Test riders Wolfgang and Tim agree: "It's a mini downhiller!" "Super fast, a blast!" "Confident downhill. A power!" And uphill? The two promptly become silent. Then they are much less euphoric, but unanimous again: "Well, it's enough to get uphill." We're talking about the new Specialized Kenevo SL. The carbon enduro bike has the same rear suspension kinematics as the company's own downhill bike, with which Loic Bruni has won consecutive world championship titles. The bike is super long and super flat, and can also be adjusted to be even longer and even flatter. A consistent gravity rocket with the look of a classic bike and the minimal-assist motor with which Specialized shook up the e-market a year ago. With the Levo SL, the light e-trail bike, the Americans have created the occasion for extensive fundamental discussions.
Convinced power e-bikers turn up their noses at the lean performance. Eco-minded, high-altitude foxes celebrate the potential savings in weight and performance as the new grail. In general, the light e-bike idea is polarising. And therefore particularly exciting. All the more so because manufacturers are gradually equipping more and more niches with the lightweight option. Specialized was the top dog when it came to trail bikes in 2020. This season, there is competition on a par with bikes from Rotwild and Orbea. Now it's the enduro bikes' turn. And Specialized has serious competition right from the start. Rotwild has launched the R.E375 with the same basic concept as the R.X375 trail bike: the classic Shimano EP8 with full performance potential and a removable 375 watt-hour battery in the full carbon frame. However, the R.E375 is in a completely different league when it comes to geometry: flat, long and with 170 millimetres of travel at the front and rear. It also has stable tyres and still weighs just under 20 kilos. Well, that's not quite as impressive as the lean mass of the light e-trail bikes, but it's still around five kilos lighter than a classic e-enduro bike. Thanks to the significantly weaker motor and smaller battery, the Kenevo SL is another half a kilo lighter.
For enduro bikes, the light concept seems to make sense at first glance and is less worthy of discussion. Bikes in this category are optimised for fast and hard downhill riding. Climbs are more of a means to an end. The aim is to reach the summit as often as possible in order to enjoy as many hard and fast descents as possible. However, as enduro bikes without a motor can weigh 15 to 16 kilos these days, it is difficult to tackle the numerous ascents without a lift and shuttle. So what could be better than a little helper in the bottom bracket that lets you forget the heavy tyres and massive suspension elements on the climbs so that you can leave the brakes on downhill without regret? Nothing, really.
We went into this duel with this basic attitude - our focus was clearly on downhill performance. Key questions: How much riding fun and safety do the two rivals have to offer? How close is the handling to that of a classic enduro bike? And how many climbs can you actually manage with these small batteries? Of course, we do not ignore riding performance and fun, even though these disciplines are not the main focus.
You can download the complete test duel of the two lightweight E-enduro bikes from EMTB 2/2021 as a PDF below the article. The test costs 1.49 euros.
Why not free of charge? Because quality journalism has a price. In return, we guarantee independence and objectivity. This applies in particular to the tests in EMTB. We don't pay for them, but the opposite is the case: we charge for them, namely tens of thousands of euros every year.
