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TLDR - dust, sun, fun, AOK!
After almost 5 years I finally got back to the fun of S Wales and took my Levo on its first overnight away trip - and only the third time I’ve not ridden it from the house in almost 5000 of ownership! (It’s had a life of local singletrack, mini-DH and commuting - pandemic, work, three kids and now a band have rather got in the way of riding more).
What a lot of fun! My first time riding with a group on e-bikes - we all have proper bikes too, and a couple also took their big bouncy unpowered bikes for the uplift venues, but I thought I’d keep things simple - plus I’m not sure my legs can handle the Welsh climbs on a singlespeed and I can’t be bothered putting gears on my hardtail.
Cwmcarn was great! Risca’s off-piste was too steep and loose in places for my rusty skills/confidence so I did the rest of Twrch and then the newer trail after a refuel. A creak from the front appeared almost immediately but I’m guessing it’s all that dust having got in somewhere and I managed to zone it out - will find out if it’s headset or fork now I’m back…
Dirt Farm was a lesson in stopping braking so much for steeps and berms - my brain refuses to accept that gaps and steep tables are possible but I still had a lot of fun, and was definitely riding better by the end of the day. Next time I might borrow a second battery and pedal up, it’s quicker than the uplift, although sitting on a tractor trailer under vivid blue skies and constant sun was very pleasant. Turbo from the trailer to the very top gave me a reassuring head start on the many shredders there, don’t want to slow down someone who has a gap to make!
BPW was epic - I was on a bit of a mission to maximise the day so pedalled up before the uplift started and pedalled up twice more when the queue was big, plus took nine bus rides up (well, actually one was in that big truck). Didn’t stop for lunch (a pack may not look cool but it’s nice having the back protector, enough provisions and some tools) and did most runs top to bottom without pausing. Rode all the less jumpy blues and reds, plus a bit of black. Was feeling quite fast - the clientele is a lot more diverse in their riding ability than at Dirt Farm! The race to catch the last uplift involved quite a lot of air-time down Norkle for someone who struggles with proper jumps. By the end of the day I was feeling so much better at riding berms than two days before.
Final day was Barry Sidings - which was too steep and gnarly for my current skill level plus riding brain exhaustion. Bailed after the first trail, sat in the sun, found some easier trails solo and then we headed homewards. If you like steep natural tech, highly recommended. I suggested to my mates that in future day four would be better suited to an XC bimble…
Bikes were great - apart from a random exploding mech on a mate’s bike (which happened five minutes from a bike shop with a compatible replacement in stock) we had zero mechanicals or punctures! And no crashes, although one mate overshot the biggest double on Full Moto and somehow rode out a nose manual landing after fifty feet in the air - save of the century!
Love how the Levo feels through the rough and in the air. Only had one rear tyre:shorts interface when I tried to suck the bike up over a roller that I hadn’t quite managed to double - not from me getting too far back as used to happen on smaller wheels (but also smaller bikes!) 220/200 V4 brakes did a great job, Lyrik RC2 felt v good - took a click off the HSC for BPW which smoothed things out. The basic Deluxe RT did an excellent job (especially as it’s long overdue a service). At Dirt Farm I felt the back end springing more at the bottom of the hill (hot air and oil = faster rebound) so I slowed it down a click on the next run and that hit a nice balance. I struggle more with getting into the zone at the start of the run than with fatigue near the end, so a bike getting livelier seems almost a good thing, getting me more air once I’m in a state of flow. Hillbilly T9 / Butcher T7 (with Rimpacts) were perfect.
Took some photos. Didn’t take the last one, cheers BPW photomakerperson!
Sounds epic 😊👌
You forget how different official built trails are, when you spend all your time on cheeky ones!
Looks good Alex 🙂
I could have started such a messy argument with a clickbait title like “taking my ebike to trail centres and uplift venues was SO MUCH BETTER!” 😉
But I’m sure I’d have had lots of fun on my old full-sus, just not as many descents. I do remain curious about my new hardtail at those venues, and also riding it as a singlespeed there. I think it would have been epic at Dirt Farm!
I've done BPW and BMCC on my Kenevo and it's brill.
Especially at BPW for the pedally bits on the top and getting back up to the bus from the very bottom
Excellent. 🤘🤘🤘
An eeb is worth it for the final push to the top of bmcc alone.
I can't imagine it's easy to load a heavy bike onto their tall trailer though.
Never tried, always ride up behind the tractor.
“I can’t imagine it’s easy to load a heavy bike onto their tall trailer though.”
It’s a case of, lift, brace, thrust to max height, then apologise for the excessive weight as the teenager on the trailer takes it off you! Then enjoy some banter with the older driver who declares that he hates all e-bikes, and on the next uplift with him, ask for “an uplift and some abuse please!” 😉
Top few days, sounds awesome. Nice job. Keep them coming
“I’ve done BPW and BMCC on my Kenevo and it’s brill.”
It was my third time at Dirt Farm FKA BMCC - twice before on my Spitfires. Ninth time at BPW, first went in 2013, last visit was late 2018 before life got in the way. Definitely had my Cotic Soul there the first time, then my Spitfires (2013 and 2017 versions).
I bought a spare shock for my Levo because you can get these basic Deluxes for less than the cost of a service and I’d left it too late to have a shock service before the away trip. The spare shock I got is off the newer version, unused.
Confusingly, the shock tune for the current Levo is TOTALLY DIFFERENT to the shock tune for mine, despite the kinematics being very very similar. The old shock has the firmest (of 5) compression tune and digressive rebound whilst the new shock has the softest compression tune and linear rebound.
I was chatting to the boss in my LBS and he said words to the effect of “it’s a comfort tune for older pootlers, because younger riders can’t afford Levo’s” (and I guess the shredders on them buy different shocks, like on the more expensive models).
Anyway, one thing I’ve always noticed on my Levo is that the rear suspension works amazingly well - and hitting the faster blues and reds with all those drops and rollers (not the proper jumps) I noticed how well (for me) I can send it on it - it’s always so calm as it launches into the air. I wasn’t quite managing to double up the big rollers on the blues but I was doubling the smaller ones and sort of lily-padding the bigger ones, like sending from one, soft casing into the next and immediately jumping off that to the next downslope.
Assuming the air spring curves of the two shocks is v similar, I guess I might as well pay to get the new one retuned to match the older one - unless I fancy reassembling shim stacks myself (how hard is it?)
When I’m on the trails I totally forget the Levo is an ebike, I’m so used to it. I’d switch the assist back on at the bottom to speed the transfer to the uplift queue. I left it off when descending because I was curious how fast Strava would tell me I was vs before and I didn’t want electric power to skew the findings. And it was handy being able to pedal up fairly fast rather than join a huge uplift queue at peak times.