Specialized Levo SL Review
Your best ride amplified.
It’s All About the Ride
The Specialized Levo SL is tough enough to withstand heavy abuse, light enough move around easily, and - thanks to the Genie shock - offers a magic carpet ride feel.
The generous cockpit centres you on the bike, boosting traction and cornering control. Its highly adjustable geometry, with a low bottom bracket and slack headtube angle, ensures stability on rough terrain while allowing sharp turns. Paired with a lightweight drive unit, it delivers e-bike power with trail bike handling.
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.
Magic Carpet Ride
The latest Levo SLs now feature a 150mm rear suspension upgrade with the Fox Float X Genie shock. This shock improves small bump response without losing sensitivity, offering a flatter spring curve for a more “coil-like” feel. The result is enhanced grip, a smoother ride over rough terrain, and strong bottom-out resistance. Its piggyback reservoir also maintains consistent performance on long, demanding descents.
All the Genie equipped bikes get a Fox 36 fork offering 160mm of composed travel up front for capable control on rough trails.
How the Genie Works
The Fox Float X Genie is a dual chamber shock that offers a two-stage spring rate. In the first 70% of travel both chambers are open offering a flatter spring curve for a very supple, sensitive feel. When the shock reaches the last 30% of travel the outer chamber shuts off, reducing the air volume for a more progressive spring curve that prevents bottom-outs.
The Genie offers the best of both worlds - coil and air - with extra spring curve tunability and zero compromise.
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, adjustable geometry, and Genie shock 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.
