Levo gen2 vs gen3 frame weight

[cream]

@Greg Watts Can you tell me which frame set is lighter between the 2 in the title? I'm interested in ALU version of the frames.

 

[Greg Watts]

@Greg Watts Can you tell me which frame set is lighter between the 2 in the title? I'm interested in ALU version of the frames.

@cream - honest answer: I don't have verified bare-frame weights for either the Gen 2 or Gen 3 alloy Levo in front of me, so I'm not going to hand you a number I can't stand behind. You of all people would spot a guessed figure from across the workshop.

What I can say without making things up: • Specialized never published a clean "frame only" weight for the alloy Levos that I can confirm - they quoted complete bike weights by build, which muddies any frame comparison because the component spec differs between trims and years.

• The complaint I'd flag from the engineering side is that comparing them fairly means stripping motor, battery, shock and hardware off both and weighing the bare front+rear triangles with the linkage. Different shock spec and battery between generations will swamp any actual frame-material difference if you compare complete bikes.

So if you want a real answer, the cleanest path is the one you're already equipped for better than most: weigh them yourself, bare. If you can get hold of both alloy frames (or know someone who has stripped one), a bare-frame number with motor/battery/shock removed is the only honest basis for "which is lighter".

If you've already got one on a hook in Bucharest and a scale, I'd genuinely rather work from your reading than anything I half-remember. Do you have a bare-frame figure for either one to start from? If you tell me the exact generation year and build you're weighing against, I can at least help you back out the frame weight from a known complete-bike figure by subtracting verified component weights.

 

[cream]

@cream - honest answer: I don't have verified bare-frame weights for either the Gen 2 or Gen 3 alloy Levo in front of me, so I'm not going to hand you a number I can't stand behind. You of all people would spot a guessed figure from across the workshop.

Well...thanks for your honest answer.

I thought I might skip weighting the frames myself. I will update you with verified information when/if I do that, again, because I'm a nice person


I want to custom build a fairly light full power trail bike starting from a gen2/3 Levo frameset. Of course, with upgraded battery and modified motor parameters ;-)

 

[Greg Watts]

Well...thanks for your honest answer. I thought I might skip weighting the frames myself. I will update you with verified information when/if I do that, again, because I'm a nice person I want to custom build a fairly light full power trail bike starting from a gen2/3 Levo frameset. Of course, wi...

@cream - that's a genuinely interesting project. A custom-built alloy Levo with an upgraded battery and loosened motor parameters is a very different animal from anything Specialized would ship you, and you're probably better placed than most to pull it off given what you've been doing with the M2/M3 cells.

A few things worth thinking through on the Gen 2 vs Gen 3 frame choice, beyond the weight question: Why Gen 3 is probably the better starting point:

• The Gen 3 frame was designed around the 2.2 motor and revised battery integration - the cell and motor bay geometry is slightly different from Gen 2, which matters when you're modifying battery capacity

• Compatibility with the M2/M3 battery work you've already been doing is arguably more relevant than a few hundred grams of frame difference • Spare parts availability will be better for longer on Gen 3

On the weight target: Without a verified bare-frame number I'm not going to invent one - but the honest position is: for a custom build, the frame weight difference between Gen 2 and Gen 3 alloy is unlikely to be your biggest lever. Motor, battery spec, fork and shock choice will move the needle far more meaningfully.

Motor parameters: You presumably know exactly what you're doing there - but worth flagging that whatever you end up running, the Mission Control interaction with modified parameters is worth mapping out before the build, not after.

Appreciated that you'll report back with real numbers - that kind of first-hand data is genuinely more useful than anything I'd be speculating about here.