[Closed] E-MTB upgrades - forks, brakes, dropper, etc

Do all the models have the same size battery now? Used to be that the bottom 2 in the range had a ~20% smaller capacity battery than the top 2. Worth checking.

The top two models have a 700W.hr battery and the rest have a 500W.hr - but they cost like a million pounds whilst the bigger battery is ‘only’ £900 aftermarket. But from that calculator thing I shouldn’t need it (I do rather like pedalling!)

Sounds entirely reasonable to me.

Levos are pretty pricy for what you get and it sounds like you're basically wanting to spend roughly the price of a Levo comp (£5k) after you've recouped some cash from selling the OEM brakes and fork to end up with a levo with a better fork, dropper and brakes. I'd choose guide REs over the V4s and probably go for a Brand-X 150 or 170mm dropper depending on which one will fit saving more money for the same/similar performance.
700wh battery will be fine for anyone who's still happy to pedal regular bikes for a few hours. (and it's noticably lighter than the larger 700w).

A levo doesn't really tick any of the boxes I'd be looking for in an Emtb but if it did (Geometry, wheelsize and travel) I'd only be interested in the carbon Levo but as you say it's ridiculously expensive

bear in mind a lot of levo owners are less than enamoured by the performance of the rear suspension. I've no idea if they simply don't know how to set-up a shock properly, maybe are out of the weight range and the shock is struggling or if it's a mismatch with the OEM shocks/tunes and LC of the levo. Haven't really looked into it but the same moans were present with 2018 levo owners too.

No complaints here about my old 2017 Levo or my current Kenevo

As for brake upgrades, i went for Hope V4's and binned the Guide R's on the Levo and the Code R's on the Kenevo, brakes work so much better with a consistent lever feel

I also binned the wheel and tyres, the 2017 Levo and Kenevo are well known for soft rims that dent easily at low pressures and the Butcher tyres are rubbish

Replaced mine with Stans mk3 flow rims built in to hope pro4 hubs with Maxxis Minion DHF on the front and rear, loads more grip and the wheels have stayed dent free and true

As for dropper posts, the Brand X is good value for money, the lever is cheap and not very nice feeling and the post is a bit slow to return compared to other posts

Best upgrade for a Levo is the BLevo app, it allows you to tune the bike much more than you can with specialized's mission control app

Join the Levo and Kenevo Facebook page and you will get a wealth of knowledge

Personally I'm not impressed with those Bikeyoke posts. A mate has one on his Eeb. He sung about the benefits of being able to reset it before he bought it. Seems to me it needs resetting an awful lot, plus you have to give it a weeks notice in writing when you want it to return to the top of its travel...

I'll stick with my Reverb (jinxed now obvs)

Spesh's 2017 Ebikes aren't really all that comparible to the 2019 Levo

SRAMs current REs feel nothing like the old Rs (I agree the Rs had inconsistent lever feel)

and the Brand X posts come with a new lever now that's much better made and nicer to use

The REs are 4 pot, the Rs would be 2 pot I guess.

I’m happy with my REs, only once had an issue where I couldn’t lock the rear up when I wanted to on a mega steep singletrack section in the Alps.

I’ve got some Uberbike race matrix pads to throw in next to see how they work, they’re great on our DH bikes

If you can put up with a 2018 Turbo Levo Carbon, I rode both the 2018 and 2019 before choosing the 2018 on discount, Rutland were offering a further 10% of over the weekend and yesterday, putting the price below £4k.

Still a lot of money but a big saving over new.

I have upgraded my wheels to Sixth Element and tyres from Grid to Blck Dmnd. My daughter gave me a shorter Hope stem but not got round to fitting it yet.

Not had any problems with the rear shocks, just set them up the same as our Stumpjumpers.

Got a new set 29er carbon Rovals on the garage wall that will probably go on the 2017 Turbo Levo once we decide which tyres will fit for the best clearance.

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Oh Alex.

*wanders off shaking his head*

wwaswas - Hahahaha

Alex following your post i did a bit of googling - there are some decent deals out there! i can se this being a hot topic at hte weekend.

I'm fighting the urge for one at the moment. Personally the only Levo that interests me is the S-Works one, but at £10k, there is no way on earth I would consider it, despite the nice integration they have.

I'm looking at the Vitus, Canyon or Commencal.

it's only between the Vitus and Canyon for your riding Hob Nob.

Check out Canyon's recommended use and what they'll warranty it for.

Colp my REs are on Uberbike Sintered and working well.
I tried Uber race matrix in my DH bikes and didn't really think they were much of an improvement over the sintered.
Uber semi metalic (bought by mistake) were awful in the Alps in Guide RS that are fine on Sintered

Just picked up a 2019 base levo, swapped forks (42mm offset 160mm Yari) brakes (guide RE) and dropper (ooneupcomponents).

It rides great.

Been doing all sorts of mannys, turn bars and jumps on it.

Rear shock feels great too, opened up the air can to install volume spacers, it's rammed full with them stock, I'm sure people looking for a comfy sofa might find the ramp up too much if they're looking for "plush".

it's ****ing happening... isn't it?

heheh

Just ordered one!

Don't keep us in suspense. What you gone for

Good man!

Strange your mate's not getting on with the Revive, love my 185mm jobbie, did an on-bike bleed when I got it and 3 months later I have yet to have to do it again despite some big rides in horrific clart.

It also returns plenty fast, not quite the 'plum slapper'of the spesh command post but perfectly quick enough.

Maybe get it looked at.

Alex ... you’ve changed!

Looking forward to seeing the Levo in action. I expect it’ll raise a few eyebrows amongst some of the locals!

Well, yes and no! I love a good techy climb but we're a bit short of them around here - I just climb to descend! Then again, I did only ride hardtails until a few years back and only got more than ten gears a few months ago...

It's a base model 2019 Turbo Levo FSR in dayglo yellow (officially Hyper Green), with a 160mm Lyrik RC2 42mm offset, Hope V4 203mm brakes and a BikeYoke Revive Max 185mm. Sledgehammer to crush a nut? Maybe! 😉

(I have a Revive 185mm on my Spitfire and have only had to revive it twice - once when new and once when I moved the post when it was hanging on the vertical stand in the garage).

Get some pics up so we can all have a look

Pics to follow when it's built - they're waiting on the fancy bits for the custom build.

Guess I need some pedals too - is there anything out there that feels as good as a DMR Vault?

Seeing how your first question panned out. I'm going to go out on a limb and say. No.
YOU won't find anything that feels as good as a vault

😀

Ha! I've had a look at the Nukeproof Horizons and they're narrower than the Vaults - I know it's only 5mm but I already ride with my feet as wide apart as I can (if I was in charge every MTB would have an 83mm BB) - my conventional deadlift stance is similarly wide. The One-Up pedals are wide but they're convex not concave - I've had flat flat pedals and I don't like them as much as the fairly heavily dished Vaults. If I go with the Vaults I'll fill them with marine grease from new!

Apart from the DMR V twins that our daughter rides with 99% of the time apart from Hopes at Bolehills with the dirt bike we have a multitude of pedals in the garage. I'm still a fan of my old Pro Mags due to the small platform, don't know what I will do when they give up on me. We have a mixture of Vaults, V12s, Hopes, Burgtecs, Bennies and Boomslangs.

The Boomslangs are by far the best grip of them all but are too big for my feet and need a special tool to service, the pins are like puppies teeth and make a right mess if they catch you. The Burgtec have the least grip by far and if they hadn't been bought as a present would have been sold by now.

I’ve been curious about the Boomslangs for a while. I don’t like the pins in the middle so they’d have to come out but if they’re wide enough, thin enough and durable they could be a good choice.

Thinking of putting a Hillbilly 29x2.6 up front straight away, looks a good size (same as a Shorty 2.5?) and a nice compromise between the Shorty and DHR2.

Our set has been clattered all over the UK and Europe, not had to service them yet and were bought when they first came on sale, don't tend to see much of a discount on them.

If you are putting a Hillbilly on the front then I would go for the Blck Dmnd casing just for the sidewall strength over and above the grid. Our daughter has put the new Eliminator on the back of her 29er and says its better than the Butcher in the mud

I'd consider the black diamond casing (BLCK DMND is stupid to type and read!) on the back but it's probably overkill for me on the front as I currently ride Maxxis Exo both ends and rarely have problems. Eliminator looks good as an in between but too tightly packed for serious mud.

Oh god, there's so many tyres out there! On my 27.5 bikes I have an array of Maxxis (Shorty 2.5, DHR 2.5 and HR2 2.4 for the front; Shorty 2.3, DHR2 2.4 and DHR2 2.3 for the rear) and that's me covered in all scenarios. This Levo comes with Butcher 2.6 which I suspect will be fine on the back in most conditions and now for the front in winter I'm thinking:

Hillbilly 2.6

Shorty 2.5

Magic Mary 2.35

Michelin Wild Enduro F 2.4

I think they're all pretty much the same size despite the wide range of claimed widths. Part of me is bothered by the idea of mismatched brands front to rear and the other part isn't...

You won't have any problem running Exo on an Ebike either.
All the drama about needing thicker casings is nonsense. You'll descend using exactly the same lines as you did on your regular bike once you get stronger and used to the extra force needed to preload, manual, jump and pump it.
Don't be tempted to go super soft on rear compound either, Yes they'll allow you to be a lazy **** and not bother weighting the bike properly to find grip when boosting up the unclimbable but they'll also make it an absolute ****ing chore to pedal above assistance limit and knock a chunk off your battery range.

I’ve found I prefer how the harder Maxxis Dual compound feels on the back, compared to the 3C MaxTerra - it’s less squirmy on hard ground, especially in berms, and stays sharper edged and thus grippier for longer in the soft stuff. As it’s coming with a pair of Butcher Grid Gripton 2.6 I’m planning to run them out back, hopefully they won’t be too soft.

Also, I want a tyre that still rolls - so many trails will be quicker than the motor will assist, if I even leave it on for descending.

Hearing positive things about the new Michelin tyres but that Hillybilly looked and felt good in the shop.

I run dual compound or 60a F&R on all my bikes.
aint racin so why care about ULTMT GRPZ

Pablo updated Blevo to be compatible with 2019s but faster rolling tyres will still be nicer on the flat even with it installed.

Any pics yet

It's ready! Picking it up later. Might be covered in mud before I get any photos...

I hope you'll be winding Rob up with it later?

"I hope you’ll be winding Rob up with it later?"

I must bring a tow rope in case he's struggling on the hills...

It's definitely a thing Chief.
a well known local ex professional mtb rider passed me the other day at inners being towed by a strap by another rider on a Haibike Emtb.

I was stopped on the fire road chillin' zero drama. as simple hello from all involved before this kicks off. 😉

post pics. What size did you go for BTW?

I've gone for a (medium-sized) large. 455mm reach, same as my Spitfire full-sus and Zero AM hardtail. Felt nice, chuckable monster truck! Also ordered a tow rope*.

*This may be for my children and my other bikes, but still...

Link to the tow rope please?   I'm gonna call mine a **** taunter™...

Still yet to meet one of these ****s IRL but it could be a lot of fun if I ever do  😉

[edit] didn't really think **** was rude enough to need hidden from kittens eyes

Anyone used the Thule UpRide carrier? It holds the front wheel rather than the frame. Or am I the only person stupid enough to lift a 45lb bike onto my roof?

https://www.gonebikingmad.co.uk/towwhee.html

Looks a good idea. Doubtless someone will come along and tell us they could make one for 20p...

Not being able to lift 45lb would make you weaker than a pre-pubescent child. not stupid

Sorry. Can't really help with roof carriers mine all either go in the car or on a towbar rack.

It’ll certainly be easier than putting my 6 man air beam tent in the loft!