Levo SL Gen 1 Levo SL Expert - First Ride

p3eps

E*POWAH Elite World Champion
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Dec 14, 2019
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You will never be done with this kind of project :cool:

16601CBD-EA26-4461-97CB-DDA0D8FE888B.jpeg

These arrived remarkably quick... wonder what other screws I can swap ?
 

p3eps

E*POWAH Elite World Champion
Subscriber
Dec 14, 2019
1,863
2,224
Scotland
This weekend, I reverted to my 2017 Stumpjumper. I haven’t ridden it since the beginning of February, when I got the Trek Rail. Had that for nearly 3 weeks, and have been on the Levo SL since.
It’s a 2017 Stumpjumper Expert 6-Fattie. Carbon frame (alloy rear) with 27.5 X 38 carbon wheels and 27.5” x 3 tyres... weighing in at just under 13.5kg (with a spare inner tube and 2 x CO2 cartridges in the SWAT box!). It WAS a bit lighter, but I’ve robbed some bits off it for my SL!

Obviously we’re still in lockdown. I’m classed as an essential worker, so am still at work from 8.30-17.00 every day. I have 2 young children, so most of my time at home is spent with them.
Since the clocks changing, I’m managing a quick cycle some evenings once they’re in bed. I have a relatively flat trail through a forest round a golf course just over a mile from my house. It’s just a path with no frills. A few roots to hop off, but nothing too exciting or dangerous. I can get there and back without being on the road much - and if I go at the right times (like 7am or 7.30pm) there’s barely a soul going about!
It can lead to another forest which has some slightly more interesting parts and steeper hills which can give me a 16 mile loop, but I can get a quick 8 miles if I just do the first part.

On Thursday night, I did the quick route on my Levo SL. Just over 8 miles, 130m elevation gain, in 34mins and 6 seconds.

7am on Saturday morning, I did this on the Stumpy in 36mins 37 seconds... so essentially 2 and a half mins longer.

Today I did the longer loop. Difficult to compare times on this one, as on the SL I find myself going up and down some of the parts of the loop a few times. What I can say, is that the SL makes this ride much easier!

On the short route, having the motor isn’t that much of an advantage. Yes, I was slightly quicker, and probably used slightly less of my legs. There was never a point that I struggled though, or where I thought ‘I wish I had the SL’. I ride my SL at 40/60 in Eco mode... although I think I may reduce that to 35/50 and see how I get on.

The mile to the forest on road took me about 35 seconds longer on the Stumpy. It’s mainly flat with a slight uphill at the end. I could feel myself slowing down slightly, rather than powering through it. The first 2 miles of the forest is similar. Flat with long sections of gradual climbing. Again, I could feel myself going slower the further I went up these climbs - but not much.

Downhill sections were the same on both bikes. They key difference is when you slow down for a corner or a person (or a horse on Saturday!) that the acceleration away isn’t quite as rapid. You can barely fee any drag on the SL above the 15mph limiter.
Handling - impossible to say based on what I was riding... and looks like it’ll be a while until I can stick the bike on the back of the car and take it somewhere more ‘exotic’.
My SL feels better to ride for me as an XL v’s the Stumpy being an L. I felt a bit cramped on the Stumpy when I first got on as my reach is much shorter. One of my immediate thoughts when riding the bigger bike on downhill technical sections was that it gave me more confidence being that little bit longer.

The longer route made the difference more obvious. There is a long steep hill on that route, where I’d be climbing at 7-9mph on the SL, but was more like 3mph today on the Stumpy - in 1st gear!
At the top, there is a very rooty section that leads to a few different short downhill tracks. The SL gets through this rooty section by giving you more momentum. I did manage on the Stumpy, but it was much harder travelling at slow speeds.
On the SL, I’d happily go round and round doing the different DH bits over and over... but on the Stumpy I did it twice because it was too much effort!

The ground has been very dry for the last few weeks, as we haven’t seen any serious rain here for a while.
Looking down at the 3.0 wide front tyre seems ludicrous after riding a 2.5 for the last 2 months. The 3.0 has very curved edges, so I don’t think the actual amount on the tarmac (or hard packed path) is much more than the 2.5 when ridden with the pressures up.
If it was muddy, I think the SL would have a bigger advantage, as it’s much easier to get through sticky mud. I’d have never got through some of those rooty parts of the Stumpy because they get quite boggy when wet. The SL has that extra ‘ooomph’ to battle through them.

As for the differences component wise...

The Guide Ultimate brakes on the Stumpy feel better than the stock G2 RSC brakes on the SL. They’re only 2 piston, but feel like they have more stopping power. They shriek like hell though - which is an issue I don’t have with the Magura MT7’s on the SL now. The MT7’s fee much more powerful than both, and have as good )if not better) modulation than both sets of SRAM brakes.

The Stumpy has an Eagle X01 drivetrain. I thought the XX1 AXS on the SL was smooth, but this is much better. I guess I was comparing the XX1 AXS with the GX that was originally on the SL. Looks like I’m going to have to do a bit of tweaking to the XX1 AXS derailleur as it should be the same. I prefer the AXS shifter now I’m used to it though, and love just tapping to shift.

The Pike RC on the Stumpy isn’t as smooth as the Lyric Ultimate... but I think the Monarch RT3 on the Stumpy is much better than the Fox Float DPS on the SL. I had hoped my upgrades were over on the SL, but I can see me ditching the Fox soon and moving to another Rockshox shock.

The Specialized Command+ dropper on the Stumpy is pretty poor. It does a job, but is nowhere near the caliber of the Reverb AXS. I used it for years and thought it was fine - but after using another few droppers - I new see that it wasn’t great. I still have the Xfusion Manic off the SL, so I may fit that to my Stumpy.

In summary - I think there is still a place for me to keep a ‘manual’ and an eMTB. There are plenty of places I go where the SL would definitely be the bike of choice, with lots of steep hills that I’ve struggled with for years on the Stumpy. Having that little bit of extra power makes a huge difference on steep climbs, and uphill technical sections - helping you flow better.

My newly 5 year old daughter has been on 2 wheels since before her 4th birthday, and will soon be of an age where I can take her round some forrest fire tracks. I would be doing that on my Stumpy! I also have friends who don’t have eMTB’s that I’d use the Stumpy to go riding with. It won’t get as much use as it used to... but it’s not retired yet!!

40757108-247B-4149-8726-5A2D85EE9E88.jpeg
 

Killswitch73

Well-known member
Sep 15, 2018
371
230
West Midlands
Swapping the front and rear brakes from SRAM to Shimano XT was a massive upgrade. You would need to get the following:

- two new shimano olive and barb insert kits.
- Shimano brakes of your choice.
- Shimano mineral Oil and Bleed kit.
- New 6 bolt rotors of your choice (203mm front and 180mm rear ice tech is what I used).
- Caliper adapter for front 203mm shimano rotor. Make sure you get the one in the photo.
You need to cut the SRAM rear brake line at the lever and use a barb connector fitting (see photo) to attach an old brake line to the end you just cut and pull it thru to the rear swing arm. Then you attach your new shimano brake line to the barb on the old brake line and pull the new line back thru the swingarm and frame back to the bar. The barb has one left hand thread and on right hand thread.

Barb connector reverb stealth on amazon:
I can tell you 1000 million % that This is the wrong Post adaptor for 180 post mount forks .. the adaptor that’s in this post is for 160mm to 203mm post adaptor As this is the one I had to buy for my partners 160mm forks to 203 rotor .what ever you do do not buy this adaptor if your forks are standard 180mm . I know this as I fitted the correct adaptor . To my Lyrik forks that needed 23mm 180 to 203 . Pic below is the correct adaptor as you only need 23mm not 43mm

87A68A42-2485-4815-A920-02EA0C04ABF0.png
 

losgatosgtr

Well-known member
Feb 7, 2020
181
147
Los Gatos, California
I can tell you 1000 million % that This is the wrong Post adaptor for 180 post mount forks .. the adaptor that’s in this post is for 160mm to 203mm post adaptor As this is the one I had to buy for my partners 160mm forks to 203 rotor .what ever you do do not buy this adaptor if your forks are standard 180mm . I know this as I fitted the correct adaptor . To my Lyrik forks that needed 23mm 180 to 203 . Pic below is the correct adaptor as you only need 23mm not 43mm

View attachment 29339

Killswitch...The F203P/P adapter below is the CORRECT one for mounting a Shimano 203mm rotor using Shimano brake calipers to the stock Fox fork on comp carbon SL. See photo below:
IMG_20200421_093150.jpg

I tried the F203P/PM and it does NOT work. I bought and tried both adapters. As shown below the F203P/PM doesn't even come close to positioning the Shimano caliper in the proper place for the pads to contact the 203mm rotor.

IMG_20200421_104613.jpg

If you notice the bottom spacer pad on the P/PM adapter would need to be much thicker to allow the caliper to be in the correct position. It will not work on the Fox fork that comes on the Levo SL Comp Carbon.
 
Last edited:

Killswitch73

Well-known member
Sep 15, 2018
371
230
West Midlands
Killswitch...The F203P/P adapter below is the CORRECT one for mounting a Shimano 203mm rotor using Shimano brake calipers to the stock Fox fork on comp carbon SL. See photo below:
View attachment 29404

I tried the F203P/PM and it does NOT work. I bought and tried both adapters. As shown below the F203P/PM doesn't even come close to positioning the Shimano caliper in the proper place for the pads to contact the 203mm rotor.

View attachment 29422
Ahhh so the post mounts on the Fox forks are 160mm then ? and not 180mm ..

when you took the sram brake caliper off was there a 180mm adaptor on it to accomidate the 200mm sram rotor ?
 

Killswitch73

Well-known member
Sep 15, 2018
371
230
West Midlands
Ahhh so the post mounts on the Fox forks are 160mm then ? and not 180mm ..

when you took the sram brake caliper off was there a 180mm adaptor on it to accomidate the 200mm sram rotor ?

Ive answered my own question i can see it comes with an adpaptor so the forks they give on the comp are 160mm post mount with a 40mm adaptor .. for the shimano caliper a 43mm adaptor is needed ..

in theory i was right in saying if its 160mm post mount forks the adaptor you got is correct .. not if they were 180mm which i thought they were .. strange that 150mm forks are 160mm post mounts though ... my rock shock lyriks are 180mm .
 

losgatosgtr

Well-known member
Feb 7, 2020
181
147
Los Gatos, California
Ahhh so the post mounts on the Fox forks are 160mm then ? and not 180mm ..

when you took the sram brake caliper off was there a 180mm adaptor on it to accomidate the 200mm sram rotor ?
Only works for SRAM rotor as they are 200mm and not 203mm. I tried it but the Shimano brake pads do not make contact with the entire Shimano rotor surface.
 

Killswitch73

Well-known member
Sep 15, 2018
371
230
West Midlands
Only works for SRAM rotor as they are 200mm and not 203mm. I tried it but the Shimano brake pads do not make contact with the entire Shimano rotor surface.
Ay i know bud .. i got XTR on my stumpy using the lyrik RC2 and i bought the 20mm adaptor and the 203mm rotor was rubbing .. so had to buy the 203 adaptor which i put a link up for .. atleast i got it now so when i put my Lyrik ultimates on my carbon comp and new XTR 4pots ive not got to worry .. i do need to purchase the adaptor you have though as im still using the 2pot xtr on my stumpy as will the fox forks on that and use as my spare bike ..i will be switching wheels around on both bikes so it uses the same roteor .

at least your post was good in letting knw i still got to buy that 43mm adaptor .
 

p3eps

E*POWAH Elite World Champion
Subscriber
Dec 14, 2019
1,863
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Scotland
@p3eps don’t think I’ve seen a weight yet for the carbon wheels. Will you get chance for that at some point?

I was just going with 1800g as per Specialized website.
I think it’ll be a while until I have the tyres off / sealant out / rotors off / cassette off etc to be able to give an accurate weight.

I could probably give you a wheel / rotor / cassette / tyre combined weight fairly soon as I have lovely iridescent bolts for the brake rotors on the way!
 

Killswitch73

Well-known member
Sep 15, 2018
371
230
West Midlands
I was just going with 1800g as per Specialized website.
I think it’ll be a while until I have the tyres off / sealant out / rotors off / cassette off etc to be able to give an accurate weight.

I could probably give you a wheel / rotor / cassette / tyre combined weight fairly soon as I have lovely iridescent bolts for the brake rotors on the way!
maybe we can see whos wheels are lighter .. with mine being Nextie premium with added enduro strength ( added layers) .. built on DT swiss 240s . mine are 34mm wide .and straight pull spokes and direct mount discs
 

crazymelki

Active member
Feb 25, 2020
74
31
Switzerland
@p3eps Question: Do you use the AXS Reverb with 34.9mm diameter....or what is the reason the Levo SL S-Works comes with a 30.9mm? Is this frame related or do the use a post shim to reduce weight?
 

p3eps

E*POWAH Elite World Champion
Subscriber
Dec 14, 2019
1,863
2,224
Scotland
@p3eps Question: Do you use the AXS Reverb with 34.9mm diameter....or what is the reason the Levo SL S-Works comes with a 30.9mm? Is this frame related or do the use a post shim to reduce weight?

I went with the 34.9mm AXS, as I was recommended not to use shims by a few people. Not sure what Specialized reasoning for using the 30.9mm is - maybe lighter, or maybe they could get a batch of them cheaper?
 
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