I am Al from California

[Al Boneta]

I am 42 years old and I have been working on the bicycle industry for 30 years. I have worked in product development for Specialized from 2009-2010. I am back working for my family’s shop. We sell lots of Ebikes and regular mountain bikes.
Here are some pictures of my 4 Levos. I haven’t taken any pictures of my Kenevo yet.

 

[Al Boneta]

You can’t only attach 10 pictures

 

[Rob Rides EMTB]

Woah! I bet you’ve got some stories to tell working for Specialized!

Nice collection of bikes, great pics!

I have upped the limit per post to 15 pics now ?

 

[Rob Rides EMTB]

How do you like the Kenevo vs Levo?

 

[Eckythump]

Like the General Lee??

 

[Al Boneta]

How do you like the Kenevo vs Levo?

I never ride it. My General Levo has a 2018 linkage which raise the bottom bracket height 6mm. I also replaced the air shaft in the the Pike fork so the travel is 160mm. I also used to run carbon 27.5 but have switched to 29s. I have that bike riding so good that it’s hard for me to choose my 2018 S-works Levo with 29” carbon wheels. The Kenevo has only been out in a couple of rides.

 

[Eckythump]

What is the pack on the top tube in the muddy photo of the General Lee?

What sort of reception are you receiving on ebikes in the US? Seems from a lot of comments to YouTube videos and Internet articles there is generally a frosty attitude towards them over there.

 

[Al Boneta]

What is the pack on the top tube in the muddy photo of the General Lee?

What sort of reception are you receiving on ebikes in the US? Seems from a lot of comments to YouTube videos and Internet articles there is generally a frosty attitude towards them over there.

It’s the battery pack for my Niterider.

There is a ton of pushback in the US toward Emtbs. Most of this comes from other mountain bikers.
When Specialized announced these bikes, I didn’t want them in the store. We have trail access issues already in the US and I thought these bikes would make it even worse. I had a year of not riding due to illness and another year off the bike due to injuries. So I went from being a 200lb fit rider to a 267lb meatball. So I tried the Levo and realized it wasn’t a dirt bike that goes up a hill at 40mph. I lost 35lbs riding my Levo in 2016.

We have a large community of riders and we try to change the perceptions of other riders.
We have a trail etiquette that we try to follow.

The biggest thing is not de restricting these bikes or modifying them to go faster, this is the quickest way to having these bikes banned outright on the trails.

I made these memes

 

[Eckythump]

Keep up the good work 'winning over hearts & minds'?
I don't think some of the videos of 8kw hub motor, thumb throttle monsters helped the situation in the US, all ebikes seem to be tarred with that brush of being lightweight crossers.
I do think the 20mph cut off in the US is a more realistic number than the 16mph here. It doesn't sound a lot but there are a lot of trails where you dip in and out of the assistance at 16mph on peddally downhills and you are always in the wrong gear to pedal manually. On runs where you are up to 20mph you are normally freewheeling anyway.

 

[Al Boneta]

Keep up the good work 'winning over hearts & minds'?
I don't think some of the videos of 8kw hub motor, thumb throttle monsters helped the situation in the US, all ebikes seem to be tarred with that brush of being lightweight crossers.
I do think the 20mph cut off in the US is a more realistic number than the 16mph here. It doesn't sound a lot but there are a lot of trails where you dip in and out of the assistance at 16mph on peddally downhills and you are always in the wrong gear to pedal manually. On runs where you are up to 20mph you are normally freewheeling anyway.

All the acoustic mountain bikers call us cheaters, but adding cheat devices to bikes that people equate to a KX450r is going to make things worse.

The biggest problem we have is the park rangers don’t know the difference between Type 1, type 2 and type 3 electric bikes. Since they don’t know or want to know the differences, they just use a blanket ban on all electric bikes.