I’d be interested in hearing your thoughts about how more or less ‘enjoyable’ you riding is..also what’s it like taking a 50lb bike off a drop..

Not riding, but have ridden.

It’s a bloody riot! You soon adapt to the extra weight, and it’s located low enough to help the bike feel good. Handling is nearly as good as a “normal” 6Fattie, I’d say.

In the right application it would be hilarious. Am trying to borrow one for a trip to BPW. I reckon it would beat the buses up the hill with minimal effort. Great on the way down, too.

In the wrong application, you are going to be on a big, heavy bike. I can only imagine the trail tourettes that would occur if you were on a long ride, getting tired, and the battery died on you. You’d be left tired, and lugging a lump.

That aside…BRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAP!

They had two at a Spesh demo I went to at Stainburn earlier this year. I didn’t ride one but everyone that did came back smiling. Except the Spesh employee that grabbed a go at the end of the day just as the battery died…..he wasn’t thrilled about pedalling 42lbs of full suss leccy bike up the hill!

I saw one in a bike shop in california – bikeshopdood said they’re outselling non-powered mtbs

Bloody brilliant they are, you really don’t notice the (44lbs-ish) weight when riding up (obvs) or down. It’s no heavier than DH bikes of 7-8 years ago and not the heaviest bike I’ve owned.

Singletrack climbs are super fun, long dull fire roads are over quickly, stuff that’s fun on a normal bike is just as fun.

I was at that stainburn demo day, and ordered mine a week later, had it since May…

Where are you? Specialized concept store in Harrogate has a couple of demo bikes…

Re battery life.

The accompanying app allows you to tell it the length/duration of your ride, and it will manage he power accordingly. You really don’t need full power if you aren’t on Tarmac or a fireroad drag either, Eco (30% power) is by far the best mode, but the outputs of all the modes are all customisable in the app. If you download it there is a demo mode so you can see how it works. It’s called mission control.

I had a ride on the hardtail version yesterday as I see my 100% self-propelled pedalling days as being somewhat limited. It was hilarious fun and I was really surprised by how much easy it was to jump. It’s not if I buy one but when…

I’m by Banbury, sunny Oxfordshire..I was thinking of asking Leisure Lakes in Daventry..I thought of trying it out for a day at Cwmcarn. 1 long climb/ long descents on the Twrch trail and several ascents/descents on the Carell..seems like a good mix.

I have one, sold a few of the fleet to scratch the ebike itch. So far (2 months in) it’s been great. Rides and handles a little sluggishly compared to my 5010 but that’s as expected. I find that the 3″ tyres deaden the trail a bit too much for my liking as well but it jumps, drops, wheelies and manuals just dandy. Was out in the White Peak last weekend, 2 Levo’s and 4 “normal” bikes and I don’t think you could have told us apart. Great fun seeing what insanely steep climbs you can get it up.

As someone who had ridden a crappy old Haibike Enduro thing a couple of year ago which was terrible, I rode one of the Levo’s a couple of months ago.

The only caveat was It had 29@ wheels rather than the pointless plus stuff.

In short, it was bloody brilliant. The weight was noticeable, but I didn’t actually mind it. I came back knackered from riding it, ended up riding everything flat out, everywhere. Balanced when jumping & hitting some (small-ish) step-downs etc. All in a great bike.

I wouldn’t own one as my only bike, unless I was physically in a position where I had to – I still race DH & Enduro, so it’s not really an option either. I know of a few people who race DH at a very high level Welsh based who use them as a training bike now to uplift old DH tracks they no longer have access to – smash up the fire roads & down the DH tracks. Great idea.

Had a car park blast on tomhowards and it was ace (big love TH!)

Didn’t get it off-road but it felt great just bimbling uphill – definitely a different ride and once you got used to it on techs Singletrack I reckon rides like cut gate and the bigger push-ups in the lakes would become exponentially more accessible. Whether that’s seen as a good or bad thing I’ll leave for others to worry about – but if it did get you out there you’d have a hard job pushing it if you couldn’t ride it

Tmb, if you want a more comprehensive go, drop me a mail, I’m sure we can organise something 😉

I’ve never tried one but the thing that put me off is the lack of controller on the handlebars. When riding I’m often switching up and down the power modes when faced with differing terrain and I wasn’t sure I’d like to reach down to the button on the side of the down tube and take my hand off the handlebar.

I see these are running (I think) a 530w motor- how does this fit in with the UK power limits for e-bikes? Thought they were limited to 250w for use outside of private land unless licensed etc?

@tomhoward….I might have to take you up on that…I’ll bring cake.

Vinny, the average output is 250w, so is legal, as I understand it.

I guess they say that as the crank isn’t connected to the chainring directly. It works by you putting an input into the motor, then the motor drives the chainring. Eg you put in 200 watts of power, so the motor gives 450w to the chainring. Happy to be told otherwise…

Too late to edit, I guess a better way of saying would be that it never adds more than 250w to your effort.

If you can do jumps on these e-bikes, manual them, do drop offs etc then why are you on them in first place? Lazy feckers, if you’re fit enough to blast these things downhill, you’re fit enough to be pedaling up.

If you can do jumps on these e-bikes, manual them, do drop offs etc then why are you on them in first place? Lazy feckers, if you’re fit enough to blast these things downhill, you’re fit enough to be pedaling up

What’s being fit enough got to do with it?

If I dont have to pedal up, I can do more of the fun stuff, as I’m not as knackered. And it makes the ups more fun.

Km79…not true..I love to ride down ( fast )..but having kicked a 30yr smoking habit only 4 years ago I struggle massively on the climbs. If one of these makes my mountain biking days out more enjoyable or I can venture further higher etc…to places I wouldn’t be able to go otherwise then I’m all for it..

@ tomhoward..where abouts in the UK are you?

I’m in Leeds/Harrogate area

Do you ever go into north Wales?

I’ve been to degla twice this year?

km79 – Member
If you can do jumps on these e-bikes, manual them, do drop offs etc then why are you on them in first place? Lazy feckers, if you’re fit enough to blast these things downhill, you’re fit enough to be pedaling up.

Exactly.

Ignorant reaction. Have you ridden one?

They are great fun. Instead of riding 20 miles in 2 hours your can ride 30. The ebike multiplies your own output so the more you put in the faster you go. Try it with a heart rate monitor – you will find that the calorie burn is the same.

You are burning the same calories, putting in the same effort but riding 50% more trails. So ignorance and prejudice is gettng in the way of having a good time.

Lap it up while you can, as these things get more powerful, faster and more common, it will lead to tears on the access front. All for the sake of some selfish people wanting more, more and more. 50% more for same effort now, where does it end? And I’m the ignorant one…

ffs, how many times do I have to explain this.

THEY ARE NOT EBIKES IF THEY ARE MORE POWERFUL THAN 250W OR GO MORE THAN 25KPH!

There can be no ‘arms race’ for the most powerful, or fastest as they are limited by law, any more than that and they are motorbikes, in the eyes of the law.

Given the amount of times I’ve said this, in threads you have been part of, then yes km79 you are the ignorant one

THEY ARE NOT EBIKES IF THEY ARE MORE POWERFUL THAN 250W OR GO MORE THAN 25KPH!

ehrm….if it has an electric motor which drives the wheel then it is an electric powered bike.

Lets not let the bike manufacturers and their desire to get your money out of your pocket with some clever interpretation of the law

250W maximum power output or 250W average power output? Which is an e-bike and which is an electrically powered bicycle?

Do you think the people pushing back on our land access ambitions will be able to tell the difference?

Do you think the people pushing back on our land access ambitions will be able to tell the difference?

Yes

Hth

Do you think the people pushing back on our land access ambitions will be able to tell the difference?

Would the average member of public even know an e-bike like a Levo over a normal MTB?

I don’t own one, nor do I have any intention at this point in my life of owning one, yet I don’t feel the need to get my knickers in a twist & belittle other peoples choices 🙂

Would the average member of public even know an e-bike like a Levo over a normal MTB?

They soon will when they’re effortlessly whizzing past them in numbers up some hill path or other.

They’ll see the pedals turning, and a bike moving (you do know they don’t go at top speed everywhere, right), as they do now, so unless they ask every rider how hard he is working, how would they know he’s not just a fit rider? If the rider isn’t pedalling and moving uphill then he is riding a motorbike, and that’s illegal.

Out of interest, what advise do you have to offer the OP, specific to the bike he’s asking about? Or are you trying to deliberately derail the thread.

250W maximum power output or 250W average power output? Which is an e-bike and which is an electrically powered bicycle?

Both mean the same. It’s just how you express them. As what if you were putting 280w into the motor? Thats where the 530w comes from. 250w from the motor, 280 from you.

Right, ok, interesting – but i don’t understand, so i’ll set side my instinctive dislike for the sake of education

So where is the average? If i rode it and applied 180w, would it still kick out 250W or would it kick out 350w to get to the same 530w?

Surely is shouldn’t matter to the motor how much power you put in, it should only ever produce a maximum of 250w – where is the average?

It depends on what mode you are in but the motor essentially matches what you put in. So if you put in 180w the motor would put in 60w/90w/180w (Eco is 30%, trail 50%, turbo is 100% as standard, all are customisable but no mode goes over 100%.

So 240w/270w/360w is going through the wheel but the motor never gives more than 250w. so if you are in turbo mode, there is no point putting in more than 280 watts as it won’t give you any more than 530w at the wheel, unless you are over 25kph, then it’s all coming from your legs as the motor (by law) has to switch off totally.

If you are in Eco mode (30%), your legs would provide 355w and the motor 175w, giving you more of a workout. You can ask for as little as 10% assist.

*edit* these are all assumptions based on me riding it and playing with all the settings, if anyone actually knows the tech behind how it works, I’m happy to be corrected.

Edit 2. Think of the motor as a device that simply combines the 2 inputs (battery and legs) into one output at the chainring, but it will never take more than 250w from the battery.

Thanks Tom

Suitably educated 🙂

Instinctive dislike diminished?

ha ha – not a chance

Still cheating yourself 🙂