My name is xxxxx and I am about to buy an eBike….. Hi xxxxx…..!!

I feel like this is a confessional. Let me tell you my story. 42, Ex Rugby player, broke my neck in 2004, put on too much weight, bought a mountain bike after my rehab in 2007 and lost some weight but realised I was pretty strong in the legs, good skills from bmx / motox / motor bikes and although I was riding with faster and fitter guys I was not a million miles off them up, then faster downhill. I have tried loads of bikes, Spesh Stumpys, epics, S-works Stumpy, Yeti 575, Carbon Camber, EX9, 456 and really got into it all. Spent and sold loads on here. Did Mountain Mayhems, did Twenty47, did Cheddar Gorge comp, did Bikefest, Hell of the North Cotswolds and always rode well. In 2012 I bought a road bike, a Carbon Roubaix Comp and enjoyed road riding too. I was still over 20 stone but powerful with it. Road London to Paris in 2014 then set up my own company. Put on more weight, lost the ability to just get out and ride as working all hours and then in 2015 I managed to give myself a double hernia after lifting garden furniture above my head on my own rather than ask for help….. Fast forward 2 years, I have had the op, picked up a superbug, had another op, I have not ridden MTB since 2015 because of the hernias (on advice) and miss it. Less fit and another stone heavier I have decided that I will ride again and get fit enough to do more bike related activities.

So last night I decided enough is enough. I have been looking at eBikes, so I can still ride with my old crew, get back into it then get fit enough to ditch the motor and buy a norm bike. My old crew have got fitter, I have got fatter and not ridden.

Last night I spent £5k of money I would otherwise spend on upgrading my car (I have only ever bought one new bike before, I would NEVER spend this much on a bike normally) to buy a Specialized Turbo Levo Expert in the Troy Lee Designs ltd edition to 200 worldwide paintwork. I spent £2k more than I wanted to but I reckon I have the best all round eMTB, I have a stronger set of components, a great warranty from Spesh (I have claimed before and it is a good process) if needed, I have a rare colour scheme which should be better come sale time and heaven forbid, it gets nicked, it will be harder to hide (I hope…) and the upgraded larger battery.

I am looking forward to getting back on a MTB, eBike or not, I need to get fit for my family and I need to get riding again for ME.

If you see me pootling about, please don’t shout cheat, please don’t judge me as the fat man on an eBike, I am one of you, I am a biker who is using these new tools to get back into biking for the future.

Here endeth the confessional…..!

Thank you

A couple of my friends have gone down the e-Bike route to get them back out when otherwise fitness or health would hold them back. They seem to be loving it so hopefully you will too! I’m not sure I’m looking forward to riding with them though, as I’m expecting to be humiliated on the climbs.

Its all cycling. all a legal ebike does is help you up hills and it doesn’t make you lazy I find ( I have recently got one for my commute). I put in the same amount of effort but go quicker uphill

Looks good. Enjoy.

Good luck monsteryeti. That’s a great looking bike, Enjoy it.

cheers bike Bros!

Had a levo last year it’s a cracking bike you will have loads of fun

Ditto, I’ve the same bike but not the tld paint, it’s a great bike, not just a great ebike

Was at London Bike Show yesterday and saw a fair few eBikes, none were as pretty as that ^ ^
….Enjoy your new bike, get stuck back in! 🙂

Had a go on one of these at the weekend.

Di2 integrated into the drive system.

Holy crapola it was fun! Would be an epic bike for BPW. DIY uplift a go go!

Schwiiing! That kind of bike will be in my future.

Schwiiing! That kind of bike will be in my future.

Mine too – I’m hoping 20 years though!

Here’s my confession: sometimes I like to have fun without suffering for it. Sometimes I like to just go out and play having earned it just by getting through the day/week/life. I like ebikes. And road bikes. And mountain bikes. And cargo bikes. Any bikes. It’s all good. 🙂 enjoy it monsteryeti.

i was looking at them this weekend

don’t like the buttons on the downtube, but see you can get a wireless controller for handle bar

I’ve got a hai bike fat six, and love it, gets me out and about

commuted through woods and back over 25 miles to work yesterday

Looks lovely that although I’d go for the trek powerfly LT based on geometry. Either way better you’ll love it, ignore the haters and enjoy it! The sort of person who’d give a stranger stick for riding an ebike is most likely the kind of nobber whose opinion isn’t worth much anyway.

I do feel I have to apologise on my commute when I go whizzing past folk uphill ” sorry I’m cheating” and point to the battery!

Ebikes will only get more popular, all the tech research is in electric motors and battery capacity, weight and cost so there’s bound to be big improvements.

For sport I do endurance cycling so an ebike defeats that totally, I want to hurt on the climbs! But I could see me getting one to use on my commute, it’s too long to cycle every day but an ebike might make it viable

Ooohhhh mate thats a beauty!!! Great news that you’re going to be back out and about! Enjoy and make sure you post a pic of the bike filthy after it’s first proper spin!!

was only looking at those at lunch – they look spot on. Expecting a video like this in a months time from you

[video]https://youtu.be/fT6Z5Ftsyi4[/video]

That video is awesome… I may need a bit of time to get back into it before I ride like that.

Anyhow, bike arrive from Trendz today. Great service from Joe and Nick there. It is awesome. Paint scheme was worth the extra cash, it glitters. The kit is very solid and was easy to set up. It is charging at the moment and will get its first run out at the weekend.

Here are some clean pics before the mud fun starts!

Fantastic sir, have a blast!

Nice! Enjoy the first ride, and may it be the first of many 😀

I have the comp version and I really like it. My advice would be play with the settings in the app, you can alter the motor range/output quite a lot via it to get it to the best that you want for you. It’s worth playing with tyre pressures a bit too (I wound up just sticking 2.6″ tyres on mine!).

Good that you are back on a bike and enjoying riding.

I also have an ebike to enable me to get out more and ride. Just bought a new Felt Redemption ebike, had its first ride yesterday, also still ride a normal fat bike and hardtail.

Ignore the cheating jibe, most haven’t ridden an ebike, you don’t have to justify riding and having some fun.

cheers guys. Chvck, I have to say the 3′ tyres are MASSSIIIVVVVEEE. I was surprised how heavy the bike is but I guess there is a fair bit of solid kit in there, and my last bike was a Carbon Camber Expert, a light bike,

I have the pedals on, have set the pressures and sag on both shocks which I always use as a base to work from. Tomorrow night I will be helitaping the hell out of it and putting in tubeless valves and gunk.

Taking the bike and the app up the hill on Saturday to play with it and set it all up properly.

Looking forward to getting back out on a bike.

Cheers Dennis, good man, enjoy. I know I will.

Haha yeah my bike is a right lump, only really noticeable when trying to lift it though. When actually riding I don’t notice it on the descents and it jumps nicely. Did you use the specialized autosag on the shock? Seems to do a pretty good job of getting it right for me.

Yes, the fox magic sag thing. Seems ok, might need to add a few more PSI in as firm is not that firm, but haven’t played with the rebound yet either on the rear shock so will have a play.

How tall are you and what size did you get?

Spesh must love this thread, I just got the last red in large 🙂 can’t wait

Fit some invisiframe before you ride it; otherwise, you might cry when you bin it.

BTW you’re going to love riding the Levo 🙂

I bet Spesh are loving it.

Heli tape is being applied tonight all over it, got 3m x 75mm to cover the lot!

I am 6ft 1″ and have a Large. I prefer a more upright position at my age and belly size and the cabin feels roomy enough. It has a 45mm stem so if you needed more space you could get it without affecting agility too much.

Trenz were great and I would recommend. 0% interest helps too with the price on these things…..

Yes, the fox magic sag thing. Seems ok, might need to add a few more PSI in as firm is not that firm, but haven’t played with the rebound yet either on the rear shock so will have a play. [/I]

I’ve found that the autosag doesn’t compensate enough for having the seat high (and weight further back), so find I need to add extra 10psi (on my Camber). Otherwise it’s too ‘bouncy’ on the climbs.

Does look good, paints ace.

Bike does look very nice! £5k though, blimey, that’s a lot of cash!

Not saying it isn’t worth it, and spending on your health is better, but it’s a lot of money for a bike

Hope you have fun on it

Cheers again.

Enjoy Lester.

Tried fitting helitape myself, badly, looks sh1te.

On Ebay there is a seller (search Turbo Levo) who does trimmed full frame kits for it. Pricey again but worth it to cover the whole bike properly for years to come.

😯 That is lovely!! Enjoy 🙂

Do you have a link? I think it might be a bit late for me, my bike is covered in dinks to the paint now. I managed to take a fair bit of paint off the bottom bracket area on my first ride on it!

Here it is pal. As I said, I only ordered last night so will come next week. I have just covered it in tape for now, which I’ll remove when the kit arrives.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Bike-Lackschutzfolie-Specialized-TURBO-LEVO-extended-version-film-protection-/272444700148?var=&hash=item3f6ef835f4:m:mYMmbXiKJCbPPrZO-P5efpQ

Well, how’s it ride ? 🙂

I bought a Levo in red, bloody love it! I don’t think I’ll ever go back to a non ebike these things are too much fun!