Levo Gen 3 22 Levo motor power delivery annoyances help?

getbusyliving

New Member
Oct 27, 2022
12
7
Fairfax, CA
I've had my '22 Levo Expert for a few months, and mostly loving it (aside from already a blown motor, blown shock, broken charge door). I have two minor annoyances with motor power delivery that I'm hoping for help with.

1) There is a very slight delay between when I put power to the pedals, to when I receive the assist power returned from the motor. Maybe a half-second delay. I might not have noticed this as much, but my prior steed had a Bosch motor (Trek Rail), and the power return was almost instantaneous. I have tinkered with the "Acceleration response" setting in the Mission Control app, and by cranking this higher, the issue is lessened...but even with the setting at 100%, there is still a slight delay compared to my old Rail. This is meaningful in certain situations like steep V-outs or even tight switchbacks, where instant power is very helpful. I have ridden two other buddies' Levos, and theirs have the same delay, so I know this delay is not just a glitch on my bike. Is there anything else I can do?
2) I feel the dynamic assist level (how much assist I get compared to how much power input I give to pedals) within each assist mode is a little off. I feel like it gives me more assist than I need when on the flats, but less assist than I need on the steeps. In other words it's not very sensitive to my input. I have fiddled with Mission Control app, and it doesn't seem to allow me to change the sensitivity. For example, I can boost the assist level in Trail mode, and it gives me more assist on the steeps, but then it ALSO gives me more assist on the flats. I feel like this is a waste of battery, because I only want more assist on the steeps, and don't mind having to provide some input in the flats. I can obviously just adjust the assist level manually on the fly, but it seems there should be a way to tweak the sensitivity algorithm within each of the three modes. Any ideas?

The above are admittedly not big problems, but minor annoyances. I still love the bike, but if I can get these dialed (and the overall reliability stabilized) I will be in ecstasy. Thanks!
 

Snrbrtsn

Active member
Apr 7, 2021
204
158
Uk - Scotland
I deleted my first response after rereading your post…
I Could be wrong, but cant help think your making improper use of the 12 gears at your disposal and overly reliant on your mode switch….
When I got my levo, I found the as supplied chainring threw my gear selection, so I changed to a 36 tooth, this helped massively not only on out pedalling the motor but on getting torque down on the trails in a given gear negating the need to switch modes
 

brigcampbell

Active member
May 30, 2022
167
122
SoCal
I have acceleration set to 20%. I wanted the smooth "pedal feel" and this works.

Still need to be careful climbing very steep and tight switchbacks because stomping on the pedals at the apex can over shoot the turn on the high side.

BTW I run 35/100 50/100 80/100
 

seamarsh

Active member
May 7, 2019
350
174
usa
I've had my '22 Levo Expert for a few months, and mostly loving it (aside from already a blown motor, blown shock, broken charge door). I have two minor annoyances with motor power delivery that I'm hoping for help with.

1) There is a very slight delay between when I put power to the pedals, to when I receive the assist power returned from the motor. Maybe a half-second delay. I might not have noticed this as much, but my prior steed had a Bosch motor (Trek Rail), and the power return was almost instantaneous. I have tinkered with the "Acceleration response" setting in the Mission Control app, and by cranking this higher, the issue is lessened...but even with the setting at 100%, there is still a slight delay compared to my old Rail. This is meaningful in certain situations like steep V-outs or even tight switchbacks, where instant power is very helpful. I have ridden two other buddies' Levos, and theirs have the same delay, so I know this delay is not just a glitch on my bike. Is there anything else I can do?
2) I feel the dynamic assist level (how much assist I get compared to how much power input I give to pedals) within each assist mode is a little off. I feel like it gives me more assist than I need when on the flats, but less assist than I need on the steeps. In other words it's not very sensitive to my input. I have fiddled with Mission Control app, and it doesn't seem to allow me to change the sensitivity. For example, I can boost the assist level in Trail mode, and it gives me more assist on the steeps, but then it ALSO gives me more assist on the flats. I feel like this is a waste of battery, because I only want more assist on the steeps, and don't mind having to provide some input in the flats. I can obviously just adjust the assist level manually on the fly, but it seems there should be a way to tweak the sensitivity algorithm within each of the three modes. Any ideas?

The above are admittedly not big problems, but minor annoyances. I still love the bike, but if I can get these dialed (and the overall reliability stabilized) I will be in ecstasy. Thanks!
From what I gather it's just a difference of the motor and cannot be fixed.

I'm coming off a shimano e8000, but only have 1 ride, didn't notice an issue but was stoked to be on new bike.. love the way motor feels but did find that techy uphills yesterday were harder.. thought that was due to longer rear end on my previous decoy.. but could be that initial punch you mentioned. Either way it seems like one of those things that will go away after you ride it for a few months. Just adjust to the new motor.

Edit this is a good post you try the Bosch one?

 
Last edited:

getbusyliving

New Member
Oct 27, 2022
12
7
Fairfax, CA
I deleted my first response after rereading your post…
I Could be wrong, but cant help think your making improper use of the 12 gears at your disposal and overly reliant on your mode switch….
When I got my levo, I found the as supplied chainring threw my gear selection, so I changed to a 36 tooth, this helped massively not only on out pedalling the motor but on getting torque down on the trails in a given gear negating the need to switch modes
Thanks for the input. It is definitely not a gearing issue. The same small delay in assist (my issue #1 in original post) happens regardless of gear or assist mode. The only thing I've found that helps is the "acceleration response" setting, but even at 100% there is a small, annoying delay that wasn't present on the Bosch CX motor, which makes sudden steep climb situations more difficult than necessary. It's still my only significant complaint in ride quality after switching to the Levo.

My issue #2 isn't a big deal, but makes the bike less energy efficient in any given assist setting. I now just switch to a lower assist setting when on the flats, which works OK. I do think Spesh could learn something from Bosch in their motor algorithms, because the Bosch dynamic sensor of user input as translated to motor output is more sensitive and natural in my opinion. This opinion still holds true after putting over 1,000 miles on my Levo, and more than that on the Rail.
 

getbusyliving

New Member
Oct 27, 2022
12
7
Fairfax, CA
From what I gather it's just a difference of the motor and cannot be fixed.

I'm coming off a shimano e8000, but only have 1 ride, didn't notice an issue but was stoked to be on new bike.. love the way motor feels but did find that techy uphills yesterday were harder.. thought that was due to longer rear end on my previous decoy.. but could be that initial punch you mentioned. Either way it seems like one of those things that will go away after you ride it for a few months. Just adjust to the new motor.

Edit this is a good post you try the Bosch one?

Thanks. I have mostly adjusted to it after putting a lot of miles on it, but aside from boosting acceleration response (which only partially reduces the delay), the only other way I've found to adjust is to start pedaling a little earlier than natural in a sudden steep technical climb situation, which is not alway possible.

Thanks for the link to that other post. That is interesting, and the OP of that thread has a very similar translation that I do between Bosch-Levo assist settings.
 

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