Levo sl gen 2 support feel

Not meaning to sound facetious, demo one? One persons enduro bike is another’s DH…

Have I read that correctly? Your asking in eco mode how will the assistance feel compared to the effort needed to pedal the bike categories listed.

And not how the bikes ride compared to your list.

Yeah assistance level pedalling.

I'm having my own eeb journey at the moment, and I've just come to full fat from an SL1.1. My riding buddy has/had the SL1.2

Firstly, I'm 93kg. I've ridden both and theres not much difference in perceived assist between 1.1 and 1.2. There are some specific gradients where  I have to go the the next level of assist a bit earlier to sustain the pace vs the 50Nm, but its not really obvious generally riding. I find the support pretty natural feeling and you won't be climbing the crazy steeps like you would on FF because the power isn't there.

The SLs clearly have a power ceiling so whilst riding in eco is mostly like riding an xc bike on the flat and and a trail bike on the climbs, thats only until the gradients becomes too much for the support, and then it feels like riding an enduro bike and a DH bike respectively as the gradient gets worse.

Battery consumption does seem a little higher as you'd expect for the higher torque on the 1.2. If you ride it in eco  you'll definitely get 3000ft.

I've done 4500ft in appalling conditions on the 1.1 treating it like a regular bike to assist me going up and down the levels as required, and I had about 7% left, but I'm fitter and stronger on my friend. He's bit heavier and on his 1.2 on the same ride he burned through his range extender and drained the battery completely at about 4200ft.

@Scienceofficer how do you find the difference between the sl and the full fat ebike? In terms of range and handling feel of the bike? And which would you prefer ultimately?

I'm liking the description in regards to gradient and feel.

Where I'm at is I've been tarnished with how fast an xc bike feels, but it still feels like a normal bike (obviously) where a full fat. ebike doesn't feel like a bike to me.

However an xc bike is under gunned for what I do on my day to day bike, think gorrik xc trails through to windhill pro line.

An sl bike feels like the solution to having a robust and capable trail bike, but can still cover ground ad well, if not better than an xc bike. Checking if this is a good way of thinking about it.

Worth bearing in mind what you won’t get vs a regular bike (and especially not a lighter weight xc focused one) is the agility.  I’ve swapped from an enduro type bike to a Kenevo SL, whilst for the most part it’s been an easy switch (and the Kenevo SL is an incredible bike), you will lose some of the nimbleness due to the extra weight.

It was suggested to me by a local shop that at 100kg the range of an SL ebike might not be great and I should probably consider a full fat bike.

zerocool
Full Member
It was suggested to me by a local shop that at 100kg the range of an SL ebike might not be great and I should probably consider a full fat bike.

I think this depends on how one uses an e-bike. On the Spesh SL's you can't turn your legs over with little power and expect the motor to drag you up the hill like you can on the full fats - you actually have to pedal with intent. If you 'rode lazy' I think the LBS is right. Conversely, you can still pedal with intent and as much or as little support as you like on a full phat.

razorrazoo
Full Member
Worth bearing in mind what you won’t get vs a regular bike (and especially not a lighter weight xc focused one) is the agility. I’ve swapped from an enduro type bike to a Kenevo SL, whilst for the most part it’s been an easy switch (and the Kenevo SL is an incredible bike), you will lose some of the nimbleness due to the extra weight.

I've got a KSL. It's a great bike and brilliant for most trail riding, and especially delicious since I put a coil conversion in the rhythm 36. I didn't really notice it being especially 'heavy', even withthe coil, but it did have a nice planted feel without appearing to suffer for it. That said, I'm 93 kg, 6ft, strongish with long arms and legs and have an active riding style. BUT - in the real twisties - the true off-piste of badger and deer tracks where your bars don't clear left and right at the same time, (where I actually spend a fair bit of time riding).I found it a bit slow, I think because the KSL is longish, long travel, low down weight stable and I'm trying to get it through small spaces.

My Full Fat SC Heckler is only 2kg heavier than the KSL and is a mullet. Its 160/150 and has a shorter wheel base that the 170/170 KSL. It definitely turns in better than the KSL in the twisties. The weight of the 700-something Wh battery isn't quite as low slung as some and I think this adds a little bit of instability that helps it to be easier to move about than if it was a full on low slung sled.

I'm certain that balls out high speed descending and jumps that Dean is fond of will see the KSL better suited, but the Heckler is a better bike for this old trail hacker.

deanfbm
Free Member An SL bike feels like the solution to having a robust and capable trail bike, but can still cover ground ad well, if not better than an xc bike. Checking if this is a good way of thinking about it.

I think you're close. Just consider that you still need to work to go forwards on the SL.

hopefiendboy
Full Member
@Scienceofficer how do you find the difference between the sl and the full fat ebike? In terms of range and handling feel of the bike? And which would you prefer ultimately?

I feel context is relevant here, because I'm aging out of the mainstream MTB demographic and have a distinct old-skool flavour to my riding preferences.

I'm 50. I've not been quite the same with cardio performance since COVID in 2022. I'm an old skool trail hacker that follows his nose to ride interesting things, up, down or along. My rides are minimum 2 hours, often 4. Typical rides on trad MTB are c. 700 to 900m ascent. I rarely ride trail centers out of the winter and my preference is 'tech flow'. Strava shows that I'm an above average rider on most things, in particular things that are considered rough. Drops are fine, jumps scare me. With that out of the way...onwards!

SL and full fat are different ride experiences. SL IMO is much closer to traditional MTB. 'MTB+' if you will.

Imagine you at your youngest and fittest- that's riding an SL. The power shows itself in subtle ways - the draggy grass climb doesn't feel draggy. When it gets muddy as well as grassy and gets draggy, you can turn up the assist and its back to being 'not draggy'. One's not quite as gassed up that tricky climb, you've got enough in the tank for that next hill, you can play a bit on fun little features JRA because you have a bit more energy to spare, you can just make that demanding link trail to get to that final decent you wouldn't often do because you're too tired. However, despite all these things, riding the Spesh SL is fundamentally the MTB'ing experience most of us recognise.

Full fat is a different sport. If you have the restraint, you can ride the full fat like an SL for that kind of experience, and there's value to that. Equally, you can use it to self shuttle. Or smash everywhere in Boost. The power is a tool that gives you choices that just aren't available on a trad MTB with 'just human' power. Different types of people choose to use it in different ways. What I like it the versatility of full fat. It gives me range. It gives me stamina. It gives me peak power, it gives me new choices and new outlooks at the same trails.

Its early days with the Heckler after a being on the KSL since November, but based on my journey of SL to full phat, I prefer the Heckler, but as I highlighted above, thats as much to do in the differences in the bikes as it is SL vs FF.

It seems to me there's as much difference between Eebs of all kinds as there are with regular bikes irrespective of how many Nm and Watts they have. Even down the line as far I am (not very), I can't really see the point of SL's other than the get trad riders into the eeb market (worked on me!). If I knew what I know now, I wouldn't ever have bought the SL.

As ever, other opinions are available! Sorry - many words.

I think it was more about heavier people burning through the battery quicker due to it having to work harder rather than being a lazy rider.

Of course, but how much you can or are willing to put in also makes a difference.