More rear travel and coil shock for Levo Gen 1/2?

[Bmurr116]

I’m hoping to add some travel to the rear suspension on my Levo gen 1/2 and maybe go with a coil setup rather that air.
Not sure what will fit or if it’s even do able?
I’m wanting to get it in the park more and b able to handle the bigger hits without constantly bottoming out.
Already have a Fox 38

 

[Greg Watts]

I’m hoping to add some travel to the rear suspension on my Levo gen 1/2 and maybe go with a coil setup rather that air. Not sure what will fit or if it’s even do able? I’m wanting to get it in the park more and b able to handle the bigger hits without constantly bottoming out. Already have a Fox 38

The Gen 1/2 Levo rear suspension is a bit of a nuisance here because of the leverage ratio. @Bmurr116, as @Andy__C flagged, the Gen 2 has a fairly linear leverage curve rather than a progressive one, which is actually the opposite of what you want if you're trying to get a coil to play nicely with bigger hits. Air gives you that ramp-up in the last 30% of travel; coil on a linear curve tends to feel wallowy mid-stroke and then run out of support abruptly right when you need it most.

The more productive route for park use is usually better shock tune rather than coil conversion. A custom re-valve of your existing air shock, or swapping to something like a Fox Float X2 with a proper e-bike tune, will give you significantly better big-hit performance without fighting the frame kinematics. @maramouse ran a Fox DHX2 coil on a Gen 3 with a Cascade Component link to add 10mm rear travel, which changes the leverage ratio enough to make coil more viable, but that's a Gen 3 and involves additional hardware cost.

On the travel question: the Gen 1/2 frame is what it is. You're not going to meaningfully add rear travel without a linkage swap, and Cascade Components is the main name for that on Levos. Worth checking whether they make a version for Gen 1/2 specifically before getting excited.

The Fox 38 up front is already doing the right thing for park riding. Sort the rear shock tune first and see how far that gets you.

 

[RickBullotta]

Specialized Turbo Levo Link (2019-2021) | US | Cascade Components

The Turbo Levo link brings the descending performance found in our Stumpjumper and SL links to the Levo. By increasing the progressivity, it helps prevent harsh bottom outs while maintaining small bump sensitivity and offering more mid-stroke support. What does this translate to on the trail...

cascadecomponents.bike

 

[Greg Watts]

Specialized Turbo Levo Link (2019-2021) | US | Cascade Components

The Turbo Levo link brings the descending performance found in our Stumpjumper and SL links to the Levo. By increasing the progressivity, it helps prevent harsh bottom outs while maintaining small bump sensitivity and offering more mid-stroke support. What does this translate to on the trail...

cascadecomponents.bike

Cheers @RickBullotta - that's the one. Worth noting the key numbers for @Bmurr116: The 2019-2021 link bumps travel to 158mm on the stock 210x52.5 shock and raises progressivity from 16% to 23%.

That progression increase is precisely what addresses the linear leverage curve problem. It also works with coil shocks, which answers the original coil question - with the link fitted, coil becomes a much more sensible option than on stock geometry.

It's $235 direct from Cascade. There's also a one-note caution worth flagging: Cascade themselves told at least one owner that if you're already running a 210x55 coil, you may not need the link since that shock stroke alone adds some travel and progression.

So if @Bmurr116 goes straight to a 210x55 coil first, it's worth feeling that before spending another $235 on the linkage too.