“This is the bike that we all want to hate, as I don’t think many of us are ready to become fully augmented in our mountain biking reality yet”
Specialized’s Levo SL was one of the more hyped up bikes I’ve seen launched in recent years with its monstrous release on the world wide web in February caused a ripple in the space-time continuum. As I’m sure you read on my first ride impression post back then, I really rated the Levo SL, but that’s often the case at press junkets in exotic locales—the fine wine and jet lag can skew one’s judgement. Now the hype has died down, and I’ve logged over 400kms on the SL, I feel ideally placed to pen my full extended review of this mind-bending new style of bike.
By now you’ve all read Pinkbike’s languid, unenthused ‘hurry up and pay your money’ prose with accompanying plethora of cretinous comments by the keyboard warriors. Or perhaps the more curious minded of you may have delved into some of the more dour, mind-numbing tomes filled with fork offset numbers, suspension leverage-ratio curves, and—oh sorry I nodded off there—coverage that other media think is interesting. So I thought I’d try and just go with the simple Kiwi approach of giving you my thoughts without the gregarious hyperbole and delve into how the Levo SL actually performs for everyday hacks like me.
“By now you’ve all read Pinkbike’s languid, unenthused ‘hurry up and pay your money’ prose with accompanying plethora of cretinous comments by the keyboard warriors.”
I’ll start with a quick recap—after releasing the original Levo back in 2015, Specialized gazed into their crystal ball and decided the E-category was the future of biking, set up an engineering department in Switzerland and spent the last four and a half years developing their own E-system (motor, battery and phone app) to fit the parameters they wanted. Then the company’s California based bike geeks tweaked the best of their current Levo (front triangle) and Stumperjumper (rear triangle) platforms and morphed them with the new E-system to create an all new breed of eMTB—the SL. This is a super-light (17kg), lower powered, pedal assist bike with the geo and handling of a normal trail bike. But the big question between splutters of Kool-Aid is: have they changed the world?
I was lucky enough to be invited to test the new SL in South Africa on the stunning trails around Stellenbosch and Jonkershoek (what a wanker, yes I know, but the 85hrs of travel really sucked). While there I logged around 150kms of riding with nearly 3000m of climbing in the sweltering African sun over two and a half days on a medium Levo SL Expert. The NZ$14,300 Expert model rocks the FACT full carbon frame matched with a carbon Roval 29er wheelset, Fox 34’s and Float DPS. It has SRAM GX eagle and G2 RSC stoppers with Specialized own Butcher and Eliminator tyres and will cost the average McDonald’s worker five months wages! After returning from the cradle of civilisation I picked up an SL here in Aotearoa and smashed through another 250kms of trails I was more accustomed to before reluctantly returning it.
I’ll start with a quick recap—after releasing the original Levo back in 2015, Specialized gazed into their crystal ball and decided the E-category was the future of biking, set up an engineering department in Switzerland and spent the last four and a half years developing their own E-system (motor, battery and phone app) to fit the parameters they wanted. Then the company’s California based bike geeks tweaked the best of their current Levo (front triangle) and Stumperjumper (rear triangle) platforms and morphed them with the new E-system to create an all new breed of eMTB—the SL. This is a super-light (17kg), lower powered, pedal assist bike with the geo and handling of a normal trail bike. But the big question between splutters of Kool-Aid is: have they changed the world?
I was lucky enough to be invited to test the new SL in South Africa on the stunning trails around Stellenbosch and Jonkershoek (what a wanker, yes I know, but the 85hrs of travel really sucked). While there I logged around 150kms of riding with nearly 3000m of climbing in the sweltering African sun over two and a half days on a medium Levo SL Expert. The NZ$14,300 Expert model rocks the FACT full carbon frame matched with a carbon Roval 29er wheelset, Fox 34’s and Float DPS. It has SRAM GX eagle and G2 RSC stoppers with Specialized own Butcher and Eliminator tyres and will cost the average McDonald’s worker five months wages! After returning from the cradle of civilisation I picked up an SL here in Aotearoa and smashed through another 250kms of trails I was more accustomed to before reluctantly returning it.
First off let’s look at how the SL pedals uphill, a defining factor for this lightweight, motorised velo. At first glance those eMTB fans out there will scoff at the low torque (35nm) and peak power (240w) the new Specialized SL1.1 motor boasts, but there’s a lot more to this motor than the numbers. The first thing to note is that the motor has virtually no drag—so it pedals just like any other bike when switched off or when it’s out of battery. I tested this a couple of times while in South Africa and was surprised at the ease with which it pedaled. It felt just like riding a burly alloy enduro bike. This low drag allows you to spin the pedals a lot faster, giving the motor a more natural-feeling higher riding cadence, something the design team used to their advantage in making a much more efficient motor. They also factored in that most riders don’t require the ridiculously powerful turbo mode other motors offer, so aimed to lower the power output of the 1.1 to get its weight down. The paradox here was that the lighter the bike became, the less power it needed, so small gains had big rewards. One of the more subtle benefits of the high cadence motor was that it allows a much smoother power curve, meaning the SL doesn’t have that sudden feeling of cutting out when you hit the top speed (32km/h). Oh yeah, that little motor still has the same top speed as any other eMTB! Another surprising thing for me was how zippy the SL felt. With such a small power output my expectations were pretty low, but the motor’s efficiency and low resistance feel meant I could easily get up to speed quickly. Obviously it doesn’t have that laugh inducing acceleration of the 565w Levo motor, but that was a major plus for me. Of course, once you hit steeper climbs it does require more effort but again that’s fine with me as it simulates that normal biking experience, except it’s like you’ve got the legs and lungs of an olympic track rider who’s just spent the morning with Lance Armstrong’s doctor.
We had better address E-mountain biking’s most annoying question: how far will it go? This was another eye-opening feature of the SL—it’s range prowess. Everything about the SL1.1 motor design process was aimed at reducing weight and increasing efficiency, from the switch to 48 volt battery components to moving to a geared motor. The end result is Swiss efficiency personified! If you think of it in terms of cars and fuel consumption: imagine a classic V8 ute versus your grandmother’s Suzuki Swift. A 565 watt bogan bike (V8) needs a 700w/h battery to do two laps round Bathurst whereas a 240 watt SL (Swift) can go the same distance if not further running backwards and forwards to bingo on a 325w/h battery. It’s simple—half the motor size, half the battery needed to go the same distance! The kicker with the SL though is its nifty range extender—a water bottle-sized reserve battery that fits in the bottle cage and plugs into the charging port. The extender has half the capacity of the main battery so effectively adds another fifty-percent range. On a morning ride in South Africa I covered around 40kms and used about half of the battery and extender combo. I rode freely, with no intention of saving battery, so by my rough maths that’s a range of about 80kms with the combo and just over 50km on the standard battery alone, which is impressive. Now onto the fun stuff—descending, the real litmus test for most of us. Would the promises and sacrifices in power pay off? In short, yes! Once pointed downhill, the Suzuki Swift transformed into a Maserati. My first impression of the SL was summed up in one word: handling. The agility and precision with which it rode down hill was nothing like I’d experienced with an eMTB before. Put simply, it rode just like my analogue 29er at home, except it had more grip. Those of you who have ridden e-bikes will be familiar with the confidence-inspiring grip and planted-feel an extra few of kilos around the bottom bracket gives, but the compromise is cumbersome handling and increased braking distances. Now the SL still possesses these fine attributes but without the compromises, which made it ride and corner like a dream on the dry, dusty trails of South Africa. The more I rode the SL (particularly once I was back on my home trails) the more it impressed me, to the point that I’d go out on a limb and say that for a competent middle-aged hack like myself, the SL actually rides better than the Stumpjumper! A big call I know, but for my level of riding the extra grip and stability with minimal loss of agility are hard to ignore. Hang on a minute, you promised no hyperbole or Kool-aid pushing! Yes you’re right and while the SL did earn its plaudits, it also had a few chinks in its armour. Namely, it’s under-gunned—I feel that in their quest to shave a few grams and wow the world with their launch weight, Specialized missed the chance to put out a full noise SL capable of handling the roughest trails. While the suspension spec felt capable for a 150mm trail bike and a 74kg rider like myself, when the terrain got rowdier I did find myself reaching for the brakes quicker than I would have liked as the Fox 34 lost some of its composure. Spec’ing a 36 on at least one model would only cost 250-300g in weight but would add huge performance benefits, especially for the more aggressive or heavier rider. To a lesser extent the rear shock could also have been offered as an upgrade—
although I enjoyed the lively, poppy feel of the DPS, if I weighed 10-15kg more I would be looking for something a bit more robust. Other weaknesses were minor; the reach numbers are very conservative and may force a few riders to look at upsizing and the front tyre spec irked me a bit. The Butcher is a great tyre but come on, 2.3” is very skinny for a 17kg trail bike in my opinion, so again for the sake of a 200g I’d much preferred to have the comfort and grip of the 2.6” version out front. Overall the SL is something pretty special (no pun intended) and has carved out a niche for itself as an entirely new type of pedal-assist bike. I feel the SL is an early harbinger of what’s to come in the e-bike world. Specialized’s crystal ball was prophetic when they backed their motor program and prioritised handling over raw power; now it’s paying dividends as they currently own this category. It’s only a matter of time before we see new iterations of the SL roll out—perhaps we’ll see a new front triangle design with beefed up suspension. It will also be interesting to see how quickly Specialized’s competitors make the jump towards this new category. For me the biggest conundrum that the SL poses is a philosophical one. This is the bike that we all want to hate, as I don’t think many of us are ready to become fully augmented in our mountain biking reality yet, but I can assure you that no matter what you tell yourself, the SL is all encompassing and will take over your life. Your fancy boutique trail bike will fast become a dust-gathering relic and this is undoubtedly the hardest reality of them all. Before the SL, I’ve always seen eMTBs as a second bike, one used for different types of rides—time-saving ones or more arduous adventure rides—but the SL has blurred the line on that theory. It truly offers the best of both worlds in one addictive package. However, as much as I’ve waxed lyrically about the SL and the promise it holds, the bottom line with this new category of electric bikes is the same as with all eMTBs: budget. Realistically, what your wife or bank manager lets you spend on a bike will determine whether or not this
is the bike for you, but if it’s within your means, I’d definitely be taking
one for a test ride.
