Levo SL Gen 1 Official Levo SL Thread

[jemen]

Why no chain guide unnecessary?

Definitely unnecessary!

 

[Bencab]

What did you think of riding it at Henry Coe? That’s where I took my demo and I was extremely impressed

I already rode the SL twice at Henry Coe. First one was 23.5 miles and about 6000 ft of climbing (17% battery left); second one was 25 miles about 5500 feet of climbing (22% battery left). SL requires more rider input so different ride quality than regular ebike. It is giving me a good workout. FYI - never ridden Coe until I got into e-biking; now it is my favorite place to ride.

 

[Vin829]

I already rode the SL twice at Henry Coe. First one was 23.5 miles and about 6000 ft of climbing (17% battery left); second one was 25 miles about 5500 feet of climbing (22% battery left). SL requires more rider input so different ride quality than regular ebike. It is giving me a good workout. FYI - never ridden Coe until I got into e-biking; now it is my favorite place to ride.

Ive spent many years riding out at Coe on a regular bike....Ive had 10 hours days reaching the furthest ends of the park. This SL was awesome out there. I was able to climb his Ive normally only been able to hike. I bought the expert model SL and 2 range extenders

 

[Fx1]

What did you think of riding it at Henry Coe? That’s where I took my demo and I was extremely impressed

I already rode the SL twice at Henry Coe. First one was 23.5 miles and about 6000 ft of climbing (17% battery left); second one was 25 miles about 5500 feet of climbing (22% battery left). SL requires more rider input so different ride quality than regular ebike. It is giving me a good workout. FYI - never ridden Coe until I got into e-biking; now it is my favorite place to ride.

Does it feel like you can ride the same speed with half the effort or twice as fast with the same effort? Or something different?

 

[Vin829]

Does it feel like you can ride the same speed with half the effort or twice as fast with the same effort? Or something different?

Hard to say really. Most of my time on the bike was in trail mode. But if you have never been to Coe you really can’t get the feel of what I’m talking about. It’s not uncommon to have a 15% grade for 2+ miles. Some pitches up to 30%. If I had a regular Levo I would never need turbo mode. so the added weight would be a waste

 

[RaDja]

Today a box arrived at the bike shop with my name on It!! Ooh yes! Tomorrow I will assemble it myself. I'm looking forward to it.

 

[miPbiP]

Today a box arrived at the bike shop with my name on It!! Ooh yes! Tomorrow I will assemble it myself. I'm looking forward to it.

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View attachment 26687

excited for you. have a good day assembling and riding.

 

[losgatosgtr]

Rob...wouldn't a longer travel fork on the SL like the 160mm Fox factory result in a LESS twitchy handling/steering response for the SL than the shorter travel 150mm fork? You increase the wheelbase as the hypotenuse of the triangle gets longer.

 

[Rob Rides EMTB]

Rob...wouldn't a longer travel fork on the SL like the 160mm Fox factory result in a LESS twitchy handling/steering response for the SL than the shorter travel 150mm fork? You increase the wheelbase as the hypotenuse of the triangle gets longer.

Going down yes, but uphill it would be incredibly difficult to keep the front down. Its one of the negative sides to the SL, its not the best climber.

 

[losgatosgtr]

Going down yes, but uphill it would be incredibly difficult to keep the front down. Its one of the negative sides to the SL, its not the best climber.

Thanks. I think the enhanced performance and torsional rigidity provided by the 36mm stanchions on the 36 would add a little more stability as I do find the SL to be rather twitchy (downhill) already in stock form.

 

[RaDja]

I need some advice.
I thought to replace the brakes on my SL. The SRAM G2 ULTIMATE, 4-piston caliper by the Shimano XT BR-M8020 / 8000. Personally I think the XT brakes a lot better than the G2 but does anyone know the weight of the 2 sets and what do you guys think about replacing the Sram with the Shimano?

 

[p3eps]

I need some advice.
I thought to replace the brakes on my SL. The SRAM G2 ULTIMATE, 4-piston caliper by the Shimano XT BR-M8020 / 8000. Personally I think the XT brakes a lot better than the G2 but does anyone know the weight of the 2 sets and what do you guys think about replacing the Sram with the Shimano?

I have the G2 RSC’s on my Expert, and I’m not happy with them. They don’t offer nearly enough stopping power IMO.
I have a set of Magura MT7 Pro in the post due to arrive tomorrow to swap over. Never tried Magura brakes before, but these are recommended by everyone - so I thought I’d give them a go.

I’ll do a weight comparison when I get them.

 

[losgatosgtr]

I just replaced the stock sram brakes on my SL with the Shimano 4 piston XT 8120's brakes front and rear. I also replaced the SRAM rotors with the Shimano 203 mm and 180 mm 6 bolt ice tech rotors. I did not weigh them first unfortunately. They are much better with stopping power and modulation.

I also changed over to the AXS rear derailleur and AXS post. Shifts are almost undetectable now and much quicker.

 

[p3eps]

I just replaced the stock sram brakes on my SL with the Shimano 4 piston XT 8120's brakes front and rear. I also replaced the SRAM rotors with the Shimano 203 mm and 180 mm 6 bolt ice tech rotors. I did not weigh them first unfortunately. They are much better with stopping power and modulation.

I also changed over to the AXS rear derailleur and AXS post. Shifts are almost undetectable now and much quicker.

Agree with the AXS shifts - I love mine! So smooth and easy.

How did you remove the SRAM brakes? Is there a way of disconnecting the hose at the lever end? I’m going to change my brakes for the first time ever - so am curious.

 

[Vin829]

Thinking of changing my stock G2 brakes to Shimano 9120 brakes. But I have yet to ride the bike yet. Wasn’t impressed when I demoed the bike

 

[RaDja]

I have the G2 RSC’s on my Expert, and I’m not happy with them. They don’t offer nearly enough stopping power IMO.
I have a set of Magura MT7 Pro in the post due to arrive tomorrow to swap over. Never tried Magura brakes before, but these are recommended by everyone - so I thought I’d give them a go.

I’ll do a weight comparison when I get them.

Thank you, I am curious about it. I also placed the Shimano XT on my Levo and that really is a big difference in stopping power.

 

[Gary]

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Great weight!
But...
I'm curious, did you put on the ground controls, foam grips and tiny SPDs just for the weigh in or do you actually ride those?

I love a light(er) bike but there's no way I'd compromises on tyres or control points no matter how much weight it saved.

 

[Gary]

Could you write here the exactly drivetrain? which component is Zee and which is Deore?

Yeah mate.
Zee FR rear mech
Zee 10 speed shifter
Deore 11-36 cassette
SRAM 1030 chain
104mm chinese 36T NW chainring (£8)

Oh.. .and just to add. the Zee mech won't work on a larger cassette. the short cage simply won't take up enough slack chain.
It is however a far more durable/stiffer and more precise derrailleur than pretty much any 11/12 speed alternative and that short cage keep it farther from contact with trailside obsticles if you're a clumsy rider.
If you want to run an 11-42 10 speed cassette you'll need to run a longer cage 10 speed mech such as Deore/SLX
SLX 10 speed shifters are decent and cheap too if you don't want to go Zee.
Saint is a sturdier 10 speed shifter with more metal parts and bearings instead of bushings. Personally I don't like saint shifters as their lever action always becomes stiffer after prolongued use. (plenty folk love them though, even when they have deteriorated.

 

[Blinkie]

it's a bit weight weenie on here.

 

[Gary]

To be honest I tried the 2.1 Lyrik 160mm recently and I thought that there was quite a lot of dive in the first third of travel over low speed compressions. I'd set it up for my weight / riding style. I had to crank up the LSC to almost full to make it feel close to how I wanted.

That's actually due to the newer debonair spring having a larger neg air chamber rather than the damper.
the easy fix is to simply run higher pressure, (less sag) and remove tokens.
you'll obviously lose a little small bump responsiveness (but not a lot).
finding your sweetspot for sag/pressure is more crucial with the newer lyrik.
Quite a few mates are running 2020 Lyriks and I've ridden a few and for my riding style actually prefer the spring curve of my older 2017s (non Eeb) and 2019s on the Eeb (I had 2018 on the old sommet and liked them more too).

New new shiny shiny upgrades are sometimes not really a performance upgrade. #dependswhatyouwanttho

 

[Fivetones]

it's a bit weight weenie on here.

A bit of weight weenying is fun every now and then.

 

[p3eps]

it's a bit weight weenie on here.

Probably comes from the SL being Super Light... and people comparing their FF Levo’s with thousands of £‘s upgrades weights to the SL Comp.
“My Levo is only 1kg more, and has a bigger battery and much more powerful motor”!

I’m in total agreement with Gary...
It’s nice to have a light bike - but not at the expense of performance.

I’d rather stick an extra 100g on here, and 200g’s there to get the level of spec I want. If some of it reduces the weight (carbon bars, stem etc) then that’s a bonus.

 

[Fx1]

Going down yes, but uphill it would be incredibly difficult to keep the front down. Its one of the negative sides to the SL, its not the best climber.

Thanks. I think the enhanced performance and torsional rigidity provided by the 36mm stanchions on the 36 would add a little more stability as I do find the SL to be rather twitchy (downhill) already in stock form.

So it doesnt like climbing or going downhill?

 

[ImSundee]

So it doesnt like climbing or going downhill?

I think the Uphill comment is more for the larger riders, finding the bike isn't long enough/seat angle isn't steep enough.

 

[Blinkie]

no issues climbing for me, would like it a bit slacker adding an angleset isn't an option, suppose 160mm forks might help.

 

[ImSundee]

no issues climbing for me, would like it a bit slacker adding an angleset isn't an option, suppose 160mm forks might help.

Try a 2.6 front is what one of the Specialized staff recommended to me. I'm picking up one tomorrow for mine, if its still not enough I'll look at some longer forks I think.

 

[Kpmnd85]

I’ve got a SJ Expert 6 Fattie with the Traverse 27.5 x 38 carbon wheels on it, and 3.0 tyres.
I was wanting to try the rear on my SL, but thought the tyre would be too wide.
Good to know that it’ll fit - although it’s very rarely not muddy round here!

I’ve only ridden the SL with 29’s twice so far, so would like a few more shots before trying the 27.5 rear to get a better comparison.

I have an S-Works 6Fattie with 27.5 x 3" tires. Tonight I've swapped out the alloy 29ers on my SL carbon comp for the 27.5" and I will give it a ride tomorrow.

The tire clearance is about 3/8" on the sides in the back. Plenty of clearance in the front. Its dry so should not be an issue. If this setup was going to be permanent I might want a bit more clearance in the back.

Part of my interest was to get a feel for running carbon wheels and an overall lighter setup. The overall bike weight dropped from 18.01kg to 17.11kg. The weight drop comes from the following sources:
*** One note the weights are a little off because I forgot to initially swap the large discs on the 29s for the smaller discs on the 27.5"
Cassette goes from NX to XX1
Front wheel goes from alloy + 2.5 tire @ 2.29kg to Traverse SL + 3" @ 2.02kg
Back goes from alloy + 2.6" + NX @ 3.185kg to Traverse SL + 3" + XX1 @ 2.4kg

Looking forward to riding this setup.

Went for a ride with the 27.5” x 3” carbon wheel setup. I also took off the chain guard (27g). I debated putting it back on.

Carbon wheels and tires were good but my pedal bottomed out on a turn. Approaching a hill I dropped 3x gears and lost the chain.

Got back and put the chain guard on and the 29” wheels. I’ll probably order carbon 29” wheels in the future.

 

[jcmonty]

no issues climbing for me, would like it a bit slacker adding an angleset isn't an option, suppose 160mm forks might help.

Offset bushing could get about 0.5 deg slacker too. That and the 160mm could be ideal for making this a bit more aggressive. However, seat angle suffers a bit

 

[jemen]

Great weight!
But...
I'm curious, did you put on the ground controls, foam grips and tiny SPDs just for the weigh in or do you actually ride those?

I love a light(er) bike but there's no way I'd compromises on tyres or control points no matter how much weight it saved.

The ground control and the purgatory work petty well, much better than i thought when i decided to try them.
The grips are fine, no problems with them, and yes, i ride the XTR pedals. I´m very used with them. Why not? The SL is almost like a Stumpjumper to ride, so no problem.

 

[jemen]

What is the benefit of using the Chromag chainwheel? The standard SRAM chainwheel uses X-Sync like the Chromag.

Just for the case the SRAM doesn´t work as promised;-)