JRitt
New Member
- Mar 5, 2026
- 10
- 17
I figured this may be a useful post for someone considering the switch from an SL to a full-powered bike, someone looking to expand their quiver of bikes, someone curious about the ride differences between these bikes, etc.
Background- I've owned my Levo SL2 Comp Carbon for about two years now and have put about 1,000 miles on it. It was my first ebike, and it was a revelation. I always tell people that I haven't had this much fun on a bike since I was 12 yrs. old. Buying this bike thrust me back into the bike hobby with an obsession I haven't felt in quite some time (those of you who treat it as a lifestyle obviously understand
). I've been riding around the Charlotte, NC area, where most of trails are fairly mellow. Even the black diamond trails at places like The US National Whitewater Center are very tame compared to trails in other places (for example, I just rode Leogang Austria, where even the beginner trails are bigger and more challenging...a humbling experience!). I've also ridden in the mountains of western NC in the Brevard/Asheville area. Most of the time I ride with a few friends who are on full-power bikes. My fitness is probably the highest out of our little crew, and I usually lead those rides. My pace on the SL seems to be high enough to keep them content and feel like they're getting a solid workout on their big bikes. That means I'm usually pushing at a bit on the SL.
The SL2 has been a tremendous tool for my local trails. It has enough power to range from 'wind at my back' in Eco mode, to what I would consider significant assist in Turbo mode. When I first got the bike I was coming from an analog Stumpjumper Pro, so the Levo SL frankly felt powerful to me in all modes. When switching back and forth between the Stumpjumper (30 lbs.) and the Levo SL (42 lbs.), I don't feel like I'm riding them all that differently. They both handle fairly similarly (which makes particular sense in this case since the Levo SL was based on the Stumpy Evo). Obviously the Stumpjumper feels like a feather when I pick it up after riding the Levo, but the character of these two is very similar. On the SL I still need to shift a lot. You can't really just let it sit in the middle of the cassette if you want to keep up a brisk pace. You still need to plan ahead when approaching climbs and get your shifting done, and you still need to get your legs pumping to get up anything fairly steep. The Levo SL jumps fairly similar to the Stumpjumper, and I really got used to the mullet wheel setup on the Levo SL (my Stumpjumper has 29" at both ends). After putting more miles on the SL, I much prefer the mullet setup for most of the riding I do. It just feels more manueverable and managable. I swapped in 160mm cranks on my Levo SL, which I also much prefer to the 175mm cranks on the StumpJumper.
Over time I have found myself fiding my Stumpjumper less and less. Why? I have more fun on the Levo SL. I was really worried about my fitness suffering when I first bought the SL. I kept hearing people call them cheater bikes, saying it's a free ride, you don't have to work to ride them, etc. That is all total nonsense. As most people seem to know by now, my ride data showed that I was not getting less exercise on my SL vs. my Stumpy, I was in fact getting more. The differences were:
Enter the Levo 4 Pro
I recently bought a place in the mountains, and I've been spending more time at Ride Kanuga. After some days of self-shuttling up the mountain, I realized that a full-power bike is likely going to be a much more enjoyable solution for that type of riding day than an SL. With the range extender on my SL, I could get over 5,000 vertical feet of climbing, but I had to really manage the battery. I was also burning a lot of my energy on the uphill and I was getting sick of range anxiety. I decided to pick up a full power bike to see how I like it for that type of riding. I figured I'd also probably enjoy the higher power level for recovery rides or just on days when I want to cruise and be outside on my local trails (rather than trying to get a workout).
I found a smokin' deal on a brand new Levo 4 Pro and brought it home. I haven't spent much time on full-power bikes. I've ridden my friends' bikes around the yard just to see what it felt like, and I rented a bike with a Bosch CX Gen. 5 when I was in Germany the other week for some family path riding. I haven't seen what a full power bike is like on the trails I normally ride though. I took my new Levo out for two shakedown rides this week (each about 8 or so miles), and it kind of blew my mind!
The first thing I noticed was how solid and quiet the bike felt. I don't only mean quiet in the sense that I couldn't hear any squeaks or rattles (which I couldn't). I mean quiet as in composed, plush, less jittery of rough stuff, etc. I'm not sure how much of this has to do with added 10 lbs. of weight over my SL, or if it has to do with the Fox Factory 38 vs. the Rhythm 36, or the Genie Factory rear shock vs. my Float X. I'm guessing it's probably both the suspension and the added weight, but the thing just feels super planted and plush vs. the SL. It sucks up small trail chatter so much better than my SL. I was also really surprised how eager it was to turn in on small berms. The nose tucked right in for me, which I wasn't expecting based on some of the feedback I see on these forums, facebook, certain YouTube vids, etc. (I've seen people say it understeers). Mine is in the short chainstay position out of the box, and for my local trails it seems to handle really great. I'm probably taking it to the mountains this weekend, so I'll get to see how it handles higher speeds and bigger berms.
Weight is probably the one thing I constantly see talked about with the Levo 4. I haven't put mine on a scale yet, but my 4 Pro doesn't feel particularly unwieldy or ponderous. It certainly feels heavier than my SL, and it's not as fun lifting off my hitch rack. Otherwise, it doesn't feel tough to control on the ground or in the air once you're moving. It came with gravity casing tires and an 840 wh battery...of course it's going to weigh a bit more than something with a 600 wh battery and lighter tires. Mine has carbon wheels, which might be helping lighten the ride feel. I'm thinking many of the people who constantly comment about how heavy the Levo 4 is: A) have never ridden one, and/or B) look at the thick downtube and assume it's heavy. When I see the weights of some of the other bikes out there, even the ones with Avinox, they don't seem that much lighter. Some of them have smaller batteries, some of those don't have removable batteries or a bag in the downtube, some of them have lighter tire casings, etc. I think a lot of the weight banter really isn't comparing apples-to-apples component spec, capability, etc. With all of that said, I would be really curious to see how this bike rides with the 600 wh battery installed. I'll try to get mine on a scale and see what it weighs.
The power...wow, the power. I am just not used to having that much power. I took off down the trail on my first ride and thought, "Holy sh$t!!!" I about rode off into the trees a couple times with the added overrun this bike has vs. my SL.
At this fledgling stage of my full-power journey, I can't imagine feeling like I'd need more power for the trails I typically ride. The bike zooms up all my local hills if I want it to. Power delivery feels very nice to me, and is controllable. When the bike is in Turbo it feels like it just wants to run away with very little pedal effort, even uphill. Auto mode is something cool that I haven't experienced before. I like how the bike tries to match my input. It feels like a more natural ride feel to me vs. the Trail or Turbo modes as they're set on my bike right now. I need to tinker with the Auto+ and Auto- and see how those work. I also haven't gotten to play with mircotune, but I am looking forward to doing so. It seems like a lot of people enjoy riding in those modes.
Battery life...again, wow! I'm used to always having one eye on my battery level with the SL. I think I only used 20% pts. of battery across my two shakedown rides, which is nuts for me. I'm super excited by how much range this bike is going to give me. I'm also stoked about how easy it will be to blast up the hill at the bike park, how many laps I'll get in, and how much of my energy I'll conserve for the downhill portion of the day. I can't imagine how long this thing will go with a range extender. :O
Now to possibly the biggest difference I quickly noted with the Levo vs. my SL or my Stumpjumper...you don't really need to shift much! Shifting is a whole different can of worms with this bike. With my other bikes, I always feel like I have to know what gear I'm in, and be prepared to shift ahead of time for hills, or to prep for a downhill section so I'm not spinning. I felt like I was hanging out on a few gears in the middle of the cassette almost the whole time. I kept looking down and thinking, "I had no idea I was in that gear". It was really messing with my head. Since Auto mode is reactive, I felt like this really contributed to this factor as well. All of this made me think to myself, going from an analog or SL bike to a full power is easy enough. If you only ever rode a full power bike and then went to analog or SL, I can see you having a tough time getting your shifting sorted out. They just feel like very different ways of tackling varied terrain.
That's about it for now. I just wanted to share some thoughts about my experience going from Analog to SL to full power over the past few years. While these bikes are all differnt, they're all Size S5 Specialized bikes, and I have them all setup with the same bar height, saddle height, etc. Jumping from one to the other still feels like home. They're just all very different in their capabilities and how they go about getting you up or down the trail.
Background- I've owned my Levo SL2 Comp Carbon for about two years now and have put about 1,000 miles on it. It was my first ebike, and it was a revelation. I always tell people that I haven't had this much fun on a bike since I was 12 yrs. old. Buying this bike thrust me back into the bike hobby with an obsession I haven't felt in quite some time (those of you who treat it as a lifestyle obviously understand
). I've been riding around the Charlotte, NC area, where most of trails are fairly mellow. Even the black diamond trails at places like The US National Whitewater Center are very tame compared to trails in other places (for example, I just rode Leogang Austria, where even the beginner trails are bigger and more challenging...a humbling experience!). I've also ridden in the mountains of western NC in the Brevard/Asheville area. Most of the time I ride with a few friends who are on full-power bikes. My fitness is probably the highest out of our little crew, and I usually lead those rides. My pace on the SL seems to be high enough to keep them content and feel like they're getting a solid workout on their big bikes. That means I'm usually pushing at a bit on the SL.The SL2 has been a tremendous tool for my local trails. It has enough power to range from 'wind at my back' in Eco mode, to what I would consider significant assist in Turbo mode. When I first got the bike I was coming from an analog Stumpjumper Pro, so the Levo SL frankly felt powerful to me in all modes. When switching back and forth between the Stumpjumper (30 lbs.) and the Levo SL (42 lbs.), I don't feel like I'm riding them all that differently. They both handle fairly similarly (which makes particular sense in this case since the Levo SL was based on the Stumpy Evo). Obviously the Stumpjumper feels like a feather when I pick it up after riding the Levo, but the character of these two is very similar. On the SL I still need to shift a lot. You can't really just let it sit in the middle of the cassette if you want to keep up a brisk pace. You still need to plan ahead when approaching climbs and get your shifting done, and you still need to get your legs pumping to get up anything fairly steep. The Levo SL jumps fairly similar to the Stumpjumper, and I really got used to the mullet wheel setup on the Levo SL (my Stumpjumper has 29" at both ends). After putting more miles on the SL, I much prefer the mullet setup for most of the riding I do. It just feels more manueverable and managable. I swapped in 160mm cranks on my Levo SL, which I also much prefer to the 175mm cranks on the StumpJumper.
Over time I have found myself fiding my Stumpjumper less and less. Why? I have more fun on the Levo SL. I was really worried about my fitness suffering when I first bought the SL. I kept hearing people call them cheater bikes, saying it's a free ride, you don't have to work to ride them, etc. That is all total nonsense. As most people seem to know by now, my ride data showed that I was not getting less exercise on my SL vs. my Stumpy, I was in fact getting more. The differences were:
- I was traveling 11 mph on average through my trails rather than 8 mph
- My heart rate was averaging at least as high on the SL as it was on the Stumpy
- I was able to ride 20+ miles instead of 12-14 miles and still feel good afterwards
- I was able to ride for 2+ hours instead of 1.5 hours and still feel good afterwards
Enter the Levo 4 Pro
I recently bought a place in the mountains, and I've been spending more time at Ride Kanuga. After some days of self-shuttling up the mountain, I realized that a full-power bike is likely going to be a much more enjoyable solution for that type of riding day than an SL. With the range extender on my SL, I could get over 5,000 vertical feet of climbing, but I had to really manage the battery. I was also burning a lot of my energy on the uphill and I was getting sick of range anxiety. I decided to pick up a full power bike to see how I like it for that type of riding. I figured I'd also probably enjoy the higher power level for recovery rides or just on days when I want to cruise and be outside on my local trails (rather than trying to get a workout).
I found a smokin' deal on a brand new Levo 4 Pro and brought it home. I haven't spent much time on full-power bikes. I've ridden my friends' bikes around the yard just to see what it felt like, and I rented a bike with a Bosch CX Gen. 5 when I was in Germany the other week for some family path riding. I haven't seen what a full power bike is like on the trails I normally ride though. I took my new Levo out for two shakedown rides this week (each about 8 or so miles), and it kind of blew my mind!
The first thing I noticed was how solid and quiet the bike felt. I don't only mean quiet in the sense that I couldn't hear any squeaks or rattles (which I couldn't). I mean quiet as in composed, plush, less jittery of rough stuff, etc. I'm not sure how much of this has to do with added 10 lbs. of weight over my SL, or if it has to do with the Fox Factory 38 vs. the Rhythm 36, or the Genie Factory rear shock vs. my Float X. I'm guessing it's probably both the suspension and the added weight, but the thing just feels super planted and plush vs. the SL. It sucks up small trail chatter so much better than my SL. I was also really surprised how eager it was to turn in on small berms. The nose tucked right in for me, which I wasn't expecting based on some of the feedback I see on these forums, facebook, certain YouTube vids, etc. (I've seen people say it understeers). Mine is in the short chainstay position out of the box, and for my local trails it seems to handle really great. I'm probably taking it to the mountains this weekend, so I'll get to see how it handles higher speeds and bigger berms.
Weight is probably the one thing I constantly see talked about with the Levo 4. I haven't put mine on a scale yet, but my 4 Pro doesn't feel particularly unwieldy or ponderous. It certainly feels heavier than my SL, and it's not as fun lifting off my hitch rack. Otherwise, it doesn't feel tough to control on the ground or in the air once you're moving. It came with gravity casing tires and an 840 wh battery...of course it's going to weigh a bit more than something with a 600 wh battery and lighter tires. Mine has carbon wheels, which might be helping lighten the ride feel. I'm thinking many of the people who constantly comment about how heavy the Levo 4 is: A) have never ridden one, and/or B) look at the thick downtube and assume it's heavy. When I see the weights of some of the other bikes out there, even the ones with Avinox, they don't seem that much lighter. Some of them have smaller batteries, some of those don't have removable batteries or a bag in the downtube, some of them have lighter tire casings, etc. I think a lot of the weight banter really isn't comparing apples-to-apples component spec, capability, etc. With all of that said, I would be really curious to see how this bike rides with the 600 wh battery installed. I'll try to get mine on a scale and see what it weighs.
The power...wow, the power. I am just not used to having that much power. I took off down the trail on my first ride and thought, "Holy sh$t!!!" I about rode off into the trees a couple times with the added overrun this bike has vs. my SL.
At this fledgling stage of my full-power journey, I can't imagine feeling like I'd need more power for the trails I typically ride. The bike zooms up all my local hills if I want it to. Power delivery feels very nice to me, and is controllable. When the bike is in Turbo it feels like it just wants to run away with very little pedal effort, even uphill. Auto mode is something cool that I haven't experienced before. I like how the bike tries to match my input. It feels like a more natural ride feel to me vs. the Trail or Turbo modes as they're set on my bike right now. I need to tinker with the Auto+ and Auto- and see how those work. I also haven't gotten to play with mircotune, but I am looking forward to doing so. It seems like a lot of people enjoy riding in those modes. Battery life...again, wow! I'm used to always having one eye on my battery level with the SL. I think I only used 20% pts. of battery across my two shakedown rides, which is nuts for me. I'm super excited by how much range this bike is going to give me. I'm also stoked about how easy it will be to blast up the hill at the bike park, how many laps I'll get in, and how much of my energy I'll conserve for the downhill portion of the day. I can't imagine how long this thing will go with a range extender. :O
Now to possibly the biggest difference I quickly noted with the Levo vs. my SL or my Stumpjumper...you don't really need to shift much! Shifting is a whole different can of worms with this bike. With my other bikes, I always feel like I have to know what gear I'm in, and be prepared to shift ahead of time for hills, or to prep for a downhill section so I'm not spinning. I felt like I was hanging out on a few gears in the middle of the cassette almost the whole time. I kept looking down and thinking, "I had no idea I was in that gear". It was really messing with my head. Since Auto mode is reactive, I felt like this really contributed to this factor as well. All of this made me think to myself, going from an analog or SL bike to a full power is easy enough. If you only ever rode a full power bike and then went to analog or SL, I can see you having a tough time getting your shifting sorted out. They just feel like very different ways of tackling varied terrain.
That's about it for now. I just wanted to share some thoughts about my experience going from Analog to SL to full power over the past few years. While these bikes are all differnt, they're all Size S5 Specialized bikes, and I have them all setup with the same bar height, saddle height, etc. Jumping from one to the other still feels like home. They're just all very different in their capabilities and how they go about getting you up or down the trail.
