Specialized Levo R Review | Lighter & Sportier, But It Left Us Scratching Our Heads

Описание: Unless you've been living underneath a firm piece of mineral for the past 18 months, you'll know that much of the electric mountain bike market has been scrambling to respond to the Amflow PL Carbon and its enormously powerful DJI Avinox M1 motor.

Prior to Amflow's arrival, Specialized had largely ruled the roost thanks to deep investment in its e-MTB range, with the Levo 3 and Levo SL arguably setting the benchmark in their respective categories. That gave the Californian brand a strong platform to return fire at its fledgling Chinese competitor, leading to the release of the Levo 4 last year. Featuring a bigger battery, a more powerful motor, a highly adjustable chassis and the dual-stage Genie shock, the Levo 4 is a ferociously capable e-MTB that sees Specialized doubling-down on its commitment to equipping e-MTBs with properly capable components. It's no lightweight, however, coming in at 23.62kg for the S-Works trim and 25.88kg for the Comp Alloy that we've also reviewed.

Of course not everyone needs such a burly bike. The thing is though, most short travel e-MTBs are either cheap and heavy, or they're of the 'SL' variety with a small battery and less powerful motor. In Specialized's case, that position had been occupied by the Levo SL, which to this day is still one of the most fun bikes we've ever ridden. In recent times, unfortunately, the market appears to be trending away from the SL category. Specialized has acknowledged that it's not selling nearly as many Levo SLs as it used to, as consumers become increasingly spellbound by the allure of more powerful motors and bigger batteries.

To sate this growing appetite of the masses, Specialized decided it would create something new that could bend genres and offer the best of both worlds. And so here we have the Levo R; a lighter and shorter travel e-MTB that retains the power and battery capacity of its bigger sibling. It's not a bike that we can say we saw coming from Specialized, and upon our first encounter, it left us scratching our heads. Would this be the ultimate trail speedster, or just a confusing compromise?

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Specialized Levo R Video Review Contents

0:00 - Intro
0:53 - Specialized Levo R Overview
1:30 - Battery & Motor
2:19 - Geometry & Sizing
2:54 - Price & Specifications
3:41 - Weight
4:33 - Testing
5:08 - Strengths
6:40 - Downsides
8:29 - What Could Be Improved?
10:49 - The Competition

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