will in the following give a small explanation of my personal experiences in this region of the world(Scandinavia). A couple of weeks ago I contacted the regional Rider care asking for guidance of what to do with the fact that I have severe issues with running 29" wheels/tires on my 2018 Turbo Levo Comp Carbon.
This is taken directly from the official Specialized advertising material with regards to the exact EMTB I bought:
As a prof of my issues I attached the following picture which shows my 29" wheel mounted with a Maxxis Ardent 2.4 29" tire - Picture very clearly indicates that the tire rub solid up against the lower front part of the rear triangle:
For a reference I also added the following picture of a fellow forum member's bike running another 29" setup with a Maxxis 2.5 DHF that shows loads of clearance. My initial approach was asking Rider Care if there somehow could a situation where my bike during production was equipped with a wrong rear triangle during production - This is the picture that shows that some have absolutely no issues running a decent width rear tire:
The reply I got from Specialized was very clear; "During production of MY2016 to MY2018 there was only utilized 1 type of rear triangle for all full suspension models"
They also stated the following; "The max tire width, (recommended by Specialized) with Specialized tire and Roval rim is 2.4”
The information above was completely new to me as they now suddenly stated that they could only guarantee the 29" if only Specialized products were used - This have never been stated in any public advertising material I could find on the Internet. The first statement is also plain wrong as a quick search via Goggle indicates that there last year was sold a Short travel version of the Turbo Levo that came from factory with 29" wheels. For those that are interested you can clearly see on the links below that the front part of the chain stay is very different from what I have on my bike:
29" Turbo Levo
29" Turbo Levo YT presentation
Nevertheless I continued to claim that I did not consider my Turbo Levo fit for purpose with 29" wheels together with a tire wider than 2.1 witch I consider useless on a heavy EMTB for anything else than light XC riding. In the following dialogue with Rider Care they asked me to try the wheel/tire combo from my wife's 2019 Levo HT as Rider Care knew for a reference that this combo would work perfectly for my exact bike. This setup is a combination of a 29" Stout wheel with 25 mm inner width and a Specialized Ground Control 2.3 tire. After installation I did send the following pictures as documentation to Rider Care - The ruler in the picture is 2 1/2 mm wide for reference:
This picture is with 30 Psi and if I raise it to 45 Psi it goes solid, again I would say NOT FIT FOR PURPOSE!
This is the answer I got back from Specialized Rider care:
"We never promoted this Levo to fit with all different tire options and the modern wide rims.
It was promoted as a 6fattie bike, with the possibility to mount 29ers. 29er is max 2.3-2.4”, bigger than that, it becomes a plus size tire.
So the answer for this is: Will a 29er wheel with a 2.3/2.4 Butcher tire fit – Yes.
Will it fit with maximum tire clearance? – No, it will fit like shown in the attached picture and there’s a difference on the clearance with the modern rim wide designs."
So basically they are admitting that there initial advertising gimmick is utterly crap and in real use the bike sold is NOT a dual wheel size EMTB. As you can see they also told me plain lies with regards to the question about different versions of the rear triangle and you all want to know what the final answer was from Rider Care as I continued to Claim "NOT FIT FOR PURPOSE"....................?
They passed on contact details for their legal department in case I wanted to start a legal claim as this was that final support from them!!
I was too tired to mention that, after comprehensive testing of my rear suspension travel, it turns out my stock travel is closer to 125 mm and nowhere close to the 135 mm as stated in the marketing material - Also indicating that there is something wrong with the rear setup of the bike. During the last 3 years I have bought 5 MTB's from Specialized for well over 13.000€ - Will I buy Specialized again.... NEVER!!!
A final question to all the experienced rider out here; Do you believe the the above setup is "Fit for Purpose" and do you believe that the level of support I got from Specialized Rider Care is to an acceptable level?
Karsten
This is taken directly from the official Specialized advertising material with regards to the exact EMTB I bought:
As a prof of my issues I attached the following picture which shows my 29" wheel mounted with a Maxxis Ardent 2.4 29" tire - Picture very clearly indicates that the tire rub solid up against the lower front part of the rear triangle:
For a reference I also added the following picture of a fellow forum member's bike running another 29" setup with a Maxxis 2.5 DHF that shows loads of clearance. My initial approach was asking Rider Care if there somehow could a situation where my bike during production was equipped with a wrong rear triangle during production - This is the picture that shows that some have absolutely no issues running a decent width rear tire:
The reply I got from Specialized was very clear; "During production of MY2016 to MY2018 there was only utilized 1 type of rear triangle for all full suspension models"
They also stated the following; "The max tire width, (recommended by Specialized) with Specialized tire and Roval rim is 2.4”
The information above was completely new to me as they now suddenly stated that they could only guarantee the 29" if only Specialized products were used - This have never been stated in any public advertising material I could find on the Internet. The first statement is also plain wrong as a quick search via Goggle indicates that there last year was sold a Short travel version of the Turbo Levo that came from factory with 29" wheels. For those that are interested you can clearly see on the links below that the front part of the chain stay is very different from what I have on my bike:
29" Turbo Levo
29" Turbo Levo YT presentation
Nevertheless I continued to claim that I did not consider my Turbo Levo fit for purpose with 29" wheels together with a tire wider than 2.1 witch I consider useless on a heavy EMTB for anything else than light XC riding. In the following dialogue with Rider Care they asked me to try the wheel/tire combo from my wife's 2019 Levo HT as Rider Care knew for a reference that this combo would work perfectly for my exact bike. This setup is a combination of a 29" Stout wheel with 25 mm inner width and a Specialized Ground Control 2.3 tire. After installation I did send the following pictures as documentation to Rider Care - The ruler in the picture is 2 1/2 mm wide for reference:
This picture is with 30 Psi and if I raise it to 45 Psi it goes solid, again I would say NOT FIT FOR PURPOSE!
This is the answer I got back from Specialized Rider care:
"We never promoted this Levo to fit with all different tire options and the modern wide rims.
It was promoted as a 6fattie bike, with the possibility to mount 29ers. 29er is max 2.3-2.4”, bigger than that, it becomes a plus size tire.
So the answer for this is: Will a 29er wheel with a 2.3/2.4 Butcher tire fit – Yes.
Will it fit with maximum tire clearance? – No, it will fit like shown in the attached picture and there’s a difference on the clearance with the modern rim wide designs."
So basically they are admitting that there initial advertising gimmick is utterly crap and in real use the bike sold is NOT a dual wheel size EMTB. As you can see they also told me plain lies with regards to the question about different versions of the rear triangle and you all want to know what the final answer was from Rider Care as I continued to Claim "NOT FIT FOR PURPOSE"....................?
They passed on contact details for their legal department in case I wanted to start a legal claim as this was that final support from them!!
I was too tired to mention that, after comprehensive testing of my rear suspension travel, it turns out my stock travel is closer to 125 mm and nowhere close to the 135 mm as stated in the marketing material - Also indicating that there is something wrong with the rear setup of the bike. During the last 3 years I have bought 5 MTB's from Specialized for well over 13.000€ - Will I buy Specialized again.... NEVER!!!
A final question to all the experienced rider out here; Do you believe the the above setup is "Fit for Purpose" and do you believe that the level of support I got from Specialized Rider Care is to an acceptable level?
Karsten
