Levo SL Gen 1 Specialized Levo SL - Is the motor tough enough?

[Rob Rides EMTB]

 

[nobbyq]

hi , great reviews Rob , would you say the sl is a bit nervous now the chain stays shorter ? am so tempted by this bike

 

[Rob Rides EMTB]

hi , great reviews Rob , would you say the sl is a bit nervous now the chain stays shorter ? am so tempted by this bike

On the climbs yes. On the descents the short chain stay means it feels like a whippet.

I struggled with uphill switchbacks.

 

[Fivetones]

That’s a great video @Rob Hancill. Very interesting to hear the vision behind the bike/motor and the engineering challenges and decisions made.

 

[Paceman]

Really interesting insight, thank you. It would be great if they could develop a similar waterproof sealed motor that would drop into the Levo and replace the Brose.
...I’m not expecting it though

 

[JonasH]

@Rob Hancill did you say 19,4kg for the Alu Comp version of the SL on the video stream/chat? That’s only like or less than 2kg lighter than carbon versions of normal Levos...? With less than half the power?

 

[Rob Rides EMTB]

@Rob Hancill did you say 19,4kg for the Alu Comp version of the SL on the video stream/chat? That’s only like or less than 2kg lighter than carbon versions of normal Levos...? With less than half the power?

Yes 19.4 KG for the Alu version.

 

[dobbyhasfriends]

I would love to give that motor the 'Wales treatment' - there are some trails I do that have 9 or so river crossings, some of them are 2 - 3 feet deep.. right now I have to carry around but on that thing, I would blast through I reckon

 

[All Mountain Coaching]

hi , great reviews Rob , would you say the sl is a bit nervous now the chain stays shorter ? am so tempted by this bike

On the climbs yes. On the descents the short chain stay means it feels like a whippet.

I struggled with uphill switchbacks.

Agh, never got to test that part and we have plenty here. I think it'll just be body language adjustment... And the softly heavier 36

 

[All Mountain Coaching]

Back to back great videos Rob. Really informative!

 

[Aragaiki]

Rob, do you believe Specialized will develop its own motor for turbo Levo and Kenevo base on Levo SL motor?

 

[MattyB]

Rob, do you believe Specialized will develop its own motor for turbo Levo and Kenevo based on Levo SL motor?

They didn’t really develop their own motor; it was created by Mahle to Specs specification. Putting that aside it will have cost them a lot to spin up this new partnership; they would only have done that if they weren’t confident Brose could deliver what they needed. I suspect all those warranty motor swaps have cost Spec way too much and they want something with much lower return rates.

 

[ImSundee]

I'll just leave this here. This is Mahle's microsite.

X35 – Light & Smart eBike System – MAHLE ebikemotion®

Looks like the SL battery is just an off the shelf unit looking at that one there. And the range extender is a smaller version of hte one listed there.

Their system is 36v not 42v like spesh, but you can see what they have done for it.

 

[wepn]

I'll just leave this here. This is Mahle's microsite.

X35 – Light & Smart eBike System – MAHLE ebikemotion®

Looks like the SL battery is just an off the shelf unit looking at that one there. And the range extender is a smaller version of hte one listed there.

Their system is 36v not 42v like spesh, but you can see what they have done for it.

Interesting that's Mahle's hub motor package that's listed while the mid-drive is nowhere to be seen. Seems like Spesh have made it 48V, integrated their app platform & stitched up an exclusive OEM & brand agreement with Mahle for the drive.

 

[jemen]

I ordered my LEVO SL Expert Carbon and will get on end of February. I´m really looking forward to it. Unfortunately the Levociraptor does not work yet for the CREO or the Levo SL, so my rides wil definitely last longer than in the last four years with my unrestricted LEVOs;-)

 

[etoni]

They didn’t really develop their own motor; it was created by Mahle to Specs specification. Putting that aside it will have cost them a lot to spin up this new partnership; they would only have done that if they weren’t confident Brose could deliver what they needed. I suspect all those warranty motor swaps have cost Spec way too much and they want something with much lower return rates.

a speci guy from cham switzerland tel me that speci will work with brose for the levo and mahle for the SL, but NO levo wit stronger Mahle motor like the brose. i ride the creo for short, but i am not happy with the sugar wather motor..

 

[MattyB]

a speci guy from cham switzerland tell me that speci will work with brose for the levo and mahle for the SL, but NO levo with stronger Mahle motor like the brose.

Of course any Spec representative will say that at this stage - they have a contract with Brose that is not yet complete and plenty of Brose bikes out in the shop floor whose value they do not want to undermine. You might be right and they may stick, but I severely doubt it - very few manufacturers use two brands of motor, and Spec have invested a lot with Mahle to be able to have a unique product for them.

If they are going to move away they will play a very straight bat until the Brose contract is formally over, at which point they will no doubt release the new bikes in a blaze of “here comes the new best thing since sliced bread, everything else is obsolete, time to pony up £10k” style publicity . I suspect that will happen in MY 2021 for the Levo and a year later for the Kenevo.

 

[Fivetones]

If they are going to move away they will play a very straight bat until the Brose contract is formally over, at which point they will no doubt release the new bikes in a blaze of “here comes the new best thing since sliced bread, everything else is obsolete, time to pony up £10k” style publicity . I suspect that will happen in MY 2021 for the Levo and a year later for the Kenevo.

But Matt, Specialized have changed eMTB for ever according to the press I’ve read!

 

[MattyB]

But Matt, Specialized have changed eMTB for ever according to the press I’ve read!

...I know, and it’s only about the sixth time they’ve done it too!

 

[beutelfuchs]

They will just let Mahle and Brose compete with each other, like other brands are doing it with Shimano vs. Bosch. Would be plain stupid of them to select one definite supplier.
They are probably smart enough to even build prototypes of both versions to show to each supplier how easy it could be to phase them out for the next generation an case they don´t match price etc.