Levo Gen 2 Glad I bought last week!

leix_toffee said:
I did say that but I got the following reply:


Hi Robert,
Yea, we were hit with price increases across the board for all our bikes a few months back, an increased demand on raw materials to build the bikes and increased shipping cost from the production facilities have lead to the increases. The company has taken a hit to absorb as much of the cost as possible, but it could not absorb all of the increases and this has lead to the prices rises.
can understand your disappointment. I can confirm the price of the Levo Comp from ourselves is €6999.



Regards,
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If you have paperwork showing it was on order for a specific price, I would send it to specialized and tell them they need to honor it.
 
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I imagine it depends where you live. In the US this wouldn't be legal, assuming you have a receipt and/or put a deposit. It's not your fault they sold a bike they couldn't deliver. They could, of course, cancel the order and refund your deposit. That's a sure fire way to lose a customer but shops are so busy they may not care.

If I had to buy right now, I would be purchasing another brand for sure. Specialized was first out the gate with a well designed ebike, but they are by no means the obvious leader anymore, and it's clear the "innovative" Levo motor is ultimately a flawed execution (I'm on my third one). There are way too many options with much better pricing at this point.
 
They are only getting in 2 Large Levo’s and I am waiting since early Sept so I am sure they don’t really care and will sell to next person on the list. Seems to be a sellers market right now. But to be honest if that’s the way they are when I am buying I am little worried how they will be with any issues
 
The other issue is, there is nobody letting you demo the bike at the moment so I only have the test ride on the Levo to go by
 
bluewater87 said:
rail 7 and 9.7 have stayed consistent since at least last summer.
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You may be correct, I don’t know which exact bikes went up but a lot of them have and expect the Rail to go up as well.
www.emtbforums.com

Trek prices , already gone up over the week end grrrrr

Just looking , was going to buy a analogue fuel EX, as electric is scarcer than info around how many kids Boris Johnson has :) already hard to find Noticed gone up £100.00 since I looked yesterday!!!. Sunlit uplands my arse ;) So Trek already going up , guess everything , on the analogue...
www.emtbforums.com www.emtbforums.com
 
bought this levo the day it was posted
only had 300 miles and came with proof of purchase
it's in perfect condition
i guess i can make some money to cover for the price increase on the next generation levo/kenevo
it will be difficult for me to find a deal like this again

IMG_2303.jpeg


when i picked it up
IMG_2302.jpeg
 
leix_toffee said:
Have to make a decision now whether to buy the Levo Comp for 6999e even though I ordered for 6400e. LBS was on to me today and bottom line from them is that it is 6999e
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In another thread elsewhere I posted about the Specialized price increases, somebody else said:

“My buddy is a dealer and carries specialized as one of his brands, he told me yesterday that additionally he lost 4% margin in the process. Fortunately, everything he had on a truck was invoiced at the old pricing. When he tried to order more the gave him an August delivery date. I'm pretty sure others are going to need to do the same; I think supply chain issues are much worse than than non industry people know. It will be interesting when the snow-bound folks come into spring expecting to get bikes”

www.mtbr.com

e-MTB prices are probably on-the-rise.

Case-in-point, Specialized. They raised their prices today, by as much as $1600. It may be even more for the higher-end models that I don't remember the prices for. '21 Turbo Levo (base) was marked up by $500 ($5000, to $5500) '21 Turbo Levo Comp was marked up by $1200 ($6300, to $7500) '21...
www.mtbr.com www.mtbr.com

I would start thinking about consumables as well. Bikes Direct posts as himself/herself in MTBR and attests to supply problems (backlogs between 1 year to 18 months) from Shimano & SRAM. Here he/she tells about worse problems trying to spec a saddle:

www.mtbr.com

Why there may not be any model year 2022

I just got an email quoting lead time on a saddle I want to spec at 850 days can build that bike in middle of 2023 with that saddle of course; there is an alternative saddle with only a 18 month lead time LOL saddles used to be 90 days I have had several industry insiders say to me there...
www.mtbr.com www.mtbr.com

When I chose the ‘21 Levo Comps the relative low cost of the SLX consumables (most notably the cassette, made possible by the Microspline hub) was a significant consideration. Having just come from scouring-for and stocking-up of 9-speed parts (that’s another story), it was only natural that I did the same for Shimano 12-speed... so right after acquiring the bikes I bought 2 cassettes and 6 chains from overseas (to clarify, we have 2 Levos). This was all before signs that the supply chain was this severely disrupted. Little did I know then.

I’ve stocked up on other consumables between then-and-now but I have yet to arrive at complete, and therefore will not fully escape these availability/price-increase issues. At the same time, there’s a fine line between being reasonably prepared vs. hording for the bike-ocalypse.
 
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After a long mulling over I have decided NOT to buy a Levo. The LBS has 3 times changed date of order since August and still nothing firm, only "around the end of Feb". The price changed during the time from order until now and they won't honor the original price and were fairly blunt in my opinion (I understand things have changed, with price pressures well documented), not even a gesture from them. They are now telling me that they don't have the color of bike that I ordered and I have to take the color they are getting - hmmmmm, is it me paying for the bike or is it the LBS telling me what I can buy, FFS. As the only specialized dealer in Ireland I am a little stuck with the one shop which makes me nervous about pricing of parts/service and possible warranty issues.
 
leix_toffee said:
After a long mulling over I have decided NOT to buy a Levo. The LBS has 3 times changed date of order since August and still nothing firm, only "around the end of Feb". The price changed during the time from order until now and they won't honor the original price and were fairly blunt in my opinion (I understand things have changed, with price pressures well documented), not even a gesture from them. They are now telling me that they don't have the color of bike that I ordered and I have to take the color they are getting - hmmmmm, is it me paying for the bike or is it the LBS telling me what I can buy, FFS. As the only specialized dealer in Ireland I am a little stuck with the one shop which makes me nervous about pricing of parts/service and possible warranty issues.
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That truly sucks. It is more shocking to me that there is only one Specialized dealer in Ireland.

Assuming you remain seriously-interested in an eMTB, I would advise to buy ASAP from the best-supported manufacturer in your locale, which does not seem to be Specialized. e-Bikes are still in a stage where the engineering and technology aren't fully-mature, and therefore you will need the most-realistic promise of support for the central feature of the product.

Specialized and Santa Cruz were our prime candidates for the fact that we are in California, and can literally drive to their corporate headquarters... not that this is particularly meaningful. What is meaningful is the vast number of dealers we have for each, and the good reputation both of these companies have for supporting their customers... at least in the USA.
 
leix_toffee said:
After a long mulling over I have decided NOT to buy a Levo. The LBS has 3 times changed date of order since August and still nothing firm, only "around the end of Feb". The price changed during the time from order until now and they won't honor the original price and were fairly blunt in my opinion (I understand things have changed, with price pressures well documented), not even a gesture from them. They are now telling me that they don't have the color of bike that I ordered and I have to take the color they are getting - hmmmmm, is it me paying for the bike or is it the LBS telling me what I can buy, FFS. As the only specialized dealer in Ireland I am a little stuck with the one shop which makes me nervous about pricing of parts/service and possible warranty issues.
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To some extent it just sounds like a crappy LBS, setting aside the price increases. I think you'll be happier without them! :) I have no brand loyalty, so I'll ride whatever works good. I used to have LBS loyalty, but the boom in business has really decreased the "personal touch" aspect. I've been shopping at the same LBS since 1990, having purchased 16+ bikes from them over the years. I've lived an hour away for the last 16 years and still shopped there. But the familiarity has really been lost in the last few years. Whenever I contact them, I feel like I'm bothering them with my purchases! My next bike won't be from them.

Don't feel too bad about "missing out" on the Levo. There are a great many awesome ebikes out now. Specialized no longer enjoys the obvious lead they had before and, with the price increases on top of motor failures, I think they just shot themselves in the foot.
 
Rekt said:
your mate is brainwashed.

Costs have gone up but not 1250 per bike in a few months. We are talking 8 quid versus air freight at 60 quid a bike
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I am an old guy and been (literally) around the block a few times.

I think there are at least 3 factors in play here:

The Turbo Levo is clearly if not the best emtb in the market, its one of them. So demand has been very strong for them, despite (maybe because of) their problems with some users Brose motors, as it has demonstrated how Specialized 's warranty really is worth something ( and you pay for that).

Secondly , since the pandemic ( and even before it ) demand for ebikes and the Turbo levo, in particular, has gone through the roof.

I am sure you remember your economics 101?
In the long run, supply and demand are in equilibrium at the free market price.
Demand has gone up, supply has gone down (availability of components etc during/post pandemic)= hence price rises

Thirdly, the costs have risen of Specialized (& all bike mfrs) - not just better spec'd bikes inc. revised spec motors, new software (eg motor firmware upgrades now done "over air" plus mission control), but most crucially shipping. These bikes are made and built in the Far East. Again due to the pandemic, the cost of a 40ft shipping container being transported by ship (nobody is allowed to carry bike batteries on a plane) from China to Europe was about $1500 a year ago. Its now about $15000. Not sure how many bikes you get into one shipping container, but that huge cost hike has a direct and very tangible impact on the end price to the consumer

The moral is buy now, before it gets worse. Buy second hand....
 
You are right its only about $12.5k.

The Guardian UK newspaper 9th December 2020.

"A 40ft container from China to northern Europe that might have cost $1,500 (£1,100) six weeks ago was quoted at £9,000 on Wednesday morning "
 
As pointed out, shipping is only one of the increased cost factors. You can quibble over the exact cost of shipping but the point is that shipping costs have increased dramatically. Shipping plus all those other factors didn't all happen at once. Most companies move, adjust and adapt to cost pressures until they are placed in an undesirable position of raising prices to the consumer. The consumers see the price as one big instant slap to the wallet, which it is, but the pressures that drove them there mounted over weeks and months. Moreover, it's much more than just logistics and freight.
Luckily, I bought my Levo Comp in Nov. but even then I struggled justifying the cost. Were I still in the buying position today I'd probably walk away from the Levo as its gotten too rich for my wallet.
 
No, that not right. Its to do with there being a surfeit of empty containers in Europe with nothing in them to go back to China. The economics of shipping depends on two way traffic.

FT 19 January 2021

"Shipping costs quadruple to record highs on China-Europe ‘bottleneck’

The cost of shipping goods from China to Europe has more than quadrupled in the past eight weeks, hitting record highs as a shortage of empty containers stemming from the pandemic disrupts global trade. The cost of shipping a 40-foot container from Asia to northern Europe has increased from about $2,000 in November to more than $9,000, according to shippers and importers. Lars Jensen at consultancy SeaIntelligence said: “It’s a bottleneck problem . . . These rates are being driven by customers fighting over a limited resource — containers.” Thousands of empty containers were left stranded in Europe and the US in the first half of 2020 when shipping lines cancelled hundreds of trips as coronavirus lockdowns caused a sudden slowdown in global trade. When western demand for Asian-made goods rebounded in the second half of the year, competition among shippers for available containers sent freight rates soaring."
 
The recent price hike made it easier for me to justify upgrades (at least in my own head). Fox 38 fork went on a few days ago, and I'll definitely say it lives up to the hype. If you're on the fence for this fork, don't think twice and pull the trigger.
 
Seeing the numbers here make me so glad I got my Kenevo Expert (1st gen) last May for $4200
 
Wow! Guess the resale value for my comp just went up.
That is a seriously drastic increase ?
 
I had not even paid attention to prices in a long time after getting my Levo comp last year. I was toying with the idea of selling the Levo and getting an sl because of recent injuries, the weight of the Levo is a detriment to my recovery and continued well being beyond. My LBS owner whom I know well told me he hasn’t seen a specialized come by in monthso since last year and doesn’t expect any until late summer or beyond and told me to keep the levo if I wanted to ride this coming summer. In fact he said he’s lucky he started selling Giant since he has a supply of those especially for kids.

I ride small and small is hard to find even in a regular market. Anyways, On a whim i looked for a small SL 2 days ago and saw a shop sellling the s-works frame for 6500$ 90 miles north of me. So with the words of my lbs owner echoing in my ears I bought it immediately since I thought that it was 1500$ below Msrp And I have 30 days to reconsider, still not having realized the price increase. Only reading the forum I realized how lucky I am to find one in my size and at the older price. I’m hoping this also translates to better resale on my Levo since in a normal world I’d never have bought the Levo at last years prices( I had sticker shock and remorse until I started riding it ) and an s-works frame ever. However with the Levo sale I can build the bike over time and not have to rush since I’m recovering at the moment. I also have two non-E mtbs I’ll sell to cover the cost ( a fuse and a stumpjumper ).
 
If you haven't looked lately, SWorks Levo is now $14,000. I'll let that sink in for a second.

SWorks frame only $8500, Expert Carbon $10,500 and all prices are USD

I haven't been following the SL pricing, but looks like there might have been some adjustments there as well.

Good thing the Federal Reserve says there isn't any inflation!
 
If we do some quick math $2000 to $9000 increase per container = $7000 difference.

Specialized is charging an extra $1200 per bike for the levo comp. $7000 divided by $1200 = ~6 bikes per container? 6 bikes in a 40 ft x 8ft container? The math doesnt add up Specialized.

This is price gouging at its finest.

Let’s see what happens when the shipping container prices go back to normal. I am sure specialized will drop their prices back to “normal”....or not.
 
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