THE DIRT

This is one of the most fun and playful ebikes we’ve ridden. Our testers all love this bike and want to take it home. The Specialized 2.1 motor is quiet and powerful, the battery range is impressive and it rides lighter than many other bikes in the category. 

As much as we liked the bike on the trail, it had it’s limitations. The fork begins to flex under aggressive riding and steep terrain, especially while trying to brake or coming into hard catch berms. The head tube angle, at just over 66 degrees is incredibly fun and lively on 95% of terrain, but when you get it into that 5%, it gets a bit steep. The head tube and fork flex were two major factors in the bike coming in second place in our eMTB Roundup for the All Trail win. Now, this will only be a factor for aggressive riders who spend time pushing their equipment and charging steep and rough terrain. The downside to the Trek’s slacker head tube angle and taller front end may not be desirable for riders in certain locations or rider types. The Specialized will be snappier for riders looking at an ebike with those types of characteristics. 

As much fun as we had on the Specialized Turbo Levo we felt the spec could have been a little bit better for the price. Specifically, in terms of drivetrain, tires, and suspension. We had reliability and tuning issues with the drivetrain frequently, the brakes were mediocre and we punctured the tires more than once before switching to our Schwalbe Eddy Current rubber. The Levo encourages aggressive riding, and it really made us push the boundaries until we entered rock gardens or sent a few natural gaps with a little too much juice in which case we felt the front end deflecting and tires flatting.

Moving on from our nitpicking and focusing on the many great things this bike has to offer, it’s easy to see why we love it. It is a very precise bike, and we believe the 29er set up with 2.6-inch tires has a bit to do with it. The bike rolls fast and smooth and encourages non-ebike riding styles. What we mean is that manuals, nose bonks, poppy playful lines are all welcome aboard the Levo. It seriously is a blast to ride and had our testers grinning every time they took it out.

The FACT 9m carbon frame is stiff and responds well to rider input. The alloy rear end didn’t bother us at all. It was snappy, stiff, and we didn’t cry every time we dragged it across a rock face trying to climb weird new lines. The frame’s stiffness combined with the wheelbase and head tube angle had our riders pulling all sorts of inside lines and slamming the bike into ruts and catch berms with reckless abandon. Now that we think about it, that could be part of the reason we had some problems with the Roval wheels holding up.

During our test period, we took the Levo on more trails than we can remember. It performs well on rocky, chunder, and loose trails. We had a blast riding it on flatter, pedaly rides where beginners or those who aren’t looking to push the limits of gravity will ride. Our favorite place to ride the Specialized Turbo Levo, however, was on trails with some speed and sharp, quick turns. Laying this bike over in rutted corners, berms, or dropping a foot and drifting flat turns at speed all resulted in huge grins as fingers moved farther off the brake levers and firmly wrapped around the grips instead. If you want to build your own slalom track, this thing will slay.

The Wolf’s Last Word

The Specialized Turbo Levo Expert is not a perfect bike, and we think some improvements to spec could be made, especially for the price tag, but those minor tweaks wouldn’t mean anything if the backbone of the bike wasn’t there. The Levo is a very impressive eMTB and one of those machines that makes us excited for the future of ebikes.

If you are looking for an ebike, the Specialized Turbo Levo Expert certainly gets our recommendation. It wasn’t an easy decision putting the Levo in second place at this year’s eMTB Roundup as it fought tooth and nail with the Trek Rail and many other notable ebikes. Ultimately we think minor geometry differences and Bosch’s new CX motor were the deciding factors for our crew.

Price: $8,250;
Weight: 47.12 lbs
Website: Specializedbikes.com

CHASSIS
Frame: FACT 9m Carbon w/ Aluminum rear triangle, 150mm
Fork: Rock Shox Pike RC29; 150mm
Shock: Rock Shox Deluxe RT3

POWERPLANT
Battery: Turbo M2-700 w/rock guard; 700wH
Drive Unit: Specialized 2.1 Rx; 250w

COCKPIT
Brakes: SRAM Code R; 200mm
Handlebar: Specialized Trail; 780mm
Headset: Sealed
Saddle: Body Geometry Phenom
Seatpost: Specialized Command Post; 160mm
Shifter: SRAM S700, E-Click
Stem: Specialized Trail, 50mm

WHEELS
Hubs: Specialized (f); DT Swiss 360 (r)
Rims: Roval Traverse 29
Tires: Specialized Butcher Grid Casing; 29×2.6

DRIVETRAIN
Cassette: SRAM XG-1175; 10-42t
Cranks: Praxis; 165mm, 32t
Derailleur: SRAM X1; 11s