Thinking of buying a 700Wh battery... help me decide

[srileo]

I have a 19 Levo 500 battery. Been contemplating some longer rides and there are only two options.
1) Buy the 700wh from spesh usd $1300 retail. Never seen a used one for sale anywhere.

2) trailwatts type booster Is $750 plus shipped. Seems very expensive.

3) buy another 500wh battery and lug that around on longer rides. $550 or so used with prices dropping slowly. $1000 new.

How did you guys deal with this situation?

 

[Andy A]

I bought a 2019 Levo with the 504wh battery and bought a 700wh battery at the same time and I sold the 504wh battery on this forum I would do that if I were you, as for trailwatts I personally think it's too expensive and I don't like the wires that have to go into the motor casing.

 

[Kiwi in Wales]

I have never looked back after buying one.
I kept the 500 for bike park days and days when you want to session your local trails in the morning with the 500, break for a quick bite of lunch and then do an epic afternoon session with the 700. No brainer, get one, you will love it

 

[srileo]

Cool. Did you pay full retail or bought the 700 used?

I have never looked back after buying one.
I kept the 500 for bike park days and days when you want to session your local trails in the morning with the 500, break for a quick bite of lunch and then do an epic afternoon session with the 700. No brainer, get one, you will love it

 

[srileo]

What did you pay for the 700 and did you get a discount at time of purchase with bike?

I bought a 2019 Levo with the 504wh battery and bought a 700wh battery at the same time and I sold the 504wh battery on this forum I would do that if I were you, as for trailwatts I personally think it's too expensive and I don't like the wires that have to go into the motor casing.

 

[Kiwi in Wales]

Cool. Did you pay full retail or bought the 700 used?

Brand new, Got 10% off

 

[Zimmerframe]

Brand new, Got 10% off

10% off the price, or they stitched you up with a faulty 630wh battery ??

I so so so so so so .. wish ..I had a 700wh battery.. OK .. they cost the same as my first EMTB .. but ... well .. yes !

 

[Andy A]

What did you pay for the 700 and did you get a discount at time of purchase with bike?

I got a very good discount on the bike and got the 700 battery at a slightly reduced price

 

[Deleted member 4988]

Yup... 700 is spot on, no more range anxiety plus its great if you do races, 500 for the practice then bung the 700 in for the race

 

[Kave]

I bought a second 500wh battery. That way I can ride all out on one battery and then mount the second one and ride home. The second battery in the backpack does not bother me.
Ofcourse the 700wh battery would be nice but not to 1.5times the price of a 500wh.

 

[Bomble]

I got mine for a grand when i bought my bike, it was £1100 rrp at the time.

 

[Levo Laland]

Chris at Berkshire Cycles told me that the cost price of the 700w battery is £950.

 

[Tacoloco]

Does the Levo battery also fit in the 2020 Kenevo?

 

[eabmex]

Does the Levo battery also fit in the 2020 Kenevo?

Yes, they are the same

 

[srileo]

Yea that’s what I’m debating. I could buy another 500wh for $600 tops coz there are many on the used market. That effectively doubles my range if i can figure out lugging it on the longer rides.

I bought a second 500wh battery. That way I can ride all out on one battery and then mount the second one and ride home. The second battery in the backpack does not bother me.
Ofcourse the 700wh battery would be nice but not to 1.5times the price of a 500wh.

 

[Marcelfacd]

I got mine for 550 euro because we (shop and me) agreed that I could easily fetch that for the 500Wh that was standard....so in the end I got a 700Wh as a trade in.

 

[Andy A]

I personally wouldn't want to carry a spare Levo battery around on a ride as they are big batteries, I would buy a 700 from your dealer and sell the 500 as you should get a decent price for it then you only have to think about charging and looking after one battery and these 700 batteries do take you a long way.

We are doing an organised 50 mile night ride tomorrow late afternoon with around 5000 ft of climbing and I am extremely confident that our Levo's will do that without running out ?

 

[Swissrob]

Given the USD EURO and CHF are within pissing distance of 1 to 1 it's fair to say that the target price of Specialised 500w batteries is 1 per watt and 700w is 1.5 per watt. In 2019 I saw a bunch of 500w batteries sell for less than Chf 400 here as a lot of people upgraded to 700w and sold their new 500s.

IMHO 500w + 500w spare for 500 is the way to go, if you are flexible about carrying methods or can session and leave it in the car. Speaking personally I only had range anxiety after they released the 2019 with 700w. Now I am old, fat and unfit but I go as hard and as long as I can and have run out of battery 2 or 3 times in 2 years. Rant over!

 

[cousin jack]

I personally wouldn't want to carry a spare Levo battery around on a ride as they are big batteries, I would buy a 700 from your dealer and sell the 500 as you should get a decent price for it then you only have to think about charging and looking after one battery and these 700 batteries do take you a long way.

We are doing an organised 50 mile night ride tomorrow late afternoon with around 5000 ft of climbing and I am extremely confident that our Levo's will do that without running out ?

please report on the 50 mile ride as I am contemplating buying a 2020 levo comp, but I do need good range.

 

[Benson]

Got my 700w Levo battery brand new for £300. Bought it new for £900 from Leisure Lake Bikes due to a listing error on their website then sold my 500w battery for £600 ... happy days, couldn’t be without it.

 

[yokev]

I put one on my '20 Kenevo Comp.
You can feel the weight, so I'll switch back to stock on rides that don't require it

 

[Andy A]

please report on the 50 mile ride as I am contemplating buying a 2020 levo comp, but I do need good range.

I certainly will do

 

[Cyclopath1000]

Considering that after a full year of use with multiple recharges my 500 watt batt ( removable Shimano yes there are a few peeps who don't ride specialized ) developed what's obviously at least one bad cell so it was great to two bars and then quick drain to zero, I wouldn't buy a used battery unless I was absolutely sure it had minimal recharge cycles. I had only the option of another new battery with same wattage so I bought. It from bikeinn seeing they would ship to USA. Yea I could carry a spare but I'm at the point where I don't want anything on my back. So I wish I had a spot to mount it or a slave following me carrying my second battery.

 

[Isshogai]

I have a 19 Levo 500 battery. Been contemplating some longer rides and there are only two options.
1) Buy the 700wh from spesh usd $1300 retail. Never seen a used one for sale anywhere.

2) trailwatts type booster Is $750 plus shipped. Seems very expensive.

3) buy another 500wh battery and lug that around on longer rides. $550 or so used with prices dropping slowly. $1000 new.

How did you guys deal with this situation?

I bought a 700wh battery. Solved all my issues.

 

[Sharkbyte]

I have a 2020 turbo Levo expert that is three weeks old. Last Sunday I went for a ride in the Sierra Foothills and covered 25 miles of single track with 4,150 of elevation gain. When I completed my ride I had 18% battery left. I can tell you on I had to engaged full turbo on many of the steeper climbs as I’m not in the best shape. If I left it in the eco-mode I’m sure I would’ve had much more battery left at the end of my ride. So to me the 700 watt battery is more than enough.

 

[Bomble]

Think the 700 is 680g heavier

 

[Andy A]

please report on the 50 mile ride as I am contemplating buying a 2020 levo comp, but I do need good range.

Hi mate, I did that ride today and finished it with 10% battery left we covered 49.85 miles and the elevation gain was 4833 ft, bear in mind it was very cold and windy and the amount of deep sticky mud pretty much everywhere all contributed to me only having 10% left as I know if the weather had been good and the trails dry I would have easily had at least 20% left but probably more.

 

[Rusty]

I bought a 700Wh battery and use both. I put the 700Wh in when doing long point to point rides or going for an epic day at Rotorua or Taupo - sometimes I even take the 500Wh and put that in for the late afternoon if I am on-track for 70-80km for the day.
Have the 500Wh in the bike for rides down at the local park and when I go on away jobs where I will take an hour lunch and get a ride in.

 

[yokev]

Considering that after a full year of use with multiple recharges my 500 watt batt ( removable Shimano yes there are a few peeps who don't ride specialized ) developed what's obviously at least one bad cell so it was great to two bars and then quick drain to zero, I wouldn't buy a used battery unless I was absolutely sure it had minimal recharge cycles. I had only the option of another new battery with same wattage so I bought. It from bikeinn seeing they would ship to USA. Yea I could carry a spare but I'm at the point where I don't want anything on my back. So I wish I had a spot to mount it or a slave following me carrying my second battery.

I think the Shimano batt(s) may have a problem with this. A buddy of mine owns a Pivot shuttle and just had the same thing happen. The dealer where he bought his says this is now the third bike he's sold in the past year with batt's having cell failures, and here in the US it appears that Shimano has been caught not having adequate stock for the problem. They apparently just came off backorder , and the new stock sold/warrantied out so quickly they're on backorder again

 

[srileo]

I found an ebay seller nearby in california that sells 700wh battery new for $1069. Pretty decent price i think..