Specialized Turbo Levo Electric Mountain Bikes – [VIDEO & PICS]

Specialized recently rocked the electric bike world with the announcement of their new Turbo Levo line of electric mountain bikes!

In typical Specialized fashion they have designed the Levo bikes with a bunch of innovative features.

One of the standout features is the “Smart Control” in the Mission Control smartphone app (available for both iPhone and Android phones) that should eliminate range anxiety.

You can tell the bike where you are riding and the app will adjust how much power the bike is providing to make sure you can finish your ride without running out of “juice”.

The Mission Control smartphone app also has Full Pro Navigation and connectivity to other popular apps like Strava & Apple Health.

Like the original Turbo line of pedal assist bikes, the Levo line is also pedal assist only (no throttle).

Here’s a breakdown of the Turbo Levo e-mountain bikes in the line up:

• FSR S-Works 6Fattie: full-suspension 27.5+ (3″ wide tires), 504 Wh battery
• FSR Expert 6Fattie: full-suspension 27.5+ (3″ wide tires), 504 Wh battery
• FSR Comp 6Fattie: full-suspension 27.5+ (3″ wide tires), 460 Wh battery
• HT Comp 6Fattie: hardtail 27.5+ (3″ wide tires), 460 Wh battery
• HT Expert Fat: fat bike (4″ wide tires), 460 Wh battery

As of right now the pricing for the U.S. market has not been set but the bikes should be available in April of 2016.

Let’s take a look at some detailed pictures of Turbo Levo FSR S-Works 6Fattie.

You can see that the 6Fattie tires are pretty wide! These are 27.5 x 3.0″ (referred to 27.5″+ size tires) and they are the new tire size between a typical mountain bike tire and the 4″ wide fat tire bikes. This size tire seems like a great fit for an electric mountain bike because the pedal assist helps to overcome the additional rotating weight of these larger wheels. The wider tires provide a lot more traction and stability.

The mid drive motor is a custom tuned Brose that is rated at 250 watts of nominal power with a peak of 530 watts and 90 Nm of torque. That’s a lot of torque!

Specialized customized the motor for optimal acceleration and engage/disengagement for off road riding conditions.

It looks like the motor has a significant bash guard to protect it.

The on/off button and pedal assist level buttons are found on the left side of the downtube. There are 3 levels of pedal assist: Eco, Trail, and Turbo. The LED lights surrounding the buttons provide the battery level.

And now for the lithium battery. As you can see it is housed on the bottom side of the downtube for low and centered weight distribution, which is good for overall bike handling. The battery can be charge on or off the bike. It is removed by loosening and removing the single bolt.

Specialized claims that the battery “has incredibly high IP 67 rating against dirt, water, and debris.” In this picture you can also see that they routed the cables and wiring in the downtube for a clean look. There are 2 different battery sizes being offered 504 Wh (FSR S-Works, FSR Expert) and 460 Wh (for the rest of the Levo line). The stated charge time is 3.5 hours.

In this view you can see the battery attachment near the cranks.

And this is a look at the charging port for charging the battery on or off the bike.

Specialized focused on dialing in the handling and suspension for the Levo line. “M5 Premium Aluminum construction is paired with our Trail 6Fattie Geometry to support a ride that provides slack, confident handling, maximum efficiency, and more fun.” The rear shock is a Custom FOX Float Factory DPS, Autosag, with Rx Trail Tune.

Up front they spec’ed the RockShox Pike with 140mm of travel.

The Specialized Turbo Levo FSR S-Works 6Fattie looks like a lot of fun to ride!

The following is a video from VitalMTB from the Levo launch event in Austria. WARNING, explicit language in the video:

And here is a their initial impressions after riding the Levo.

Below are the specs for this model:

As of right now the pricing for the U.S. market has not be set but the bikes should be available in April of 2016.

Stay tuned for more information on the new Specialized Turbo Levo e-mtb’s!

P.S. Don’t forget to join the Electric Bike Report community for updates from the electric bike world, plus ebike riding and maintenance tips!