Levo Gen 4 Specialized Gen 4 Levo - Official Thread

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Article about the fear of blanket bans if ebikes continue to get faster.
This is a very good article. And honestly I also feel that we don’t really need this race to win as the most powerful motor on paper.

In fact this is one of the reasons I am not rushing to get a new bike and this Gen 4 specifically. I am considering more and more a lower power assistance (I love my SL gen 1!!) like the orbea rise… if they only had a frameset option I was already riding one!
 
Yeah, we need to get away from the motor centrist reviews/discussions that focus on max turbo performance. Especially in western Europe motorcycles (electric or otherwise) are only allowed on public roads. Fireroads are illegal for motorcycles in most European countries and regions. Some countries like Austria even restrict bicycles ina similar way and the political trends will bring current cycling freedoms that are taken for granted under pressure.
 
what boggles my mind is that nobody is talking about (unless I've missed it somewhere) how easy it is to steal the battery on the gen 4 levo... 10 seconds and your battery is GONE!
 
Here is my screen shot from Strava it was actually from 0 to 2.3 miles that I burn 10% battery. The grade is average 5% and it is on road. I weight 218lbs and I am in average condition.

View attachment 159294
So whomever suggested turning off shuttle it helped. I only burned 8% of the battery everything the same except shuttle off.
 
Ordered my gen4 Comp S4 in satin champagne yesterday. Was going to spring for an S Works but S4 not available to order until August where I live and that would mean the extra $1350 surcharge after May 1, which was a no go for me. Hoping specialized will eventually approve full power for all models. My LBS was placing a huge order for bikes the qualified for free shipping from specialized that will come by boat and my order got added to that so I saved the $200 shipping charge to Hawaii from the mainland. Did anyone with an S4 weigh the bike with just the range extender in place? At least half of my bike rides each week will be done in this configuration.
 
At least half of my bike rides each week will be done in this configuration.
How many miles, feet in climbing are these long rides? Why do think you need the extender etc?
(I am curious because I am from Hawaii and raced the road on the Big Island - plus I am a new owner of a G4 so I want to help)
 
Had the app record my first long ride and i was very impressed with the range. here the stats
I'm about 175 lbs. 35 miles, 90% dirt, 3hr 40 min, 3600ft vert, avg speed 9.8mph, avg rider power 120w, avg motor power 172w. 17-18% left. i used 35/35 eco as much as possible in the begining and was on track to go almost 50miles so i started using auto- more and then after i knew i was more than covered i used it till the end. the auto- was even more than i needed most of the time. I needed turbo power on the steepest section of a climb but that was only once.
my 3 buddies with gen 1 and 3 had to swap batteries midway at a car we set up.
beside the smooth power i noticed this time that the rolling resistance was much less than my gen 3. maybe the tires but the bike coasts great 24psi/f ,26/r and it felt much more capable on the fast DHs and i was going much faster with more control. All stock geo/susp settings, the bike was absolutely great. EXCEPT, the hot shoe stopped working right before the ride for no reason. was working fine moments before then dead. no water involved. i was kinda pissed and everyone was ready to go so I ripped it right off taped off the wire and put in a battery.

yes the bikes dont need more power if you a avg rider of avg weight. my one buddy is almost 300 lbs and he went through almost 2 700s on the same ride. he needs that extra power to keep up. Also the battery cover came lose twice so I will apply a little 242.
 
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How many miles, feet in climbing are these long rides? Why do think you need the extender etc?
(I am curious because I am from Hawaii and raced the road on the Big Island - plus I am a new owner of a G4 so I want to help)
Hey bruddah, I'm just like you it sounds like. All through the decade of the 1980s I was into amateur road racing and a member of the Hawaii cycling club. If you were doing road racing back then you may remember that Steve Crane and I teamed up (Steve was the stronger rider so I was his domestic for that race) to help him win the Hawaii State road race title in the Vet Category. The race was sponsored by our club on the big island that year over on the Puna side of the island. We managed to beat the teams from Oahu and Maui. Steve won the finishing sprint over
Alan Liu, sprinter from the Honolulu team. I switched to mtn biking after losing 10 friends to cars by the end of that decade.

So our Sunday rides are usually three hours long with some breaks and range anywhere from 18 to almost 30 miles, about 3700 feet of climbing, then descending on extremely rugged lava terrain. I will need the range extender since I plan to swap out the the 800 battery for the 600 when it comes out in August. For my middle of the week trail building ride (I am the head of the volunteer trail building crew for the mtb/hiking trails off Kaloko Drive for the last 32 years, website hawaiiislandmtb.org, Kaloko chapter) I will just use the range extender with no internal battery (Fingers crossed) or just the 600 depending on length. I'm older now though so all day rides I will leave to the groms. Thanks for your help in advance and Aloha, Jeff McDevitt
 
Hey bruddah, I'm just like you it sounds like. All through the decade of the 1980s I was into amateur road racing and a member of the Hawaii cycling club. If you were doing road racing back then you may remember that Steve Crane and I teamed up (Steve was the stronger rider so I was his domestic for that race) to help him win the Hawaii State road race title in the Vet Category. The race was sponsored by our club on the big island that year over on the Puna side of the island. We managed to beat the teams from Oahu and Maui. Steve won the finishing sprint over
Alan Liu, sprinter from the Honolulu team. I switched to mtn biking after losing 10 friends to cars by the end of that decade.

So our Sunday rides are usually three hours long with some breaks and range anywhere from 18 to almost 30 miles, about 3700 feet of climbing, then descending on extremely rugged lava terrain. I will need the range extender since I plan to swap out the the 800 battery for the 600 when it comes out in August. For my middle of the week trail building ride (I am the head of the volunteer trail building crew for the mtb/hiking trails off Kaloko Drive for the last 32 years, website hawaiiislandmtb.org, Kaloko chapter) I will just use the range extender with no internal battery (Fingers crossed) or just the 600 depending on length. I'm older now though so all day rides I will leave to the groms. Thanks for your help in advance and Aloha, Jeff McDevitt
Aloha!
I thought the weight would be noticible but its not and sure, the 600 might make it even more playful, but at this point im more than happy with the feel and will save my money. just my 2c
 
Reviewing my ride in the app i noticed peak motor power was measured at 784 on my expert.
thats more than the sworks 720. Motor power over 30 sec was measured at 688.


IMG_5797.jpg
 
Had the app record my first long ride and i was very impressed with the range. here the stats
I'm about 175 lbs. 35 miles, 90% dirt, 3hr 40 min, 3600ft vert, avg speed 9.8mph, avg rider power 120w, avg motor power 172w. 17-18% left. i used 35/35 eco as much as possible in the begining and was on track to go almost 50miles so i started using auto- more and then after i knew i was more than covered i used it till the end. the auto- was even more than i needed most of the time. I needed turbo power on the steepest section of a climb but that was only once.
my 3 buddies with gen 1 and 3 had to swap batteries midway at a car we set up.
beside the smooth power i noticed this time that the rolling resistance was much less than my gen 3. maybe the tires but the bike coasts great 24psi/f ,26/r and it felt much more capable on the fast DHs and i was going much faster with more control. All stock geo/susp settings, the bike was absolutely great. EXCEPT, the hot shoe stopped working right before the ride for no reason. was working fine moments before then dead. no water involved. i was kinda pissed and everyone was ready to go so I ripped it right off taped off the wire and put in a battery.

yes the bikes dont need more power if you a avg rider of avg weight. my one buddy is almost 300 lbs and he went through almost 2 700s on the same ride. he needs that extra power to keep up. Also the battery cover came lose twice so I will apply a little 242.
A bit off topic, how much better is the gen 4 vs 3. And is yours a s-works. I'm looking for some honest rider feed back, rather than all the paid videos on YouTube. Thanks.
 
I have g1 comp, g3 expert now g4 expert. been riding ebikes 9 years. its better in many ways. updated geo gives better riding position, more forward over the pedals and new motor postion moves the CG forward and down so it corners much better. Motor is quieter and smoother than my g3 and the power delivery over chunky climbs is more natural and you can hardly feel any power surges or overun. if you just ride in parking lot you will not notice much but get it on a rough DH and you will see that its next level. I was very surprised at how fast i was able to go on my usual trails. It has more power than you need 99% of the time but its still heavy and so the power is needed on the steepest climbs and you still out of the saddle. the class 3 mode is great and you can cruise on a flat road 25mph comfortably. unless its a downhill you not going to hit 28 for more than a few seconds. I did not use or feel the need to use class 3 on XC trails. not going more than 20 anyway. If i went to a jumpline or bike park i would turn it on. When i told my friends that everyone thought the down tube was fat they laughed because they didnt even notice nor cared. the green get lots of complements. no regrets even with the hot shoe problem. You will know its much better when you keep having to wait for your friends to catch up. haha!
 
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Very good article and I fully agree ... More power is not needed. I get a feeling trail centres/land owners and analog riders are itching for an excuse to ban ebikers. Id rather not give it to them. Remember it only takes on doos on an e-bike to ruin it for everyone
Can we please stop calling bikes analog? Analog is a term to describe a type of electrical signal.
all electronics were analog before digital and i never heard the term used to describe anything else but.
Read the definition, it has nothing to do with manual power generation or transportation.
people trying to sound sophisticated using that term, but really it shows ignorance.
They figured it out on a pinkbike survey years ago. Just call bikes bikes and ebikes ebikes.
Regular bike is the other logical option.
carry on.
 
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Hey bruddah, I'm just like you it sounds like. All through the decade of the 1980s I was into amateur road racing and a member of the Hawaii cycling club. If you were doing road racing back then you may remember that Steve Crane and I teamed up (Steve was the stronger rider so I was his domestic for that race) to help him win the Hawaii State road race title in the Vet Category. The race was sponsored by our club on the big island that year over on the Puna side of the island. We managed to beat the teams from Oahu and Maui. Steve won the finishing sprint over
Alan Liu, sprinter from the Honolulu team. I switched to mtn biking after losing 10 friends to cars by the end of that decade.

So our Sunday rides are usually three hours long with some breaks and range anywhere from 18 to almost 30 miles, about 3700 feet of climbing, then descending on extremely rugged lava terrain. I will need the range extender since I plan to swap out the the 800 battery for the 600 when it comes out in August. For my middle of the week trail building ride (I am the head of the volunteer trail building crew for the mtb/hiking trails off Kaloko Drive for the last 32 years, website hawaiiislandmtb.org, Kaloko chapter) I will just use the range extender with no internal battery (Fingers crossed) or just the 600 depending on length. I'm older now though so all day rides I will leave to the groms. Thanks for your help in advance and Aloha, Jeff McDevitt
I am so old I raced the Waikaloa race up the saddle road before the Ironman was invented - and I rode with Dick Evans on Oahu - and Ray Brust was still a Jr so you get a better idea of my age.

I know roadies tend to count grams so try to keep an open mind about the 840. I would ride the bike and play with the settings (hint dynamic microtune) because a rider of your experience (and fitness?) will find some good solutions to your range anxiety . . .
 
Can we please stop calling bikes analog? Analog is a term to describe a type of electrical signal.
all electronics were analog before digital and i never heard the term used to describe anything else but.
Read the definition, it has nothing to do with manual power generation or transportation.
people trying to sound sophisticated using that term, but really it shows ignorance.
They figured it out on a pinkbike survey years ago. Just call bikes bikes and ebikes ebikes.
Regular bike is the other logical option.
carry on.

season 2 netflix GIF by Gilmore Girls
 
C’mon guys. This is all OT. A thread of 25 pages. Please keep it clean for others to read relevant things.

It is interesting to see the battery consumption of the gen 4. But I am still not sure how it compares with the gen 3 consumption!
 
C’mon guys. This is all OT. A thread of 25 pages. Please keep it clean for others to read relevant things.

It is interesting to see the battery consumption of the gen 4. But I am still not sure how it compares with the gen 3 consumption!
I'll be letting you know the answer to this question very shortly. My riding buddy just had his S3 delivered yesterday and with our next big ride up the mountain tomorrow or next Sunday, I will get a very good comparison of how much of the battery gets used compared to the gen3 battery. He has a GEN 3 pro. That ride typically runs our 700Wh battery presently down into the low-mid 20% range. It's a very steep, loose, extremely technical ride that requires a lot of usage of turbo. This is a fast group so I have trouble keeping up as I am the oldest and I use turbo the entire time, him not quite as much. Never have range anxiety tho.
 
I'll be letting you know the answer to this question very shortly. My riding buddy just had his S3 delivered yesterday and with our next big ride up the mountain tomorrow or next Sunday, I will get a very good comparison of how much of the battery gets used compared to the gen3 battery. He has a GEN 3 pro. That ride typically runs our 700Wh battery presently down into the low-mid 20% range. It's a very steep, loose, extremely technical ride that requires a lot of usage of turbo. This is a fast group so I have trouble keeping up as I am the oldest and I use turbo the entire time, him not quite as much. Never have range anxiety tho.
Can ya add your thoughts on the improvement in the motor is please.
 
Can ya add your thoughts on the improvement in the motor is please.
Absolutely. By the way Mike Kazimer in his pinkbike review was riding a fairly steep trail in the video and stated that he got a 23 mile range on a full battery with a mix of Turbo and Trail. That's what I do too. I think that's probably a pretty good estimate of what anybody in our weight category will get. He weighs about 15 or 20 pounds more than me though so he's not super heavy which would cut the range.
 
Also another important point for range testing. In the Flow Mountain Bike review of this new bike the tester forgot to turn off Shuttle, which was at max setting. He figured this out afterwards and then didn't have enough time to repeat the range test with it turned off before the review went to print. Shuttle gives you maximum power with very little leg input but uses more battery, so the range was disappointing but the test was meaningless. So remember to check this if you're not getting range that you expected when you test it.
 
Anyone have a sweet rattle coming from the front of their gen 4? I have a pro. I have checked all the normal stuff but it almost seems like it is coming from the fork. Headset is tight, cables are well managed outside the frame and inside, mavens don’t typically have pad rattle. Cannot find the culprit of the noise but it is annoying af.

I will say if you ride anything somewhat gnarly/steep, the long chainstay setting is 100%. Makes it feel much more capable of a bike at speed and on the steeps. Traction on flat corners is improved too.
 
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