Levo Gen 3 Would you trust a Specialized in the Mountains. Another motor down 🤬

Jase

Jase

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I’m the owner of a Turbo Levo, I originally had a Kenevo SL, the motor on that went at 1700 miles and it had a new harness not long after getting it. However ridercare and the local bike shop were good so I bought another Specialized.
My first motor on that packed in after 1500 miles, replaced under warranty. But remaining warranty on the new motor is only to the two year mark.
So I put it in for an upgrade service when it went out of warranty.
Anyway it stranded me at the top (luckily) of Annachsheen on the Torridon classic loop. It’s done about 1200 miles from new. Long hard ride out of the hills when the motor packs in.
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From what I have seen on here, it is a common story. Yet riders boast about it ("I'm on my fifth!") I can see that they love the warranty and the service, but bloody hell, five motors within the warranty period! :eek: Every time I set off, I'd be wondering whether it would get me home. :unsure:
Not for me. If I was given a brand new one, I'd sell it unridden.
 
#lazy said:
IMO I think they’ve got better since the 2.2 was released , don’t hear about issues anywhere near as much and mines been going for nearly 3 years I think ……… well until I posted this ☺️
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That’s very good going from what I’ve experienced. What mileage have you done on that, it could be a record.
 
I think I read somewhere, or I might just be making it up, that S-Works prices are set so high to fund motor replacements for the rest of the range. 😉

Everytime a Brose motor fails, a dentist somewhere sheds a tear… 😢

The 1st Gen motors do have a bit of a reputation don’t they, but we should remember all the posts about failures are a self selecting sample, it can’t be true that every Levo has had 5+ motors over its warranty period.
 
RustyMTB said:
This is a universal internet truth. People do not by & large post on forums when their bikes work just fine. Clearly the majority do work or you'd be reading about it everywhere, so while it's infuriating when it happens to you, a sense of perspective is handy.
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Totally agree, things break and the UK and Scotland are a tough environment. Maybe in California they are just fine 🤔. I love how my Levo rides, like the display integration etc, and people do winge on forums when things go wrong but it’s also real world comments. There were 5 of us riding two on Gen 3 Levo’s. Both had problems, mine motor, my mates turned on then would shut itself down. Reset disconnect the battery and it would work again. I love how my Levo rides, but even when I get a new/repaired motor in again it will be in the back of mind when and where will it fail again.
 
Jase said:
Maybe in California they are just fine
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@Bearing Man will tell you he's seen plenty of motors with dust damage. He'll also tell you that the vast majority of ebikes are commuter things that get used in the dry on roads & paths, so in context, the manufacturers are building them to the resilience level required by the bulk of the market. That's logical business to my mind but I'm not entirely unsympathetic either - after all I'm a mountain biker thrashing through the slop - but there is a gap in the market for someone specifically coming up with a rough tough motor designed for our end of the market, question is how do you get one around in a market where there are no universal standards, easily available frame sets and so on.
 
What's failing on them? Might just be the belt drive needing replacement.
 
Joecrow said:
Does it matter if the only available way to fix it is to replace the motor?
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I've heard this is no longer the case, that many LBS's now do a motor service (for warranty and out of warranty repairs) in a workshop ... Can someone confirm?
 
salko said:
I've heard this is no longer the case, that many LBS's now do a motor service (for warranty and out of warranty repairs) in a workshop ... Can someone confirm?
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I don't believe it's too bad to service, we'll see how long Yamaha keeps parts available though.
 
Joecrow said:
Does it matter if the only available way to fix it is to replace the motor?
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It would be nice to see more "right to repair" legislation in this regard.

If it’s a belt or cog it’s probably doable. But if the controller board is fried due to water ingress it currently isn't.
 
DieBoy said:
It would be nice to see more "right to repair" legislation in this regard.

If it’s a belt or cog it’s probably doable. But if the controller board is fried due to water ingress it currently isn't.
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Yes, I think it’s ridiculous that motors and batteries with easy to fix problems are being junked because of lack of spares or just sheer bloody mindedness on the part of the manufacturer. You listening Shimano?!

People seem to look at integration as a good thing, which in many ways it is, but I’d prefer a modular and long term supportable eco-system so that my bike isn’t bricked if the manufacturer goes bust and the proprietary App disappears from the App Store.

Or the motor that is bricked because the cheap PCB is no longer made, or the belts or the gears or whatever. Or batteries that only fit one frame and haven’t been produced for a few years so when it goes your screwed.

Thinking about all that is probably the reason why I’ve hung onto a full suspension non e-bike…

Not only are retail prices still only going one way, it seems we’re expected to buy into the built in obsolescence and the ‘this new thing is massively better than your slightly old thing’ mentality pushed by all our favourite YouTubers and bike journos.
 
I've got a Turbo Levo and a Levo SL. Both still going great.
I think they sell a lot of units. Not sure of the failure rate stats though.
They might not see much use soon though. I've just ordered the Haibike ALLMTN CF 11 with the Pinion MGU. Very excited.
 
I don’t know how well the Pinion MGU does from a reliability point of view. But living and riding in the UK if it proves to be good it will be my next bike. I am sure power is great, my mate that was in Scotland with me was on his Amflow and it was great up hill. No faster down though 😊. The price of the Pinion bikes is pretty high still though.
Love to see how people get on with them.
Horses for courses, but what is the most reliable motor for the uk conditions. Definitely not a Brose, but they are fixable I suppose.
 
steve_sordy said:
From what I have seen on here, it is a common story. Yet riders boast about it ("I'm on my fifth!") I can see that they love the warranty and the service, but bloody hell, five motors within the warranty period! :eek: Every time I set off, I'd be wondering whether it would get me home. :unsure:
Not for me. If I was given a brand new one, I'd sell it unridden.
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Totally agree with Steve
My first Yeti motor (EP8) was 670miles, then within 6 months I had 4 motors ranging between 12mile and 60mile, Yeti were totally unhelpful and shameful given the price you pay for one, I sold it, went over to Bosch and vowed never to buy a Yeti again (I previously owned an Arc, SB6 and SB130), you could say I was a Yeti fan but I'll never buy from them again!
 
My wife and I have had three Gen 1 Levos. On those, the belts would break. They could leave you stranded but most of my rides are up and then downhill to the car. The electrical part of the motor never failed. Then we have a 21 Kenevo, never had motor fail because it's the wife's bike. I have a 22 (just sold) and 24 Levo. What happens on them is the gears get noisy if you use turbo a lot on big climbs. Technically, they don't fail and leave you stranded. They just broadcast, through sound, to everyone in the universe that an ebiker is coming up the trail.
My Garmin just hit 15,000 miles, 24,000 Km, and I average around 300,000ft/94,000M a year. I'll never change brands from Specialized because of the service. Even the wheels get good warranty. I'm heavy and I expect a lot from my Levo. The winter ice biking on these bikes is amazing. Goooooo LEVO! My only bitch is that they keep changing the batteries so that they can't easily be switched between other bikes. I count four different batteries when you include the Kenevo. I hurried up and bought a new 24 just so my batteries would swap out because the 25 has changed again. Cheers

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Jase said:
I’m the owner of a Turbo Levo, I originally had a Kenevo SL, the motor on that went at 1700 miles and it had a new harness not long after getting it. However ridercare and the local bike shop were good so I bought another Specialized.
My first motor on that packed in after 1500 miles
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I'm not clear on which bicycles had broken motors. Is it the Levo motor broke at 1,700 miles and the Kenevo SL motor that broke at 1,500 miles?
 
Jase said:
I’m the owner of a Turbo Levo, I originally had a Kenevo SL, the motor on that went at 1700 miles and it had a new harness not long after getting it. However ridercare and the local bike shop were good so I bought another Specialized.
My first motor on that packed in after 1500 miles, replaced under warranty. But remaining warranty on the new motor is only to the two year mark.
So I put it in for an upgrade service when it went out of warranty.
Anyway it stranded me at the top (luckily) of Annachsheen on the Torridon classic loop. It’s done about 1200 miles from new. Long hard ride out of the hills when the motor packs in.
View attachment 161500
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I would trust them , just px might gen 3 levo for a new gen 4, with 2780 miles on it , and it never missed a beat , still had the original battery door on too , cracking bike , hope the new one is as good
 
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Hicksy 92 said:
I would trust them , just ox might gen 3 levo for a new gen 4, with 2780 miles on it , and it never missed a beat , still had the original battery door on too , cracking bike , hope the new one is as good
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Been everywhere on my last one 10,000 miles and in some remote mountain areas , with potential for 15 walk out many a time. Had one 6 mile walk out broke derailleur . 7 mile cycle when a motor went on road. But I can accept why someone wouldn't trust any bike e or analogue.
 
I think it’s important not to lump the SL Mahle motors in with the Brose. Im sure there are SL Mahle failures, but, conversely, Brose (full fat) motors seem to fail often. Ask the bearing man.
 
No, their bikes (Spesh ebikes) not worth a darn past 2 year mark once motor warranty done. On borrowed time after that. Even if motor last well beyond that and/or get motor rebuilt out of pocket, the frame will eventually let you down and Specialize will not get your back for any frame warranty coverage. They will only offer 35% off for frame replacement no matter how it structurally failed and calls all failures of external impact regardless.

Worse customer care rider support from a bike brand I have ever experienced in 25 years of steady riding on many different bikes. Dealers will try to help, but only so much pull when the frame goes. So no lifetime support whatsoever on their frames (Levo’s at least) as been my experience recently with two frame structual failures in past 2 months. Bike (Levo 3 Comp Carbon) is just over 2 years old. I am on my own.

Fortunately, a kind soul at dealer is lending me his personal Levo2 as I wait for new frameset out of pocket. So, yeah the bike and brand will let you down eventually. More so, if ride frequently
 
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