Riding 2019 Turbo Levo Without Battery

[juuungle]

Hi all,

I'm patiently awaiting the arrival of my 2019 Turbo Levo Expert toward the end of the month. I'm wondering if the bike can be ridden without a battery, as there are several bike parks I would like to ride at that don't allow eMTB's (more specifically their batteries) on their uplift facilities.

Obviously some sort of cover would be required to seal the frame where the battery once was. I was thinking of trying to obtain a Turbo Levo battery casing (i.e. without the cells) to put in place of the actual battery. I'm unsure, however, if there would be any motor resistance that might prevent riding it without a battery.

Has anyone done this, or is it even possible?

Cheers in advance!

 

[RoJo]

Hi juuungle, I'm afraid I don't know the answer, but I would like to do exactly that with a Kenevo. An empty battery case would be perfect.

 

[valium64]

In my opinion, in the equipped bike park and with lifts, vans or carts, if you don't have a normal MTB Enduro or DH, it's much better to rent one respect ride an eMTB.
Regardless of whether or not you carry the battery or not, you will carry extra useless engine weight and without the battery the bike will be unbalanced.
Then you go through the Kenevo which is still an Enduro, but the Levo which is a Trail-AM the bike park if it is a technical minimum is not that it is precisely its ideal terrain.
I, for example, have a Sam² that is an Enduro with which on trail I find myself perfectly, but having said sincerity to use in park with lifts or vans and carts I got an Aurum from DH and have fun twice as much.

 

[juuungle]

In my opinion, in the equipped bike park and with lifts, vans or carts, if you don't have a normal MTB Enduro or DH, it's much better to rent one respect ride an eMTB.
Regardless of whether or not you carry the battery or not, you will carry extra useless engine weight and without the battery the bike will be unbalanced.
Then you go through the Kenevo which is still an Enduro, but the Levo which is a Trail-AM the bike park if it is a technical minimum is not that it is precisely its ideal terrain.
I, for example, have a Sam² that is an Enduro with which on trail I find myself perfectly, but having said sincerity to use in park with lifts or vans and carts I got an Aurum from DH and have fun twice as much.

Hey man, thanks for the reply. The Levo is replacing my old (original-style) Enduro 29 which was more of an aggressive AM bike by today's geometry, and that bike ripped in the Queenstown and Christchurch bike parks. I've also demo'd the Levo on my local DH trails and it was great there, quite similar to the geometry/travel of my Enduro. Overall, I'd be pretty happy using the Levo in the bike park, plus I don't really like renting bikes (prefer running my own setup that I'm comfortable with and have dialled, plus the added cost which isn't cheap...). Cheers

 

[valium64]

For the cost and the set-up I'm with you and fully agreed, thats why I buy my personal DH for the park and van ride day's, specially because of setting and feeling, but also in addition to the more and more extreme geometries of the new bike even the parks often are consequently more and more tough.
More than anything else, my fear is that by removing those pounds of battery in an eMTB you go to unbalance the balance of the bike a lot.
To say the least, when cornering, especially if there is no bank, the front will find itself more exhausting than it was designed and will require a different run by the rider, thus changing the feeling and perhaps invalidating the setting, equally in the air time and on rocky passages or with roots where having the most backward center of gravity could lead to a less natural rear-end behavior.
To say, in a park that I frequent where they don't pick up the eMTB with the battery mounted many rider that do not have other bikes and do not want to rent they carry the battery by hand, even with bikes with non-integrated batteries in the down tube where there would not be the problem of close the housing, just because without the battery they find the bike behaves differently and you are not in driving it.

So if I can give you a suggestion, try a few times on your trail maybe the little more demanding to go down without the battery (if someone can carry you on without batteries better, otherwise with the battery in the backpack even if it's not exactly the same thing) even if you close the housing with nylon, at least you understand if and how much it changes the thing and if it can be worth then the penalty to spend some money to find a more serious closure or an empty battery cover.

 

[RoJo]

Hey man, thanks for the reply. The Levo is replacing my old (original-style) Enduro 29 which was more of an aggressive AM bike by today's geometry, and that bike ripped in the Queenstown and Christchurch bike parks. I've also demo'd the Levo on my local DH trails and it was great there, quite similar to the geometry/travel of my Enduro. Overall, I'd be pretty happy using the Levo in the bike park, plus I don't really like renting bikes (prefer running my own setup that I'm comfortable with and have dialled, plus the added cost which isn't cheap...). Cheers

I'm with you. I actually prefer riding the eBike to the normal bike & DH bike - it's more stable and more playful. Usually I self shuttle at bike parks (because it's quicker!), however there are a few circumstances where I can't or it doesn't make sense:
- Uplift only venues
- Wanting to be with mates who are on uplift
- Cable cars (battery can't compete here!)
- Convenience of only having to take one bike with you on biking holiday with mixture of riding
- Battery has run out and you still want to session
- Girlfriend only has an ebike. Sold her Enduro because it ascends and descends worse so she has no other option, and renting isn't always practical (and costs more)

I know some of the eBike stability comes from the weight, so you can point and laugh that removing weight is pointless, however the motor is still heavy and low so it will still be super stable. I think there is a middle ground where a little bit of weight reduction would help, and it'll still be better than my enduro bike - plus lifting an eBike onto an uplift is hard!!
Now this is super fussy... what I'd actually like is a light 100Wh battery for such days, but that's just being lazy, and I'd settle for a battery cover

 

[juuungle]

Ok, so I emailed my local Specialized shop and they had a good response and potential solution.

They replied that Levo’s are fine to ride without the batteries in the frame, and that they see this often with the Turbo Levo in some bike parks that don't allow batteries. However, the wiring harness needs to be covered well to avoid water contacting the terminals.

As for sealing the frame, they mentioned that the battery rock guard is available separately and this could be used to cover the opening left by the battery.

The only other thing is the wiring harness from the frame (i.e. connector plug) which would be exposed and potentially flap around and should be fixed to the bike somehow. They said you could potentially make a bracket with a magnet on the end and fix it to the battery rock guard. The magnet would hold the wiring harness similar to how the battery holds it with a magnet.

 

[RoJo]

Ok, so I emailed my local Specialized shop and they had a good response and potential solution.

They replied that Levo’s are fine to ride without the batteries in the frame, and that they see this often with the Turbo Levo in some bike parks that don't allow batteries. However, the wiring harness needs to be covered well to avoid water contacting the terminals.

As for sealing the frame, they mentioned that the battery rock guard is available separately and this could be used to cover the opening left by the battery.

The only other thing is the wiring harness from the frame (i.e. connector plug) which would be exposed and potentially flap around and should be fixed to the bike somehow. They said you could potentially make a bracket with a magnet on the end and fix it to the battery rock guard. The magnet would hold the wiring harness similar to how the battery holds it with a magnet.

Thanks for the info. Specialized are basically saying that you have to fabricate something yourself out of bits that you've cobbled together on the internet! I'm surprised that with all the Levos sold that there isn't an off the shelf solution.

 

[Rich the gasman]

Maybe be a good idea to make a list of where we can’t use e bikes ( in the uk ) and other places on uplift services etc

 

[nickB]

Hi, I have used my bike a few times without battery on some flat and downhill trails - it feels great! I just covered the hole and held in the plug with a load of duct tape. The bike is till heavy but removing the battery is certainly noticeable and helps. I like the idea of fabricating an existing battery rock guard to fit - shouldn't be too hard but the important thing is keeping the plug out of harms way.

 

[Harpo]

What’s the reason for banning e bikes? Knob heads!

 

[juuungle]

What’s the reason for banning e bikes? Knob heads!

Most probably due to the fire risk from the battery. Same reason why you’re not allowed to fly with an emtb battery. They can be pretty explosive when they fail...

The Christchurch bike park went up in flames just after opening and was out of action for a year, so in their case I can understand why they are pretty risk adverse.

 

[Indigo]

The part number for the rock guard (without battery) is S194200005

 

[h3ld]

@juuungle Have you found a solution? I‘m looking for the exact same one! Either empty case or low Wh battery.

 

[Bigtuna00]

Having ridden my Levo 3 times with no assist (due either to dead battery and motor failure), let me caution you that it's not "fun" at all. It's definitely not like riding a "normal" bike. There's some extra resistance for sure. Obviously, give it a try before going to a park and potentially ruining your trip