Fully trail-ready, slim and under 17 kilos: About a year ago, Specialized revolutionised the E-MTB concept with the Levo SL. It's worth taking a closer look.
In fact, we didn't just take a look, but handed the Specialized Levo SL directly to our roving reporter Christian Schleker for an endurance test. The light trail bike had to withstand Schleker's tough off-road missions for a whole year. Over a total of 1895 kilometres and 60,800 metres of elevation gain, the Levo SL showed all its strengths - and weaknesses.
Key data for the Specialized Turbo Levo SL S-Works
- Price: 12999 Euro
- Weight: 16.8 kg (frame size M)
- Drive: Specialized SL 1.1 with a maximum of 240 watts and 35 Nm
- Battery capacity: 320 Wh / + optional range extender with 160 Wh
- Suspension travel: 150 millimetres
We were particularly interested in how the SL-1.1 motor performs in the long term - and whether the Light Assist concept is convincing. Is a 320 watt-hour battery and a weak motor any fun at all? If so, who is this e-mountainbike category suitable for?
Also exciting: even bikes like the Specialized Levo SL, which costs just under 13,000 euros in the S-Works version, are obviously not perfect. Over the kilometres, components such as the electronic seat post, the brakes and the fork turned out to be weak points. But there was also potential for improvement in the damping behaviour of the rear triangle.
However, the 365-day stress test did not pose any unsolvable tasks for our author, who probably knew all the answers to the Specialised Levo SL in continuous use as well as suggestions for solutions to maximise the performance of even the most expensive bikes. The XXL endurance test in the EMTB issue 1/21 - order now.
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Max Fuchs
Editor
