Specialized Levo SL Review
Your best ride amplified.
It’s All About the Ride
The Specialized Levo SL offers peerless trail bike handling. The super-adjustable geometry is based on the Stumpjumper EVO, winner of multiple Trail Bike of the Year awards.
The generous cockpit centres you on the bike, optimizing traction and corner control. The low bottom bracket, slack headtube angle, and reduced fork offset keep things stable in the rough while giving you the freedom to destroy the turns. Combined with a lightweight drive unit you get e-bike power with trail bike manners.
More Power
The new Turbo SL 1.2 motor offers 43% more torque (50Nm) and 33% more power than its predecessor. It’s also much more efficient, so the 320Wh battery will amplify your natural pedalling power for up to 5 hours in Eco Mode.
If you want to ride further, you can slide the 160Wh range extender battery into your bottle cage for 50% more range. The range extender is included with the S-Works bike and is available separately for all other models.
Less Noise
As well as offering more power, the SL 1.2 motor is quieter, so you’ll hardly hear it when you’re riding. This is thanks to the 2-piece housing with honeycomb internal structure that damps the motor noise. It’s also got an IP67 weatherproof rating so you can ride in all weathers without worry.
The motor supports a broad pedaling range that matches your most efficient cadence (70 – 100 rpm is ideal).
Tuneable Control
The Mastermind TCU (Turbo Control Unit) with handlebar remote switch controls the power modes. The 3 main power modes are infinitely adjustable in the Mission Control App, so you can set them up to your preferences. You can also switch to micro tune mode on the fly for 10% incremental power adjustment.
The Levo SL offers an intuitive combination of human and electrical input monitoring. You can view metrics like your cadence and pedal power alongside motor performance. It can connect to a heart rate monitor and can even log your airtime.
Suspension Capability
The 150mm of rear suspension travel is tuned to offer maximum control on challenging terrain. The rearward axle path soaks up big square edge hits better. The lower leverage rate makes the suspension very sensitive in normal riding conditions while maintaining good bottom-out resistance on bigger impacts.
The 160mm travel Fox 36 fork offers capable control on rough trails. And the rear shock has a piggyback reservoir for more consistent performance on challenging terrain.
Adjustable Geometry
While the bike feels great in the stock settings, you can adjust the Levo SL to suit different terrain and riding styles. Fitting the supplied ovalized headset cup, you can increase or decrease the headtube angle by one degree from the stock 64.5° setting.
There is also a flip chip on the rear shock which raises the bottom bracket height by +/- 5mm. Combined these two adjustments gives you 6 different settings. Lower and slacker for more stability at speed and on the steeps, higher and steeper for tight technical turns.
Mixed Wheels
The Levo SL features a “mullet” wheel setup. You get a 29” wheel up front for better roll-over ability and more sure-footed performance on hectic terrain. The 27.5” rear wheel leaves you more room to get down over the back on steep drops. The smaller rear wheel also offers snappy acceleration and responsive handling.
If you want unflappable stability at both ends, then the flip chip on the rear lengthens the chainstays and adjusts the geometry to accommodate a 29” rear wheel.
Levo SL Alloy
With the same motor, battery, control unit, mixed wheels, and adjustable geometry the only way that the Levo SL Alloy diverges from the rest of the range is the frame material. Made with Specialized M5 Alloy the frame adds a little weight to the bike but sacrifices none of the capabilities of the carbon models.
Specification wise the Levo SL Alloy gets the same Fox 36 Rhythm fork and Performance Float shock as the Comp Carbon model. Combining all this with a more affordable groupset the Alloy is the best value e-bike in the SL range.
