Kenevo Gen1 Kenevo or Levo?

[Stuart McLaren]

I currently have the 2020 turbo levo and looking to upgrade.

I really like the look of the Kevevo expert 2022, and now its at a discounted price, its very appealing. The issue i have is i mainly ride forestry tracks and fire roads(60%of the time), however i also do a few mountains in scotland and some pretty rough downhills where id love the Kenevo for the descents. Im slightly concerned with the Kenevo with the dual crown forks is too much for what i do, and i like to go away exploring for the day on my levo covering 50km+.

Is the kenevo able to work for me during long days exploring the country side, or is it too heavily focused on the descents and will i miss the versatility of the Levos?

 

[Jason M.]

go for the kenevo its good for XC to downhill runs and dual crown fork will not hinder your ability to turn on switchbacks

 

[Stuart McLaren]

Thanks, and for long rides (up to 80km) along cycle tracks and single track does the Kevevo ride comfortable? I understand it’s not built specifically for this type of riding but the geometry etc isn’t miles off the Levo, the only hindrance I can see is the dual crown forks, but maybe over time I would change them for single crown.

 

[ironmanalishi]

The latest version of the levo has lots of adjustment on the geometry…I believe from watching an embn post on YouTube that it can be adjusted to make it slacker and longer than a Kenevo……I’d imagine that gives you more choice ultimately, leave it stock and spritely, or make it slack if you prefer more downhill stability….it makes wonder whether they will ultimately drop the Kenevo from the lineup!

 

[Alexbn921]

I do long epic adventures on my Kenevo all the time. It's great at everything.

 

[Jason M.]

The thing about the kenevo is you can install a single or dual crown, full 27.5 or 29er and still have a long travel bike. Levo mullet ( if thats your thing or geo adjustment ) still limited to a 150/160 maybe adding cascade links to gain more travel . Dual crowns tracks better when riding chunder than any single crown forks. I currently have a Fox 40 and it breaks neck every time I ride my local trail because dual crown is bad to the bones

 

[cozzy]

The thing about the kenevo is you can install a single or dual crown, full 27.5 or 29er and still have a long travel bike. Levo mullet ( if thats your thing or geo adjustment ) still limited to a 150/160 maybe adding cascade links to gain more travel . Dual crowns tracks better when riding chunder than any single crown forks. I currently have a Fox 40 and it breaks neck every time I ride my local trail because dual crown is bad to the bones

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Totally agree. Why anyone would swap out the dual crown for a wobbly, flexy, creaky csu single crown fork is beyond me unless they want to do barspins.
The fox40 does allow a better steering lock compared to the boxxer though due to the wider spaced stanchions.

 

[Stuart McLaren]

Thanks guys, all great points. Definitely leaning towards the Kenevo Expert. Having the ability to change to 29r or keep 27.5 is great and the long travel is what im missing just now with the Levo i have. I just hope the long travel doesnt hinder longer cycles but i think its a great trade off, if any!

 

[Jason M.]

180 front/rear should be good for long rides question is can your buttocks handle the long ride lol

 

[Jimmy22]

Thanks guys, all great points. Definitely leaning towards the Kenevo Expert. Having the ability to change to 29r or keep 27.5 is great and the long travel is what im missing just now with the Levo i have. I just hope the long travel doesnt hinder longer cycles but i think its a great trade off, if any!

Good call - lots of optionality with the Kenevo! I‘m a taller rider and I used to ride a gen 2 levo which I generally liked. I bought a gen 3 last year and found the geo, even fully slacked out, to be too twitchy for my liking on rough dh, maybe due my height and the shorter chainstay. This year i bought a kenevo expert and converted it to a 29r, its amazing! Longer travel and slack geo work really well for all mountain riding. See Rob Rides video, he does a great job of explaining.

 

[Chairman]

Totally agree. Why anyone would swap out the dual crown for a wobbly, flexy, creaky csu single crown fork is beyond me unless they want to do barspins.
The fox40 does allow a better steering lock compared to the boxxer though due to the wider spaced stanchions.

Definately keep the duel crown. Much more bettered. I did not know the 40s had wider stanchions. How is that so if the hub spacing is the same? I believe you but I had not realized this before. I went for boxxers because of the smaller stanchions

 

[cozzy]

Definately keep the duel crown. Much more bettered. I did not know the 40s had wider stanchions. How is that so if the hub spacing is the same? I believe you but I had not realized this before. I went for boxxers because of the smaller stanchions

My statement was slightly misleading. Yes the 40 is wider but only by 3mm. The main difference comes from the crowns. On the later 21(?) onwards round arch model, most of the offset is in the crown rather than the lowers.
So the 52mm offset fork has a +18mm crown, compared 56mm offset boxxer which used a +10mm crown.

This is on the 29" fork from both brands.

 

[jose castillo Australia]

I currently have the 2020 turbo levo and looking to upgrade.

I really like the look of the Kevevo expert 2022, and now its at a discounted price, its very appealing. The issue i have is i mainly ride forestry tracks and fire roads(60%of the time), however i also do a few mountains in scotland and some pretty rough downhills where id love the Kenevo for the descents. Im slightly concerned with the Kenevo with the dual crown forks is too much for what i do, and i like to go away exploring for the day on my levo covering 50km+.

Is the kenevo able to work for me during long days exploring the country side, or is it too heavily focused on the descents and will i miss the versatility of the Levos?

I have a levo 2023. And kanevo 2019 second gen. If you have the money YES. Kenevo is for jumps and bomb down Ok for trail riding. Cheers

 

[mustclime]

Picked up a 2022 Kenevo on sale and after the first ride I bought an Rock Shox Domain for $512 and mounted an old front 29 wheel and love it.

 

[Stuart McLaren]

Picked up a 2022 Kenevo on sale and after the first ride I bought an Rock Shox Domain for $512 and mounted an old front 29 wheel and love it.

Brilliant, im thinking of doing something similar, looking at selling the boxxers and putting on a Zeb or fox 38 in 29r form and putting my old 29r wheel on the front and having it as a mullet. So i presume you'd recommend this?

 

[mustclime]

I go back and forth, I am 5’6” and all torso, no legs. I bought a s3 for the reach and the 29er fork does raise the front 15mm just with the addition of the fork. Running a 29er wheel and tire pushes up the front of the bike even more(like 20mm ish) over the 27.5 wheel and tire combo. For tech xc rides with tech climbs, I run 27.5. For dh/ some park days I run a 29er up front. I also have a couple “big” parks in driving distance. For those I picked up a 200mm air shaft for the Boxxer and I can run full dh front end.

 

[Alexbn921]

29er lowers add 20mm.
Wheel/tire adds another 20mm
Boxxer to single crown adds another 10mm
50mm total front end rise

 

[cozzy]

Depending where you have your boxxer clamped, you can bring a2c back by 10mm.
Specialized seem to use 570mm whereas SRAM say 560mm. This is on the 180mm 27.5 fork
So with 29" lowers and 180mm your a2c would be 580mm.

 

[mustclime]

From Rock shox tech specs manual….

Boxxer 27.5 200mm axle to crown. 581mm
Boxxer 27.5 180mm axle to crown 561mm(stock)
Zed/Domain 29er 180mm axle to crown 596mm

The Boxxer numbers are the lowest you can go before you slam the tire into the crown on bottom out.

I do most of my tech trail riding with a 29er Domain with a 27.5 wheel. This gets the really low bb up away from the rocks.

Please don’t forget there was a minor frame redesign in 2022. The head angle was changed from 64 degrees to 64.5 degrees. The bb was raised 6mm as well….. I prefer slack head angle so the taller fork is a bonus till the top tube get to high.