Specialized Levo 4 Firmware Update: 850W, 111Nm, and a Free OTA Power Unlock

[robikinkela]

I've recently had the opportunity to thoroughly test the firmware update and have noticed a few flaws:
1) The motor makes noise when you engage the walk mode, but the same noise is heard every time you stop pedaling and start again, that is, when the electric motor kicks in after a pause.
2) Every time you stop pedaling and start again (and this happens even when you shift gears without exerting yourself), the motor exerts an unnecessary forward thrust, and it does so quite abruptly, to the point of being unpleasant.
3) In the dynamic microtune 0/100 mode, the display does not show the motor power output and the assist ratio.
4) I've noticed that when climbing a hill at a high cadence, the motor reduces support towards the top end, and this happens when you pedal aggressively at a high cadence. Sometimes it even seems like the motor reaches a sort of power wall, only to immediately recover, irreparably jeopardizing its continuity of action.
I sincerely hope that Specialized will fix these flaws as soon as possible, but I also wonder how they could have released an update so hastily: didn't they test it before putting it on the market?

 

[Polar]

didn't they test it before putting it on the market?

Not good enough so that's why they picked some random owners to test the beta which seems like the version they released.
Reckon they are now collecting information about errors and will come up with an updated version ASAP.

 

[robikinkela]

Not good enough so that's why they picked some random owners to test the beta which seems like the version they released.
Reckon they are now collecting information about errors and will come up with an updated version ASAP.

Well, I really hope so, because they seriously risk falling behind the Chinese, who, on the other hand, don't seem to be making a mistake... and April 9th is approaching...

 

[Ride 2d@y]

I finally got around to reading the manual and trying it out. I have to say it's fantastic! My range was drastically improved!!

Not sure about range, but riding 0/100 is still less work than doing the same ride on my Chisel, I think.
(I was hoping that the 0/100 setting would morph my EMTB into acoustic, but I am still experimenting)

 

[OnEdge]

Not sure about range, but riding 0/100 is still less work than doing the same ride on my Chisel, I think.
(I was hoping that the 0/100 setting would morph my EMTB into acoustic, but I am still experimenting)

I definitely worked harder, but for me that part was good too. I did my typical 15mi ride and came home with 66% battery left from a 100% starting charge. I have never used that little amount of battery charge on my regular ride. We're trying to see what range we might be able to achieve for when they open the 2700 acre expansion of our favorite riding spot. I'm hoping I can get 30+ without completely depleting my battery to a dangerously low voltage.

The 0/100 mode did seem to make the bike feel similar to my static bike but not as hard, which was nice. There was no portion of the trail I couldn't do, and there definitely is on my static bike!
I'm going to experiment with it some more, but for me it's a very welcome addition

 

[DirkWisely]

Not sure about range, but riding 0/100 is still less work than doing the same ride on my Chisel, I think.
(I was hoping that the 0/100 setting would morph my EMTB into acoustic, but I am still experimenting)

But why? Why would you want a full power e-bike with no assistance?

 

[mkovalcson]

But why? Why would you want a full power e-bike with no assistance?

The 0/100 is the new "Automatic" mode where it feeds power automatically.
0/0 is no assistance.

I can't speak for everyone, but I try to use enough power so I can ride more days a week and to keep from redlining my heartrate but try to do as much work as I can. With an e-Bike I can go on a longer ride and not worry about bonking or having to head back to the parking lot and pass on the last climb of the day. Basically other riders don't have to wait for me at the top of a long climb and then more for me to catch my breath before starting on the decent.

There are some eBike riders who adopt a more tribal point of view and prefer rides with only eBike riders so they can zip to the top of a trail with a focus on down hilling rather than climbing and ride much longer.

FWIW my Levo 4 asked me to take it in for a service and to my best knowledge all they did was clear the needs service flag so it wouldn't tell me it needed service.

My ANT+ heart rate stopped showing on the display after I updated the firmware at home.
However, after the bike shop reset the needs service indicator, my heart rate is showing on the display again.
I'm not sure why. They only had it connected to the laptop for a couple minutes.
Anyone have any ideas ?????

I have noticed the additional noise in walk mode, but otherwise I don't hear any additional noise.

 

[Jeff McD]

Family was visiting right after I downloaded the Gen4 power update and didn't have a proper chance to test it out until now. I have been following this thread daily however to understand it better.

For aggressive riders there is a major flaw. I have looped out dangerously twice over the past 12 days narrowly avoiding serious injury. Understand, I have never looped out on these two 4-5' steep up sections for over 30 years. I was completely taken by surprise and didn't understand what was going on the first time, but after the exact same scenario the second time yesterday I knew it was not me but the new software.

Before the OTA update I could always count on Turbo 100/100 getting me up these sections easily. After update there is a night and day change. Here's what happened: When approaching steep ups, the technique is to accelerate rapidly, in Turbo 100/100, in gear 3 (third easiest gear), spinning up the lower half. Then, as RPMs slow w/ the grade, you can just make it all the way up in Turbo 100/100 as long as you keep the pedals turning, no matter how slowly. But just as robikinkela described a few posts up on this page, after updating you suddenly hit a "power wall" half way up. The pedals just freeze on you. You end up pushing with everything you've got, but instead of continuing up as before, you loop out w/o warning before you can figure out what's going on. It's like "WTF, what just happened? I've never had this before." Maybe Specialized is trying to keep the bike from shooting out from underneath us with the added power? That would be reasonable but it's too excessive a change I think.
Both of these crashes came on a lava flow ride with large lava chunks scattered everywhere around the trail. First crash on a 5' very steep up, I came down on my back hard on a large lava rock smashing my right sacroiliac joint. If I had landed on that rock a few inches more centrally I could have fractured my spine, possibly been paralyzed from waist down. Spent the next 12 days living/sleeping on ice pack, max doses of Ibuprofen/Tylenol.

Finally got up to ride again yesterday. Went around the first crash site but the same thing happened on the next one. I immediately recognized what was going on and w/ flat pedals I pushed back off the saddle as the loop out started, and managed a couple backpedaling steps before the weight of bike pushed me over backwards. Fortunately landed on a rare smooth lava plate and rolled backwards twice but with no injury. Thank God for strong durable skin suits or I would've been bleeding profusely with the lava taking skin off.

I have attached my assist settings to make sure I don't have them wrong. Please let me know if they should be changed. I do not use micro tune but basically the settings I have are close to the preset race settings (No time to waste). Eco is 100/60.

 

[Eduardoramundo]

Family was visiting right after I downloaded the Gen4 power update and didn't have a proper chance to test it out until now. I have been following this thread daily however to understand it better.

For aggressive riders there is a major flaw. I have looped out dangerously twice over the past 12 days narrowly avoiding serious injury. Understand, I have never looped out on these two 4-5' steep up sections for over 30 years. I was completely taken by surprise and didn't understand what was going on the first time, but after the exact same scenario the second time yesterday I knew it was not me but the new software.

Before the OTA update I could always count on Turbo 100/100 getting me up these sections easily. After update there is a night and day change. Here's what happened: When approaching steep ups, the technique is to accelerate rapidly, in Turbo 100/100, in gear 3 (third easiest gear), spinning up the lower half. Then, as RPMs slow w/ the grade, you can just make it all the way up in Turbo 100/100 as long as you keep the pedals turning, no matter how slowly. But just as robikinkela described a few posts up on this page, after updating you suddenly hit a "power wall" half way up. The pedals just freeze on you. You end up pushing with everything you've got, but instead of continuing up as before, you loop out w/o warning before you can figure out what's going on. It's like "WTF, what just happened? I've never had this before." Maybe Specialized is trying to keep the bike from shooting out from underneath us with the added power? That would be reasonable but it's too excessive a change I think.
Both of these crashes came on a lava flow ride with large lava chunks scattered everywhere around the trail. First crash on a 5' very steep up, I came down on my back hard on a large lava rock smashing my right sacroiliac joint. If I had landed on that rock a few inches more centrally I could have fractured my spine, possibly been paralyzed from waist down. Spent the next 12 days living/sleeping on ice pack, max doses of Ibuprofen/Tylenol.

Finally got up to ride again yesterday. Went around the first crash site but the same thing happened on the next one. I immediately recognized what was going on and w/ flat pedals I pushed back off the saddle as the loop out started, and managed a couple backpedaling steps before the weight of bike pushed me over backwards. Fortunately landed on a rare smooth lava plate and rolled backwards twice but with no injury. Thank God for strong durable skin suits or I would've been bleeding profusely with the lava taking skin off.

I have attached my assist settings to make sure I don't have them wrong. Please let me know if they should be changed. I do not use micro tune but basically the settings I have are close to the preset race settings (No time to waste). Eco is 100/60.

View attachment 178998

Your settings are extremely high!

Try setting them to something like
Turbo 100/100
Trail 35/80
Eco 30/30

If you can’t control the bike in Turbo then turn it down to Trail.

 

[Gila Man]

Family was visiting right after I downloaded the Gen4 power update and didn't have a proper chance to test it out until now. I have been following this thread daily however to understand it better.

For aggressive riders there is a major flaw. I have looped out dangerously twice over the past 12 days narrowly avoiding serious injury. Understand, I have never looped out on these two 4-5' steep up sections for over 30 years. I was completely taken by surprise and didn't understand what was going on the first time, but after the exact same scenario the second time yesterday I knew it was not me but the new software.

Before the OTA update I could always count on Turbo 100/100 getting me up these sections easily. After update there is a night and day change. Here's what happened: When approaching steep ups, the technique is to accelerate rapidly, in Turbo 100/100, in gear 3 (third easiest gear), spinning up the lower half. Then, as RPMs slow w/ the grade, you can just make it all the way up in Turbo 100/100 as long as you keep the pedals turning, no matter how slowly. But just as robikinkela described a few posts up on this page, after updating you suddenly hit a "power wall" half way up. The pedals just freeze on you. You end up pushing with everything you've got, but instead of continuing up as before, you loop out w/o warning before you can figure out what's going on. It's like "WTF, what just happened? I've never had this before." Maybe Specialized is trying to keep the bike from shooting out from underneath us with the added power? That would be reasonable but it's too excessive a change I think.
Both of these crashes came on a lava flow ride with large lava chunks scattered everywhere around the trail. First crash on a 5' very steep up, I came down on my back hard on a large lava rock smashing my right sacroiliac joint. If I had landed on that rock a few inches more centrally I could have fractured my spine, possibly been paralyzed from waist down. Spent the next 12 days living/sleeping on ice pack, max doses of Ibuprofen/Tylenol.

Finally got up to ride again yesterday. Went around the first crash site but the same thing happened on the next one. I immediately recognized what was going on and w/ flat pedals I pushed back off the saddle as the loop out started, and managed a couple backpedaling steps before the weight of bike pushed me over backwards. Fortunately landed on a rare smooth lava plate and rolled backwards twice but with no injury. Thank God for strong durable skin suits or I would've been bleeding profusely with the lava taking skin off.

I have attached my assist settings to make sure I don't have them wrong. Please let me know if they should be changed. I do not use micro tune but basically the settings I have are close to the preset race settings (No time to waste). Eco is 100/60.

View attachment 178998

I’m going to agree with Eduardo, those settings seem high. My settings are as follows:

Turbo 65/75 - climbing embedded rock with 12”+ vertical “steps” on steeper grades.

Trail 45/50 - steeper grades without extreme rock crawling.

Eco 40/25 - better “workout” and longer range on flatter terrain.

You may have to adjust your body position as well with different settings.

 

[PeterHenric]

I had a lot of feelings about @Jeff McD post. Lots to wrap my head around. I’ll keep most of those thoughts to myself though. The only constructive thoughts I had were to get your head far over the front wheel when doing steep techs little climbs and to maybe turn down some of those assist levels.

 

[sliverxy]

I also have a bigger issue which could be overrun. Put the bike in turbo or 100/100 ( something high power ) then pull away and put a few hard pedals in and stop peddling.

The motor will stop, the chain ring will stop but the shock is terrible. It's like the chainstay is snapped or frame bearings have fallen out.

Does this in lower modes like Eco and Trail but slightly less noticeable. Once you feel it, thats it pretty much every time I stop pedalling the thud is felt

This and the walk mode is shocking really

I can confirm this issue. Good description by the way. I have Turbo configured 50/75 where it is almost not noticeable. It is clearly noticeable with i.e. 70/100 and fatal with 100/100. It's like an anchor. In tech terrain this is a showstopper. It's not related to overrun. In fact that was super smooth with old fw. I have already reported this. Team is taking care of it. Hope this (and the grinding noise) is fixed soon. Unfortunately the grinding noise doesn't only occur when pusing the walk button but also when i.e. hopping around or rear wheel hop/switchbacks

 

[B-man]

I can confirm this issue. Good description by the way. I have Turbo configured 50/75 where it is almost not noticeable. It is clearly noticeable with i.e. 70/100 and fatal with 100/100. It's like an anchor. In tech terrain this is a showstopper. It's not related to overrun. In fact that was super smooth with old fw. I have already reported this. Team is taking care of it. Hope this (and the grinding noise) is fixed soon. Unfortunately the grinding noise doesn't only occur when pusing the walk button but also when i.e. hopping around or rear wheel hop/switchbacks

I have a clicking noise when I start pedaling, too. The grinding noise in walk mode is embarrassing. This is my 8th Levo and if they dont get this fixed soon, it will be my last. Im done. Im trying something with a DJI next.

 

[Powerslider]

I’ll confirm the additional power in the update was enough that it took a ride to get used to it, but I have no idea what power wall people are speaking of. Shit works great for me! I profess if you’re looping out it’s a technique issue and not a fault of the motor system.

 

[robikinkela]

I’ll confirm the additional power in the update was enough that it took a ride to get used to it, but I have no idea what power wall people are speaking of. Shit works great for me! I profess if you’re looping out it’s a technique issue and not a fault of the motor system.

You can verify the existence of this power limit by pedaling in auto mode on a steep climb at a high cadence (120 rpm): the motor cuts power at a certain point instead of increasing it just enough to overcome the obstacle. It happened to me just yesterday and is easily repeatable in the conditions I described. It's not just a personal issue, as some online magazines in the sector have also noted it (see E-mountainbike magazine).
This is also highlighted by the graph published by ebikelab:

 

[robikinkela]

Family was visiting right after I downloaded the Gen4 power update and didn't have a proper chance to test it out until now. I have been following this thread daily however to understand it better.

For aggressive riders there is a major flaw. I have looped out dangerously twice over the past 12 days narrowly avoiding serious injury. Understand, I have never looped out on these two 4-5' steep up sections for over 30 years. I was completely taken by surprise and didn't understand what was going on the first time, but after the exact same scenario the second time yesterday I knew it was not me but the new software.

Before the OTA update I could always count on Turbo 100/100 getting me up these sections easily. After update there is a night and day change. Here's what happened: When approaching steep ups, the technique is to accelerate rapidly, in Turbo 100/100, in gear 3 (third easiest gear), spinning up the lower half. Then, as RPMs slow w/ the grade, you can just make it all the way up in Turbo 100/100 as long as you keep the pedals turning, no matter how slowly. But just as robikinkela described a few posts up on this page, after updating you suddenly hit a "power wall" half way up. The pedals just freeze on you. You end up pushing with everything you've got, but instead of continuing up as before, you loop out w/o warning before you can figure out what's going on. It's like "WTF, what just happened? I've never had this before." Maybe Specialized is trying to keep the bike from shooting out from underneath us with the added power? That would be reasonable but it's too excessive a change I think.
Both of these crashes came on a lava flow ride with large lava chunks scattered everywhere around the trail. First crash on a 5' very steep up, I came down on my back hard on a large lava rock smashing my right sacroiliac joint. If I had landed on that rock a few inches more centrally I could have fractured my spine, possibly been paralyzed from waist down. Spent the next 12 days living/sleeping on ice pack, max doses of Ibuprofen/Tylenol.

Finally got up to ride again yesterday. Went around the first crash site but the same thing happened on the next one. I immediately recognized what was going on and w/ flat pedals I pushed back off the saddle as the loop out started, and managed a couple backpedaling steps before the weight of bike pushed me over backwards. Fortunately landed on a rare smooth lava plate and rolled backwards twice but with no injury. Thank God for strong durable skin suits or I would've been bleeding profusely with the lava taking skin off.

I have attached my assist settings to make sure I don't have them wrong. Please let me know if they should be changed. I do not use micro tune but basically the settings I have are close to the preset race settings (No time to waste). Eco is 100/60.

View attachment 178998

It's difficult to objectively assess what happened to you because there are too many variables at play, most of which are unknown. Honestly, at first glance, it seems like you're using too much assistance, making the bike difficult to control. I recommend adapting the assistance to the terrain you ride by testing it out, gradually using Dynamic Microtune. This allows for gradual power implementation and provides dynamic assistance, generally with smoother power and torque delivery, making for a more controlled ride. In my experience, using Dynamic Microtune is even better than Auto, which works very well with a steady, steady pedaling cadence but suffers from an on/off behavior as soon as the cadence slows and pedaling resumes.

 

[Powerslider]

You can verify the existence of this power limit by pedaling in auto mode on a steep climb at a high cadence (120 rpm): the motor cuts power at a certain point instead of increasing it just enough to overcome the obstacle. It happened to me just yesterday and is easily repeatable in the conditions I described. It's not just a personal issue, as some online magazines in the sector have also noted it (see E-mountainbike magazine).
This is also highlighted by the graph published by ebikelab:

View attachment 179153

Ahh Auto mode. I don’t think @Jeff McD was in Auto though. I don’t use Auto. I’m all Turbo. No walls there.

 

[B-man]

I know the grinding noise, when using the walk mode, is super common. Is anyone else getting other weird noises? Mine makes a loud click when I start pedaling and it never did it before. What else is everyone experiencing with this update as far as new noises? I should have never done the update. Is there a way to go back?

 

[robikinkela]

I know the grinding noise, when using the walk mode, is super common. Is anyone else getting other weird noises? Mine makes a loud click when I start pedaling and it never did it before. What else is everyone experiencing with this update as far as new noises? I should have never done the update. Is there a way to go back?

Of course, the same noise you hear when you start walking mode is also heard when you start pedaling after a brief pause in pedaling. On my ebike, this is associated with a brief forward push, which I find annoying.

 

[B-man]

Of course, the same noise you hear when you start walking mode is also heard when you start pedaling after a brief pause in pedaling. On my ebike, this is associated with a brief forward push, which I find annoying.

Do you get a loud click too when you start pedaling? This is plain ridiculous. This thing sounds like a POS. It was silent before. Anyone wanna buy a Levo Comp Carbon with a lot of upgrades for cheap? Seriously.

 

[robikinkela]

Do you get a loud click too when you start pedaling?

Precisely. But not only that, as I've already said, when I'm riding and stop pedaling and then start again, the motor gives a forward thrust that feels inappropriate and unpleasant; this also happens when I shift gears. My bike is in the workshop now, we'll see what the support team says. Of course, all this is not pleasant...

 

[PeterHenric]

It’s really interesting that some people have developed motor issues after the software update and others haven’t. I’m grateful that my motor is still silent as can be.

Why would a software update start introducing motor noises? Weird.

 

[B-man]

It’s really interesting that some people have developed motor issues after the software update and others haven’t. I’m grateful that my motor is still silent as can be.

Why would a software update start introducing motor noises? Weird.

Thats exactly what I asked Specialized and they said they are working on it.

 

[Pizzman]

My update has been flawless. Walk mode makes a noise (it’s not grinding FFS) then engages and works better than it used to. Motor pulls strong and silent.

Put walk mode under load to see/hear the “noise” go away. Go walk it up a hill. On a stand, it makes a noise. No big deal.
I sent Specialized an email saying thanks for the update. I hope everyone finds the shit, that they are all losing over this
Learn your bike setting people. Most these problems all stem from things that can be adjusted up, down , or off.

 

[Ride 2d@y]

The 0/100 mode did seem to make the bike feel similar to my static bike but not as hard, which was nice. There was no portion of the trail I couldn't do, and there definitely is on my static bike!
I'm going to experiment with it some more, but for me it's a very welcome

Yes great setting for riding for fitness and you get a free power meter too!
(Motor watts = leg watts)

 

[ptkatoomer]

In the motor tune menu

https://support.specialized.com/kb/sp_en-us/content/ECV3-9350/170226-Levo-Gen4-Latest#NewWALKOptions

Interesting: says this page is not accessible. Wonder if they're changing it?
Reason I ask is because I just picked up my first Specialized, a Levo 4 alloy comp! It's got all the latest updates but nothing shows on the Specialized app on my phone to select any different walk modes.
Definitely looking forward to riding this thing tomorrow. Just riding up and down the street feels WAY nicer than my YT Decoy (that died on me a second time).

 

[Gila Man]

Interesting: says this page is not accessible. Wonder if they're changing it?
Reason I ask is because I just picked up my first Specialized, a Levo 4 alloy comp! It's got all the latest updates but nothing shows on the Specialized app on my phone to select any different walk modes.
Definitely looking forward to riding this thing tomorrow. Just riding up and down the street feels WAY nicer than my YT Decoy (that died on me a second time).

Walk mode setting are only available using the remote on the handle bar.

* push joystick forward while simultaneously pushing down the bottom button (with the specialized "s" logo) and hold to select menu
* use the joystick to toggle to motor tune then push the joystick down to select
* toggle down to get to the walk mode settings

 

[ptkatoomer]

Walk mode setting are only available using the remote on the handle bar.

* push joystick forward while simultaneously pushing down the bottom button (with the specialized "s" logo) and hold to select menu
* use the joystick to toggle to motor tune then push the joystick down to select
* toggle down to get to the walk mode settings

That did it. Thanks!

 

[Pjaz]

You can verify the existence of this power limit by pedaling in auto mode on a steep climb at a high cadence (120 rpm): the motor cuts power at a certain point instead of increasing it just enough to overcome the obstacle. It happened to me just yesterday and is easily repeatable in the conditions I described. It's not just a personal issue, as some online magazines in the sector have also noted it (see E-mountainbike magazine).
This is also highlighted by the graph published by ebikelab:

View attachment 179153

Did you ever figure out a setting or riding style that works around the powerwall issue? I have been trying for 2 months to figure this out but I can't get back to how it predictably performed on the exact type of steep climbs. I expect it now so I can work around it on known trails but makes no sense that my Gen 4 Cx motor performs like the Levo 4 did pre-update.

 

[Double l]

I've recently had the opportunity to thoroughly test the firmware update and have noticed a few flaws:
1) The motor makes noise when you engage the walk mode, but the same noise is heard every time you stop pedaling and start again, that is, when the electric motor kicks in after a pause.
2) Every time you stop pedaling and start again (and this happens even when you shift gears without exerting yourself), the motor exerts an unnecessary forward thrust, and it does so quite abruptly, to the point of being unpleasant.
3) In the dynamic microtune 0/100 mode, the display does not show the motor power output and the assist ratio.
4) I've noticed that when climbing a hill at a high cadence, the motor reduces support towards the top end, and this happens when you pedal aggressively at a high cadence. Sometimes it even seems like the motor reaches a sort of power wall, only to immediately recover, irreparably jeopardizing its continuity of action.
I sincerely hope that Specialized will fix these flaws as soon as possible, but I also wonder how they could have released an update so hastily: didn't they test it before putting it on the market?

Absolutely spot on with these findings, also I've been loosing power to the rear mech with the range extender 3 or 4 times per ride, there are other findings but I'll leave that for now