Levo SL Gen 1 Levo SL 2023 Megathread
- Thread starter Killswitch73
- Start date
Never a bad thing to be fair……
And it cracks me up that all of a sudden, an SL (happened to be the fuel EXE) is ‘the best bike the presenter has ever ridden’…….one would think this is a perfect build up to “you know how I told you that I love SL bikes, well guess what, here is the best SL ever and its from…….”
Nah not this time EMBN are building up the might as well get FF and stick some lighter weight tyres and a smaller battery storylines before … “hang on a minute what’s this from Specialised - my mind is blown, cat amongst the pigeons, cake and eat it ….”. Well I hope anywayAnd it cracks me up that all of a sudden, an SL (happened to be the fuel EXE) is ‘the best bike the presenter has ever ridden’…….one would think this is a perfect build up to “you know how I told you that I love SL bikes, well guess what, here is the best SL ever and its from…….”
Script leak from EMBNs hacked Chat GPT account apparently!
“
Opening shot of the Welsh countryside, camera pans to reveal Steve Jones on the new Specialized Levo SL.
Steve Jones: Alright, my friends. Today we're out here in the beautiful Welsh countryside to talk about the new Specialized Levo SL. And let me tell you, this is a bike that's gonna have you feeling like Wordsworth on the hills.
Cut to shot of the Levo SL.
Steve Jones: Now, some folks out there might say that e-bikes are cheating. But let me tell you, that's a load of hogwash. It's like saying Wordsworth cheated when he wrote "I wandered lonely as a cloud". It's just a different way of experiencing the world.
Cut to Steve riding the Levo SL up a steep incline.
Steve Jones: And let me tell you, this bike is a game-changer. The motor is quieter and more powerful than ever before. It's like the roar of the sea crashing against the cliffs, but without the deafening noise.
Cut to a shot of the Levo SL's motor.
Steve Jones: Now, some folks out there might say that e-bikes are heavy and unwieldy. But let me tell you, this bike is as nimble as a mountain goat. It's like Keats' ode to a Grecian urn, a thing of beauty that moves with grace and ease.
Cut to Steve taking the Levo SL through a technical section.
Steve Jones: And let's not forget the battery life. This baby will have you cruising through the hills like a bird on the wing. It's like Shelley's ode to the skylark, a symbol of freedom and unbridled joy.
Cut to a shot of the Levo SL's battery.
Steve Jones: So, my friends, if you're out there on the fence about e-bikes, let me tell you, the Specialized Levo SL will have you singing like Dylan Thomas in the pub. It's a thing of beauty and power, and it's here to stay. So get out there, ride like the wind, and experience the world in a whole new way.”
“
Opening shot of the Welsh countryside, camera pans to reveal Steve Jones on the new Specialized Levo SL.
Steve Jones: Alright, my friends. Today we're out here in the beautiful Welsh countryside to talk about the new Specialized Levo SL. And let me tell you, this is a bike that's gonna have you feeling like Wordsworth on the hills.
Cut to shot of the Levo SL.
Steve Jones: Now, some folks out there might say that e-bikes are cheating. But let me tell you, that's a load of hogwash. It's like saying Wordsworth cheated when he wrote "I wandered lonely as a cloud". It's just a different way of experiencing the world.
Cut to Steve riding the Levo SL up a steep incline.
Steve Jones: And let me tell you, this bike is a game-changer. The motor is quieter and more powerful than ever before. It's like the roar of the sea crashing against the cliffs, but without the deafening noise.
Cut to a shot of the Levo SL's motor.
Steve Jones: Now, some folks out there might say that e-bikes are heavy and unwieldy. But let me tell you, this bike is as nimble as a mountain goat. It's like Keats' ode to a Grecian urn, a thing of beauty that moves with grace and ease.
Cut to Steve taking the Levo SL through a technical section.
Steve Jones: And let's not forget the battery life. This baby will have you cruising through the hills like a bird on the wing. It's like Shelley's ode to the skylark, a symbol of freedom and unbridled joy.
Cut to a shot of the Levo SL's battery.
Steve Jones: So, my friends, if you're out there on the fence about e-bikes, let me tell you, the Specialized Levo SL will have you singing like Dylan Thomas in the pub. It's a thing of beauty and power, and it's here to stay. So get out there, ride like the wind, and experience the world in a whole new way.”
baltik
New Member
Slightly off topic - does anyone know when the full fat gen 4 turbo levo is supposed to be released?
and here is his story 
Desert_Turtle
Active member
What makes you think it’s the gen 4 launch and not the new SL launch? I received an update that said the official SL launch date is 5/4. That’s the day Specialized will put it on their site and publish details as well as start shipping bikes. I know a person who would be at that event in Portugal and he didn’t even hint about a gen 4 levo. I’m not suggesting that it’s not possible but I think it’s unlikely. By the way, Specialized pulled out all the stops for the SL campaign. There’s some great marketing stuff coming.
Don’t you get sarcasm?!
I think we are too long in the tooth to be impressed by marketing, we will all no doubt zero in on the stats of the motor and battery……
Ou812
Active member
A buddy of mine just got the 2023 S-Works Levo, it still has the old AXS on it so I doubt the SL will have it.
Ou812
Active member
The SL I saw out on the trails still had the old AXS stuff on it, it did have the wireless suspension stuff though. That was a few weeks ago so who knows if they’ve changed it by now.
D
Deleted member 7401
Guest
If they were in fact sitting in a warehouse here ready…they will not have transmission.
‘23 Levo’s are all released. No Transmission for them until at least ‘24.
‘23 Levo’s are all released. No Transmission for them until at least ‘24.
There are 2 primary reasons I'd swap to the new Levo SL from the Transition Relay I'm supposed to receive next month. To be clear I don't live in the mountains and I'm a strong climber. I ride rough undulating terrain.:
Pros:
1) Saving weight. I get that the motor and battery are lighter and that's much of the weight savings but the SL will also use an integrated battery, which further saves weight. I predict frame to frame that the SL will be 3.5#s lighter than the Relay, and that's enough to matter to me. The lightest old SL could get as light as 38.5#s compared to around 42#s for the Relay.
2) Frame only option. There is nothing I want on the Relay build. It's just a bunch of scrap parts I'll have to deal with selling. Basicically I'll be net $8K into a frame only.
There are 2 cons of the Spesh however for my needs:
1) Dropper insertion,
2) That motor noise. This one is a deal killer for me. Eagerly awaiting to hear if the noise level has been reduced.
Pros:
1) Saving weight. I get that the motor and battery are lighter and that's much of the weight savings but the SL will also use an integrated battery, which further saves weight. I predict frame to frame that the SL will be 3.5#s lighter than the Relay, and that's enough to matter to me. The lightest old SL could get as light as 38.5#s compared to around 42#s for the Relay.
2) Frame only option. There is nothing I want on the Relay build. It's just a bunch of scrap parts I'll have to deal with selling. Basicically I'll be net $8K into a frame only.
There are 2 cons of the Spesh however for my needs:
1) Dropper insertion,
2) That motor noise. This one is a deal killer for me. Eagerly awaiting to hear if the noise level has been reduced.
Ou812
Active member
I don’t know why more manufacturers don’t offer a frame only option, they’d probably sell a bit more inventory that way. I know a guy in the US that will sell any of the bikes he carries as a frame only but he doesn’t sell Transition. If it wasn’t so hard to ship a bike with a battery I’d have already picked up a Shuttle SL from him.
Simple; profit. Look at the respective costs of an S Works frame and an S Works bike. The build kit can be bought separately for a lot less than the difference in price.
Desert_Turtle
Active member
I was assured that the new motor is much quieter. Also, he weight has not changed from the previous model. The rumor is that the S-Works will be a direct to consumer item from their website and both a carbon frame kit and aluminum comp model will eventually be released over the summer.
Ark
Active member
is that the one who struggles to actually ride a bike, is one of her parents a famous cyclist or something?
The one where she wears the 25kg bullet proof vest and cant go up a small slope :S
Yeah, the frame only option probably won’t be available in Germany for the Relay. Prices of good builds are near Pro/SWorks Specialized models. That‘s right.
Relay is pretty heavy for a mid power bike. High end build of the Orbea Wild is not much heavier and has the same price tag.
My guess is that the SL will be an interesting option BUT the Relay especially in PNW configuration with coil and mullet will be more baller on the descends.
Motor might still be a problem of the SL as long as they stick with Mahle.
Have they wrapped it in acoustic foam?
Desert_Turtle
Active member
Nope. It comes with Specialized branded ear plugs.
Heard may release from my dealer, different motor? Not sure on that one and very quiet.
Reading through the thread, I think the "general" desire related to the motor and possibly some minor geo changes.
But ultimately, the motor - as many people would love the idea to upgrade their existing bike, as other than that, they love everything else about it.
The existing Mahle 1.1 Outputs 240w and at the same time draws 300w from the batteries. This is the figure you can see on your TCU/App when riding the bike. 20% is lost and this is generally pretty similar for all the bike motors.
I know people keep throwing about torque numbers, but ultimately they're BS as we've said previously in the thread. We' can't measure them, they don't really relate to anything in real life. They can just say, yes, it has 45nm now ..
A Full Fat Levo (Gen3) Pulls about 720-740w, less than the older ones which used to pull over 800w peaks, but we now have voltage compensation which makes for an all round better ride experience. This gives the rider about 590w peak power.
If you take the TQ HPR50 as an example. It has a claimed Torque of 50nm compared to the SL's 35nm. However, it produces a claimed 300w power and presumably Pulls about 375w from the batteries. So whilst the Torque figures indicate the motor will be about 45% more powerful than the SL motor, the power would suggest it's only really about 25% more powerful - which fits more closely with peoples riding experiences comparing the two.
What we're really saying, is that you'd like the new SL to give something more like 300w instead of 240w. Which would draw 375w. The question is, can the existing hardware handle drawing 375w - keeping in mind you also have the bottle battery.
There might be a software change to increase the power. There might be a hardware change to make it quieter. But is there a hardware change to handle the increased current which would make it incompatible with existing bottle batteries - in which case they couldn't also push a firmware update to legacy motors unless they also had their bottle mounts swapped over by a store at the same time (you'd have to change the format so the two systems were not physically compatible with each other).
Would they do that ? Unlikely, they'd rather you bought a new bike and the change makes the new bikes more appealing over the old bikes as a complete package noise and power.
But ultimately, the motor - as many people would love the idea to upgrade their existing bike, as other than that, they love everything else about it.
The existing Mahle 1.1 Outputs 240w and at the same time draws 300w from the batteries. This is the figure you can see on your TCU/App when riding the bike. 20% is lost and this is generally pretty similar for all the bike motors.
I know people keep throwing about torque numbers, but ultimately they're BS as we've said previously in the thread. We' can't measure them, they don't really relate to anything in real life. They can just say, yes, it has 45nm now ..
A Full Fat Levo (Gen3) Pulls about 720-740w, less than the older ones which used to pull over 800w peaks, but we now have voltage compensation which makes for an all round better ride experience. This gives the rider about 590w peak power.
If you take the TQ HPR50 as an example. It has a claimed Torque of 50nm compared to the SL's 35nm. However, it produces a claimed 300w power and presumably Pulls about 375w from the batteries. So whilst the Torque figures indicate the motor will be about 45% more powerful than the SL motor, the power would suggest it's only really about 25% more powerful - which fits more closely with peoples riding experiences comparing the two.
What we're really saying, is that you'd like the new SL to give something more like 300w instead of 240w. Which would draw 375w. The question is, can the existing hardware handle drawing 375w - keeping in mind you also have the bottle battery.
There might be a software change to increase the power. There might be a hardware change to make it quieter. But is there a hardware change to handle the increased current which would make it incompatible with existing bottle batteries - in which case they couldn't also push a firmware update to legacy motors unless they also had their bottle mounts swapped over by a store at the same time (you'd have to change the format so the two systems were not physically compatible with each other).
Would they do that ? Unlikely, they'd rather you bought a new bike and the change makes the new bikes more appealing over the old bikes as a complete package noise and power.
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