Bought a Gen 3 Levo comp alloy late in October last year to replace the same model bike that was stolen.

Within 50 miles I started having issues with crazy over run and also power cutting out, plus issues with inconsistent brakes.

Bike spent a month in a local branch of the supplying shop having a new motor fitted and the brakes bled etc.

First ride out after getting it back and whilst I’m trying to climb a steepish hill the bike cut out without no warning which resulted in me falling off and the bike landing on my leg casing significant bruising(I’m on blood thinners after heart surgery). The bike also cut out a few times after this on the ride for about 2-3 seconds then came back to life.

This weekend we visited FOD and the same thing has happened. Climbing up to the start of the trails and the bike cuts out again and continues to do so 5 more times over 10 miles. I had to cut the ride short because of this (Plus my gears wouldn’t change down).

I’ve lost faith in the bike. I’ve had two other Levos and not had any issues with them?

This has done about 100 miles in total and just under 30 miles on the new motor.

What are my options here? Its a 2 hour round trip to the branch of the bike shop who sold me the bike.

What (if any) are my rights with regards to rejecting the bike? or do I suck it up and give the shop another opportunity to mend it?

You can take a specialized to any dealer for warranty claims. Find a decent shop near to you and leave it with them.

Dont take it to a Specialized shop

Speak to Chris Reily AKA the Levo king at Berkshire cycles, even if your not near him still speak to him as he can still help you out, also Rich at RaceCo Cycles in Brimingham is meant to be very good when it comes to issues with Levo’s

As you have had it less than 6 months and you have let them try to fix the issue and the same issue still persists you do have the right to reject the bike if i remember correctly

Just take it to Rich at RaceCo.

A month to replace a motor? I would be finding a new shop. Its at most an hours job (I can have the on in my Kenevo SL, in and out in less than 10mins!!!).

As above, RaceCO, Berkshire Cyles and I;ll add in Certini, all know what they are doing.

To be fair the shop in question have been really good so I dont want people thinking this is a slating of them. Far from it.

The reason it was in the shop so long was that they were waiting for parts from specialized.

Rich at RaceCo is extremely local to me and has been spot on in the past hen he sent back a pair of Zebs for warranty even though I dint purchase from him.

The reason it was in the shop so long was that they were waiting for parts from specialized.

I’ve a Kenevo SL and on my 3rd motor plus a number of other bits, longest wait was a week – booked in and fault identified then usually a couple or 3 days for the parts to arrive.

Find a local Spesh dealer, saves your time/money too.

Why so many problems with Levos?

Levo was on my big birthday self present radar. Might look elsewhere.

The levo motor problem is the bike issue so only one.

Gears and brakes are bad set up or damage from the topple, can blame shop, not really specialized.

I’ve a Kenevo SL and on my 3rd motor plus a number of other bits,

Over what period? (I have a 3 month old KSL)

I have a 15Month old ksl, I’ve put a new chainring on and some brake pads.

Are you a spinner or a grinder?

What do you mean cut out? Were you going faster than 16mph or was it at slower speeds? Is there a connection loose anywhere?

I’ve ridden 2 ebikes in my life, a Merida and an Ibis, and both of them had issues with the battery not making a snug connection with whatever it connects to and cutting out at the slightest jolt. Both fixed by shimming the battery to make a tight fit, the Merida after the bike shop failed to pinpoint the issue. It’s a small sample size but my experience is 100% of ebikes have battery connection problems. I’d ask someone to look at that first.

When it it cuts out and then recovers have you had to manually turn it off and on again or does it just do this automatically. Do you see lights / display reboot or anything? What about the log on the app. Does it record any errors?

I’ve had no issues with my levo but interested to see what’s going on with yours.

Regarding “so many problems with levos”, the earlier ones were plagued with motor issues but they improved them significantly since and the reliability is considered pretty good now. Also I think it comes down to numbers sold that can skew perspective. I’d not be surprised if specialized sell 10x more bikes than many other manufacturers.

Why so many problems with Levos?

Brose motors. They are in an Ebike death match with Shimano as to who can make the most unreliable product 😆

“Ebike death match” , mmmmm, not much of a match (imho)

– Specialized listened (4 yr warranty on ?20 and ? 21 Levos I think it was)

– brose motor can be mainly rebuilt

– Specialized have a 5 year discount plan on replacement parts

– more anecdotal, but I think you get more Specialized dealer motor help praise than shimano do

– I believe that Specialized helped rebuilders with motor etc info etc and that shimano do not,

“Why so many problems with Levos?” – possibly because there are lots and lots and lots of them, a better statistic to check out might be what % of them have problems compared to other ebikes.(and maybe bear in mind that an ebike used off-road heavily is probably getting a harder life than a street/railway path commuter)

(FYI. yes I was an early e8000 purchaser, no I don’t have one now)

Over what period? (I have a 3 month old KSL)

I have a 15Month old ksl, I’ve put a new chainring on and some brake pads.

How many miles for you two?

In 15 months I’ve covered 2200 miles in the Tweed Valley AKA wet & rocky and it’s also on its 4th chain, 2nd mech (crash), 4th set of tyres, 2nd chainring, a warrantied rebuilt shock and seatpost plus 2 services on the forks.

I did replace the Code’s for Saints early on, just personal preference – with thicker/bigger rotors.  No idea how many sets of pads I’ve been through.

When it it cuts out and then recovers have you had to manually turn it off and on again or does it just do this automatically. Do you see lights / display reboot or anything? What about the log on the app. Does it record any errors?

I’ve had no issues with my levo but interested to see what’s going on with yours.

Ive had the bike since the end of october and done 7 rides in total. The issues with the first motor was that it would over run when I stopped pedalling for about 4-5 seconds. Happened at one point as I was rolling up to a drop off at Cwmcarn and had to jump off. There were occasions where it would also cut out, not power down or anything but just lose assistance.

The rear brake had a set of sticky pistons and ate through a set of sintered pads in one 19 mile ride. It may be that due to the inconsistent feel at the lever I was dragging the rear brake a bit and it also needed pumping to a get a decent lever feel. Again this was noticed on ride two or three.

The bike spent over a month in the shop over Christmas and I got it back and did my first ride on it 03/02 which is when I was starting to have the cut out issues. I then rode it 10/02 for the second time at FOD and again its cutting out.

There are no lights or beeps when it does it and it can happen at various times. Doesn’t seem to matter if I climbing or going across a track either.

The power is cutting for about 2-3 seconds, not so much of an issue going across but painful when riding up as I lose all momentum. I know some will comment and say you need to get stronger and that is something I’m working on but at the moment I rely on the power to get me up the hills.

Its just the inconsistency of it that isn’t helping. If I was able to say its only doing it on climbs that might help.

The bike has actually done 35.7 miles on the new motor. No issues showing in the log. Battery is on 7 charge cycles which is right as Ive only done 7 rides on it.

Couple of things to check and apologies if you have done this…
The Rosenberg connector is magnetic and can attract metallic crap, bit of alcohol cleaner and a cotton bud
Speed sensor magnet is on the rear disc, it may be covered in all that sintered/metallic crap from your pads. No speed signal, no power or drive…

Couple of things to check and apologies if you have done this…<br style=”box-sizing: border-box; –tw-translate-x: 0; –tw-translate-y: 0; –tw-rotate: 0; –tw-skew-x: 0; –tw-skew-y: 0; –tw-scale-x: 1; –tw-scale-y: 1; –tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; –tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; –tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; –tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); –tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; –tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; –tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; –tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; color: #000000; font-family: Roboto, ‘Helvetica Neue’, Arial, ‘Noto Sans’, sans-serif, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ‘Segoe UI’, ‘Apple Color Emoji’, ‘Segoe UI Emoji’, ‘Segoe UI Symbol’, ‘Noto Color Emoji’;” />The Rosenberg connector is magnetic and can attract metallic crap, bit of alcohol cleaner and a cotton bud<br style=”box-sizing: border-box; –tw-translate-x: 0; –tw-translate-y: 0; –tw-rotate: 0; –tw-skew-x: 0; –tw-skew-y: 0; –tw-scale-x: 1; –tw-scale-y: 1; –tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; –tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; –tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; –tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); –tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; –tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; –tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; –tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; color: #000000; font-family: Roboto, ‘Helvetica Neue’, Arial, ‘Noto Sans’, sans-serif, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ‘Segoe UI’, ‘Apple Color Emoji’, ‘Segoe UI Emoji’, ‘Segoe UI Symbol’, ‘Noto Color Emoji’;” />Speed sensor magnet is on the rear disc, it may be covered in all that sintered/metallic crap from your pads. No speed signal, no power or drive…

Thank you for the suggestions and good shout. I’ve checked over the battery connection and it appears to be clean with no damage or loose gunk on it. I did remove the connector from the battery and reseat it to see if this was the issue but it made difference.

I’ve changed over my brakes and discs on the bike so had to remove the speed sensor, again no crap on it or the bit of the frame that read its.

How many miles for you two?

In 15 months I’ve covered 2200 miles in the Tweed Valley AKA wet & rocky and it’s also on its 4th chain, 2nd mech (crash), 4th set of tyres, 2nd chainring, a warrantied rebuilt shock and seatpost plus 2 services on the forks.

I did replace the Code’s for Saints early on, just personal preference – with thicker/bigger rotors. No idea how many sets of pads I’ve been through.

Mine has a pittance of about 220km at present, so hardly broken in. It’s not my only bike and I use it as a training tool when my legs are gassed and I wouldn’t otherwise go out. I’m in the south west and soft mud-plugging is order of the day, so mileage tends to be low until it firms up. When the weather improves adequately I’ll go from at best twice a week presently up to 4 times a week. The KSL should help with my recovery.

I’ve already put a coil in the fork and traded up to RS Codes – without the swing link they’re not really DH worthy!

If no error is showing on the TCU when it cuts out and nothing in the app I’d be thinking it’s a speed sensor over stating the speed or cutting out. A motor or battery should throw a recordable fault in the TCU.

The whole drive is only 5 parts (TCU, motor, battery, sensor and motor to battery cable) so worst case get a friendly shop like Berkshire to replace parts. SRAM and sticky pistons always go together but lots of videos on how to cure.

I have a 2019 Carbon Comp with over 20,000 km and still on original motor and battery on 100% health so not everyone is having issues.

If no error is showing on the TCU when it cuts out and nothing in the app I’d be thinking it’s a speed sensor over stating the speed or cutting out. A motor or battery should throw a recordable fault in the TCU.

The whole drive is only 5 parts (TCU, motor, battery, sensor and motor to battery cable) so worst case get a friendly shop like Berkshire to replace parts. SRAM and sticky pistons always go together but lots of videos on how to cure.

I have a 2019 Carbon Comp with over 20,000 km and still on original motor and battery on 100% health so not everyone is having issues.

Indeed not everyone is having issues and I think that is part of the frustration this time for me. Ive had two previous Gen 3 Levos which were faultless, so to have issues pretty much out of the box and then being no different after getting looked at under warranty is frustrating.

Why so many problems with Levos?

Because there are lots out there. More sales, more riders, more “problems” come to light. Doesn’t mean the failure rate is any higher than any other model, or motor system.

If no error is showing on the TCU when it cuts out and nothing in the app I’d be thinking it’s a speed sensor over stating the speed or cutting out. A motor or battery should throw a recordable fault in the TCU.

Not necessarily.
We had two brand new Levos that both randomly cut out momentarily out of the box.

They had new motor/power lead/ speed sensor/TCU fitted to both of them the next day.
Still doing exactly the same thing.

By this point we were back home in Scotland 250 miles away from RaceCo.

Rich at RaceCo got Adam from Spech (he’s their Ebike guy) to come up and see us.
He installed new firmware on both bikes and more new TCU’s from the latest batch. I also tried the bikes with our spare batteries in.

Still doing the same thing.
I’d sent Adam a few files the app had recorded from rides where my bike was cutting out.
He told me after looking at the files it wasn’t showing any errors.
I pinpionted where on the rides it had happened and all he could see from the file was it looked like I’d just stopped pedalling. No fault codes and nothing odd.
I’d even tried riding with the app running and showing the power output. With it bar mounted I could see the power just drop from around 250 watts to 40odd for no reason then carry on as normal.
Rich then got two new bikes Invisiframed and shipped up to us and I swapped all the upgraded bits off our bikes onto the new ones.
I banged our old bikes into the boxes the new ones had come in and Adam came up and collected them.

We’d had four Kenevos before we had the Levos which had been pretty trouble free.
Again from Rich and the Levos have been fine since.

My advice. If you’re going to buy an ebike make sure you buy from someone who you know you can rely on.

I’ll try something way off the leftfield based on an experience me and a mate had with both our Brose powered bikes.

Going up to Grosse Arber near the German/Czech border and there is a couple of big radar installations near teh top. Signs on teh path saying that if you have a pacemaker, turn around, type of thing.

We both pedalled up the hill past the radar and within 5 seconds and 10m apart the motors cut out. Rolling back down past the radar again and 500m later, the power kicked back in. Only happened to Brose. Shimano etc etc had no issues….

I have had Gen3 Levo cut out, but only once or twice I think, but I actually think it is the battery connector rattling loose. It threw an error message in the app, but once cleared, it disappeared. Once I had the codes, but hadn’t noticed anything as I think it happend on a ragged downhill.

I had over-run issues with a Gen1 Levo, and the motor was replaced 3 times. I think the sprag bearing or torque sensor can cause the over-run.

It is kinder to the motor to sit and spin at a higher cadence, rather than grind out climbs single-speed-style.

I have concerns about motor noise as it heats up. Mine is now noticably loud once the motor warms up after 30mins+ of climbing.

Current update on this:

I dropped the bike off at the shop on Saturday. TO add insult to injury I somehow managed to snap the mech hangar whilst getting the bike out of the car.

I called the shop for an update yesterday, they are having trouble replicating the issue and will keep on monitoring to see if they can get it to happen. Starting to question myself now. Its definitely cut out a few times, the massive bruising on my leg is testament to that.

Not sure where to go from here.

Ive had the bike since the end of oct and only rode it 7 times. Its had a motor replacement already and has ongoing issues now with no end in site on a recitifcation

they are having trouble replicating the issue and will keep on monitoring to see if they can get it to happen. Starting to question myself now.

Ride the bike with the  app running.

When you feel it cut out stop the app and save the ride.

Repeat the process a couple of times. That way you can pinpoint exactly where it cut out and you also have data files to show what was happening.

Then go and speak to Rich @ RaceCo with this info.

He can then relay it to Adam @ Specialized.

You’re wasting your time doing anything else.

If the shop hasn’t already asked you to do this they don’t know what they’re doing.

they are having trouble replicating the issue and will keep on monitoring to see if they can get it to happen

What have they done to try and replicate the issue? Would be amazed if it’s much more than some laps of the car park

Following. Just had a strange issue with my brand new sl 2. Pedalling up a climb in trail mode and feel a slump in power and it feels like it’s in eco. Changed mode to eco and back to trail and then in to turbo and no change in power between all modes. Turned on and off no change. Flicked between the different screens and all of a sudden it’s providing trail power again. Annoying.

“Just take it to Rich at RaceCo.”

Raceco – Moto Guzzi specialists no?

The funny thing is that brands are still learning their own issues too. We had two connectivity issues which we thought were TCU related. Specialized stated that they were fine. Went to Specialized training so brought the TCUs along to run the issue by the trainer. Was still told that the connectivity error was not related to the TCUs, but he’d take them away for further testing. Both were faulty 😄

@Dickyboy try Raceco cycles