Levo SL Gen 1 SL vs Levo motor noise levels

[Waynetta]

Impressions on first ride this afternoon is it’s definitely whinny compared to the Levo. It’s not a deal breaker though for me.

 

[Shane.T]

Im super excited about the new Levo SL. I have been saying for years, that etmb's are built so heavy to accommodate the amazing power output and batteries etc when all you really want is assistance getting to the top and riding further when you go out.

Im even thinking of selling my 4 week old 2020 comp which is great, but the SL is the bike I have really always wanted.

My question is, when I watched Robs review on youtube of the SL vs the Levo, it sounds like the SL motor is a lot louder and whinnier than the Levo. The super quiet Brose motor is a major plus on regular Levo's, so does anyone have any first hand knowledge to share.

Next question, I usually wait for second generation or second year releases of new products to iron out any minor problems. Whats everyone's thoughts on a wait and see approach to the new SL.

HI, I'm in the same boat as you, I have my Levo Expert for around 3 months, although mighty impressed I miss the speed and flexibility of my previous bike. I have test rode the SL just around the car park of my LBS and enjoyed the characteristics of the bike, 2 observations
1- Motor noise is ok, - not really a deal breaker, you can hear it when riding but it really isn't not too bad
2-Power assistance is quite less than the Levo, it's like riding a normal trail bike with some assistance,

I plan to demo the bike on some trails before going down the path of selling and buying

Happy riding...Shane

 

[jimsydney2000]

Ok, I rode an SL on the weekend, just 25 minutes getting around the neighborhood near the LBS.

There were some big hills which it went straight up, except in turbo it was only about the half the speed and a lot more effort than my Levo would get up there in trail mode. So, even though it felt under-powered and pretty slow, it did go up some very large hills. To me the most impressive thing was it felt far lighter than 4kgs less than my Levo, as I could really easily pick it up. And getting back to the original string topic “the noise really wasn’t that bad”.

Im not totally sold on it yet, and would like a full dirt demo to make my decision, but so far it’s a good step in the right direction.

 

[jwrx]

Are you still banging on about this?

The Levo S Works was £9000 here for MY2018, £10000 for MY2019 and is still that price For MY20. Granted the S Works SL is more expensive here at £11k but it follows the inflation in prices. The Founders is just a novelty model. It isn’t the new S Works.

In case you wonder why you don’t get much sympathy from a Brit? Our prices are quite a bit more than yours in Canada.

SL sworks is estimated MYR60k in my country, i got my 2018 Levo Sworks for MYR36k with free ohlins coil thrown in...the SL increase is price is ridiculous. Bearing in mind the average monthly wage here is MYR1500

 

[jwrx]

I'm not sure what you don't understand. A 35% increase in 2 years is not "due to inflation"!! Inflation runs about 2%.
I'm not talking about the Founders' Edition.
In Canada/US the Turbo Levo S-Works retailed for USD10,000 in 2018:
Men's S-Works Turbo Levo FSR Carbon 6Fattie/29 | Specialized.com

The 2020 SL is $13,525 - a whopping 35% increase!
There is no reason for the SL to cost so much - if anything it should cost less, because it has a less powerful motor and battery.

If you like being financially raped, that's your perogative. I think it's nuts.

Same in my country.
2018 sworks levo with ohlins coil upgrade 36k
2020 sworks SL 60k

its crazy money

 

[Surge]

T

SL sworks is estimated MYR60k in my country, i got my 2018 Levo Sworks for MYR36k with free ohlins coil thrown in...the SL increase is price is ridiculous. Bearing in mind the average monthly wage here is MYR1500

Totally agree. A 35% price increase is just nuts. That said, the component spec has increased from 2018 to 2020 (eg, the cranks are now carbon)... not enough to make up the 35% price increase, but it helps.

That said, I have an SL S-Works Founder’s coming in so count me totally crazy. In Canada it’s less expensive than in the US though - probably the lowest prices in the world. And I plan to keep it for 10 years to amortize the cost.

 

[Surge]

What helped me justify the cost is to start with the cost of a StumpJumper. The SL adds about USD4000 to the price, which seems reasonable.

 

[Fivetones]

Had a ride on an SL this afternoon. Noise levels are probably comparable or slightly less than the Shimano E8000. This is a bike that hasn’t worn in yet. I know we’ve yet to determine if that’s something that happens but noise has reported to go down after a run in period for some folk. Can anyone confirm that?

 

[Surge]

Had a ride on an SL this afternoon. Noise levels are probably comparable or slightly less than the Shimano E8000. This is a bike that hasn’t worn in yet. I know we’ve yet to determine if that’s something that happens but noise has reported to go down after a run in period for some folk. Can anyone confirm that?

Makes sense, as the SL uses plastic gears. These will become quieter once run in - speaking from experience with other vehicles with nylon gears.

 

[Zimmerframe]

A lot of the brose motors get noisy when they break .. Does this mean the SL will become silent when it breaks ?

 

[Fivetones]

A lot of the brose motors get noisy when they break .. Does this mean the SL will become silent when it breaks ?

I thought it was very quiet, I’m not sure why we have a thread on it tbh.

 

[Zimmerframe]

I thought it was very quiet, I’m not sure why we have a thread on it tbh.

I thought we had threads like this so they could go off topic for amusement .

I personally, was quite upset when it got back on topic ..

 

[Decca]

OK, here's my take on it. The SL is my third Levo. I had the 2017 Comp Carbon and the 2018 Comp Carbon, so over 3 years of riding them. I wanted a lighter bike. I'm 69 years young and struggle to lift it over fences.

The previous Levos were fantastic, and pretty quiet. This SL makes a terrible racket, and is really annoying. Do not be deceived - it is MUCH noisier. I've just finished my second ride, and it might even be getting worse. Only 25 miles so far, so not "run in" I suppose.

I'm hoping it's a lemon and will break and get replaced. It literally sounds like my wife's sewing machine

If you've not tried a demo, you should not buy unless you have satisfied yourself that you can put up with it.

 

[Murch]

I compare the SL motor noise to that of a paper shredder I have in my office as they sound the near the exact same.

 

[Zimmerframe]

I think the problem is that for @Decca - his brain has connected it to the same sound as his Wife's sewing machine. He goes out to enjoy himself on his bike, not to be reminded of his wife !

 

[TomH79]

OK, here's my take on it. The SL is my third Levo. I had the 2017 Comp Carbon and the 2018 Comp Carbon, so over 3 years of riding them. I wanted a lighter bike. I'm 69 years young and struggle to lift it over fences.

The previous Levos were fantastic, and pretty quiet. This SL makes a terrible racket, and is really annoying. Do not be deceived - it is MUCH noisier. I've just finished my second ride, and it might even be getting worse. Only 25 miles so far, so not "run in" I suppose.

I'm hoping it's a lemon and will break and get replaced. It literally sounds like my wife's sewing machine

If you've not tried a demo, you should not buy unless you have satisfied yourself that you can put up with it.

Disagree..

Have had two 2019 and one 2020 levo, then changed it to SL comp carbon.
Newer had problems with noise. Friend has a vitus that has a shimano and that is way noisier.

 

[Decca]

Disagree..

Have had two 2019 and one 2020 levo, then changed it to SL comp carbon.
Newer had problems with noise. Friend has a vitus that has a shimano and that is way noisier.

How can you disagree with me? You haven't heard my bike.

 

[Waynetta]

Had a ride on an SL this afternoon. Noise levels are probably comparable or slightly less than the Shimano E8000. This is a bike that hasn’t worn in yet. I know we’ve yet to determine if that’s something that happens but noise has reported to go down after a run in period for some folk. Can anyone confirm that?

Pretty sure mine got quieter over the 700 miles I’ve done. i Have found it’s louder when using eco with light pressure on the cranks than higher power levels under some pressure from me.

 

[Decca]

Pretty sure mine got quieter over the 700 miles I’ve done. i Have found it’s louder when using eco with light pressure on the cranks than higher power levels under some pressure from me.

I hope mine gets quieter. Did 14 hilly miles today totally in eco as a test, and the noise was terrible. I shall repeat the same route tomorrow in trail for a comparison. This is a brand new bike, and that will be the third ride, so early days.

 

[Saxon]

I demo’ed two SL’S before buying as the motor noise was my concern, in fact my first emtb forum post was on the subject. In the end I decided that the other benefits of the bike offset the motor noise, and mine certainly isn’t the racket that Decca describes.

I mainly ride in eco at 35/50 and that’s fine, full turbo is whiney. EMBN have done a side by side db test of Kenevo, Levo and Levo SL. It’s actually around the same noise level, but it’s higher pitch, which seems louder.

600 odd miles on mine, and it certainly isn’t getting any quieter, if anything I think it’s very very slightly louder, so not convinced about the ‘bedding in’ theory

 

[Konanige]

Love the sound of mine, sounds like a formula 1 car going up through the gears!!

 

[MrBrownstone]

All these stories I read about Brose reliability issues and now SL noise combined with low power makes me so glad I went e8000. I enjoyed the 12 off-road hours I put on a Levo Carbon demo last fall but.....hope the noise issue gets sorted out for you guys.

 

[Shane.T]

OK, here's my take on it. The SL is my third Levo. I had the 2017 Comp Carbon and the 2018 Comp Carbon, so over 3 years of riding them. I wanted a lighter bike. I'm 69 years young and struggle to lift it over fences.

The previous Levos were fantastic, and pretty quiet. This SL makes a terrible racket, and is really annoying. Do not be deceived - it is MUCH noisier. I've just finished my second ride, and it might even be getting worse. Only 25 miles so far, so not "run in" I suppose.

I'm hoping it's a lemon and will break and get replaced. It literally sounds like my wife's sewing machine

If you've not tried a demo, you should not buy unless you have satisfied yourself that you can put up with it.

Hi Decca
Maybe you do have a lemon, I had the Levo Expert 2020, the brose motor is quiet but I wanted a lighter bike so I changed to the SL S-works, no regrets at all, the noise factor is not really an issue my tyres make more noise than the motor, there is a youtube video that compares the noise levels on a few bikes and they come in around the same level, although the pitch of the SL noise is higher than the normal heavy ebikes, hope this helps
..Shane

 

[boBE]

I have a SL and ride with two Vados and a Como. On pavement mine is a good bit louder, a whirr or whine from the motor and geartrain. Not awful but compared to the silent Vado and Como it is easily noticed. On dirt and gravel the SL noise blends in with the tires/surface noise so it seems to be much less.

If we rode on pavement most of the time we probably would not choose a SL anyway?

 

[jemen]

In my opinion the Mahle sounds more "harmonic" than the Brose S Mag. It had some kind of a "scratching" sound, especially in high cadences.
As you may know my actual Mahle motor on my SL makes the "Tambourin" sound, it´s gonna be replaced. I´m pretty excited how the new one is gonna sound. I can imagine that every motor has some kind of it´s individual sound in case of manufacturing tolerances and how every rider is "running-in" it.

Here´s the "Tambourin" btw.

 

[MrBrownstone]

In my opinion the Mahle sounds more "harmonic" than the Brose S Mag on my last LEVO. It had some kind of a "scratching" sound, especially in high cadences.
As you may know my actual Mahle motor on my SL makes the "Tambourin" sound, it´s gonna be replaced. I´m pretty excited how it´s gonna sound. I can imagine that every motor has some kind of it´s individual sound in case of manufacturing tolerances and how every rider is "running-in" it.
Here´s the "Tambourin".

Haha how many miles or km’s on that motor???

 

[jemen]

Haha how many miles or km’s on that motor???

It started at circa 700km...

 

[MrBrownstone]

It started at circa 700km...

Oh boy.?

 

[Decca]

It started at circa 700km...

I'd better get some miles in then - try and break the thing!

 

[TomH79]

It started at circa 700km...

So motor is on its warranty process now?
Let us know how long it took when it is sorted.