Have you heard the theory about the ideal of beauty? It says that men subconsciously draw an average from all women. In the past, the data basis was simply all the girls in the village. The result: a fairly realistic standard of appearance when it comes to choosing a partner.
It's different today. On television, in advertising and on the internet, we are almost exclusively confronted with beauty. Even worse: with beauties that don't even exist thanks to digital image editing. So if you take the average of all the Adriana Limas and Megan Foxes, the result is a problem: suddenly only the most beautiful is beautiful enough.
That's what happened to me with the Specialized Levo in our e-bike test in FREERIDE, issue 1/19, where we testers crowned the Levo the beauty princess. No other bike had such elegant curves and such a well-shaped body. In contrast, the competition seemed ordinary and clunky.
I accepted the fact that the inner values of the Levo were not the best. For example, the rather stiff Revelation fork from Rockshox or the less potent rear end. So I took the Levo out of the test field as a long-term test bike and have been reluctant to part with it ever since.
From then on, I only rode the 40-minute journey to work and back on the Levo, enjoying the stylish sand-coloured paintwork and the quietly humming Brose motor. No matter what the weather, I took the Levo instead of travelling by train or car. But my love was really kindled when I only rode the Levo myself on my home trails.
And this is where the fascination of the e-bike really came to me. Because the inhibition to go trail-hunting in the forest in rainy November and December evaporated thanks to the powerful e-drive. I explored new areas that I'd never reached for reasons of comfort. I rode more and more intensively than ever before. And faster. Thanks to its low centre of gravity and massive weight, the Levo sits firmly on the trail. On the other hand, I didn't like getting used to its sluggishness. Whether it's bunny hops or climbs up logs - everything works much better on an organic bike.
Nevertheless, for me, the Turbo Levo is currently the best-looking e-mountainbike on the market, and the Brose motor is still the benchmark in my eyes. Admittedly: The suspension reaches its limits on rough descents, and the long chainstays make manual rides a feat of strength, but I can cope with that. I'm reluctant to give the Levo back - it's just so damn beautiful!
PLUS Motor function (quiet), tyres, area of use
MINUS Chassis, long chainstays, paint chipping
CONCLUSION: The stylish Specialized Turbo Levo has a powerful, quiet motor and impressed us with its wide range of use.
FREERIDE editor Laurin Lehner initially abused the Specialized Torbo Levo to commute to the office without having to shower afterwards - and because he liked it so much. Then he discovered the true benefits of an e-mountainbike and has been getting on his colleagues' nerves with his attempts at proselytising ever since.
Specialised Turbo Levo Comp
Spring travel: 150 mm / 150 mm
Steering angle: 66°
Reach / Stack: 431 mm / 609 mm
Weight: 21,7 Kilo
Price: 5700 Euro
Laurin Lehner
Editor
