Levo Gen 4 What do you dislike about the 2026 Gen4 Levo

[Jeff McD]

Never really read this thread since I love my Gen4 Comp so much. Had a few things I didn't like about it so I made some changes and improved immeasurably. Got the 600Wh battery and range extender, which made the biggest improvement. The bike is a bit too front heavy with the 840Wh which leads to sluggish handling. With the 600, the bike becomes very playful, poppy, much lighter in the front end. Works awesomely for 2/3 of my riding. For longer rides w/ range extender added on, it has similar range to the 840.
I do have two things I do not like that nobody has mentioned. The first one should be obvious from the above. I wish Specialized would step up to the plate the way Orbea and multiple other bike manufacturers have, and allow us to make changes in the bike we order online before purchase. I didn't like having to pay for the extra two batteries to get the bike the way I wanted it. I should be able to do that ahead of time. I knew I was going to do it before buying but I was not given the option by Specialized. EMOUNTAINBIKE online MTB magazine has rightly criticized ebike manufacturers harshly for producing bikes that are over priced, too heavy, chasing more and more power in a war, increasing complexity requiring more trips to the bike shop, when they should be offering us lighter, less complex, more durable bikes, and you can pick from a menu before ordering so you don't have to spend more money getting the bike the way you want it (Which many riders in this forum seem to do anyway!) Don't bring the damn bike to market until you can provide these things! This sh$t is damn expensive for a hobby! I put the 840 battery for sale on Facebook marketplace and guess what? No takers. Can't even recover that loss partially. Can't pop it in the mail to someone.
Of course the second complaint is the stock weight of the bike. My Gen4 Comp stock ready to ride with flat pedals weighed 54.2 lb. If I can get the weight down to 43.5 lb w lighter 600 battery and a few other changes, Specialized should be able to get it around 48 pounds. The competition has shown it is possible. The difference in the enjoyment of the ride between what I have now compared to the stock bike is astounding. Absolutely a different bike entirely. You have to ride it to understand it. Hint, hint to responders.

 

[HackMan162]

That 10+lb loss has got to be without a battery, yeah? The 840Wh battery weighs 9.7lb, and the 600Wh is only 2.6lbs lighter. How else do you save 7+ lbs? Serious inquiry.

 

[Jeff McD]

That 10+lb loss has got to be without a battery, yeah? The 840Wh battery weighs 9.7lb, and the 600Wh is only 2.6lbs lighter. How else do you save 7+ lbs? Serious inquiry.

Oh by adding a whole bunch of ultra light parts:
-6 yr old Bontrager Kovee XXX 1284gm tubeless wheelset with the rear 29 inch rim replaced with an ultralight 40mm id 27.5" Chinese rim when specialized switched from 29 to 27.5 in the rear,
-Butcher grid T9 tires front and back instead of gravity,
-Xspedo Spry lightweight flat pedals,
-9point8 Fall Line R dropper post (Total wt 438 g total with remote, cable, etc.),
-light saddle with carbon rails,
-16 g lizard skins dps viscoelastomer Nico Vouilloz grips that aren't even in production anymore cause they were such a pain in the ass to take off,
-lightweight cassette
-Galfer 200mm rotor on rear wheel.
-RockShox deluxe ultimate replacement shock is still on from when I had to send the Genie in for servicing when I gummed it up internally. Never weighed the two of them but the replacement looks lighter. It's probably not as good as the genie but it's actually very good, and because there is no secondary canister there is room to run a 34 ounce water bottle which I prefer to a backpack. I can only do that if I don't go long with the range extender battery.
The rest is stock. Now obviously not everybody will go with some of these parts, especially the wheelset. So let me just say that I've never broken a wheel, they've never let me down, yada yada yada. We had such fragile wheels back in the 90s for cross country racing that you learned to ride light, get your butt off the saddle for every rock or log, not plow through rock gardens, bunnyhop everything, and absolutely nothing even grazes your tire sidewalls/derailleur. I check the spoke tension after every ride which helps also. Just part of cleaning up the bike for me. There's a ton of weight difference in the first five items on that list. I was hoping for 47 pounds before weighing it and was stunned when I saw the scale read out. Brand new scale the bike shop and just gotten in and they said yes it was accurate having weighed a bunch of other new bikes and compared it to their old scale.

 

[Ride 2d@y]

That 10+lb loss has got to be without a battery, yeah? The 840Wh battery weighs 9.7lb, and the 600Wh is only 2.6lbs lighter. How else do you save 7+ lbs? Serious inquiry.

Plan B may be the Levo R Ultralight!!!

18.84 KG in size S3

 

[Powerslider]

I’d like it if Specialized offered build-to-order bikes, but they don’t. That’s not exactly unique, as most major bike manufacturers don’t offer this capability. They do offer a frame kit option so you can build your own Levo where most do not.
I suspect the lack of a custom configuration option is mostly due to it being a tiny subset of buyers who would exercise this option. Of course cost and complexity of such program is also surely a factor.
To me-custom configuration is how small companies can differentiate themselves from the big boys. They’re small and agile enough to cater to such requests. It’s a ‘big ships turn slowly’ thing for Specialized.