Hi has anyone swapped the forks out and how did it go?
I’m considering getting one and swapping the rhythm 34s for short offset lyrics – as the bike is designed for standard offset forks and has a slackish seat angle -64.7 on a large would this mess up the ride?

has a slackish seat angle -64.7

Are you sure about that figure?

may be not :@) 74.7!
75.2 on a med
thanks

I swapped the Fox Rhythm 34 on my Levo (nearly identical geometry as the SL) for a 160mm Lyric Ultimate with a 51mm offset and run the low flip chip setting and that works find. There are people running 160mm forks and reverse mullet wheels too and possibly shorter offset forks. The best place to look is probably EMTB Forums Specialized page.

https://www.emtbforums.com/community/forums/specialized.4/

I put a 160mm short offset Lyrik on my standard Levo. Much prefer how it handles like that.

is it easier to turn at low speed with the sort offset?
I thought it was a bit of an issue on the demo bike I had

“is it easier to turn at low speed with the sort offset?”

It’s a straight-lining monster truck at high speed and you have to really positively initiate turns – and then it corners brilliantly. And at low speed it’s prone to wandering like all slack bikes with lots of trail.

The Levo SL is a different handling bike tho compared to the full on Levo

True, but that is principally down to the reduced weight the geometry is identical

Just went with 36’s on mine with the same offset, can’t say I find it slow to turn at slow speeds though!

Got the normal Turbo Levo. When I bought it I had a a pair of 160mm Lyriks and 170mm Ohlins in the garage.
Both sets of forks are still at the back of the garage as I can’t fault how it handles with the 150 mm Revelations it came with. It climbs like a mountain goat and down as fast as I want to.

Interesting to read this thread. I recently had an SL demo for a day and was not really impressed. If I paid that sort of money I would expect it to be sorted. I bought a Merida E160 and am well pleased. Nothing to change except the saddle which is to be expected.

“True, but that is principally down to the reduced weight the geometry is identical“

Actually the chainstays are a lot longer on the big Levo. That plus the weight will make it more stable.

The effects of head angle and fork offset are complex, it’s not just the resulting trail figure that matters. But basically shorter trail (as a result of steeper head angles and/or longer offset) gives more neutral steering, so less prone to wandering at low speed but less stable at high speed. Longer trail causes the steering to turn in faster at low speed but want to stay straighter at high speed. At middling speeds the behaviour kind of crosses over.