Join us for the breaking news on this very special bike and stick your questions down in the comments and I'll do my best to answer them.
When you've watched the video if you want more info we have the spec lists over on our website here https://singletrackworld.com/charged/2021/03/23/specialized-turbo-levo-3rd-generation-platform-launches-video/
First thing.. We’ve only had this bike for a few days so the full review of how it actually performs will have to wait. At this point we are still learning about the bike, but here’ a first look and a run down of the new features.
But before you reach for the outrage button consider this. This is the top of the line model. It’s the money no object version that sits at the top of the range to show off what is possible. There are other bikes in the range that are priced much lower. This is the all dancing, “Look at me!” version. Like the top of the line, bling’d up car that sits at the top of the pile with a crazy price tag that no one chooses at the car showroom. I point out in the video below that you can buy a Toyota Aygo for well over £20k, but why would you? You can also buy one for half that money too and most people in that particular car market will choose that option.
That’s me trying desperately to moderate the inevitable outrage that shall surely flow at the end of this first look. I’m also not making excuses for Specialized here – this is clearly a staggering price and I’m not pretending it’s good value. The important point to note is that the fundamental changes that have happened to this 3rd generation Levo are to be found at all the price points and so apart from the bling spec on this model the changes are universal through the range.
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0:01
hey guess what's turned up
0:04
a 13 grand mountain bike
0:07
i'm not even joking check this out
0:11
this is the new specialized levo
0:15
2021 this is the s works version
0:19
and it comes in at 13 000 quid
0:25
i can't wear this i'm 49 years old i'm
0:28
going to put this together now and i'll
0:30
show you what it looks like as soon as
0:31
i'm finished
0:45
[Music]
0:48
hi and welcome to another episode of how
0:51
much
0:51
with singletrack magazine i'm your host
0:54
mark and i've got the
0:55
specialized s works third generation
0:58
turbo levo here
0:59
which comes in at a snip at 13
1:02
000 pounds i am not even kidding well
1:05
okay you knew that anyway because you
1:06
saw me get this thing out of a box
1:08
and i said as soon as i built it up i
1:10
would show it to you so here we are i
1:11
haven't even ridden it yet
1:13
it's not been out for its shakedown ride
1:15
so i mean
1:16
13 000 pounds that's absolutely crazy
1:19
isn't it i mean there's an old adage
1:20
isn't it that we've all heard before is
1:22
you you could buy a car for that
1:24
well my first car cost me 300 quid so
1:27
that kind of never really worked for me
1:29
but for 13 000 pounds you literally can
1:32
buy a brand new car i checked you can
1:35
buy a toyota
1:36
i go for 12 and a half thousand pounds
1:39
twelve thousand six hundred and ninety
1:41
pounds
1:42
on the road which if you had thirteen
1:43
thousand pounds for this would give you
1:44
enough change for a lot of bags of chips
1:46
and quite a few bus rides home
1:48
as they say so what's going on who's
1:50
gonna buy these probably footballers are
1:52
probably gonna look for one of these
1:53
aren't they
1:54
the sort of person who goes into a bike
1:55
shop and goes what's the most expensive
1:57
bike you've got
1:58
i've been partying that i've been in a
1:59
bike shop when that's actually happened
2:01
and the guy paid with cash
2:03
anyhow what specialized playing out here
2:06
that car analogy i just threw out here
2:08
that was the bottom of the line
2:10
i go that twelve and a half thousand
2:12
this is not bottom of the line
2:13
this is top of the line you can actually
2:15
buy an i go with all the bling for over
2:17
twenty thousand pounds
2:19
what's it for specializes showing off
2:21
they're showing us what
2:22
can be done with a bike if money is
2:25
absolutely no object
2:26
is this a realistic proposition for us
2:28
to buy not really
2:30
so i'll run you through some of the
2:31
features and then maybe we can put into
2:32
context where that price
2:34
has come from well first of all i'm
2:36
going to draw your attention
2:38
to the brakes those are magura's mt-7
2:41
brakes very very good brakes
2:43
nothing particularly special but these
2:45
brakes have the lowek bruni
2:47
custom brake levers on them now let me
2:50
tell you that the levers
2:51
just the levers cost 90 euros 90 euros
2:55
not for the break for the lever we've
2:57
got carbon
2:58
everywhere specialized carbon they call
3:01
it their fact carbon and fac stands for
3:04
what does fact stand for i've got it
3:07
here somewhere
3:08
functional advanced composite technology
3:11
this is fact 11 think there's a higher
3:14
grade for road bikes
3:15
in terms of mountain bikes that's as
3:16
good as it gets
3:18
we've also got a whole heap of sram top
3:21
the line goodies on here we've got sram
3:23
xx1 axis shifting bling
3:27
so you don't have a forest of cables to
3:28
worry about because not only is the
3:30
shifting wireless but so
3:32
is the dropper seat post let's give it a
3:33
go
3:36
whoa it's quite a return it's got you've
3:38
only got three cables at the front
3:39
you've got your e-bike controller cable
3:42
you've got your brakes that's it this
3:44
particular model has not
3:45
been set up for uk riding because the
3:47
cables are running down the wrong side
3:48
so it's not quite as neat and tidy as it
3:50
could be
3:50
but we'll forgive specialized for that
3:52
so what's else is special well we've got
3:54
a whole heap of very bling fox going on
3:56
too
3:57
we've got the fox factory kashima coated
4:00
38 with grip 2 damper on the front we've
4:03
got the
4:04
fox evol x2 float
4:07
rear shock again kashima it doesn't get
4:10
any better than that we've got roval
4:12
carbon fiber traverse wheels front and
4:15
back
4:16
literally they've gone all out there is
4:17
they've not spared any expense
4:19
whatsoever on this bike
4:21
but that's all the bling stuff on it
4:22
this is an e-bike there's a dog about to
4:25
walk in front of the camera
4:26
that's all the bling what about the core
4:29
of it this is an e-bike
4:30
what's different about this this is
4:31
generation three so how does that differ
4:33
from generation two
4:34
the biggest difference you're gonna
4:36
notice is in the display on the top tube
4:38
now specializes have gone
4:40
down the line with their e-bikes of not
4:43
cluttering up the cockpit with displays
4:45
instead what you've got traditionally is
4:47
a very very basic simple display on the
4:49
top tube which shows you
4:51
in 10 increments little lights that tell
4:53
you the state of the battery
4:54
and also a little round clock type thing
4:57
that shows you which mode you're in
4:58
so either eco or trail or boost i've
5:01
taken that up a notch
5:03
and actually created a little lcd
5:05
display
5:07
on the top tube which not only shows you
5:09
the battery state
5:10
in terms of percentage but also tells
5:13
you the time
5:15
one of the other things that you've been
5:16
able to do with previous versions of the
5:18
level you can still do with this is you
5:20
can tune it using the
5:21
specialized mission control app dolly
5:25
bog off this allows you to set how much
5:27
power each of the three modes gives you
5:30
not just how much power is put in but
5:32
also how much torque it puts in so you
5:33
can really make some different
5:35
adjustments and personalize
5:36
how the motor works just for you and
5:38
your type of riding
5:40
well now you can actually do some of
5:41
that on the fly
5:43
using the simple controller on the
5:45
handlebars so if you're riding along and
5:47
you're in trail and all of a sudden the
5:48
terrain changes or
5:50
you're in a group ride with people who
5:52
aren't on e-bikes you can actually
5:54
down-tune your bike as you're riding
5:57
tech lovers like me
5:58
probably going to find that really
6:00
interesting despite that it's still a
6:02
really clean and simple system
6:06
that was a bloody ice cream van i shall
6:08
carry on
6:09
so what about the motor any difference
6:10
is there this is the third generation
6:12
motor
6:13
it's a 565 watt
6:16
motor that's how much power it can put
6:18
out the battery stored away
6:20
neatly inside the down tube here this is
6:22
a 700 watt hour battery
6:25
as previous generations the motor is a
6:28
bro's specialized
6:30
collaboration they've improved the
6:33
internals of the motor
6:34
it's quieter they've strengthened the
6:36
belt inside because this is a belt
6:38
driven system
6:39
and some previous models have had issues
6:42
with the
6:42
reliability of the belt they've
6:44
completely re-engineered the belt for
6:46
the third generation motor
6:48
one of the big differences though with
6:49
this motor is specialized i've really
6:51
gone to town on the waterproofing
6:53
previous models have had a few issues
6:55
with waterproofing i've been testing a
6:57
specialized livo sl
6:59
i've had one issue where my app told me
7:02
that i couldn't ride the bike i had to
7:03
dry out the motor because some moisture
7:05
had got inside the charging port
7:07
took about six hours of just leaving it
7:09
alone and everything was fine
7:11
really appreciated the app telling me
7:13
that rather than just stopping i knew
7:15
what the problem was and i fixed it
7:16
that's great however
7:17
specialized have decided that they're
7:19
going to actually really beef up the
7:21
waterproofing of this motor
7:23
and we've actually got redundant levels
7:25
of ceiling built into this motor check
7:27
this out
7:28
so over here the charging port instead
7:30
of being accessible directly on the
7:32
outside of the bike you now actually
7:33
have to pull this lever up
7:35
open this flap and you can see that
7:37
there is the charging cable
7:38
you can't get that out yet because
7:40
you've got to pull this lever down and
7:42
then
7:42
pop out the lever from its waterproof
7:44
housing and that's where you plug in
7:46
your charging cable so there's three
7:48
levels
7:49
of sealing going on here and specialized
7:51
think that you can actually ride this
7:53
thing reliably through river crossings
7:55
they're talking
7:55
full submersion and this thing will
7:57
still work there's plenty of moisture
7:59
around here on the trails so i'll be
8:01
putting that one to the test
8:02
i just want to have a quick word about
8:04
the sizing specialized don't do
8:06
extra small small medium large extra
8:09
large
8:10
they term their sizing in terms of s1 s2
8:13
s3 s4
8:14
s5 s6 this model here this is an s3
8:18
now you could make the mistake of saying
8:20
well that's just medium
8:21
which it kind of is for me i typically
8:23
will ride a medium bike
8:25
but specialized i've decided that what's
8:27
most important is the actual reach
8:30
a short bike is kind of a maneuverable
8:32
it's flickable
8:34
a long bike tends to be more stable you
8:36
can ride it at speed so what specialized
8:38
have done
8:39
is the standover across the range is
8:41
pretty
8:42
much the same the difference is in the
8:45
reach
8:46
so if you are a rider that likes to
8:48
actually ride hard
8:49
fast on downhills you might normally go
8:52
for a medium
8:52
but with the specialized system you
8:54
might go for an s4 which otherwise you
8:57
might call large
8:59
just because of the longer reach so
9:01
depending on what style of riding you
9:03
want
9:03
that is what will decide whether you go
9:05
for an s1 to an s6
9:08
dolly off another new feature with
9:10
the levo this year
9:11
is the geometry adjust now we're all
9:13
used to flip chips
9:15
that change the geometry of the bike and
9:17
usually slacken or steep in the head
9:18
angle
9:19
we've got that on the levo unusually
9:22
though it's right at the back it's down
9:24
here just next to the horsed link
9:27
flip that chip around and you can change
9:30
the drop on the bottom bracket and
9:33
obviously that's going to slacken the
9:34
head angle a little bit
9:35
however there's more on the new levo
9:38
there is now an adjustable headset which
9:40
gives you three different head angle
9:42
adjustments
9:43
so combined with the flip chip at the
9:44
back that gives you a total of six
9:46
different geometry combinations
9:48
the head angle range goes from 63 and a
9:51
half to 65 degrees
9:53
and the flip chip at the back will give
9:56
you an adjustment that will drop the
9:57
bottom bracket by about seven
9:59
millimeters or
10:00
raise it depending on which setting you
10:01
have so that's it this is a top of the
10:03
line
10:04
[Applause]
10:05
showing off model this is probably not
10:08
the model you're going to see
10:09
out on the trails it's not the one
10:11
that's going to be the best seller
10:13
but that is beside the point i've got a
10:16
13 000 pound bike here
10:18
and i think i've talked about it enough
10:20
it's time to take it out for a ride
10:23
okay i'm riding with uh my riding buddy
10:25
vic she's on
10:27
her brand new alloy turbo level sl
10:32
which is described by specialized as two
10:34
times u whereas
10:36
the turbo level is described as four
10:38
times u that sort of illustrates the
10:39
power difference
10:41
okay you're not going to be able to tell
10:44
the difference
10:47
because of the wind noise you're
10:48
probably experiencing right now
10:51
but the first thing that struck me on
10:52
this ride
10:55
is just how quiet this motor is
11:00
[Music]
11:13
one thing i didn't uh explain in my
11:15
garden
11:17
is that the display does show an awful
11:20
lot more information now
11:22
i don't know if you can see that let me
11:24
just point the camera down
11:26
as we're riding
11:30
but you can see i've got it displaying
11:33
distance altitude gain
11:36
and if i press the button on the
11:38
controller
11:40
it shows speed what else there we got 79
11:44
of bachelor i'm currently in eco mode
11:47
and it's quarter past two in the
11:48
afternoon
11:52
so the most remarkable thing i've
11:54
noticed just got off-road first ride on
11:56
this thing
11:58
is just how quiet that motor is and how
12:00
powerful
12:01
a climb that i've just done
12:04
which normally well on the turbo level
12:07
sl i would do that in either boost or
12:09
trail
12:10
i just went up there no problem in eco
12:12
mode this thing is so powerful i'm gonna
12:15
have to detune it down
12:17
because it's kicking out too much power
12:18
for me at the moment that's remarkable
12:21
how was that dear good
12:24
i think my trail is like your
12:28
boost no the other way around your
12:30
trailer is like my boost yes
12:31
yes i would say that well yeah your
12:34
motor is
12:35
i think about 35 newton meters to my 90.
12:38
yes so mine can certainly kick out a lot
12:40
more power but that's steady that's me
12:42
plus
12:43
50 coming up there yes i'm quite happy
12:46
with that
12:53
[Music]
13:04
so
13:06
[Music]
13:07
it's really agile you don't
13:11
it does not feel like a bike that weighs
13:14
as much it does
13:28
[Music]
13:32
uh
13:35
[Music]
13:46
so
13:51
[Music]
14:00
so
14:16
you
#Sports


