2018 Specialized Turbo Levo Review.

2018 Specialized Turbo Levo

I’m in the process of upgrading my 26 inch Giant Advanced to a 29 inch or 27.5 inch mountain bike. So I’ve been demoing a few different styles of bikes.

I decided to give an e-MTB bike a go. So I took the Specialized Turbo Levo out for a spin. What a blast. I did 31km’s and enjoyed every minute of it.

The Specialized Levo has 3 settings, ECO, trail and turbo. Trail is the middle setting and gives you more then enough power. ECO is a good setting for the twistie bits and turbo can get you up the biggest inclines.

The handling of the Specialized Levo was much better then I expected. The frame is based on the stumpjumper so I shouldn’t have been that surprised with how well it performed. It past all downhill tests with flying colors and cornering was excellent. The large 6Fattie tyre size glued the bike to the track.

The Levo also allowed me to get up parts of the trail that I would have struggled with big time on my 26 incher. Even through it was my first time out my skill level increased with the additional power and the ability of the bike to easily roll over most objects. Well my skill level is the same, the bike just made me look better then I am.

I think this is the bike for me. If I want a good workout I’ll just leave the setting on ECO. If I want to just have a great day out it’s turbo all the way. The only downside is the price as it’s quite a markup on the stumpjumper. But I figure I’ll probably ride it twice as much as it’s so much fun, so in my eye’s it’s worth the extra price tag.

1 month on.

Specialized Turbo Levo

I ended up getting the Specialized Turbo Levo and 1 month on I’m loving every minute of it. I’m hitting MTB trails I’d normally avoid either because they were to hilly or too technical. The bike is handling these trails without any issues.

I’m also getting out more as the riding this bike is awesome. I can’t get out enough.

I’ve had my Gear Fit 2 on and I can tell you I still get a great workout even in Turbo mode. My heart rate averaged 160 bpm on my last ride and I left it in Turbo all the way. Really happy I went with this bike.

Distance on a Single battery Charge.

The distance you can travel on a Specialized Turbo Levo per battery charge will of cause vary due to riders weight, fitness and trails conditions. However as a guideline I’m 85kg, ok fitness level and I took the bike out on a typical track. Below are the distances I could cover on the Levo:

• Turbo Mode: 35km.
• Trail mode: 50km.
• Mix of Turbo, Trail and Eco mode: 50km.

I’ll also do the same ride on just Eco mode and post the results here.

Bike Carrier for Levo.

When picking out a bike carrier for my Levo I had the following conditions:

1. Bike rack supported fat bike tires.
2. The bike carrier didn’t touch the frame, ie the bike rack secures the bike by the tire.
3. Fit’s onto the hitch of the towbar.

With the above criteria and a lot of searching I come up with the following short list (Note prices are in Australian dollars):

1. Saris SuperClamp EX 2  – $599
2. 1UP USA Quik Racks – Couldn’t find an AU supplier
3. Kuat NV2 – $980
4. Hollywood TRS SE – $489
5. Thule T2 Pro – $849

I ended up going with the Hollywood TRS SE. The main reason was due to price and availability of the bike racks in Australian. I’ve been extremely happy with the Hollywood TRS bike rack and would highly recommend it. The only downside is it’s a little on the heavy side. But great rack.

Specialized Levo Specs

For a full range of specs on the Specialized Turbo Levo goto the following Specialized page:

https://www.specialized.com/au/en/turbo-levo-fsr-carbon

Tags:

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