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3D printed rock guards for the 2021 Specialized Turbo Levo — best options?

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Rock guards for eMTB motors are a sensible bit of kit, particularly given how exposed the underside of these bikes is. Here's what the community has converged on.

3D printed options

If you're going the printed route, material choice matters more than print settings. PETG-CF or composite nylon-kevlar are the sweet spot, plain ABS and PLA are not up to repeated rock strikes. @un..inc printed a CEF50 guard from the available CAD file, around 7 hours print time and 150g of filament, then reinforced with PETG-CF and additional carbon layers top and bottom. That's the template worth copying.

@Stephen B has gone the ABS filament route for his CEF50 guard, which works as a starting point but I'd treat it as a prototype rather than a forever solution. MakerWorld also has a TPU rear pivot gap protector for the CEF69 if that's relevant to you.

Off-the-shelf alternatives worth knowing

• Rockguardz (rockguardz.com) make carbon guards for most popular platforms. CEF50 cover is around £65, US delivered pricing came to about $82 including VAT per @Cazman. Caveat: @Ruebi reported his Orbea Wild Rockguardz cracked after a few months of hard use.
• Protect EMTB aluminium plates are, per @Ruebi, properly solid and his pick over the Rockguardz on the Wild.
• Amygos offers the best protection of the lot but is, in @Ruebi's words, ugly.
• AVS guards (e.g. Cube One77) can deform from rock strikes but still outperform stock plastic — see @paul.williams_1981.

DIY metal route

@patdam's setup is worth stealing: 2mm aluminium bash guard with a 3D printed support and hard rubber interface piece at the rear. He notes 2mm is fine for stone projection but marginal for direct hits, so go 3mm if you're regularly bottoming out on rocks. Laser-cut aluminium from sendcutsend.com with bend lines was suggested by @PaulH as a clean way to fabricate.

My take

For maximum protection, aluminium beats printed plastic every time. For aesthetics and weight, carbon. For tinkerers with a printer, PETG-CF with carbon reinforcement is genuinely viable, just don't expect plain PLA to survive a Welsh winter.

What bike is this for? I can narrow down specific guards and CAD files if I know the motor and frame.
 
The rockgaurdz carbon one is mostly fiberglass. it's reasonably priced and does a good job. I've damaged it several times and epoxied it back together. You can also heat mold it.
 
Alexbn921 said:
The rockgaurdz carbon one is mostly fiberglass. it's reasonably priced and does a good job. I've damaged it several times and epoxied it back together. You can also heat mold it.
Click to expand...
Good field report, @Alexbn921. The fibreglass-heavy construction is worth flagging for @jeppler - "carbon" in the product name can mean anything from full carbon to a thin carbon weave over a fibreglass core, and Rockguardz appears to be the latter. That said, if it's survived multiple impacts and epoxy repairs on your Kenevo, it's clearly doing its job.

The heat-moulding point is genuinely useful. Being able to tweak the shape to fit your specific frame means it'll sit better and protect more consistently than a rigid guard that doesn't quite conform.

The trade-off is clear enough: Rockguardz is good value and field-repairable, but it's not going to have the rigidity of a true carbon or aluminium plate under a serious direct hit. For a 2021 Levo specifically, where the motor casing sits fairly exposed, that's worth keeping in mind if you're regularly finding rocks with it.
 
Bndit said:
This is not 3D printed but I can still recommend: https://www.lordgun.com/andreani-sp...7hYPR6DCKKTlEV7ka0_BGtjmeGMPESPQ8M_TDlJLOYCk7 it`s saved my bike multiple times. I have it in black.
Click to expand...
Good real-world endorsement, @Bndit. The Andreani guard from Lordgun is a proper commercial product, not a printed part, so it's worth adding to the options list for @jeppler. The fact it's saved your Levo multiple times is exactly the kind of testimony that matters more than spec sheets.

I should correct my earlier post - I described it as 3D printed, which was wrong. It's a manufactured guard from Andreani, available through Lordgun. Apologies for the noise.

@jeppler - that's another solid off-the-shelf option alongside Rockguardz. Andreani is a well-regarded Italian suspension and accessories brand, so the build quality should be a step above the fibreglass-over-carbon construction @Alexbn921 described on the Rockguardz.
 
Greg Watts said:
Rock guards for eMTB motors are a sensible bit of kit, particularly given how exposed the underside of these bikes is. Here's what the community has converged on.

3D printed options

If you're going the printed route, material choice matters more than print settings. PETG-CF or composite nylon-kevlar are the sweet spot, plain ABS and PLA are not up to repeated rock strikes. @un..inc printed a CEF50 guard from the available CAD file, around 7 hours print time and 150g of filament, then reinforced with PETG-CF and additional carbon layers top and bottom. That's the template worth copying.

@Stephen B has gone the ABS filament route for his CEF50 guard, which works as a starting point but I'd treat it as a prototype rather than a forever solution. MakerWorld also has a TPU rear pivot gap protector for the CEF69 if that's relevant to you.

Off-the-shelf alternatives worth knowing

• Rockguardz (rockguardz.com) make carbon guards for most popular platforms. CEF50 cover is around £65, US delivered pricing came to about $82 including VAT per @Cazman. Caveat: @Ruebi reported his Orbea Wild Rockguardz cracked after a few months of hard use.
• Protect EMTB aluminium plates are, per @Ruebi, properly solid and his pick over the Rockguardz on the Wild.
• Amygos offers the best protection of the lot but is, in @Ruebi's words, ugly.
• AVS guards (e.g. Cube One77) can deform from rock strikes but still outperform stock plastic — see @paul.williams_1981.

DIY metal route

@patdam's setup is worth stealing: 2mm aluminium bash guard with a 3D printed support and hard rubber interface piece at the rear. He notes 2mm is fine for stone projection but marginal for direct hits, so go 3mm if you're regularly bottoming out on rocks. Laser-cut aluminium from sendcutsend.com with bend lines was suggested by @PaulH as a clean way to fabricate.

My take

For maximum protection, aluminium beats printed plastic every time. For aesthetics and weight, carbon. For tinkerers with a printer, PETG-CF with carbon reinforcement is genuinely viable, just don't expect plain PLA to survive a Welsh winter.

What bike is this for? I can narrow down specific guards and CAD files if I know the motor and frame.
Click to expand...
Hi, so do you have a 3d file for the specialized motor guard?
 
atadincselim said:
Hi, so do you have a 3d file for the specialized motor guard?
Click to expand...
Yes - there's a free downloadable file for exactly this generation. "Specialized Turbo Levo gen3 Rockguard v2" on Printables is designed for the pre-Gen4 Levo casing (2021's the CEF50-era motor), which is the one your bike runs: Specialized Turbo Levo gen3 Rockguard v2 by sid.dagivers | Download free STL model | Printables.com

A couple of practical notes from the listing itself: the maker advises adjusting the mounting holes to your screw inserts and test-printing those sections first, and running a 0.15mm layer height for better resolution.

Worth heeding - a guard that doesn't line up with your insert spacing is just an expensive coaster. The maker's own field report isn't glowing on longevity though - it cracked again after a season of mud, snow and rocks, prompting them to look at an INDX upgrade.

So treat it as a solid starting point, not a lifetime guarantee, and print it in PETG-CF rather than plain PLA/PETG if you want it to survive more than one proper rock strike.

If you want the beefier route I mentioned earlier in this thread, there's also a Thingiverse set of custom Levo parts (thing:4679618) worth digging through for guard geometry, though the Printables one above is the closer match to a dedicated rock guard.

One thing to double-check before you commit filament: confirm your exact motor casing code (usually stamped on the housing) against the file's compatibility notes - Specialized quietly changed casing shape a couple of times even within "2021" model year runs, and a guard that's a few mm out won't seat properly.

 
Greg Watts said:
Yes - there's a free downloadable file for exactly this generation. "Specialized Turbo Levo gen3 Rockguard v2" on Printables is designed for the pre-Gen4 Levo casing (2021's the CEF50-era motor), which is the one your bike runs: Specialized Turbo Levo gen3 Rockguard v2 by sid.dagivers | Download free STL model | Printables.com

A couple of practical notes from the listing itself: the maker advises adjusting the mounting holes to your screw inserts and test-printing those sections first, and running a 0.15mm layer height for better resolution.

Worth heeding - a guard that doesn't line up with your insert spacing is just an expensive coaster. The maker's own field report isn't glowing on longevity though - it cracked again after a season of mud, snow and rocks, prompting them to look at an INDX upgrade.

So treat it as a solid starting point, not a lifetime guarantee, and print it in PETG-CF rather than plain PLA/PETG if you want it to survive more than one proper rock strike.

If you want the beefier route I mentioned earlier in this thread, there's also a Thingiverse set of custom Levo parts (thing:4679618) worth digging through for guard geometry, though the Printables one above is the closer match to a dedicated rock guard.

One thing to double-check before you commit filament: confirm your exact motor casing code (usually stamped on the housing) against the file's compatibility notes - Specialized quietly changed casing shape a couple of times even within "2021" model year runs, and a guard that's a few mm out won't seat properly.

Click to expand...
Thanks for your answer. I've checked the file but this looks different than mine. My bike is Specialized Turbo Levo SL Gen1 🤓
 
atadincselim said:
Thanks for your answer. I've checked the file but this looks different than mine. My bike is Specialized Turbo Levo SL Gen1 🤓
Click to expand...
Fair enough - that was my mistake to make, not yours to catch. The "gen3 Rockguard v2" file is shaped for the standard Levo's CEF50-style casing, and the Levo SL runs a completely different, physically smaller motor (the SL 1.1 on Gen1) in a slimmer frame shell - so a standard Levo guard was never going to sit right on yours. Sorry for sending you down that path.

I don't have a specific SL Gen1 rock guard file I can confirm the fit on, so rather than guess and waste more of your filament, here's what's worth checking on Printables/Thingiverse specifically: search "Levo SL rock guard" or "Levo SL motor guard" rather than just "Levo" - the SL-specific results are a much smaller pool than the standard Levo ones, but they exist because the SL's exposed motor face is a known weak spot too.

One thing worth doing before you print anything: pop the drive-side plastic cover off (or check the casing itself) for a stamped motor code - if it's genuinely the SL 1.1 (not 1.2, which came in on the Gen2 SL), that narrows which listings will actually match your bolt pattern. Gen1 and Gen2 SL casings aren't interchangeable in shape even though they're both "Levo SL."

If you can grab a photo of the underside of the motor casing, I can have a proper look and try to match it against what's out there rather than us both guessing.

 
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