Specialized Turbo Levo FS Fattie ... anyone else ride it?

[JoePah]

(Link Removed - No Longer Exists)

$5500 MSRP

EBikes have arrived in Miami! A very well respected bike store near UM, called Mack Cycles, is now carrying electric bikes.. Specialized, Cannondale (who knew?) and Townie.

The Turbo Levo is a proprietary motor/battery/frame from Specialized.. Very light.. 45lbs and it is cleverly built in with motor and battery. If you believe the salesman, the bike is good for 5 hours of track use. He also told me that the same people who designed the iPhone battery designed this pack.. :::eyeroll:::

What I really like about this bike is that it addresses my concerns about eBikes on bike trails...The bike has a built in power meter, and it will not add more than 100% of your pedal power with the motor. This will limit the acceleration and give a lot more foot control. 3" low pressure tires give plenty of grip over anything.

Rode it around the parking lot, didn't seem any more responsive than any other ebike i've ridden.. hard to say... Not a roadie bike. .Strictly off road. Hoping they have a demo day at the Virginia Key MTB trails...

Maybe Court can get some saddle time?

 

[Chris Nolte]

We have two demo's in the shop and I've been out every weekend on them since they arrived. They're loads of fun and very well received from the traditional riders I've encountered on the trails.

They handle very well and the wider tires are confidence inspiring. I've taken several novice riders out and they seem to get along real well even on more technical trails despite their lack of experience.

We'll be putting out a video soon and I think Court has already produced one.

 

[MLB]

(Link Removed - No Longer Exists)

$5500 MSRP

EBikes have arrived in Miami! A very well respected bike store near UM, called Mack Cycles, is now carrying electric bikes.. Specialized, Cannondale (who knew?) and Townie.

The Turbo Levo is a proprietary motor/battery/frame from Specialized.. Very light.. 45lbs and it is cleverly built in with motor and battery. If you believe the salesman, the bike is good for 5 hours of track use. He also told me that the same people who designed the iPhone battery designed this pack.. :::eyeroll:::

What I really like about this bike is that it addresses my concerns about eBikes on bike trails...The bike has a built in power meter, and it will not add more than 100% of your pedal power with the motor. This will limit the acceleration and give a lot more foot control. 3" low pressure tires give plenty of grip over anything.

Rode it around the parking lot, didn't seem any more responsive than any other ebike i've ridden.. hard to say... Not a roadie bike. .Strictly off road. Hoping they have a demo day at the Virginia Key MTB trails...

Maybe Court can get some saddle time?

Nice bike, as it should be for the price. What motor are they using?
Worth noting that ALL Ebikes have "power meter" that limits power. They are the Levels and each corresponds to an equivilancy of human power. IE: Eco = .50 x human power, Norm = 1.0 x human power, Sport = 2.0 human, etc etc. They may all vary, and use different labels, but all restrict the power by levels.

 

[Chris Nolte]

Brose makes the motor for Specialized. The battery is made by Simplo

 

[jim taylor]

West End Bikes in Houston set up a demo ride for me. I rode one for 2 days in the dirt trails and on paved trails. What an awesome bike! The power is great and the motor is really quiet. The only negatives were the that you can't change the power mode easily while your riding. It would be great to have a switch right next to grip to change the power mode. The other one is the fatty tires. they are great for the dirt trails but not so great for the paved trails. I'm not so sure if you can just switch out the wheels or not. if you could just have another set of wheels with thinner tires that would work.

 

[MLB]

You can't ding a fattie for the fat tires. That's what a fatty IS.
They are for offroading of course. Make zero sense on-road, though there are some coming fat bike street tires for all us weirdo's riding them on paved paths. LOL

 

[jim taylor]

West End Bikes in Houston set up a demo ride for me. I rode one for 2 days in the dirt trails and on paved trails. What an awesome bike! The power is great and the motor is really quiet. The only negatives were the that you can't change the power mode easily while your riding. It would be great to have a switch right next to grip to change the power mode. The other one is the fatty tires. they are great for the dirt trails but not so great for the paved trails. I'm not so sure if you can just switch out the wheels or not. if you could just have another set of wheels with thinner tires that would work.

 

[jim taylor]

You are correct, the fattie tires are not a knock against the bike. They are great for off the road.
For me personally I want to buy only 1 evoke to ride with group road rides and on the trails.
A pretty fast ebike with a normal sized Mtn bike tire should still be plenty fast for group road rides.