The specialized Levo R Sworks first look

The Specialized Levo R is probably the most important and eventually successful bicycle that the company will release this year. Derived from the already quite well received Levo 4, the shorter travel Levo R will appeal to more people who are in the market for eMTBs or bikes in general. As I type these words, while trying to avoid sounding like a marketing bro, I understand that riders of more critical and difficult terrain will not be excited about the new 140/130mm travel mini Levo. One thing is clear about this and the other S bikes we’ve been testing lately; Specialized makes some well engineered and executed bicycles.

We love the long-travel Enduro and the spritely yet highly capable Stumpjumper. While the long-term thoughts are yet to be revealed, Cam seems to be having a good time on the S-works Levo 4. I wasn’t expecting a short travel version of the Levo to surface but I understand for Specialized clientele and a certain demographic in particular.

The Bike

The Specialized Levo R is a 130mm travel bike with a 140mm fork strapped on. Low and stable is the marketing terminology I’ve seen thrown around in my emails. If the Levo 4 is a trophy truck, the Levo R is the rally car. There were plenty of photos depicting the bike, piloted by Kriss Kyle, and a Ford Fiesta WRC car duelling it out in the press release. Specialized is clear with their messaging; The Levo 4 is the trail bike, and the Levo R is the Rally bike. Great, just as we got over the Dumbcountry business, we have a new term to deal with. The claim is that, with the right configuration and specifications, the Levo R can be the lightest full-power eMTB on the market. This is something Canyon claimed with the Spectral:ON a few years ago and executed.

Models

The new Levo R comes in three specs.

• Levo R Expert
• Levo R Comp
• Levo R S-Works

All three bikes share the Fact 11m carbon layup, Genie Shock and 3.1 motor as far as I know. While the Expert and the Comp models are limited to 101Nm of torque, the S-Works can achieve 111. This appears to be a firmware limitation, as I understand. We all know, poor people don’t belong in the left lane. The maximum wattage is 810W for the lesser two models and 850W for the S-Works model. I would be really curious to hear if there were any internal differences between the motors. Bosch kind of does this with the CX and CX Race motors. I will investigate further.

The downtubes are bulbous and prominent with the Levo Rs of all sizes from S2 to S6. There is no information in hand stating otherwise, but all the bikes come with 840Wh batteries from the factory. This is serious punching power for a lightweight and power-hungry motor. There is an optional 600Wh battery and a 280Wh extender. It is also unclear to me if you can remove the main battery and run the extender on its own for some boost for the climb and unassisted descending on the way down. Speaking of removing batteries, the Levo R sheds its battery from the non-drive side of the downtube with a simple 5mm Allen key. A soft handle presents itself and the battery comes out without much fuss. There is a hook to hang it if you desire. Towards the headtube, above the battery, there is the SWAT pouch ready for a tube and a tire lever. I wish the battery removal was tool free with a smart, folding wingnut and the SWAT pouch was accesible from the outside. Weird nits to pick, but with the level of engineering that goes into Specialized bikes, this doesn’t seem like much of a stretch.

Geometry

The Levo R is a fairly adjustable bike when it comes to geometry. The headset upper cup is keyed into the frame and can be swapped from a Neutral cup to +/- 1° cup in a matter of seconds. This takes the headangle from rather steep 66° to perfectly slack 64°. The rearward shock mount is also the bushing for the yoke that it attaches to. I am not sure how I feel about this being a wear item, but It allows for +/- 5mm of bottom bracket adjustment. Just in front of the rear axle, the Horst Link pivot is also keyed into the carbon with some adjustability. From my measurements, it seems like about 6mm of chainstay length adjustment.

I set the bike immadiately in to -1° headangle, high bottom bracket, long chainstay configuration. Knowing Specialized bikes are notoriously low, I wanted to start in the high setting. A 64 degree head angle is the sweet spot for me and a 447mm (441mm in short mode) chainstay length seems contemporaneously appropriate. I will play with these settings during testing.

The stack is not very high, at 616mm for the S3 frame, and the one-piece Roval bar doesn’t leave much room for adjustment initially. I will most likely swap this out for a regular stem and 40mm+ bar combo for the long term. The 780mm wide Roval bars seem compliant and comfortable from my initial impressions. There won’t be any night rides on this bike until I can swap to round tubing bars.

Suspension

140mm fork is not a lot of travel to play with on the North Shore trails. It is even less so when you start creeping up the Sea to Sky corridor. On the back, the 130mm travel is controlled by the new Fox Genie Shock. This is a dual air chamber shock that acts like a high volume shock in the initial part of the travel and like a low volume shock toward the end of the stroke. This is done by a big “genie band” built into the shaft that closes the outer air chamber ports, thus reducing the overall aircan volume. The result is a shock that moves into its initial travel very easily and resists bottoming out. I don’t have much time on this shock and set it up at 190psi initially for my 162lb weight. I immediately found out this was too low so I went up to 220psi for a 25% sag on the 45mm shock stroke. The bike was much happier at this setting, but more tinkering will be done.

On the Fox 36 SL fork, I started at 80psi, which is what I run on my 140mm trail bike. I added 5 more psi to compensate for the weight of the bike. On the very first trail gap, I was reminded that this was too low. The pressure went up to 90psi for the remainder of the ride, which was still a little too low. At home, I added two more volume spacers to mitigate harsh bottom out. We will see how this changes the behaviour of the new 36 SL, which I find to be more linear than previous Fox forks.

Full Spec.

The S-Works leaves little to be desired, unless you lust or electronically controlled suspension. The SRAM XX series cranks, cassette, derailleur and chain work as they should. The derailleur is powered by the bike’s battery so while it is electrically actuated, is not wireless. I am OK with this. One less device to charge.

The 150mm Reverb AXS dropper post is comically short. This should have been a 175 at the very least. I may have asked for a size too small. S4 and up come with a 200mm post, while S2 gets 125mm. yikes.

The brakes are SRAM Motive Ultimates. These brakes replaced the much-loved and hated Code series from the company. I have no previous experience on these brakes, and initially they seem okay, if a little under powered with 200mm rotors for the weight of the bike on the North Shore. The switch to mineral oil may mean longer service intervals for them, which would be nice. I also prefer not to deal with DOT 5.1 fluids.

The Roval Traverse SL II wheels are nice and light and they also seem strong. They are laced to Industry 9 Hydra hubs on the S-Works and 1-1 Hubs on the other models. They are wrapped in Specialized Purgatory tires in Grid T9 on the front and Grid Trail T7 on the rear. First ride on prime dirt was successful. They seem to share intended use withMaxxis Dissectors. No complaints so far. For the summer, we may switch to a more robust casing.

The Specialized S-Works Power Mirror saddle is funky looking with its space-age 3D-printed structure. On my first ride, I forgot it was even there. That is high praise The Levo R came with the clever Swat tool installed in the steerer tube. This is enabled by a stem bolt that tightens from the bottom of the fork. I prefer this to the OneUp EDC tool preload adjustment. There must be a patent ,otherwise others would have followed suit on this simple and smart design. Or maybe I am missing something? Time will tell.

Display, Control and the Phone App

This is my first time operating a Specialized system. Of course, I didn’t read the instructions and dove right in. The display is very slick. Much like an Apple Watch, it has an AMOLED screen. It is not touch-activated, but I reckon we are not too far off that. The display has great resolution and the information shown can be fully customized from the app. I am still trying to figure out what I’d like to see there, but so far elevation gain, altitude and battery life is all I need. I am not sure if I can display navigation, which would be sweet for exploring trail networks.

The control is not wireless like Bosch and it has a third button in the centre that acts like a joystick. This protruding toggle allows for up and down movement and a button like clicking. The up and down movement adjusts the assist level and the clicking scrolls through the display pages. It is extremely easy to click when you want to just adjust the assist levels. I am getting used to it but it is less refined than I’d like. The controller seems to be built well and should be able to take a tumble. I hope to not find out. The upper button is the power button and the lower one is the WALK assist. It works sligtly better than Bosch’s walk mode, starting up sooner and it has better torque. I am still learning the way Specialized allows you to tune the assist levels. They are marked at levels from 0/100 all the way to 100/100. These numbers represent the amount of effort rider provides and the effort the motor responds with. If you put 200W of effort in, you get 200W of support in the 100/100 mode. This is great for a more natural support and extending battery life. With 840Wh on tap, I am not sure if I personally want this. But again, I will play around and save the details for a full review.

The Charger

This is an impressive piece of hardware! With the S-Works model, you get a 12A charger for your bike. This heavy, bulky unit comes with its own carrying case but can charge the Levo R up to 80% in one and a half hours. This will come in super handy for a quick mid day ride if your body can handle all the riding you can squeeze from an 840Wh battery. It will definitely reduce the battery’s health status if you keep blasting it with 12Amps. So the charger also allows you to slow charge at 4A or charge to 80% for maxium life expectancy. There is also the ECO mode for perhaps charging overnight when time is not at a premium. I really hope Bosch can come up with a new charger that can do this kind of power lifting. The plug is well designed, thoroughly sealed, and you could easily connect it in the dark, unless Bosch’s version. 10 out of 10.

On paper the new Levo R doesn’t make a ton of sense for a serious mountain biker. But I think Specilized will have great success selling it to the right crowd. I can see people who are not really interested in mountain biking but want a comfortable, high-end e-assist experience will reach for it. Years ago, I was crossing the border to ride some trails in Bellingham, and the border guy asked what brand of bikes we were riding. Me, on the Banshee Rune and my buddy Tom on his Devinci Spartan, spoke up about our Canadian creations. The border agent was less than impressed and suggested we ride real bike brands like Specialized and Trek. He will be the first one to reach for the Levo R when it is time for him to spend is money. The retiree with a 50foot RV super bus will have a matching set on the back that he’ll take around from camp ground to camp ground. He will cruise around the lake on his Levo R, happy to be not mountain biking.

Maybe the people in the mountain biking capital of the USA, Bentonville, Arkansas, will buy one to hit some flowy jump lines all day long. Specialized just created a category of bike for themselves that weigh 45lbs fully loaded and have enough battery power to do 10000′ of elevation. I am looking forward to seeing if the Levo R can keep up with Nino Schurter at BC Bike Race, as I will be covering the event the whole week.

LEVO R GLOBAL PRICING

LEVO R S-WORKS 15,650 USD // 14,000 EUR // 12,500 GBP // 23,500 AUS

LEVO R EXPERT 10,800.00 USD // 10,000 EUR // 8,500 GBP // 15,500 AUS

LEVO R COMP 9,200 USD // 8,000 EUR // 12,900.00 AUS