The reason the 2019 Levo came with an 11-speed 11-42 cassette and not Eagle was explained by Specialized at their dealer meeting last September.
The explanation was this. SRAM would only supply the NX cassette for the OEM Ebike Market.
The reason being the NX cassette fits on a standard Shimano freehub body which is stronger for handling the extra torque an Ebike puts out.
The cogs are also steel, which is stronger for handling the extra torque an Ebike puts out.
But Specialized felt that since Ebikes wear out chains and cassettes faster than regular mountain bikes, riders would be spending a lot more to replace these parts on a regular basis. A 12 speed chain isn’t as strong as an 11 speed. They also felt that since the bike has a motor, the 42t low gear would be low enough for most riders.
That’s what I was told directly by Specialized.
Do with that what you will
However since then I have sold almost 100 2019 Levos in my shop.
There have been the better of a dozen or so of my customers that wanted to “upgrade” to Eagle.
I tell them the pros and cons and then I do what they request.
The increased chain wear is quite significant. A lot of my customers are doing a new chain every 2-3 months.
The rear hub on 2019 Levos, base through expert, is a colossal piece of shit that has a high failure rate. It’s even worse with an XD driver. Add Eagle into the mix and it’s a nightmare waiting to happen with terrible shifting performance. Especially the guys who pedal hard through gear changes.
I have one customer who has replaced his Eagle XX1 cassette 4 times. He puts an new chain on every month. I told him that an NX cassette would last a lot longer.
“I have an S-Works bike, I am not putting that cheap piece of shit on my S-Works!”
And yes he is a dentist, no really he’s actually my dentist who will yell at me for my poor flossing routine.
Anyway, there are a couple customers that are running Eagle on their Bosch system bikes with no problems. This is just the way Bosch motor works it has a shift sensor that detects the changes made when shifting gears and decreases torque.
This is anecdotal evidence taken from a decent size group of riders, so do with that what you will.
As for my own personal experience, I feel the low gear range of Eagle while awesome on my Stumpjumper, is kind of pointless on my bikes that you know,
“Have a motor”
I wanted increased durability, because I work on Ebikes all day now. When I go home to ride my Ebikes I don’t have to wrench on them as often. So I went for the BOX 9-speed drivetrain. It has a an 11-50 gear range with 9 heavy duty cogs.
I ended up never using the 50. In Southren California a lot of our climbs are steep twisty singletracks that are rock strewn. I never needed the two lowest gears. The shifting wasn’t that great with the BOX system and after even trying it with my Archer shifting system, I went looking elsewhere.
I found a 11-42 9-speed setup from a company called Microsshift. I watched a video where a guy pours a bucket of mud on to the cassette and derailleur and then adds leaves. The derailleur still functioned properly. It still worked after he hit it with a hammer.
I ordered a cassette $30, shifter $25 and derailleur $60. I threw on a Taya 9-speed Ebike chain.
My Kenevo has never shifted better and the components while not exactly the lightest have held up amazingly well.
So I am now switching out all of my Ebikes to the Microshift Advent 9-speed setup.
This what works for me and this evidence is purely anecdotal, so do with it you will.
