Kenevo SL Official 2022 Kenevo SL (KSL) Megathread!

[altrezia]

I get heavier (slightly). But the ksl is basically an enduro?

My enduro bike (not a spesh) is almost 6.5kg lighter, and a 650b. It feels playful like a dirt jumper in comparison

 

[Mcharza]

I get heavier (slightly). But the ksl is basically an enduro?

I have both and Enduro is about 4.5 kg lighter. That's a lot.
I love to ride both, but Enduro is better for me in bike parks.

 

[iamanej]

We are slowly getting out of summer here in Slovenia and the day is getting shorter day by day.
I've ordered a 5000 lumen headlight and I want to connect it to main battery.
The headlight is capable of operating at 7,4V - 12V.
I figured if I would add this converter to the main battery connector I could power the light without usage of external powerbank.
What do you think? 48v to 12v Converter

 

[MagisterBibendi]

We are slowly getting out of summer here in Slovenia and the day is getting shorter day by day.
I've ordered a 5000 lumen headlight and I want to connect it to main battery.
The headlight is capable of operating at 7,4V - 12V.
I figured if I would add this converter to the main battery connector I could power the light without usage of external powerbank.
What do you think? 48v to 12v Converter

There is a dedicated Specialized SL light connector wiring set, item number S216800001. Maybe first check if it could meet your requirements.

 

[iamanej]

There is a dedicated Specialized SL light connector wiring set, item number S216800001. Maybe first check if it could meet your requirements.

this is just a splitter and is built for light that can handle 48-54 volts. My light is capable of operating at 7-12 volts so I need to convert 48v to 12v.

something like this DC DC Buck Converter 100V 96V 84V 72V 60V 48V 24V to 12V 20A 5A 10A Power Regulator Convertor Step Down Voltage Car CCTV Camera - AliExpress 13

 

[MagisterBibendi]

this is just a splitter and is built for light that can handle 48-54 volts. My light is capable of operating at 7-12 volts so I need to convert 48v to 12v.

something like this DC DC Buck Converter 100V 96V 84V 72V 60V 48V 24V to 12V 20A 5A 10A Power Regulator Convertor Step Down Voltage Car CCTV Camera - AliExpress 13

It says here that the Y-splitter connects to TCU, not to battery directly, and is 12V: https://www.ibksport.com/s216800001...yMJK7CYoaojoCX6X0Zv2h1Ag4uKfuPm2m4xyDJPn4cszd

 

[iamanej]

It says here that the Y-splitter connects to TCU, not to battery directly, and is 12V: https://www.ibksport.com/s216800001...yMJK7CYoaojoCX6X0Zv2h1Ag4uKfuPm2m4xyDJPn4cszd

Aaaa... didnt notice that. 8w/650ma max is a bit too less for a 5000 lumen light I suppose TCU has its own DC DC dc converter which has limited capabilities.

 

[Evilkenevil]

Thanks for everyone’s input. Took the KSL out today, did 3000ft climbing. Still had 30% battery left. I definitely could have used eco more. Really pleased.

 

[Teoslav]

I am thinking of moving to a coil shock.

Is anyone running a coil shock? If yes I am interested in what spring are you running and how heavy you are

 

[Doomanic]

Spring Calculator - TF Tuned

Spring Calculator - TF Tuned are experts in mountain bike and bicycle suspension service and repair, including setting-up the for you and your bike

www.tftuned.com

 

[MagisterBibendi]

I am thinking of moving to a coil shock.

Is anyone running a coil shock? If yes I am interested in what spring are you running and how heavy you are

My two cents on experimenting with a coil shock:

• Mullet KSL S4, flipchip high, neutral headset, 190 mm Boxxer C1 up front with Vorsprung Secus, Vivid Ultimate Coil 62.5 mm stroke with a stock damper tune of C30R55
• Full bikepark kitted rider weight 75 kg

Tried two springs with 425 and 450 lb/in rates.

• The 425 resulted in around 29 % sag with minimal preloading*. The bike felt plush and predictive going straight, but sluggish on corners. Managed to get the damping side feeling OK in most situations, and if not trying the stiffer spring, would have probably ridden happily without knowing there could be a golden place for me right next to it.
• 450 spring resulted in around 26% sag with minimal preloading* The bike was transformed to an agile blaster all around, which I attribute to the effects of dynamic ride height keeping the geo in a more favourable place. With minimum preloading, I do not experience any degradation in grip or small bump sensitivity, nor does the rear feel harsh in situations where more travel is used. The suspension has my back in all situations, while still reaching bottom out if casing big and fast jumps. The stock damper tune of the Vivid is maybe a bit heavy on my weight, and with the excellent mid stroke support of the spring I have currently settled, after extensive bracketing, to LSC -2 (”fully open), HSC 0 (”middle”), Reb -11 from fully closed and HBO in the middle.

*The Vivid has a preload collar which does not have any locking mechanism (such as a grub screw) like some competitors and officially Rockshox states that there should be 2-5 full turns of preload present. The minimum of 2 full turns of preloading is already quite a lot. For me, it raised the static sag with the 425 spring from around 29% (minimal preload) to around 26% (2 full turns). However, the preload collar tends to loosen if not tightened enough at least on my Vivid, so I 3D printed an extra plastic collar to keep the main preload collar from loosening when tightened just enough to prevent the spring from rattling.

The bike works as a whole and it has taken quite a bit of bracketing to arrive to a good place with the front and rear ends (including trying different headset positions, different clamping of the stanchions in the dual crowns), especially with this kind of build where there are changes to stock geo.

Even though I refer to some sag values in my post for reference, you should aim for a set up that makes you ride faster and with more confidence. Getting an initial starting point with a spring calculator and then experimenting with at least one different spring rate (lower or higher spring rate depending on the initial real-life ride situation findings with the first spring) would be my recommendation. Just settling to some ”recommended sag” could result in missing performance gains.

Of course with an air shock, you could more easily experiment the effects of stiffer or looser spring rates on dynamic ride height effects, but there will be some compromises and tradeoffs to mid-stroke support and suspension harshness along the way, that are not so evident with a coil with different springs.

You can probably tell that I am more of a ”perfect spring first, damping second” kind of person. Others swear more to the name of damping also in controlling the ride dynamics of the suspension. Again, it’s what makes you faster and more confident that counts…

 

[cozzy]

Ttx22. Just swapped over from my full power kenevo. Haven't ridden it yet but at dyfi Thursday and Friday so will test it there.
Spring is the same as on the full power.
A 550.-670 mrp progressive gives me 30% sag on both bikes, measured by sitting on the dropped seat rather than standing.
I don't know if the sl will benefit from a progressive coil.
I cant tell the difference where the hsc and lsc are as long as the rebound is right and its not bottoming hard, that will do me.
95kg.

 

[MagisterBibendi]

My two cents on experimenting with a coil shock:

• Mullet KSL S4, flipchip high, neutral headset, 190 mm Boxxer C1 up front with Vorsprung Secus, Vivid Ultimate Coil 62.5 mm stroke with a stock damper tune of C30R55
• Full bikepark kitted rider weight 65 kg

Tried two springs with 425 and 450 lb/in rates.

• The 425 resulted in around 29 % sag with minimal preloading*. The bike felt plush and predictive going straight, but sluggish on corners. Managed to get the damping side feeling OK in most situations, and if not trying the stiffer spring, would have probably ridden happily without knowing there could be a golden place for me right next to it.
• 450 spring resulted in around 26% sag with minimal preloading* The bike was transformed to an agile blaster all around, which I attribute to the effects of dynamic ride height keeping the geo in a more favourable place. With minimum preloading, I do not experience any degradation in grip or small bump sensitivity, nor does the rear feel harsh in situations where more travel is used. The suspension has my back in all situations, while still reaching bottom out if casing big and fast jumps. The stock damper tune of the Vivid is maybe a bit heavy on my weight, and with the excellent mid stroke support of the spring I have currently settled, after extensive bracketing, to LSC -2 (”fully open), HSC 0 (”middle”), Reb -11 from fully closed and HBO in the middle.

*The Vivid has a preload collar which does not have any locking mechanism (such as a grub screw) like some competitors and officially Rockshox states that there should be 2-5 full turns of preload present. The minimum of 2 full turns of preloading is already quite a lot. For me, it raised the static sag with the 425 spring from around 29% (minimal preload) to around 26% (2 full turns). However, the preload collar tends to loosen if not tightened enough at least on my Vivid, so I 3D printed an extra plastic collar to keep the main preload collar from loosening when tightened just enough to prevent the spring from rattling.

The bike works as a whole and it has taken quite a bit of bracketing to arrive to a good place with the front and rear ends (including trying different headset positions, different clamping of the stanchions in the dual crowns), especially with this kind of build where there are changes to stock geo.

Even though I refer to some sag values in my post for reference, you should aim for a set up that makes you ride faster and with more confidence. Getting an initial starting point with a spring calculator and then experimenting with at least one different spring rate (lower or higher spring rate depending on the initial real-life ride situation findings with the first spring) would be my recommendation. Just settling to some ”recommended sag” could result in missing performance gains.

Of course with an air shock, you could more easily experiment the effects of stiffer or looser spring rates on dynamic ride height effects, but there will be some compromises and tradeoffs to mid-stroke support and suspension harshness along the way, that are not so evident with a coil with different springs.

You can probably tell that I am more of a ”perfect spring first, damping second” kind of person. Others swear more to the name of damping also in controlling the ride dynamics of the suspension. Again, it’s what makes you faster and more confident that counts…

Sorry, I am 75 kg fully kitted! Not 65

 

[Dax]

Sorry, I am 75 kg fully kitted! Not 65

Did think you’d be pretty svelte on a s4 at 65kg

 

[cozzy]

My two cents on experimenting with a coil shock:

• Mullet KSL S4, flipchip high, neutral headset, 190 mm Boxxer C1 up front

Curious as to what a2c you ended up on with the boxxer?
Im pretty insensitive to settings as per my post, but i do feel i should cut my 40@203mm with an a2c of 595mm down to 190mm, for no other reason than it makes it more 'correct'.

 

[MagisterBibendi]

Curious as to what a2c you ended up on with the boxxer?
Im pretty insensitive to settings as per my post, but i do feel i should cut my 40@203mm with an a2c of 595mm down to 190mm, for no other reason than it makes it more 'correct'.

I measured 596 mm axle-to-crown + 2 mm from crown race. This with the stanchions clamped so that the fork is at its longest position as per the official allowable Rockshox spec (161 mm top of lower crown-to-top of stanchion).

My settings for the front end are maybe a bit peculiar too. As the Secus changes the air spring curve, boosting the mid stroke support while making the initial stroke a bit more linear, I have settled to settings which give me around 28-29 % of static sag in the front. The stronger mid stroke support after this seemingly high sag point keeps the dynamic geometry nicely intact without diving deep into the stroke in low speed compression situations. There is lots of grip and small pump sensitivity available in rough corners with the higher sag. I’m thinking that there is a bit more ”negative travel” for the fork to extend to the bumps with more sag. The naturally progressive end stroke for an air spring is still there.

I haven’t done the math but I am curious whether my dynamic geo in the front would actually fall somewhere near to the stock single crown 170 mm with lower amounts of sag.

Overall very pleased with the current setup, but arriving there was a lot more involved activity with experimenting and bracketing because the air spring behaves quite differently than stock with the Secus.

 

[cozzy]

I measured 596 mm axle-to-crown + 2 mm from crown race. This with the stanchions clamped so that the fork is at its longest position as per the official allowable Rockshox spec (161 mm top of lower crown-to-top of stanchion).

My settings for the front end are maybe a bit peculiar too. As the Secus changes the air spring curve, boosting the mid stroke support while making the initial stroke a bit more linear, I have settled to settings which give me around 28-29 % of static sag in the front. The stronger mid stroke support after this seemingly high sag point keeps the dynamic geometry nicely intact without diving deep into the stroke in low speed compression situations. There is lots of grip and small pump sensitivity available in rough corners with the higher sag. I’m thinking that there is a bit more ”negative travel” for the fork to extend to the bumps with more sag. The naturally progressive end stroke for an air spring is still there.

I haven’t done the math but I am curious whether my dynamic geo in the front would actually fall somewhere near to the stock single crown 170 mm with lower amounts of sag.

Overall very pleased with the current setup, but arriving there was a lot more involved activity with experimenting and bracketing because the air spring behaves quite differently than stock with the Secus.

Pretty much the same as mine then. Im also s4, mullet, middle headset, flipchip high.
Just slightly concerned about the extra fork length compared to specialized max of a 170mm in the manual, which would be about 582mm a2c. Having said that they also say single crown only. However i have doubled up on the bumpers to help spread the load in a crash, either that or they will punch an even bigger hole into the carbon downtube.
Lets see a picture then. Dont see many ksl's with the vastly superior dual crown fork fitted

 

[MagisterBibendi]

Pretty much the same as mine then. Im also s4, mullet, middle headset, flipchip high.
Just slightly concerned about the extra fork length compared to specialized max of a 170mm in the manual, which would be about 582mm a2c. Having said that they also say single crown only. However i have doubled up on the bumpers to help spread the load in a crash, either that or they will punch an even bigger hole into the carbon downtube.
Lets see a picture then. Dont see many ksl's with the vastly superior dual crown fork fitted

Also double bumpers kitted. The C1 Boxxer with zero offset crowns (46 mm total) is propably the worst when it comes to clearance and turning radius. However, it still is a non-issue in all but the very slow speed tight turns, where you actually need to turn the bars instead of leaning the bike over. I had one lying around, but would recommed a fork with stanchions wider apart and/or more offset in the crowns instead of in the lower legs. I cannot go back to single crown either, but KSL would surely deserve a dual crown and cat 5 certifications from the get-go.

 

[cozzy]

Also double bumpers kitted. The C1 Boxxer with zero offset crowns (46 mm total) is propably the worst when it comes to clearance and turning radius. However, it still is a non-issue in all but the very slow speed tight turns, where you actually need to turn the bars instead of leaning the bike over. I had one lying around, but would recommed a fork with stanchions wider apart and/or more offset in the crowns instead of in the lower legs. I cannot go back to single crown either, but KSL would surely deserve a dual crown and cat 5 certifications from the get-go.

View attachment 146005

Yeah that won't have much steering lock with the zero offset crown. The +10 wasn't great either on my full power.
The current 40 has more offset built into the crown compared to the leg, so +18mm on the 52 offset model. No worries with steering on that.
Hopefully they updated the d1 model, i haven't looked.

 

[cozzy]

Droppers.
S4, 170mm crank. 6' tall, 32" leg? Dunno, been years since ive purchased trousers .
The stock manic 170mm was no good, far too tall when slammed, about 40mm above the height of my full power so ive just picked up a v3 oneup 180mm.

Measurement from centre of crank to saddle rail.

Kenevo s4 full power 165mm cranks. Oneup v2 200mm shimmed down and slammed.
Low 510mm
High 710mm
This is Ideal.

I had fitted the spesh command post 160mm when i first purchased the bike, but was struggling with my knees with it being a bit low at max height. Especially as i want to fit 165mm cranks in the future.
This wasnt quite slammed.

Kenevo sl s4
Command post 160mm.
Low 525mm
High 685mm

And with the oneup v3 180mm slammed.
Low 525mm
High 702mm
I appreciate there is only 177mm difference between the above measurements, but the post does seem to be nearer this than claimed 180mm for some reason.
Anyway ive gained some pedalling height and lost no drop, so happy with that.

 

[sethimus]

so there is this new, unreleased 520wh battery that will debut with the last, non updated bike of the sl family. anyone with more in depth knowledge if those are gonna be retrofittable on the other sl2 bikes?

 

[Geas]

so there is this new, unreleased 520wh battery that will debut with the last, non updated bike of the sl family. anyone with more in depth knowledge if those are gonna be retrofittable on the other sl2 bikes?

Looking at current market leading wh/kg ratios for batteries, this battery would probably add around 0.5kg to the system.

 

[sethimus]

Looking at current market leading wh/kg ratios for batteries, this battery would probably add around 0.5kg to the system.

yesterday there were no technical details of the new Vado sl on the b2b site yet

 

[Chriso82]

is there any rumours of a new kenevo sl or not for a while

 

[DylanJM]

so there is this new, unreleased 520wh battery that will debut with the last, non updated bike of the sl family. anyone with more in depth knowledge if those are gonna be retrofittable on the other sl2 bikes?

Are you referring to the battery from the new Vado sl? Just eyeballing it it looks like the downtube on the new Vado is chunkier than the Levo and Kenevo SL so I'm thinking no.

 

[Semmelrocc]

I don't think so either looking at the new Vado SL's enormous downtube. But there are other nice features that will hopefully find their way to all the other Specialized bikes, like Apple's Find me or system lock/alarm (or are they and I didn't notice yet?).

 

[whitymon]

There is no real benefit to have apple find, lock, alarm on an emtb. It is not like you are going to lock a 12k mountain bike to a city to a stake.
It can mitigate in some situation ... but this is very limited, and if they go to my garage well ... there is already an alarm on my house.

 

[Mcharza]

But if the bad guy somehow got into your garage and the bike is already in the van going far away.
At this stage, Apple's Find my (or me) is excellent as long as it is on.

 

[Ou812]

How much real world difference is there between the KSL1 and KSL2? My local Spesh dealer has one 2022 S-Works frame left in the back, they’ve got it marked down to £3150. The guy working said the owner would probably discount it even further just to get rid of it if I were interested. He was saying something in the neighbourhood of £2800.

I honestly don’t need another bike right now, can’t really even ride the ones I have but I’m a sucker for a deal.

 

[whitymon]

But if the bad guy somehow got into your garage and the bike is already in the van going far away.
At this stage, Apple's Find my (or me) is excellent as long as it is on.

It can but be reasonable about this.

Not sure if it has its own battery, but let's assume you left the battery with it so it can be active.

You can somehow poor locate the bike only if there is an IPhone near it, otherwise it is useless. I let you remind also that any kind of FindMe raise an alarm on your Iphone like sometime is tailing you.

Even if you locate the people what is the next move, you go all in with a baseball bat? More power to you, be careful ... You go to the police? Most of the time they absolutely do not care.

It is just a little something ... would be better to have a firmware lock like car keys but same, only a matter of time until it would be cracked.