I really was just riding along (up a very steep climb) it went fizz and lots of oil and gas (air?) bubbled out at the lockout/rebound knob.

I’ve always liked how it felt (lbut due to life getting in the way it hasn’t yet been to anywhere with long gnarly descents. It’s the stock shock on my 2019 Levo so had the Specialized Rx tune (I presume it’s tuned to have more damping than normal because it’s a large ebike so the bike+rider weight is likely to be high).

I run tons of sag, 37% – I tried more normal amounts but it just feels really good like that (I run 30% on the 160mm Lyrik). Used to run 28% sag on my previous full-sus which had a DBair.

It’s looking like the best part of £200 and a bit of a wait to get it repaired. Or I could get something else? Slightly tempted by a coil for less maintenance and better performance.

I wrote a long post but the forum reset and lost it. Anyway, i have an ohlins coil, the sensitivity and damping is amazing. However im 100kg so it either need 14 clicks of 16 on the compression, set by TF, or the cascade link which ive fitted and dialled the compression back to 6 clicks. Don’t get a cane creek inline. A mate snapped the shaft on his and i think they’ve recalled them again for the levo but just in case youre in the secondhand market. Theres just too much flex in the rear, something the cascade link also reduces.

There’s a guy halfway down this link selling an Ohlins coil for the Levo

https://www.emtbforums.com/community/threads/which-rear-shock-upgrade-for-a-2020-levo.9742/.

Not managed to break one yet but Plush Suspension have been first class for service and advice

Blown o-ring on the compression rod. There is 2 tiny o-rings on the rod and if they fail that’s why the oil and air come out from behind the rebound dial. When i had my shock apart to alter the stroke, i noticed that they were very dry, and the rod was hard to pull out, so i put a light coating of grease on them. The lockout lever seemed to move a lot more freely than before after greasing them.

Page 34 fig 4 https://www.servicearchive.sram.com/sites/default/files/techdocs/gen0000000006011_rev_b_2018-2020_deluxe_service_manual_english_0.pdf

Thanks, that’s great to know, sounds like a pretty standard service will fix it!

👍 No probs. Just to add, the oil is under fairly high pressure from the ifp so will kinda fizz out a bit. If you are sure there was air being released, it may be the case that the ifp seal has failed as well as the comp rod orings. Yes a service should fix it.

Yes, it was very fizzy! I hadn’t looked at the service manual before, so I’d assumed there was a bladder up at the top which had split, but now I see there’s an IFP at the other end and you’ve pointed out these o-rings that’s reassuring. How would IFP gas get from one end to the other – is the compression shaft hollow?

When I got the Levo I assumed I’d want to replace this shock pretty soon but I’ve been amazed how well it suits me.

The damper tube is hollow, the compression rod fits inside and the 2 o rings are what stops the oil coming up through the tube and out through the rear of the dial. The ifp air chamber is below the oil in the damper body. If the ifp seal has failed the air will come out mixed with the oil.

Makes sense! I believe that because it’s a 210×52.5 shock on the Levo, I could have an internal spacer removed to turn it into a 55mm stroke, giving 7mm more travel after where it currently bottoms out.

Yes, that’s what I did. Its the big blue spacer in the air chamber. Mine is from a lapierre zesty so yours may be a different colour. I think they come in grey on certain bikes. Check you have enough tyre/seatube clearance before doing so though. I changed my 140mm 29er zesty in to 160mm 29er (spicy essentially) by swapping the spacer out and changing the revelation fork air spring.

Yes, the internet seems certain that 55mm stroke is fine on a Levo. I just went to check, let all the air out of the shock but it’s not letting me get more than two thirds into the travel before it goes almost solid, so I’m guessing that damper oil is now in the air spring…