Adventure Bike Rider Forum

Gents, value some input. My lil CRF has finally gone to bike heaven (needs an engine rebuild) and going to replace with an e bike. Theres a lot out there but not many shops I can get too.

I have about £2000 to spend, Specialise Levo HT comes in at that price, it looks good on paper, has anyone got one / ridden one & how was it?

P4ulie wrote:Gents, value some input. My lil CRF has finally gone to bike heaven (needs an engine rebuild) and going to replace with an e bike. Theres a lot out there but not many shops I can get too.

I have about £2000 to spend, Specialise Levo HT comes in at that price, it looks good on paper, has anyone got one / ridden one & how was it?

I have the FS variant
Great bikes
Very linear
Warranty is second to none with Specialized

I've got the ktm emtb, .. happy with it ..17.5" wheels with Schwalbe Smart Sam tyres .. bosch motor. .. great fun

garyboy wrote: ↑Sun Nov 10, 2019 8:20 pm I've got the ktm emtb, .. happy with it ..17.5" wheels with Schwalbe Smart Sam tyres .. bosch motor. .. great fun

Wow they're tiny wheels. I'm guessing you mean 27.5" (as opposed to 29" which is the other common size)

The Specialized Levo is a decent bike. I've been told by an experienced mountain biker that all bikes in a given price range will be broadly similar. I guess he means at my ability level!

An eMTB at £2000 is going to be basic entry level. You can save money by going for a hardtail but other than cost there's no point; full suspension is more comfortable and more capable. Motor wise, in my experience the Bosch CX and Shimano 8000/7000 systems are similar but different (like bike engines of similar configuration). The Brose motor is supposed to be the bees-knees (which I think the Specialized is based on but check it out if you need to) and the newest Bosch 2020 is supposed to be a step up in design too.

I stopped riding my hardtail Trek Powerfly 5 (for sale £1500 if anyone's interested ) in favour of a Lapierre mentioned earlier in this thread. What a nightmare that's been. The Shimano drive system is fine but the Lapierre on/off switch and software connection is terrible. It just stops working. The first bike lasted 4 miles then spent a month back at the importers (Raleigh would you believe) before they gave me a new bike - which wasn't the same because they downgraded the spec. So I spent a couple of weeks arguing about getting the spec put rite.

Cycle Republic, who sold the bike, flatly refused to give me my money back and I couldn't be bothered to force the issue. Then the second bike went faulty after a couple of months. It took them a month to fix it again - they don't know what they did, just took it apart and put it together again! Once more they refused to refund my money and I was lazy again.

Then it went faulty for a third time. This time I got my facts in order and the full Consumer rites thing, had a brief argument with Cycle Republic and arranged to take the bike in. Then it started working again. So now I'm in limbo. I don't think bike shops have quite got used to the concept of selling vehicles that rely to a large extent on electric magic for power; their backup is a bit wanting. Evans where a bit vague when I bought the Trek but fortunately the bike itself has been solid dependable.

They are huge fun but you do need to be a bit fit to get the most out of them.

garyboy wrote: ↑Sun Nov 10, 2019 8:20 pm I've got the ktm emtb, .. happy with it ..17.5" wheels with Schwalbe Smart Sam tyres .. bosch motor. .. great fun

Eh?, I assume you mean either 17.5" Frame, or 27.5" (650b) wheels

Asgard wrote: ↑Tue Nov 12, 2019 2:00 pm

garyboy wrote: ↑Sun Nov 10, 2019 8:20 pm I've got the ktm emtb, .. happy with it ..17.5" wheels with Schwalbe Smart Sam tyres .. bosch motor. .. great fun

Eh?, I assume you mean either 17.5" Frame, or 27.5" (650b) wheels

oops …. yeah 27.5 .. silly me

DaveCon wrote: ↑Tue Nov 12, 2019 11:44 am

garyboy wrote: ↑Sun Nov 10, 2019 8:20 pm I've got the ktm emtb, .. happy with it ..17.5" wheels with Schwalbe Smart Sam tyres .. bosch motor. .. great fun

Wow they're tiny wheels. I'm guessing you mean 27.5" (as opposed to 29" which is the other common size)

The Specialized Levo is a decent bike. I've been told by an experienced mountain biker that all bikes in a given price range will be broadly similar. I guess he means at my ability level!

An eMTB at £2000 is going to be basic entry level. You can save money by going for a hardtail but other than cost there's no point; full suspension is more comfortable and more capable. Motor wise, in my experience the Bosch CX and Shimano 8000/7000 systems are similar but different (like bike engines of similar configuration). The Brose motor is supposed to be the bees-knees (which I think the Specialized is based on but check it out if you need to) and the newest Bosch 2020 is supposed to be a step up in design too.


They are huge fun but you do need to be a bit fit to get the most out of them.

yes, of course .. 27.5 wheels … I do seem to get figures mixed , especially lately.

great fun .. and I have got a lot fitter now .. but perseverance is a must.
its a lot cheaper than petrol too.
can go almost any place legally.
mine.. macina action 271 cost £2,500 .. and I am happy with it .. its a hard tail but for where I go, mostly cycle trails, it is fine, especially standing, when your feet seem to go half the distance on the springs (front forks) .. feels like full suspension then.

I was impressed by the Merida 160 .. but £7000 .. full suspension .. 29/27.5 .. f/r wheels, …. maxxis tires .. but same power as mine .. about 500wh

it is possible to derestrict the emtb for £0 ..no dongle, no plug ins ..
https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=sp ... ORM=VRDGAR


mine comes in autumn camo colours ..
20191112_133817 (2) by gary boy, on Flickr

I bought myself one of these about five years ago now, and I still have it. It has carried me to France on the Nantes/Brest canal from Roscoff and all over Dartmoor and South Devon were I live. A great bit of kit.

Focus Thron MTB with the big battery by the way, a good 45 mile range on South Devon hills and a comfortable 90 mile range on the canal trip.


France on the Canal

Near Kingsbridge in Devon

DaveCon wrote:

garyboy wrote: ↑Sun Nov 10, 2019 8:20 pm I've got the ktm emtb, .. happy with it ..17.5" wheels with Schwalbe Smart Sam tyres .. bosch motor. .. great fun

Wow they're tiny wheels. I'm guessing you mean 27.5" (as opposed to 29" which is the other common size)

The Specialized Levo is a decent bike. I've been told by an experienced mountain biker that all bikes in a given price range will be broadly similar. I guess he means at my ability level!

An eMTB at £2000 is going to be basic entry level. You can save money by going for a hardtail but other than cost there's no point; full suspension is more comfortable and more capable. Motor wise, in my experience the Bosch CX and Shimano 8000/7000 systems are similar but different (like bike engines of similar configuration). The Brose motor is supposed to be the bees-knees (which I think the Specialized is based on but check it out if you need to) and the newest Bosch 2020 is supposed to be a step up in design too.

I stopped riding my hardtail Trek Powerfly 5 (for sale £1500 if anyone's interested ) in favour of a Lapierre mentioned earlier in this thread. What a nightmare that's been. The Shimano drive system is fine but the Lapierre on/off switch and software connection is terrible. It just stops working. The first bike lasted 4 miles then spent a month back at the importers (Raleigh would you believe) before they gave me a new bike - which wasn't the same because they downgraded the spec. So I spent a couple of weeks arguing about getting the spec put rite.

Cycle Republic, who sold the bike, flatly refused to give me my money back and I couldn't be bothered to force the issue. Then the second bike went faulty after a couple of months. It took them a month to fix it again - they don't know what they did, just took it apart and put it together again! Once more they refused to refund my money and I was lazy again.

Then it went faulty for a third time. This time I got my facts in order and the full Consumer rites thing, had a brief argument with Cycle Republic and arranged to take the bike in. Then it started working again. So now I'm in limbo. I don't think bike shops have quite got used to the concept of selling vehicles that rely to a large extent on electric magic for power; their backup is a bit wanting. Evans where a bit vague when I bought the Trek but fortunately the bike itself has been solid dependable.

They are huge fun but you do need to be a bit fit to get the most out of them.

And that dialogue above is why you should buy a Specialized Levo with the Brose motor
It's the bees knees and it is the best on the market
Not cheap though and you pay for what you get
Specialized warranty is the best in the market too

Thank you for the replies gents, Ive had a Pro Rockhopper for 14 years & it's been a solid piece of kit.

I had a look at a Giant but it didn't appear to offer anything over the Levo apart from an extra £900. I would love the full suspension but I don't need it & it's considerably more expensive. It will be mainly used for climbing big hills, fitness trails at the weekend & mounting on the back of the camper we've just bought for weekends away.

The 2019 are now discounted & looking at the specs the only difference with the 2020 is the colour scheme. I like camo green but not £500 worth