Specialized Levo SL Surrey Hills Demo Ride Today

[escrs]

Anyone from here go?

I was on the morning ride and had the privilege of riding Adam (the guide) wife's bike (they were out of Large's so he bought her large along which had a few upgrades)

Bike was good, more effort on the hills and slower but on the trails it was light and nimble, hardly felt the limiter cut in, managed a couple of nice no footers over some jumps, felt very stable and changed direction quickly

Did 13 miles and 1600ft of climbing all in Turbo, with the internal and the extender battery fitted i returned with 50% battery left

Free Pizza, chips, pasta, tea and coffee at the end of the ride too!

Will definitely consider one next time i upgrade from my 2020 Levo Expert in a year or two but would want a frame, motor, battery and associated wiring, tcu etc.. only option as the rest of the standard bike's spec is not to my personal preference

Big thanks to Andew@Specialized for all the communication emails and letting me set the bike up exactly how i like and big thanks to Adam@Specialized who led the ride and was happy for us to do pretty much what we liked on the bikes

Was a great day

 

[miPbiP]

couldn't go but my buddy was on the PM session, waiting for feedback.

I did a 45km 855m blast around Holmbury and Pitch yesterday on my Levo yesterday, did make me think perhaps I do use all that power and juice.

anyway am looking forwards to trying an SL when I can, be good to cane it..

it's not helping that the black Expert in Ace's window is lush and is calling to me ...

 

[Benson]

I went on the afternoon slot (no food there whatsoever, you greedy gits on the morning round must have scoffed it all ?). I didn’t really like the bike, it felt like too much of a compromise; severely under powered for an ebike and yet too hefty for an analogue. That said, it’s an interesting insight into the next generation of technology and the folks at Specialized were superb hosts. It was a great opportunity to try the bikes out and chat with the experts.

 

[miPbiP]

I went on the afternoon slot (no food there whatsoever, you greedy gits on the morning round must have scoffed it all ?). I didn’t really like the bike, it felt like too much of a compromise; severely under powered for an ebike and yet too hefty for an analogue. That said, it’s an interesting insight into the next generation of technology and the folks at Specialized were superb hosts. It was a great opportunity to try the bikes out and chat with the experts.

good alternative insight.

 

[Doomanic]

no food there whatsoever, you greedy gits on the morning round must have scoffed it all

Glad I'm on the morning ride in the FoD then...

 

[Paul Mac]

I went on the afternoon slot (no food there whatsoever, you greedy gits on the morning round must have scoffed it all ?). I didn’t really like the bike, it felt like too much of a compromise; severely under powered for an ebike and yet too hefty for an analogue. That said, it’s an interesting insight into the next generation of technology and the folks at Specialized were superb hosts. It was a great opportunity to try the bikes out and chat with the experts.

I was also on that ride and agree with you 100%
Weird isn't it that one man's meat is another's poison ?

 

[miPbiP]

so what you're really saying is, we need an SL and a full fat Levo.

 

[miPbiP]

couldn't go but my buddy was on the PM session, waiting for feedback.

I spoke to him - he said great afternoon but thinks a full fat ebike not an SL is for him.

 

[Levo Laland]

I went on the afternoon slot (no food there whatsoever, you greedy gits on the morning round must have scoffed it all ?). I didn’t really like the bike, it felt like too much of a compromise; severely under powered for an ebike and yet too hefty for an analogue. That said, it’s an interesting insight into the next generation of technology and the folks at Specialized were superb hosts. It was a great opportunity to try the bikes out and chat with the experts.

I only had two slices of pizza! I was on the morning ride.

 

[escrs]

Lol@the food comments, i must admit i had around 5 slices and some chips but i didn't have any of the croissants which were supplied before the ride

 

[Benson]

Lol@the food comments, i must admit i had around 5 slices and some chips but i didn't have any of the croissants which were supplied before the ride

Oh now I is really jelly! ?

 

[Levo Laland]

In the pub after all of the Levo, Trek Rail etc. riders said that they liked the SL, but they preferred the full power Ebikes that they currently own.

 

[Benson]

Between the event today and the open session a few weeks ago, I think it’s fantastic that Specialized are engaging so closely with their customers. We already knew their customer service and warranty is great but I’ve never known another brand to be so engaged with the public.

 

[Levo Laland]

Big thanks to Adam from Specialized for letting me go up front on most of the trails which enabled me to ride this bike as fast as I could on many. I left the bike in the trail mode setting for the all of the runs which defaults to 35% assistance, 100% peak power. I was carrying the extra battery pack on my demo.
This bike is quick, I bagged 5 Strava top tens on it this morning and I had already ridden some of the trails before hand on my normal Levo in trail mode when the conditions were only slightly damper.
At the start with fairly fresh legs the bike felt super easy to get up to and hold a good fire road speed even in the Eco mode. It was also ok to ride on the flat with no assistance at all (with fresh legs ). It handled all the easy climbs no problem at all, but as you’d expect the support wasn’t so good on the steeper ones where the peak power limit of the motor was easily reached.
This bike excels on gradual descents where the speeds are below or not much above the limiter. It does seem easier to manoeuvre than the full Levo, which I put down to the weight saving rather than the chain stay length. I think this bike would become quite speed a machine if run derestricted an at a power level of around 50% rather than the default 35%. On up and down trails you do have to put the effort in to keep the speeds up and you do start to fade a bit on this bike like a normal bike after time and as the miles build and then you really start to notice the power and torque difference from the standard Levo.
Battery life was impressive, I estimate the bike used 25% of the combined battery power over the 13 mile ride (mostly in trail) and riding it hard.
I’m going to stick with my 3 month old Levo Comp Carbon for now as I’m usually time limited rather than battery limited and a full Levo allows you to do more miles/trails in a shorter time mostly due to its ability to get you up the steeper bits considerably faster.

 

[Levo Laland]

Between the event today and the open session a few weeks ago, I think it’s fantastic that Specialized are engaging so closely with their customers. We already knew their customer service and warranty is great but I’ve never known another brand to be so engaged with the public.

Totally agree, can’t fault them! They are even helping building and maintaining the trails in the Surrey Hills and other locations.

 

[p3eps]

In the pub after all of the Levo, Trek Rail etc. riders said that they liked the SL, but they preferred the full power Ebikes that they currently own.

I think that’s to be expected. Once you’re used to 300-400% assistance, 100% isn’t really going to cut it.
I only owned the Rail for 2 weeks before riding the Levo SL. I was worried that I’d already be ‘used’ to the power of the Rail and find the SL a bit disappointing - despite it being what I originally wanted. I’m a relatively fit biker - and wanted a little bit more oooomph on some climbs that I struggled with. The SL ticked all the boxes for me - but was 2 weeks late as I’d already plunged into the Rail 9.9. Thankfully I had a 30 day satisfaction guarantee, so was able to swap.

The Rail was a blast to ride, and could conquer a lot of steep uphills that I’d never have dreamt of trying on my regular bike. Today, my SL proved that it can climb the same parts - just with me putting in a much harder shift!

I’m riding mainly in Eco and Trail... so I’ve always got Turbo if I feel I need a proper boost!

 

[Waynetta]

Yes I bet the SL feels underpowered after a full fat Levo. From my perspective of 25 years on “normal bikes” the SL feels brilliant and powerful enough. I also want to still ride with mates on normal bikes and get a work out.

 

[Levo Laland]

I think running an SL with trail set to 50% 1:1 ride assist would be a sweet spot between a good workout and a lot of fast fun and presumably for a reasonable distance with the standard battery. Shame I wasn’t allowed to change the settings today to test my theory. Maybe I’ll have to try to demo another, but the comp version probably which is more my price range. I’m not willing to pay £7.5k for a trail bike.

 

[Levo Laland]

Forgot to mention that the motor was very quiet! Easily on par with the Brose.

 

[Benson]

The motor on the SL I had yesterday was much much quieter than my 2019 Levo.

 

[miPbiP]

that's good news on the motor noise levels.

 

[miPbiP]

In the pub after all of the Levo, Trek Rail etc. riders said that they liked the SL, but they preferred the full power Ebikes that they currently own.

to be expected I think. I think the SL market is mostly trail riders who want a boost rather than self-described ebikers.

 

[Paceman]

The motor on the SL I had yesterday was much much quieter than my 2019 Levo.

Agree, I expected the SL to be noisier but it was actually quieter than my 2019 Levo.

 

[Paceman]

Big thanks to Adam from Specialized for letting me go up front on most of the trails which enabled me to ride this bike as fast as I could on many. I left the bike in the trail mode setting for the all of the runs which defaults to 35% assistance, 100% peak power. I was carrying the extra battery pack on my demo.
This bike is quick, I bagged 5 Strava top tens on it this morning and I had already ridden some of the trails before hand on my normal Levo in trail mode when the conditions were only slightly damper.
At the start with fairly fresh legs the bike felt super easy to get up to and hold a good fire road speed even in the Eco mode. It was also ok to ride on the flat with no assistance at all (with fresh legs ). It handled all the easy climbs no problem at all, but as you’d expect the support wasn’t so good on the steeper ones where the peak power limit of the motor was easily reached.
This bike excels on gradual descents where the speeds are below or not much above the limiter. It does seem easier to manoeuvre than the full Levo, which I put down to the weight saving rather than the chain stay length. I think this bike would become quite speed a machine if run derestricted an at a power level of around 50% rather than the default 35%. On up and down trails you do have to put the effort in to keep the speeds up and you do start to fade a bit on this bike like a normal bike after time and as the miles build and then you really start to notice the power and torque difference from the standard Levo.
Battery life was impressive, I estimate the bike used 25% of the combined battery power over the 13 mile ride (mostly in trail) and riding it hard.
I’m going to stick with my 3 month old Levo Comp Carbon for now as I’m usually time limited rather than battery limited and a full Levo allows you to do more miles/trails in a shorter time mostly due to its ability to get you up the steeper bits considerably faster.

This pretty much sums up my feelings after the afternoon demo. The SL is a lot of fun and feels very natural to ride, in fact just like a 150mm enduro bike on the descents. As Rob stated in his review out in South Africa, it feels more like a MTB with a small motor boost than an E-MTB.

Spec was near identical between the SL Expert demo bike and my own 2019 Levo Carbon Comp so I was able to set up the suspension as I like from the off. This made for a really good comparison as I also ride the Surrey trails regularly.

I came away thinking that had the SL been available when I bought my Levo last year then it would have been a difficult decision between the two, and I expect I would probably have gone for the Levo SL as it's more like the analogue bike I had before and it would have been my first e-bike. It has a pretty natural feel and the transition between assist and non-assist as you reach the speed limit is very smooth. I rode the SL mainly in Trail mode as Eco felt quite underpowered, and if time was short and I wanted a quick blast I would no-doubt need to use 100% Turbo.

However, part way through the afternoon someone commented that they'd rather be on their current bike and this made me think... the conclusion I came to, given the chance, is that I would have swapped the SL for my full-fat Levo. I like the extra power it allows me to call on if needed and prefer the longer wheelbase; and strangely I also missed the extra weight of the Levo and the way it tracks the ground. I'll be sticking with my Levo for another year or two at least, partly due to the cost if I was to swap for a Levo SL, but also due to the fact that if I only have a two-hour riding window (often the case in my busy life right now) I can have an absolute blast on my Levo and come back grinning ear-to-ear.

Thanks to Adam for leading the ride and the all the other Spesh guys who were there to tweak our bikes and offer advice etc. You've got a great bike on your hands there, and the demo experience you provided was brilliant - friendly, informative, and non-pushy. I've no doubt you'll convert a lot of riders to the SL as you run more demo days around the country.

 

[fodmtb]

Glad you all had fun I did ??
Cheers paul

 

[fodmtb]

 

[miPbiP]

Glad you all had fun I did ??
Cheers paul
View attachment 26496

^^ nearly a hundred grand's worth of Levo SLs!

 

[miPbiP]

so we can safely assume 7 and half grand of eMTB can get you down Telegraph Road OK? (like my old Kona Kula, 80mm forks, 26" wheels at 40psi) did 20 years ago.

 

[Levo Laland]

A flying Levo SL

 

[miPbiP]

A flying Levo SL

View attachment 26498

getting that out of shape on that log is quite an achievement! fork travel about to be tested.