# Turbo Levo Stock Wheels - What were they thinking?



## Wheezy (Nov 1, 2003)

24 and 28 spoke wheels, really? On a 50lb bike with 3" tires you're trying to save 30 grams of spoke weight? I don't get it. I've about trashed the stock rims in no time at all just because of my weight. (I'm 6'5" and 265lb ex ball player). Been running 21 and 23lbs of pressure and not even riding rocky terrain. 

Building a fresh set of i9's on Easton ARC 40's 32 hole straight gauge brass nipples. Also going with centerlock to be able to run the RT99 Freeza discs and some SAINT brakes. Might try a set of Surly Dirt Wizards as well. 

Hubs and rims ordered at the PATH. Should be in before Thanksgiving hopefully! I'll post pics.


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## AGarcia (Feb 20, 2012)

Wheezy said:


> 24 and 28 spoke wheels, really? On a 50lb bike with 3" tires you're trying to save 30 grams of spoke weight? I don't get it. I've about trashed the stock rims in no time at all just because of my weight. (I'm 6'5" and 265lb ex ball player). Been running 21 and 23lbs of pressure and not even riding rocky terrain.
> 
> Building a fresh set of i9's on Easton ARC 40's 32 hole straight gauge brass nipples. Also going with centerlock to be able to run the RT99 Freeza discs and some SAINT brakes. Might try a set of Surly Dirt Wizards as well.
> 
> Hubs and rims ordered at the PATH. Should be in before Thanksgiving hopefully! I'll post pics.


Nice! I'm a big fan of The Path.


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## NEPMTBA (Apr 7, 2007)

Agreed, I'm thinking, build me some big'uns...
...love the brass nips!


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## Wheezy (Nov 1, 2003)

When you weigh damn near 300lbs with gear on you're gonna tweak some rims, it just comes with the territory. The brass nipples seems to last way longer when you actually have to true wheels on a regular basis. That said, I'm going to have Juan Martinez at CyclePro build them. That dude builds magic wheels.


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## NEPMTBA (Apr 7, 2007)

Good luck...
...let us know how they work out!


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## Harryman (Jun 14, 2011)

Brass nipples are both stronger and make it easier to retrue your wheels, it's a smart choice.


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## NEPMTBA (Apr 7, 2007)

Yes agreed, aluminum are lighter, but pretty much a one time deal. After they get dirt down in there even with any kind of applied thread sealer they just lock up. Only ones I have found that kinda work are DT Swiss Pro Locks. I will use these if the customer requests aluminum nips.They are aluminum and have a great sealer in them that doesn't allow dirt in.


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## voon (Nov 10, 2016)

At 300 lbs I'm fairly sure that you exceed allowed weight for the bike. But yeah, that's why I immediately installed Mavic EX729. Robust classic.


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## Wheezy (Nov 1, 2003)

LOL - I'm 265 plus gear / water probably about 280.

So, swapped the brakes for some Saints, will swap rotors with the new wheels when they are done. Added a nice Diety Mohawk bar, WTB Laser Race Ti Saddle, Dirt Wizards, and the i9 hubs on Easton Arc 40's. Pretty legit for an ebike. Wheels are currently being built by Juan at Bike Pro. I'm out of town until next week though. Also, gotta work on figuring out how to get the maget onto the new rotors - probably 3D print my own adapter.

Jewelry! More photos to come next week.


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## voon (Nov 10, 2016)

Hub addiction, eh  I plan on getting some Hope Pro 4s .... was always happy with Hope, as they provide decent quality for a fairly decent price ... and with an 8.something degree engagement, they're even quite fast.

As for "What were they thinking" ... it's a fairly commong thing. I also wonder, why Haibike puts cheap plastic pedals okay on a chinese DIY store bike onto a 5000$ eMTB. Ah well. Guess they need to leave some room for us to justify upgrades


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## Wheezy (Nov 1, 2003)

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## Wheezy (Nov 1, 2003)

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## Wheezy (Nov 1, 2003)

As an FYI to anyone considering swapping to centerlock hubs on the levo, it's a minor pain in the rear. You must know how to drill and tap a hole. No big deal really. In the photo above you can see I did the pair of holes. The magnet is off by about 1/16th of an inch, and it's a very strong magnet so I figured it should still work. 

Well, the real problem is the frame design. I ALMOST took a flat file to the caliper post to make some extra clearance. If you look at your frame you'll see where they've already done this in the initial design to clear this magnet holder. Well, with my implementation the adpater wasn't going to work as shown in the pic. 

So, I decided to leave the frame alone. I didn't take a pic, but basically I shaved the adapter down along the radius of the magnet to the lower mounting hole and rotated it down so that it follows the radios of the centerlock ring. Some RED locktite and some very strong epoxy and it's good to go. If this every fails I will "pin" it with a small hole. It is aluminum so a small tig tack weld would work as well. I think it's going to hold up just fine as is though. 

So, it IS possible though and WOW what a difference a REAL wheelset makes on this bike. Along with the Surly Dirt Wizards and Diety carbon bars it's a whole new machine in how it handles and performs. WAY MORE SURE FOOOTED and aggressive through the rough stuff.


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## NEPMTBA (Apr 7, 2007)

Good job!

Let us know how the hold up.


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## Wheezy (Nov 1, 2003)

One other note- if you go centerlock you must order a special centerlock lock ring for through axles. Its shimano hb20 and uses a bottom bracket tool vs cassette tool. 


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## Wheezy (Nov 1, 2003)

First real ride on upgrade stuff last night. The bike has gone from "pretty good" to "holy crap this thing is amazing"

Combo of the wheels, brakes, tires and bars all made positive improvements. The tires alone would have taken it to "damn good"

I HIGHLY recommend you try a set of dirt wizards to replace the garbage specialized specs on these things. First run down my normal ride "dh" section and I smoked my strava time by 15 seconds, and I could easily drop a few more PSI and, although I'm pretty happy with where it's at on the rolling resistance and cornering ability. I'd say I have room for another five seconds or so when I start pushing. 

Anyhow, thought I'd write up my final thoughts and results.


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## Gutch (Dec 17, 2010)

I'm kinda liking my Purgatory Grids. We're yours grid sidewalls? I'm riding loose over hard. I'll check out your Wizards.


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## fos'l (May 27, 2009)

W, thanks for the great report, and keep informing us about your progress and the functionality of the changes. What you did reminds me of the mods to my dirt bikes in the 70's, early MTB's in the 80"s and what needs to be done to my Haibike SDURO (which IMO is an ecommuter that looks like an off road bike).


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## Wheezy (Nov 1, 2003)

Hey Gutch, I honestly don't know. I DOUBT IT. They were "muuushy" and scary if you tried to actually corner. No warning break loose. I hit the ground once as it just washed all the way out and that was that. Keep in mind, I'm al old DH racer and damn near 300lbs with gear on. 

I guarantee anybody that's even a little bit aggressive will prefer the DW. The 3.0 is definitely smaller than the stock specialized tires were. I've had a few pedal strikes with the bigger tires, so I imagine I'll have a few more now. 

Another quick ride last night and man, get some good bars while you're at it. Bike just feels so much better. I know it's the combo of everything, but still. I can't wait to go do an epic 20-30 miler and see how it goes. Planning a trip up to Kern soon!


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## fos'l (May 27, 2009)

W, gonna do JO, Cannell or something else? Wife and I did JO this summer (only time she could get off work) and it was a brutal 100++ or whatever; felt like 1000.


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## Wheezy (Nov 1, 2003)

If I thought I could make it I'd do JO and KRT in a single ride, but I don't have a spare battery.... YET! Will spend at least two days up there though so I'll get more than enough riding in.


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## Gutch (Dec 17, 2010)

Wheezy said:


> Hey Gutch, I honestly don't know. I DOUBT IT. They were "muuushy" and scary if you tried to actually corner. No warning break loose. I hit the ground once as it just washed all the way out and that was that. Keep in mind, I'm al old DH racer and damn near 300lbs with gear on.
> 
> I guarantee anybody that's even a little bit aggressive will prefer the DW. The 3.0 is definitely smaller than the stock specialized tires were. I've had a few pedal strikes with the bigger tires, so I imagine I'll have a few more now.
> 
> Another quick ride last night and man, get some good bars while you're at it. Bike just feels so much better. I know it's the combo of everything, but still. I can't wait to go do an epic 20-30 miler and see how it goes. Planning a trip up to Kern soon!


Yeah, mine was a 2017 with grid sidewalls. I also ran Roval Carbon 38SL wheels. Tight. I run Renthal 780mm bars. I'm ex Moto guy. Set up is vital. Glad your happy. I always run 204 disc front, 180 rear. I'm only 195 lbs though. Keep ripping!!


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## Wheezy (Nov 1, 2003)

I love this thing. Life changing. 









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## motocatfish (Mar 12, 2016)

Wheezy, thanks for sharing your TL upgrades & riding impressions. I'm lusting. One TL demo already, and get to demo a TL with Minion-HDR2s on Wednesday. Then over to the other shop & demo a Powerfly FS8.



Wheezy said:


> If I thought I could make it I'd do JO and KRT in a single ride, but I don't have a spare battery.... YET! Will spend at least two days up there though so I'll get more than enough riding in.


JO & KRT up & back down? Mmmm... those trails are heaven! Did you get up to JO before the snow?

Catfish ...


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## vikb (Sep 7, 2008)

Wheezy said:


> 24 and 28 spoke wheels, really?


Did you buy them? Really? Yes? Then mission accomplished.


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## 8664 (Oct 17, 2005)

nice, but i going on LB 40mm and dt350/32h, hucknorris and 2.8 maxxis HR.
brake magura mt5 !

https://ep1.pinkbike.org/p5pb14269604/p5pb14269604.jpg


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## Wheezy (Nov 1, 2003)

vikb said:


> Did you buy them? Really? Yes? Then mission accomplished.


What are you simple or something? There are no other options. Specialized really should have specd a more robust wheelset.

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## Wheezy (Nov 1, 2003)

8664 said:


> nice, but i going on LB 40mm and dt350/32h, hucknorris and 2.8 maxxis HR.
> brake magura mt5 !
> 
> https://ep1.pinkbike.org/p5pb14269604/p5pb14269604.jpg


That'll be a nice setup!

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## vikb (Sep 7, 2008)

Wheezy said:


> What are you simple or something? There are no other options. Specialized really should have specd a more robust wheelset.


Why? They got you to pay for that wheelset. Mission accomplished for them.


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## 8664 (Oct 17, 2005)

Wheezy said:


> That'll be a nice setup!
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


thanks!
this is my levo

in Thun, Switzerland - photo by niesen-ranger - Pinkbike


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## Wheezy (Nov 1, 2003)

vikb said:


> Why? They got you to pay for that wheelset. Mission accomplished for them.


Ya totally. It's every companies "mission" to sell their customers something that isn't ideal or that they're unhappy with. 









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