The next ride was on singletrack from my house to Spiritual MountainDuluth’s lift-accessible downhill park with 24 trails ranging from easy to expert. Lacking a full-face helmet and the landing skills to tackle double black runs like the one called Calculated Risk, I rode Candyland instead. The machine-built flow trail has some high, winding berms, where the bike’s fat tires kept me upright and stable. I had so much fun riding around the bike park, climbing steep hills like The Puker to get one last flowing descent, that I had to rush home for dinner at dusk.
On the way home, I chickened out while riding a sturdy, steep, extended rock bridge in Trail mode and experienced the only moment of fear in all of my 50-plus miles of testing so far—I had already committed to forward momentum, but chickened out at the last second, so the bike surged forward as I jumped sideways into the bushes. It was more a lack of user confidence than a failure of the bike, but also a good reminder of two things: how powerful the bike is and how it is as capable as its rider.
At home, I checked the Specialized app and discovered that I had climbed 3,451 feet in 22 miles in about two hours, mostly in the bike’s Auto mode. I still had 44% battery and power in my legs.
Smart Ride
Photography: Stephanie Pearson
After subsequent rides, what stands out most about the Turbo Levo 4 is how intuitive it is. The bike’s high-performance torque sensors can instantly “sense” the rider’s power and amplify it, while maintaining control, traction and precision at higher speeds. This is especially evident in Auto mode, which is the most natural feeling of the four Eco, Auto, Trail and Turbo modes, all of which are easy to read on the bike’s Master Mind computer on the top tube.
I was a little dubious about the Turbo Levo’s ability to make the jump from a Class I electric mountain bike to a Class III electric mountain bike. On American versions of the bike, riders can adjust the speed limit by toggling through Master Mind and increasing the Class I limit of 20 mph to the Class III limit of 28 mph. It’s an easy process designed for mountain bikers who ride from city streets to trails.
But it also raises a question: What ripper is going to want to get back on a Class I bike – the upper limit on most trails in the US – unless the speed police are in hot pursuit? By allowing this workaround in a higher speed limit category, Specialized puts the onus on the rider to follow the rules, which opens a Pandora’s box – especially on trails populated primarily by non-motorized mountain bikers, where safety is a greater concern.
Aside from the ethical conundrum, my only problem with the S-Works Turbo Levo 4 is that it’s so fun it suspends time. I’m so in the groove that I forget to go home and make dinner.
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