First Look & Review: The New Specialized Levo R

Specialized Bicycles has just announced an all-new take on the Levo platform with the Levo R. This pared-down, sporty, and nimble new addition to the Levo family takes the powertrain of the Levo 4 and drops it into a 130/140mm chassis with longer chainstays, a lower bottom bracket, and a tighter head tube angle. All these ingredients together make for a light(er), snappy, and predictable bike that still delivers the same power of the longer travel Levo 4, and I totally get why the team decided to call this one the Levo Rally.

Specialized Levo R Overview

Travel: 130mm Rear | 140mm Fork
Motor: Specialized 3.1 Motor 810W / 105 Nm. (S-Works models: 850W / 111 Nm.)
Battery: 840Wh
Head Tube Angle: 65 Degrees
Seat Tube Angle: 77 Degrees
Chainstays: 447mm Long | 441mm Short

Admittedly, I was again skeptical about this bike, just as I was with the Levo 4. Why would anyone want a 130mm travel, full-power eMTB? It didn’t make any sense to me on paper – but in execution and on the trail, it all clicked. Unlike with the Levo 4, it didn’t take weeks of riding to see the bright side of this bike; instead, I got it within the first lap. After a handful of rides, I got a pretty good idea of what this little rally car was all about, and although I don’t have weeks of riding it to give a full review, I have an appreciation for what Specialized has created here.

Geometry

The Levo R has a taller stack and shorter reach across the size ranges when compared to the Levo 4. The chainstays have also seen some love, and in the long setting, the rear center is now at 447mm, but can be dropped down to 441mm with the flip-chip. The head-tube angle is a tighter 65 degrees in the neutral position, but an adjustable chip allows 1-degree changes to set it to 66 or 64 degrees. With the Levo R bottom bracket (339mm) being a touch lower than the Levo 4 (350mm), the flip-chip at the shock can be used to raise it up by 5mm if you need more ground clearance or a taller ride height.

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The other notable change from the Levo 4 is the 29” wheels front and rear, which likely influence some of the geometry changes. For a bike in this travel category, the geometry is well-suited, and the longer chainstays and 29” wheels are something I would have loved to see on the Levo 4. But I can’t complain much, because the Levo R can swing at a lot of the same trails with ease, albeit it requires a little more awareness of line choice and rider input compared to the brute force the Levo 4 brings into battle.

Levo 4 Vs. Levo R

The Specialized Bicycles Levo 4 was one of the most interesting e-mountain bikes I tested last year, and the announcement of the latest full-power eMTB from the brand divided quite a few people in the industry due to its unlockable class 3 mode. Personally, I was ready to dislike the bike for whatever reason. But after spending a lot of time on the machine, I started to see its beauty. It wasn’t a bike for everyone. It was heavy compared to other full-power eMTBs on the market, and the mixed-wheelset-only chassis wasn’t ideal.

Most surprisingly, I’ve found the Levo R to be a bike that punches well above its travel class, and I attribute this to the tune on the Fox Genie shock that Specialized has fitted on this rowdy little machine. While the Fox Genie shock with a piggyback was a standout on the Levo 4, the inline Fox Genie on the Levo R has been really easy to get along with.

The Genie shocks are special in that they are super supple but still have a lot of bottom-out resistance when you’re in the “oh-shit-zone” of travel, but because of this, they can be a bit trickier to set up perfectly. I found that with the Genie piggyback shocks, I want to add a lot of volume reducers to make them a little poppier, which tends to make them lose a bit of the magic that makes them so supple and great on trail. I’ve found that with the Levo R and the inline shock, I’d just let it be, and rather than pack volume reducers into the chambers, I’d add one, and just get obsessive over air pressure to let the shock do its thing – and so far, it’s been a solid example of “set it and forget it”.

The elephant in the room is the travel and perceived use case of the Levo R. It’s short-travel, full-power, but, in a strange way, it makes sense and really shows the duality of eMTBs in 2026. The Levo R uses the same Specialized 3.1 Motor and 840Wh battery as the Levo 4, but with more conservative geometry and less suspension travel; it’s essentially an engine swap from a truck into an economy car. I know it doesn’t make sense to everyone, but for those who might not need the 150/160mm travel of the Levo 4, the Levo R is a unique offering that not many brands are supplying.

Builds & Pricing

The Levo R will be available in three build options, all centered on the same 130mm FACT 11m carbon frame, with SWAT storage and a removable 840Wh battery. The top-tier S-Works Levo R will get the souped-up S-Works Motor, capable of 850 Watts & 111 Nm of torque at the peak of its powerband, whereas the 3.1 Motor puts out 810 Watts & 105 Nm of torque thanks to the recent over-the-air update Specialized pushed out. All builds get the same Mastermind T3 display in the top tube, and Specialized Purgatory 29×2.4 tires in the front (GRID casing) and rear (GRID Trail casing), but the S-Works gets the T9 compound in the back, with the Expert and Comp builds getting the T7 compound. All models are compatible with the range extender, as was the case with the Levo 4.

The builds start at $9,200 USD, and the S-Works build I’ve been testing caps out at $16,650 USD with a full SRAM XX drivetrain, Reverb AXS dropper, and Roval Control SL RISE Integrated cockpit (50mm integrated stem, 8-degree backsweep, 2-degree upsweep, 780mm wide). This is certainly a premium build, but I would have loved to see a more traditional cockpit instead of the integrated one.

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The size ranges are as we’d expect, and the Levo R comes in the S1-S5 sizing structure that Specialized has been using. The S1 Levo R is the only outlier for the 29” wheels, and instead gets 27.5 and a slightly slacker head tube at 64.9 degrees to accommodate smaller riders.

Levo R Comp

$9,200.00 USD, €7,999.00, $12,900.00 AUD

• Motor and Battery: Specialized 3.1 Motor w/ 810 Watts & 105 Nm, 840 Wh Battery, up to 5-hour range
• Frame: FACT 11m Carbon, Geo Adj & SWAT Storage
• Suspension: Front: 140mm FOX 36 SL Performance GRIP | Rear: 130mm GENIE – FOX FLOAT Performance
• Drivetrain: SRAM S-1000 Eagle Transmission
• Brakes: SRAM Motive Bronze (200mm Rotors)
• Seatpost: X-Fusion Manic, 34.9, (S1-S2: 125mm, S3: 150mm, S4: 170mm,
• S5-S6: 190mm)
• Wheels: Specialized Alloy Wheels

Levo R Expert

$10,800.00 USD, € 9,999.00, £ 8,499.00, $ 15,500.00 AUD

• Motor and Battery: Specialized 3.1 Motor w/ 810 Watts & 105 Nm, 840 Wh Battery, up to 5-hour range
• Frame: FACT 11m Carbon, Geo Adj & SWAT Storage
• Suspension: Front: 140mm FOX 36 SL Performance Elite GRIP X | Rear: 130mm GENIE – FOX FLOAT Performance Elite 
• Drivetrain: SRAM GX Transmission
• Brakes: SRAM Motive Bronze (200mm Rotors)
• Seatpost: X-Fusion Manic, 34.9, (S1-S2: 125mm, S3: 150mm, S4: 170mm,
• S5-S6: 190mm)
• Wheels: Roval Carbon Travese SL2 w/ I9 1/1 Hubs

S-Works Levo R (tested)

$15,650.00 USD, €13,999.00 EUR, £ 12,499.00 GBP, $23,500.00 AUD

• Motor and Battery: S-Works 3.1 Motor w/ 850 Watts & 111 Nm, 840 Wh battery, up to 4.40 hour range
• Frame: FACT 11m Carbon w/ Carbon Link, Geo Adj & SWAT Storage
• Suspension: Front: 140mm FOX 36 SL FACTORY GRIP X | Rear: 130mm GENIE – FOX FLOAT  Factory
• Drivetrain: SRAM XX Transmission
• Brakes: SRAM Motive Ultimate (200mm rotors)
• Seatpost: RockShox Reverb AXS, 34.9mm )S2: 125mm, S3: 150mm, S4-6:
• 200mm)
• Wheels: Roval Carbon Traverse SL2 w/ Hydra2 Hubs

Levo R Initial Ride Impressions

In testing the Levo R, I’ve been really impressed by how light the bike rides despite its weight. While it is lighter than the Levo 4, it’s still almost 50 lbs (S5), even in the S-Works variant that I’ve been testing. Compared to other full-power eMTBs, the Levo offerings are all on the heavier side of things, but they don’t necessarily ride like they’re much heavier.

The Levo R is just as playful as you might expect from a 130mm trail bike, and the added weight of the motor and battery keeps it accurate in corners and composed while descending, but with the new Genie shock tune and refined geometry, it still wants to snap out of corners and change direction with some input from the rider. It’s not perfect, though, and while the full-power motor and the bike’s feel are inspiring, it has limitations, and I’ve found myself at the very bottom of the small-travel range on many occasions.

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While the Levo 4 oftentimes felt a bit like a hammer on smoother trails, and it wasn’t until you got into the steeper terrain that it really felt at home, the Levo R feels like a surgical blade on most things and has a lot of pep in its pedals, no doubt thanks to the recent motor update and weight savings over the Levo 4. When I say the Levo R rides lighter than it weighs, that is both a good and a bad thing. I found that almost immediately, I had to go in and de-tune the assist modes in the app because the overrun was just too much support. Thankfully, the Specialized App makes this really easy, and I never mind a bit of tinkering.

The suspension does feel noticeably different than the Levo 4, as you’d expect with less travel, but the Fox Float Genie tune is still just as forgiving as you’d like it to be while still giving a lot of support towards the end of the travel without a harsh end to the travel – which is pretty easy to find thanks to the confidence supplied by the bikes character.