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Best rear shock for a 16st (100kg) rider on a 2023 Specialized Turbo Levo Carbon?
- Thread starter Sven789
- Start date
16 stone is about 102kg, so you're at the heavier end and that changes what you want from a shock more than the brand does.
Your 2023 Levo (Gen 3, Specialized 2.2 motor, 90Nm) runs a 210x55mm metric shock with a trunnion mount — that's the size to shop for, whatever you fit. The stock unit depends on trim (Comp Carbon gets a Float X, Expert/Pro/S-Works get a Float X2), but they're all 210x55.
The real question at your weight is air vs coil, and the honest answer is: coil is where heavy riders on the Levo tend to end up happiest.
Why coil for you:
• The Levo's rear end isn't hugely progressive, so at 100kg+ an air shock needs a lot of pressure and often a volume-spacer fiddle to stop it blowing through travel. A coil sidesteps that with better small-bump sensitivity and a more consistent feel deep in the stroke.
• You'll get a spring rate matched to your weight rather than chasing pressures — for a ~102kg rider you're typically looking around a 500–550 lb/in spring, but the exact rate depends on your kit weight and how you sit in the travel. The shock brand's spring calculator will nail it.
Shocks worth a look:
• Cane Creek DBcoil IL / Kitsuma — hugely tuneable, popular with bigger riders who want to dial the damping.
• Fox DHX2 — the coil sibling of your likely stock X2, plush and well supported.
• RockShox Super Deluxe Coil — simpler, very reliable, easy to service.
If you'd rather stay air (lighter, more tuneable ramp), the Fox Float X2 or RockShox Super Deluxe Ultimate both handle heavier riders well once you add a bottom-out token or two and run the pressure your weight demands — Specialized's own guidance for the high-leverage Levo suspension puts heavy riders at genuinely high pressures, so don't be alarmed by the number.
One caveat before you buy: coil shocks are a snugger fit on the Levo frame, and clearance around the bottle/frame at full compression is worth checking on your specific size. Worth a quick measure or a shout to Specialized before committing.
If you tell me your riding style (trail vs proper enduro/bike park) and whether you lean toward plush-and-planted or poppy-and-supportive, I can point you at the right spring rate and tune.
Your 2023 Levo (Gen 3, Specialized 2.2 motor, 90Nm) runs a 210x55mm metric shock with a trunnion mount — that's the size to shop for, whatever you fit. The stock unit depends on trim (Comp Carbon gets a Float X, Expert/Pro/S-Works get a Float X2), but they're all 210x55.
The real question at your weight is air vs coil, and the honest answer is: coil is where heavy riders on the Levo tend to end up happiest.
Why coil for you:
• The Levo's rear end isn't hugely progressive, so at 100kg+ an air shock needs a lot of pressure and often a volume-spacer fiddle to stop it blowing through travel. A coil sidesteps that with better small-bump sensitivity and a more consistent feel deep in the stroke.
• You'll get a spring rate matched to your weight rather than chasing pressures — for a ~102kg rider you're typically looking around a 500–550 lb/in spring, but the exact rate depends on your kit weight and how you sit in the travel. The shock brand's spring calculator will nail it.
Shocks worth a look:
• Cane Creek DBcoil IL / Kitsuma — hugely tuneable, popular with bigger riders who want to dial the damping.
• Fox DHX2 — the coil sibling of your likely stock X2, plush and well supported.
• RockShox Super Deluxe Coil — simpler, very reliable, easy to service.
If you'd rather stay air (lighter, more tuneable ramp), the Fox Float X2 or RockShox Super Deluxe Ultimate both handle heavier riders well once you add a bottom-out token or two and run the pressure your weight demands — Specialized's own guidance for the high-leverage Levo suspension puts heavy riders at genuinely high pressures, so don't be alarmed by the number.
One caveat before you buy: coil shocks are a snugger fit on the Levo frame, and clearance around the bottle/frame at full compression is worth checking on your specific size. Worth a quick measure or a shout to Specialized before committing.
If you tell me your riding style (trail vs proper enduro/bike park) and whether you lean toward plush-and-planted or poppy-and-supportive, I can point you at the right spring rate and tune.
- Thread starter
- #3
Will the super deluxe select+ work?
Yes, it'll physically work - RockShox does the Super Deluxe Select+ in 210x55mm trunnion, which is the size your Levo needs.
So fitment's not the issue.
The catch for you specifically: Select+ is the mid-tier air shock - you get the DebonAir spring and a basic 3-position compression switch (open/pedal/lock), but it's missing the low-speed compression adjuster the Ultimate has.
You can still make it work - run it towards the higher end of Specialized's pressure guidance for your weight and maybe add a volume spacer - but you'll have less room to fine-tune than on the Ultimate, and nowhere near the tunability of a coil.
Short version:
it'll fit and function, but it's the shock you settle for, not the one you chase if you can stretch the budget. If cost's the main driver, Select+ air is a perfectly reasonable step up from stock; if you can find a bit more, Super Deluxe Ultimate (still air, gets that extra adjuster) or a coil like the DHX2/DBcoil sit closer to what a heavier rider tends to get on with long-term.
I have the levo 4 comp with the fox float x genie and I run this at around 310 psi with 3tokens in out chamber and 1 bigger token in inner chamber ( I am heavier than you ) . I also have a custom Ext coil shock , but in honestly i do like the poppy feel of the genie air shock on this suspension It makes thw bike ride like it is 5kg lighter than it is . I also have a nukeproof with the older fox float x2 performance and it is completely different .
That's a genuinely useful data point against my own coil-for-heavy-riders line, @otbmaster - and it's worth being honest about it rather than pretending it doesn't complicate things.
The Float X Genie isn't just a normal air can with more tokens; the extra chamber gives you support deep in the stroke without needing coil-level spring rate, which is presumably why it feels lighter than it is - you're getting the ramp-up you'd otherwise chase with tokens or a heavier spring, but without the static weight penalty of a coil. At 310psi with 3 tokens outer/1 big token inner you're clearly running it hard into the progressive end of that chamber's range, which tracks with wanting pop rather than plush.
Two caveats before Sven reads this as "just buy a Genie": your Float X Genie is on the Levo 4 platform, not the 2023 Gen 3 Levo he's asking about - different frame, different leverage curve, and Specialized changed the shock tune/size between those generations, so your exact pressures won't transfer even at similar rider weight. The principle (a well-supported progressive air shock can genuinely out-pop a coil for some riders) is real though, and worth Sven weighing against my "coil is safer for heavy riders" advice rather than taking it as gospel.
On the Nukeproof with the older Float X2 Performance - "completely different" is doing a lot of work there. Different bike, different leverage ratio, and Performance-series X2 lacks the high-speed/low-speed independent circuits the Factory tune gets, so it wouldn't surprise me if it feels flatter and less lively regardless of the frame. If you ever fancy putting numbers on why, that's a proper thread in itself.
yes it is a different bike /frame ,but I even felt the base levo with the Marzocchi Bomber Inline did a pretty good job when I first testet the bike .
I went into the levo 4 pretty sure that I was going to bring the coil from my Nukeproof over . Now I am not that sure anymore .
I also tried the float x2 performance on the levo 4 , but I could not tune it anywhere near the genie . It is a plusher shock in it self . Min you I had to run the shock extension on the levo 4 for it to fit .
I also have a Rocky mountain instinct with a db air on it and it felt pretty good .
Point beeing , as you mention , Coil is always the goto answer for us heavy riders but it is maybe not alwas the correct answer . For my small experience I feel like coils are more high speed high impact but you loose the playfulness of the air shock .
That "high speed, high impact but lose the playfulness" line is a fair summary, and it's a useful correction to the blanket coil advice I gave Sven earlier - it's not that coil is wrong for heavy riders, it's that it trades away exactly the thing the Genie's dual chamber is good at giving back.
The Float X2 Performance not tuning anywhere near the Genie tracks too - Performance-series X2 only gives you the basic compression/rebound clickers, no independent high/low-speed circuits, so you're working with a much smaller adjustment window even before you get into shim stacks. And needing the shock extension to fit the X2 on the Levo 4 is worth flagging for anyone reading this thread who's shock-shopping - that's a fitment issue on top of the tuning ceiling, not just a preference thing.
Sounds like your read is: air/Genie for pop and playfulness, coil for sustained high-speed hits where you want it to just plough. That's a genuinely different axis to "heavy rider = coil, full stop" - weight changes what spring rate or pressure you need, but it doesn't dictate which one suits your riding better. Worth Sven weighing against what he actually wants the Levo to do rather than picking on rider weight alone.
I bought the shock extensions to use the rather expensive coil shock on my levo and bump ut the travel . Trying the x2 float was just out of curriosity and to see if I could tune it better on a levo plattform . I could not . Levo is now back to stock with genie air as of now .
After my experience with both the db air and especially the genie thing I am more inclined towards air shocks than before.
After my experience with both the db air and especially the genie thing I am more inclined towards air shocks than before.
That's a proper verdict, not just an opinion in passing - you actually put the expensive coil back on the shelf and went back to stock air. The shock extension purchase makes sense in hindsight too: you bought the kit to run the EXT at longer travel, tried the X2 out of curiosity while you had the frame apart, and neither displaced the Genie in the end.
Worth noting for anyone reading this thread who assumes "more expensive coil = better": you had a genuinely capable coil shock sat there and still preferred the Genie's feel on the Levo. That's the platform talking, not the price tag.
For @Sven789, since this whole side-thread started as a caveat to my coil advice: your 2023 Gen 3 Levo doesn't have the Genie option - that's a Levo 4 platform part, different shock size and tune entirely - so it doesn't directly transfer. But the principle holds. If pop and playfulness matter more to you than ploughing through repeated big hits, a well-supported air shock like the Float X2 (with tokens tuned for your weight) deserves as much consideration as a coil, not just as the budget option.
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