# 2020 Turbo Levo Comp



## rsilvers (Aug 23, 2015)

It arrived. 2020 Comp.


Thule T2 Pro XT 9034XT rack pictured.


51.5 lbs with tubes and pedals and 700Wh battery. By comparison a 2019 Giant Trance E+2 with 500Wh battery is 54.5 lbs.


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## mtbbiker (Apr 8, 2004)

Sweet bike! I love all blacked out bikes! The Giants are kinda of pigs, and one of the reasons I took them off my list. 700wh battery, I bet you are going to be worn out before that battery leaves you stranded, but at least you'll have a good time trying! 

Make sure to give us a ride review soon!


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## str8line (Apr 1, 2005)

That is one sexy machine.


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## bwana (Oct 8, 2012)

it came with a lyrik?!


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## rsilvers (Aug 23, 2015)

bwana said:


> it came with a lyrik?!


Yes. The specs on their website say: RockShox Lyrik Select RC 29, DebonAir spring, Charger RC damper, 51mm offset, 15x110mm thru-axle.

The Fork says E-MTB on it, so it is the E specific one.

Why - what is a Lyrik like?


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## TraxFactory (Sep 10, 1999)

rsilvers said:


> Why - what is a Lyrik like?


Lyrik is a stiffer more appropriate fork compared to the Pike of previous year. Glad to see that option.

Did it say EMTB add 10 PSI or just EMTB ?

Beat the heck out of that thing! Sweat looking ride!

Sent from my moto z3 using Tapatalk


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## rsilvers (Aug 23, 2015)

How do I know if I want the volume spacers in it? I am 64kg.


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## nicho0120 (Dec 18, 2017)

Looks great


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## rsilvers (Aug 23, 2015)

My only complaint so far is that the brake feel is very progressive and not like my Shimano XT brakes on my Giant. There is no way to adjust the levers to have less travel.


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## ziscwg (May 18, 2007)

rsilvers said:


> My only complaint so far is that the brake feel is very progressive and not like my Shimano XT brakes on my Giant. There is no way to adjust the levers to have less travel.


You could replace the brakes, or swap the calipers on your XTs to the twin-piston and put them on the Levo. I know the calipers are around 100 ea. So, it's not a cheap fix


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## Gutch (Dec 17, 2010)

rsilvers said:


> How do I know if I want the volume spacers in it? I am 64kg.


If you set your sag correctly and when you're riding you blow thru the stroke. The volume spacers will make your suspension more progressive as their is less air space.


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## 33red (Jan 5, 2016)

What is the price of Giant?
Yours?


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## rsilvers (Aug 23, 2015)

ziscwg said:


> You could replace the brakes, or swap the calipers on your XTs to the twin-piston and put them on the Levo. I know the calipers are around 100 ea. So, it's not a cheap fix


A set of SLX levers and calipers are about $160 from Wiggle.


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## seamarsh (Mar 5, 2012)

Gutch said:


> If you set your sag correctly and when you're riding you blow thru the stroke. The volume spacers will make your suspension more progressive as their is less air space.


Good to note, Volume spacers only effect last portion of travel. So you only really need to add them if you are running correct air pressure/sag and you find you are still bottoming out travel often.

Adding spacers will make your fork "ramp up" towards the end of the stroke as its decreasing air volume.

You might have 1 or 2 installed by default, you can add or remove to fine tune as needed.


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## ziscwg (May 18, 2007)

rsilvers said:


> A set of SLX levers and calipers are about $160 from Wiggle.


4 piston SLX brakes for $160? What a deal for an ebike.


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## ziscwg (May 18, 2007)

seamarsh said:


> Good to note, *Volume spacers only effect last portion of travel. *So you only really need to add them if you are running correct air pressure/sag and you find you are still bottoming out travel often.
> 
> Adding spacers will make your fork "ramp up" towards the end of the stroke as its decreasing air volume.
> 
> You might have 1 or 2 installed by default, you can add or remove to fine tune as needed.


While that is technically true, in reality, you can run a lower overall pressure to make the first part of the stroke more plush. Then as you go through the travel, you get more support/resistance. There are other factors that come into play here, but spacers allow you to tune things how you like them


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## seamarsh (Mar 5, 2012)

ziscwg said:


> While that is technically true, in reality, you can run a lower overall pressure to make the first part of the stroke more plush. Then as you go through the travel, you get more support/resistance. There are other factors that come into play here, but spacers allow you to tune things how you like them


That was true pre debonair spring upgrade but debonair adds more midstroke support and initial is more sensitive.

I've done both.

Pike pre debonair 50psi and 3 tokens

Pike post debonair 60 psi and 1 token

Thing is if you use the method you describe above you will find fork has a lot of dive, so you have to turn up low speed which makes everything worse.

It's definitely an option but think the debonair fixed that issue and does a great job.


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## honkinunit (Aug 6, 2004)

ziscwg said:


> 4 piston SLX brakes for $160? What a deal for an ebike.


I didn't even realize Shimano already had 4-piston SLX brakes.

Shimano has cracked down on UK and German companies selling into the US. I don't see any 4-piston SLX brakes on Wiggle. *ALL* of the US stores are showing the same price - $175 per side.

An Amazon reseller has the BR-M8020 XT 4-pistons brakes for $150 per side.


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## ziscwg (May 18, 2007)

honkinunit said:


> I didn't even realize Shimano already had 4-piston SLX brakes.
> 
> Shimano has cracked down on UK and German companies selling into the US. I don't see any 4-piston SLX brakes on Wiggle. *ALL* of the US stores are showing the same price - $175 per side.
> 
> An Amazon reseller has the BR-M8020 XT 4-pistons brakes for $150 per side.


Ouch.
That $100 caliper change is looking better and better.


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## hikerdave (Mar 8, 2006)

rsilvers said:


> How do I know if I want the volume spacers in it? I am 64kg.


Volume spacers required aren't affected by rider weight. If you're climbing a steep rocky hill and the back of the bike is dropping down or wallowing more volume spacers or a bigger one for Fox, might help. If you do drops to flat, more volume spacers or more compression damping.

If you ride over a four inch rock at low speed seated and your bike boots you in the ass, you may want to take some volume spacers out. If you never bottom your shock and you have correct sag and damping, take some volume spacers out.

That said, Specialized probably got it right.


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## seamarsh (Mar 5, 2012)

hikerdave said:


> Volume spacers required aren't affected by rider weight. If you're climbing a steep rocky hill and the back of the bike is dropping down or wallowing more volume spacers or a bigger one for Fox, might help. If you do drops to flat, more volume spacers or more compression damping.
> 
> If you ride over a four inch rock at low speed seated and your bike boots you in the ass, you may want to take some volume spacers out. If you never bottom your shock and you have correct sag and damping, take some volume spacers out.
> 
> That said, Specialized probably got it right.


I know this a Levo thread so will not get into suspension weeds and not trying to be an ass$&& but

You definitely will not be able to tell anything about volume spacers by "
If you ride over a four inch rock at low speed seated and your bike boots you in the ass"

That would give you zero indication of anything to do with a volume spacer.

That being said I agree with you it's probably fine from factory.


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## hikerdave (Mar 8, 2006)

seamarsh said:


> I know this a Levo thread so will not get into suspension weeds and not trying to be an ass$&& but
> 
> You definitely will not be able to tell anything about volume spacers by "
> If you ride over a four inch rock at low speed seated and your bike boots you in the ass"
> ...


Six inch travel sagged 33 percent leaves 4 inch of positive displacement. Peak force at that displacement is determined by a combination of the leverage ratio of the suspension and the compression ratio of the shock. Slower speed is to reduce the effect of any excessive high-speed compression damping. Damping will still afect this test; if the shock moves less on compression because the air spring is generating too much force proportionally more energy is returned to the rider. I stand by my test; it's common sense that a spring that's too stiff generates a harsher ride and also common engineering practice to test impulse response; the rock substitutes for a ram and the rider's butt substitutes for an accelerometer.


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## seamarsh (Mar 5, 2012)

an asselerometer


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## jmcdev1 (Jan 1, 2011)

rsilvers said:


> How do I know if I want the volume spacers in it? I am 64kg.


I'm 64 kg as well and was not able to get full travel out of my fork with the two volume spacers that came stock in the fork. Once I removed them I was able to get full travel. Takes five minutes so easy you can Google it. It is just something else to consider if you're a lightweight. The spacers are more useful for heavier riders. It all depends on how much you weight the front of the bike in steep drops under heavy braking or landing big jumps.


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## rsilvers (Aug 23, 2015)

My second review: 




Also, I made some custom parts for it: https://matter-replicator.com


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## springs (May 20, 2017)

rsilvers said:


> My second review:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


That's an interesting way to get some reach adjustment on the brakes. Well done!

I've just ridden my new Levo for the second time and it is a great bike. One thing I'm not liking is the damper in the Lyrik. It is not good at all on high speed impacts, feels like it's spiking badly causing a lot of deflection. The damper will be my first change then I'll get onto the brakes (which seem ok, haven't been down any extended descents yet but they do have a lot of free travel before they bite).


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## rsilvers (Aug 23, 2015)

Did you see in my video where I said I fixed that? Have to remove the tokens from it.

The brakes are excellent once the Deslackinators are used.


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## springs (May 20, 2017)

rsilvers said:


> Did you see in my video where I said I fixed that? Have to remove the tokens from it.
> 
> The brakes are excellent once the Deslackinators are used.


I tried using two tokens as it came from the shop but that was terrible. Blew through its stroke way too easily, I had several big bottom outs, one big enough to knock the front wheel out of true(28psi in the tyre). Up to four tokens now and 105psi and that's the sweet spot as far as progression goes. This damper is well renowned for having issues on high speed compressions btw.


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## rsilvers (Aug 23, 2015)

With preload to set to 20-25% I could not get past half of the stroke with two tokens as it came from the factory. Of course it depends on if you do big drops or not and rider weight.


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## springs (May 20, 2017)

rsilvers said:


> Did you see in my video where I said I fixed that? Have to remove the tokens from it.
> 
> The brakes are excellent once the Deslackinators are used.


Any problems with the brake clips coming off in rough terrain?


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## rsilvers (Aug 23, 2015)

They can’t fall off. They snap on and only weigh 2.0 grams each.


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