[Nat]

I charge everything to 100% and leave them on the charger until I need them. Everything — ebike batteries, AXS batteries, cell phones, toothbrush, MacBooks, hair clipper, electric shaver, car, screwdriver, waterpik, and probably a few more things.

 

[_CJ]

I charge everything to 100% and leave them on the charger until I need them. Everything — ebike batteries, AXS batteries, cell phones, toothbrush, MacBooks, hair clipper, electric shaver, car, screwdriver, waterpik, and probably a few more things.

I recently read that charging to 100% is worse for the battery than draining to 0%. With replacement batteries for these bikes costing $1000 or more, 80% will be it for me unless I have something special planned.


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[Nat]

I recently read that charging to 100% is worse for the battery than draining to 0%. With replacement batteries for these bikes costing $1000 or more, 80% will be it for me unless I have something special planned.


.

I'm not worried about it. I recently ran a diagnostic on the laptop and it showed my Fazua batteries both still performing at 100%. Even if they are degrading, I usually move on to the next bike (or phone, computer, or whatever) before long. The Fazua ride 60 batteries are only 430Wh so that remaining 20% is important for most of my rides.

 

[_CJ]

I'm not worried about it. I recently ran a diagnostic on the laptop and it showed my Fazua batteries both still performing at 100%. Even if they are degrading, I usually move on to the next bike (or phone, computer, or whatever) before long. The Fazua ride 60 batteries are only 430Wh so that remaining 20% is important for most of my rides.

That's part of my issue with small battery bikes, you really have no choice but to charge them to 100% every time....although, the smaller battery should be less expensive to replace.


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[Tama John]

Just saw a gen 4 when dropping off my gen 3 for a motor issue.

I couldn't get past the giant downtube. It's really weird looking in person.

I'm seeing 500 wh (new) Spez batteries for under $500. I'm thinking of getting one, save my 700wh battery for bigger rides.

 

[stevenfallover]

Weaknesses:

• Larger & heavier:

FC

Do you notice the weight when you are riding it?

 

[westadamsvets]

Thanks for showing the detail of the ease of the big battery popping in and out. Glad that Specialized is bucking the trend of needing to remove motor to access the battery.

 

[francois]

I charge everything to 100% and leave them on the charger until I need them. Everything — ebike batteries, AXS batteries, cell phones, toothbrush, MacBooks, hair clipper, electric shaver, car, screwdriver, waterpik, and probably a few more things.

Those are all LITHIUM batteries. You mean you haven't esploded yet???

 

[francois]

FC

Do you notice the weight when you are riding it?

When riding, it is hard to notice on these good new bikes like the Shuttle LT, Orbea Wild and Gen4 Levo.

The times I notice are when doing big drops or hard braking. I think it's good to have supportive suspension that doesn't bottom out. Also stopping is key, without changing braking points too much.

This Levo has Maven brakes with 220 rotor so crazy stops. On tech climbs, steep climbs, this bike feels lighter than a 40 lb'er because of the quick and supportive motor.

Carrying the bike and very slow trails, I notice the weight.

 

[francois]

Just saw a gen 4 when dropping off my gen 3 for a motor issue.

I couldn't get past the giant downtube. It's really weird looking in person.

I'm seeing 500 wh (new) Spez batteries for under $500. I'm thinking of getting one, save my 700wh battery for bigger rides.

It has a beluga bulge.

500wh battery, not a bad idea. Grab one for $350 as they were giving those away in last year's Levo promotion.

 

[francois]

Thanks for showing the detail of the ease of the big battery popping in and out. Glad that Specialized is bucking the trend of needing to remove motor to access the battery.

You are welcome. The battery door, sealing, silence, storage options is well done. I'll do a ride with just an extender battery and pack a romantic picnic setup in that downtube.

 

[francois]

That's part of my issue with small battery bikes, you really have no choice but to charge them to 100% every time....although, the smaller battery should be less expensive to replace.


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Correct. A 430wh battery or smaller will have to go 100% to near zero on many rides. It's more stressful for the battery, and those are complete charge cycles (a lithium usually has 700 full charge cycles).

An 800wh or 840wh battery can be used from 80%-20% on most rides and those are very easy on the battery. And tha's only about half a charge cycle. Will last longer.

 

[francois]

I recently read that charging to 100% is worse for the battery than draining to 0%. With replacement batteries for these bikes costing $1000 or more, 80% will be it for me unless I have something special planned.


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Source of reading??

Something quite common is when a battery is charged to 100%, it's not really 100. And not really zero on the other end. Manufacturers leave room to protect the battery on both ends.

 

[francois]

Thanks for a great review. The big question what to do and not.

I hade the previous Gen 3 that was great but engine had some issues.
I have the Levo SL 2 and riding mostly technical XCO trail. I also have the Wild 2023 as my Enduro All Mountain. Resale value is less than 50%. Selling both may be enough to pay for an Expert.

I have always bought newest tech but I am thinking that my SL 2 will be alright 1-2 years and my Wild be OK as long as CX4 will "hold".

I will wait at least till end of summer to test ride Gen 4...I know that I will probably be addicted

Any one knows if there will be a new range extender for SL 2?

What you should do is wait for the alloy version. Should be under $6k for the Gen 4 Levo. And if you don't need the 840wh, buy the 600wh and get extra money. Buy that crazy expensive 280wh extender.

There will be no new range extender for the SL2. And this new one is not compatible. I wouldn't be surprised if Specialized canceled all development on the SL series. Simply not selling enough to justify the R&D.

 

[francois]

they said same power / higher speed. So while it's now a class 3 you don't get any more power just the same assist up to 28mph,

As far as I know, the Gen 4 Levo in Class 3 mode gets full power.

Now, I have never hit the 20mph speed limiter on and trail climb, even on these new emtbs. So the Class 3 mode has no effect on climbs at all. It's for flats and roads.

 

[francois]

Here are the nuggets of information I learned about the Levo Gen 4, riding it in the last month

 

[dustyman]

Francois
There will be no new range extender for the SL2. And this new one is not compatible. I wouldn't be surprised if Specialized canceled all development on the SL series. Simply not selling enough to justify the R&D.

That would suck for the older fit rider just looking for a little assistance and riding a bike that's closer to their regular bike. Also riding in Orange County most trails are closed to ebikes, but people still do it. The Levo SL and other light weight ebikes don't look like ebikes so they can get away with it. The full powered bikes are just getting to big and stick out more when a Ranger is close by.

 

[_CJ]

Source of reading??

Something quite common is when a battery is charged to 100%, it's not really 100. And not really zero on the other end. Manufacturers leave room to protect the battery on both ends.

Not finding my source, but the article below has a lot of useful info. Also of note is that length of time a battery is left at 100% can have an effect....charging to 100% days before a big ride vs. charging the morning of the ride for example.

BU-808: How to Prolong Lithium-based Batteries

BU meta description needed...

batteryuniversity.com

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[francois]

Francois
There will be no new range extender for the SL2. And this new one is not compatible. I wouldn't be surprised if Specialized canceled all development on the SL series. Simply not selling enough to justify the R&D.

That would suck for the older fit rider just looking for a little assistance and riding a bike that's closer to their regular bike. Also riding in Orange County most trails are closed to ebikes, but people still do it. The Levo SL and other light weight ebikes don't look like ebikes so they can get away with it. The full powered bikes are just getting to big and stick out more when a Ranger is close by.

Correct. Older/fit riders and riders sneaking around with ebikes is a use case for midpower, but those are niche markets that are not growing much.

Midpower bikes will still be serviced by some companies so there will be options.

And the real future is that Midpower will just be a configuration option of full power bikes because the weight savings is really in the battery and components, not the motor. Think Orbea Rise and Cannondale Moterra version 2.

Already, the DJI Avinox can be midpower (with a massive upside). With a 600Wh battery, it weighs 42 lbs. If they have a 400Wh battery, that will be 40 lbs already today. They're making an extender btw.

I have a video on my Emtb Review youtube channel discussing the decline of Midpower 'only' bikes.

 

[sa12]

CJ, you are technically correct, but remember that you're not interacting directly with the battery itself. There's a layer of software between you and the battery that may shut things down a bit early to protect the health of the battery. So, 0% might just mean that there's no usable battery left. Doesn't necessarily mean that the battery has totally run flat. I'd check with the manufacturer of your bike, but I'd guess that it has some amount of battery management tech in there.