Kenevo SL Official 2022 Kenevo SL (KSL) Megathread!

George_KSL

Active member
Sep 11, 2021
234
259
Slovak Republic
For what it's worth, going from the Performance/Elite to Factory X2 offers LS/HS Rebound and Compression. The added adjustability and overall performance is better in my experience. I was noticablly better from the first ride after the swap.

I wrote "external dials" right there :- ) With Performance X2, you just have to re-shim.

That is much better compromise than Performance Fox forks, which have Grip (the one from "Marzocchi") vs Grip2 damper or Rhytm, which adds heavier alloy on top.
 

ridesantacruz

Member
Feb 4, 2020
94
104
Santa Cruz
Question about the KSL's range:

I've been on 11 rides on my KSL Comp. My average ride distance is 12.42 miles and 2600' elevation. I ride in Trail about 70% of the time and Turbo in 30%. I add about 185lbs to the bike in gear , water and body weight and by the time I end my rides I have less than 10% battery left (no extender). On my longest ride of 13.66 miles and 3189' elevation, I actually ran out of battery on the pedal to the car.

Can any KSL owners report if this seems normal to them? Or might I have an issue with my battery? Because earlier in this megathread, I was reading that owners were getting a good deal more time, distance and elevation than me even when they were running in mostly (or all) in Turbo.
Seems about right to me. I have over 2000 miles on a Levo SL and now a couple hundred miles on the KSL. The Levo SL was definitely a more efficient peddling bike up hill and I would mostly ride in Eco and could get 20 to 24 miles on a battery without the extender. I find with KSL I mostly ride in trail mode and maybe 16 to 18 miles on a battery but less elevation around 2400'. I almost always ride with the extender on my KSL. Don't really notice a difference when I have it on or off the bike.
 

CjP

PRIME TIME
Subscriber
Jan 1, 2019
1,671
2,393
Everywhere
Hey mate, did you ride the bike with the X2? I'm curious how that TTX compares.
No sorry mate. Didn’t even sit on the bike with it on.
The TTX seems good though on my 20 to 30km lockdown rides I have done. Like all Ohlins products they seem to shine when being pushed. Truth be told I am still setting it up though.
 

Kenevieve

Member
Sep 21, 2021
28
66
Perämettä
I have now done couple rides with KSL. In first ride everything was a little bit wrong. Too much air in the fork, tool little in the shock, handlebar was too high and even seat tilt was wrong. Those axs at least worked nicely and the motor was as nice as I expected. I almost had buyers remorse. :):).
For second ride I lowered the handlebar and adjust the air pressures in the fork and shock and ride was much better. Tires were gripping nicely and the fork and shock seemed to work quite well. I still got some wrist pain. I will change the grips first and if that one doesn't help I'll swap handlebar to Renthal Fatbar.
Maybe after couple of additional rides and some tweaking I can say that it is the best bike ever😀😀
 

KSL

Member
Jul 10, 2021
186
82
SoCal
I have now done couple rides with KSL. In first ride everything was a little bit wrong. Too much air in the fork, tool little in the shock, handlebar was too high and even seat tilt was wrong. Those axs at least worked nicely and the motor was as nice as I expected. I almost had buyers remorse. :):).
For second ride I lowered the handlebar and adjust the air pressures in the fork and shock and ride was much better. Tires were gripping nicely and the fork and shock seemed to work quite well. I still got some wrist pain. I will change the grips first and if that one doesn't help I'll swap handlebar to Renthal Fatbar.
Maybe after couple of additional rides and some tweaking I can say that it is the best bike ever😀😀

Same experience here. Slight tweaks to get your ideal setup will put smiles on your face. I also had wrist pain initially, but adding spacers under the stem to raise the bars, bar and seat position have pretty much eliminated this. Seat fore/aft position makes a big difference in my experience as it adjusts how far or how close you are to the bars. Keep at it, it only gets better.

I just put a Fox 38/180mm on the front to test. :)
 

Mcharza

E*POWAH BOSS
Aug 10, 2018
2,516
4,801
Helsinki, Finland
When you raise the bar, when you adjust your seat forward, those both shorten the reach. Check also after adjustment your brake lever position.
 

Kenevieve

Member
Sep 21, 2021
28
66
Perämettä
Here is my bike. I changed the grips and now the wrist pain is gone. I also added a little bit low speed rebound to both fork and shock and it calmed bike down. It gets better in every ride :) :)
IMG_2850.jpg
 

jcmonty

Well-known member
Sep 5, 2018
472
406
California
I cannot get the frameset anywhere so I am probably going to get COMP version as well and swap to my parts from enduro bike (mainly wheels, ZEB Ultimate fork and nicer cockpit).
One thing that isn't good value to change is the shock.. selling Float-X Performance and buying Float X2 is quite poor proposition in Europe, lots of lost value and Fox stuff is damn overpriced here. So I am also interested in how people find the Float-X. Best to keep the Float-X as back-up shock and get Storia later. But it might just be good enough anyway, the kinematics of this frame are superb to begin with.

There is no performance difference between Performance, Perfomance Elite and Factory when it comes to shocks, they have the same damper, you just lose external dials. But Float-X doesn't have as many as X2 to begin with so starting tune might be ok for most 70-90KG riders.

Is there such a thing on market already like Invisiframe, but with dark tint? To make the dark-grey frame appear deeper black? It looks really nice imho, but it could look nicer. Nit-picking, but we're talking 8-10K Euro bike builds, it needs to feel like the best bike ever :- ).
The performance x2 that comes on the Expert is not the same as the Factory in that it does not have the VVC setup on rebound and some of the other newer features. So - in this case, not just the external dials. That being said, the Performance X2 on my expert is pretty good. I am shock-curious to go with a EXT or Push as some point, but not until I can offload some bike stuff I have for sale.
 

jcmonty

Well-known member
Sep 5, 2018
472
406
California
Question about the KSL's range:

I've been on 11 rides on my KSL Comp. My average ride distance is 12.42 miles and 2600' elevation. I ride in Trail about 70% of the time and Turbo in 30%. I add about 185lbs to the bike in gear , water and body weight and by the time I end my rides I have less than 10% battery left (no extender). On my longest ride of 13.66 miles and 3189' elevation, I actually ran out of battery on the pedal to the car.

Can any KSL owners report if this seems normal to them? Or might I have an issue with my battery? Because earlier in this megathread, I was reading that owners were getting a good deal more time, distance and elevation than me even when they were running in mostly (or all) in Turbo.
I am about 180ish. I generally ride in a modified trail mode with ~35/90. I can get about 20mi -25mi and 4-5kft in that mode. No range extender Eco would drastically improve that. The stock tires are pretty draggy (but good grip). Changing those up may improve things as well.

Speaking of tires - I had some signs of knobs ripping off the rear butcher. This was a failure mode of the previous butcher editions as well. I had a flat with a pretty big tear at the knob. This was with an insert, and it was fairly low on wear.

Specialized was great, though, and they warrantied the tire by sending me 2x tires of my choice at no cost within about 48 hrs. Glad that my $11k bought me some support :)
 

Kinger

Well-known member
Jun 22, 2020
103
153
Vancouver, BC
… I am shock-curious to go with a EXT or Push as some point, but not until I can offload some bike stuff I have for sale.

Oh boy is the coil w/ progressive spring good on my Expert.
Even the guys down at the bike shop couldn’t believe how much better it was (little trail by the shop).
In my case I have a custom tuned for me / bike RS Coil Ultimate.

EDC8DD4C-210A-47F1-BA0B-FF9C01CCAA25.jpeg
 

ebikerider

Active member
Oct 1, 2019
706
481
Australia
I am about 180ish. I generally ride in a modified trail mode with ~35/90. I can get about 20mi -25mi and 4-5kft in that mode. No range extender Eco would drastically improve that. The stock tires are pretty draggy (but good grip). Changing those up may improve things as well.

Speaking of tires - I had some signs of knobs ripping off the rear butcher. This was a failure mode of the previous butcher editions as well. I had a flat with a pretty big tear at the knob. This was with an insert, and it was fairly low on wear.

Specialized was great, though, and they warrantied the tire by sending me 2x tires of my choice at no cost within about 48 hrs. Glad that my $11k bought me some support :)
I ripped the knobs off my rear Butcher as well. Most of the side knobs are cracked at the base and look like they are ready to come off too. The T9 compound front is wearing better, much more evenly with no signs of cracking. Maybe I should talk to Specialized too!
 

Rushcentrale

New Member
Sep 25, 2021
4
0
Los Angeles, CA
I am about 180ish. I generally ride in a modified trail mode with ~35/90. I can get about 20mi -25mi and 4-5kft in that mode. No range extender Eco would drastically improve that. The stock tires are pretty draggy (but good grip). Changing those up may improve things as well.

Speaking of tires - I had some signs of knobs ripping off the rear butcher. This was a failure mode of the previous butcher editions as well. I had a flat with a pretty big tear at the knob. This was with an insert, and it was fairly low on wear.

Specialized was great, though, and they warrantied the tire by sending me 2x tires of my choice at no cost within about 48 hrs. Glad that my $11k bought me some support :)

Thanks for your input. I'm not getting close to that range.
 

Orjan

New Member
Oct 19, 2021
1
0
Sweden
Hello. I am looking for the tuningcode for Kenevo SL Sworks size S5.
Rear shock.
Would be great if any can take a picture from the piggy back. The code is supposed to be written at piggy back.
Greetings Orjan
 

ebikerider

Active member
Oct 1, 2019
706
481
Australia
Hello. I am looking for the tuningcode for Kenevo SL Sworks size S5.
Rear shock.
Would be great if any can take a picture from the piggy back. The code is supposed to be written at piggy back.
Greetings Orjan
FB46

Description: 2021, FLOAT X2, F-S, K, 2pos-Adj, Specialized, Kenevo SL, 230, 62.5, CL002, FSRF002, Rezi CM, Orange, Neutral Logo, N/M
 

Dave_B

E*POWAH Elite World Champion
Subscriber
Aug 29, 2020
1,420
1,542
Newquay
what size did you choose?

I'm 5'11 which suggests an S4, but that feels like a really long bike with a reach of 485mm (I sat on a Levo S4 and it felt long with a reach of 477mm, I would have needed a shorter stem).

My last bike was a Heckler which had a reach of 465mm which felt good.

So I'm thinking an S3 in the Kenevo SL would probably be better?

I'm not really sure why there is a trend towards really long bike?
 
  • Agree
Reactions: CjP

Doomanic

🛠️Wrecker🛠️
Patreon
Founding Member
Jan 21, 2018
8,479
9,958
UK
I'm 5'9 and test rode an S3 and it felt pretty good to me apart from the seat tube length which should be less of an issue for you.
 

Dave_B

E*POWAH Elite World Champion
Subscriber
Aug 29, 2020
1,420
1,542
Newquay
has anyone weighed the KSL Expert? Interested to know what it is as stock?
 

bepcav82

New Member
Aug 8, 2021
23
42
Italy
oh man we are going to need ride impressions ASAP. That’s the first e storia I have seen in the wild. What spring length did they give you as it looks fairly short?
Also did you go for 62.5mm or 65mm stroke?
The spring is the original EXT and the lenght is choose from Ext calculated on my weight and characteristics.
My EXT is 230x62.5
Here unboxing and mounting:
 

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