Would my Turbo Levo be too slow on the road?

[JayMartin]

I have been thinking about buying a second set of wheels and a cassette to ride with a roadie friend. But do roadies ride faster than my cutout speed of 15.n mph?
Jay

 

[Zimmerframe]

Yes. Generally considerably, even old ones. Though you might catch them on some steep climbs. With lighter tyres/wheels you should find it far easier to ride over the limit though.

 

[Hardtail]

I have been thinking about buying a second set of wheels and a cassette to ride with a roadie friend. But do roadies ride faster than my cutout speed of 15.n mph?
Jay

Just get it derestricted and enjoy being faster than him everywhere, for a least the first couple of hours .

 

[steve_sordy]

I have read that a lot of roadies won't even allow you to ride with them if you cannot maintain a minimum 25mph average for several hours. They say this out of love because if you can't keep up, you will be left behind.

 

[galaga187]

Depends on the roadies fitness level and amount of climbing - I've just done 100 plus Miles with a group 5000ft climbing average speed 10.9 MPH 98% tarmac riding a levo with slicks.

 

[Ark]

most people on gravel bikes/road bikes will be doing at least 18mph on flat ground.
you get some who just go at a leisurely pace of around 12-14mph but tends to be old, old, old people and the ones with panier racks traveling across a country

 

[JayMartin]

Yes. Generally considerably, even old ones. Though you might catch them on some steep climbs. With lighter tyres/wheels you should find it far easier to ride over the limit though.

I was thinking I was turning the motor when pedaling downhill and above the limit. The drag I felt couldn't be all tires could it?

 

[Zimmerframe]

I was thinking I was turning the motor when pedaling downhill and above the limit. The drag I felt couldn't be all tires could it?

The motor will be disconnected. Amazingly that drag is all tyres and weight !

 

[JayMartin]

... old, old, old people...

I resemble that remark as I turned 70 this year.

 

[JayMartin]

Depends on the roadies fitness level and amount of climbing - I've just done 100 plus Miles with a group 5000ft climbing average speed 10.9 MPH 98% tarmac riding a levo with slicks.

Those are mind-boggling statistics. Last week I rode 34 miles and ended with 9% battery. With the default assist settings, here are some of my statistics from Blevo:
37% Eco
56% Trail
7% Turbo
3,864 feet of climbing
This was all in the woods, no tarmac.
Are you carrying a 2nd battery? Are slicks that much more efficient? Do you have the assist turned down to next to nothing? I'm not at all doubting you; I would just like to understand what's accounting for this huge difference.
Thank you,
Jay

 

[galaga187]

Those are mind-boggling statistics. Last week I rode 34 miles and ended with 9% battery. With the default assist settings, here are some of my statistics from Blevo:
37% Eco
56% Trail
7% Turbo
3,864 feet of climbing
This was all in the woods, no tarmac.
Are you carrying a 2nd battery? Are slicks that much more efficient? Do you have the assist turned down to next to nothing? I'm not at all doubting you; I would just like to understand what's accounting for this huge difference.
Thank you,
Jay

Sure - assistance turned down to Eco 15-30 and 30-60 Trail. Rode 700 WH battery down to 20% then switched to a 500 WH using 30% of that. We had serious headwinds and heavy rain. Main thing is high cadence and being light on pedals on climbs. Slicks make a massive difference.

 

[MrSimmo]

+1 to derestricting it if youre riding with roadies. There’s no way I could keep up with my Schwarzenegger legged roadie friends on my (out of warranty) Levo if it turned into a dog at 15mph

 

[Zimmerframe]

cutout speed of 15.n mph?

Shouldn't your cut off speed be 20mph/32kph in the USA ?

 

[maynard]

Levociraptor u need .

 

[Expidia]

Just buy a road bike used. They can be found on Craigs List or Facebook market place cheap. It’s not worth the hassle of changing your tires to slicks and then back again. An EMTB is not a road bike. Mine weigh 55 and 60 lbs and rolling is not a great characteristic of either of them due to weight, wide 2.4 tires and tread pattern.
“You can put lipstick on a pig, but it’s still a pig”

 

[JayMartin]

Just buy a road bike used. They can be found on Craigs List or Facebook market place cheap. It’s not worth the hassle of changing your tires to slicks and then back again. An ETMB is not a road bike. Mine weight 55 and 60 lbs and rolling is not a great characteristic of either of them due to Weight, wide 2.4 tires and tread pattern.
“You can put lipstick on a pig but it’s still a pic”

I was never thinking to swap tires between rides. Instead, I would get a spare set of wheels with narrower rims. However, I’m now wondering if the gotcha is the chainring. For example, some gravel bikes come with a 46T chainring while 36T is supposedly the largest that will fit on a Turbo Levo.
Are you suggesting a used e-assist road bike? Or buying a road bike and converting it to e-assist? Converting one myself would be new territory for me. If you are suggesting I just ride an analog road bike, I have my old Trek 730 hanging in the garage. But ever time I try to ride it I keep wondering if I have a flat or the wheel bearings have given out.
I appreciate everyone's comments.
Jay

 

[JayMartin]

Shouldn't your cut off speed be 20mph/32kph in the USA ?

Perhaps with the latest firmware upgrade that I had to go in for the other day. I was told it was too big to load over the air. Before that it seemed to cutout around 15.
Are you carrying your extra battery on your handlebars?
Jay

 

[Zimmerframe]

Perhaps with the latest firmware upgrade that I had to go in for the other day. I was told it was too big to load over the air. Before that it seemed to cutout around 15.
Are you carrying your extra battery on your handlebars?
Jay

If it's in the shop ask them to check the region settings, it sounds like it's setup for EU not USA.

It was @galaga187 who did the 100+ Mile ride with the twin batteries. I'm normally dead after a max of 70 Miles on an EMTB (off road).

 

[galaga187]

I was never thinking to swap tires between rides. Instead, I would get a spare set of wheels with narrower rims. However, I’m now wondering if the gotcha is the chainring. For example, some gravel bikes come with a 46T chainring while 36T is supposedly the largest that will fit on a Turbo Levo.
Are you suggesting a used e-assist road bike? Or buying a road bike and converting it to e-assist? Converting one myself would be new territory for me. If you are suggesting I just ride an analog road bike, I have my old Trek 730 hanging in the garage. But ever time I try to ride it I keep wondering if I have a flat or the wheel bearings have given out.
I appreciate everyone's comments.
Jay

I’d recommend getting a set of wheels and tyres as you first said and trying it out. Keeping up with my mates on flats was hard as I lost the two highest gears due to derailleur bent. Maybe get a mechanic to set up the two pairs of wheels so easy to change over

 

[yorkshire89]

Even with a set of slicks you're going to be doing all the work after the cut off speed, which isn't much fun on a heavy full suspension.

What's your friends average pace on a ride? I'm usually averaging 18mph on an old road bike with a few small rolling hills (30ish miles). If there's a bit of a tailwind 25mph is doable and it could be 35mph+ on descents

 

[galaga187]

Even with a set of slicks you're going to be doing all the work after the cut off speed, which isn't much fun on a heavy full suspension.

What's your friends average pace on a ride? I'm usually averaging 18mph on an old road bike with a few small rolling hills (30ish miles). If there's a bit of a tailwind 25mph is doable and it could be 35mph+ on descents

Good point - I checked the other riders (roadies) average times on Strava, my group were mostly 15 MPH Average

 

[Expidia]

If you ride with Roadies then ride a Roadie bike!

 

[Plummet]

You gearing is too low bike I's too heavy, motor had resistance and most of the time yourl be past the motor cut off.

Buy a second hand road bike and ride it. You can probably pick one up for less than the set of wheels and tires you are looking at.

 

[Nomad1]

Do you have a ten tooth top gear? let us know how you make out. I think it's do able.

 

[Stephen B]

Just de-restrict the motor and instal a larger front chainring and you’ll be fine.

 

[Mabman]

I've never owned a restricted bike and if I ever come across someone on the road I always offer to give them a pull. But pacelining and pelotoning makes me nervous and why I mainly ride off road.

 

[Streddaz]

I was never thinking to swap tires between rides. Instead, I would get a spare set of wheels with narrower rims. However, I’m now wondering if the gotcha is the chainring. For example, some gravel bikes come with a 46T chainring while 36T is supposedly the largest that will fit on a Turbo Levo.
Are you suggesting a used e-assist road bike? Or buying a road bike and converting it to e-assist? Converting one myself would be new territory for me. If you are suggesting I just ride an analog road bike, I have my old Trek 730 hanging in the garage. But ever time I try to ride it I keep wondering if I have a flat or the wheel bearings have given out.
I appreciate everyone's comments.
Jay

I have a Levo SL that I ride proper MTB trails on, but I also commute a 50km (31 mile) round trip to work as well. While I don't ride with roadies, I do manage to average around 26kph to 30kph (16mph to 18.5mph) during my flatish commute.
I do run Maxis Rexon Race for commuting and smoother trail riding and I to are looking at getting another set of wheels to build up for proper MTB duties.
What you will probably find is, on descents you will run out of gears, and as you said, you are unlikely to fit a big enough chain ring to match a road bike. You will smoke them on the steeper climbs though. I run a 32 tooth ring on the front and it's about a big as the SL will fit.
It will all depend on who you are riding with I suppose. You could just buy a Turbo Creo for road duties.

 

[Howz]

Just de-restrict the motor and instal a larger front chainring and you’ll be fine.

Do this, on the road you are looking at around 18mph average, I’ve also got a 700w battery in my Levo and a trailwatts 252w battery as well so 952w total, 60 mile road trips no problem and could probably do 80 miles or more, I did used to have 2 sets of wheels and tyres, one set off road and one set for road…but in the end I now do more off road so I sold the other set.

 

[JP-NZ]

I ride my Rail on the road a lot always average around 18mph/28kph can easily spin up to the limiter at 20mph/32kph and hold it there.

My home city is very busy with cyclists. Roadies on the flat often pass me at I'd estimate at 22-25mph/35-40kph. I can't keep up with them unless it turns uphill. If I take my non E hardtail out I can easily ride at 20-22mph/32-35kph on the road for hours, bike does have slicks though

 

[Alexbn921]

You would need to de-restrict, fit road style tires and put a bigger chainring on.
Even then you will get accelerated wear of the chain and cassette. Only using the small cogs on the rear wears them at a high rate.

A road style ebike should have a 50 front chainring.