Review of the Specialized Turbo Levo SL Kids Ebike (for an Adult) (Shallow Thoughts)

Review of the Specialized Turbo Levo SL Kids Ebike (for an Adult)

We had a lovely ebike trail ride this morning, getting out early to beat the heat, and it reminded me that I've had a partially written review of my current ebike that I needed to finish.

I've written about my first ebike, the Lectric XP. Not only was it fun to ride and practical for errand-running, but it also got Dave and me back into regular cycling after we'd fallen out of the habit.

Ironically, that's the reason I found myself riding the Lectric less and less: as I got back into better shape, I wanted to spend more time on the lighter and more nimble "acoustic" bike and do more of my own pedaling. At 65 lbs, the Lectric felt heavy and klunky compared to the regular bike, and it wasn't as much fun off-road. After four years with the Lectric, I found myself wishing for something lighter.

Dave, who's always keeping an eye on the e-bike market, had been pondering an unusual choice: the Specialized Turbo Levo SL Kids. Yes, kids: this is an ebike made for kids, with 24-inch wheels (adult mountain bikes in the 90s and earlier had 26" wheels, and these days most fancy modern mountain bikes for adults have gone to 27" or 29").

The STLSLK (that model name is so baroque that I'm going to abbreviate it from now on) is also 36 lbs, 2 lbs lighter than the adult Turbo Levo SL (and just over half the weight of the Lectric). But it uses the same motor as the adult version, so it has plenty of power. It's also less than half the price of the adult version (though still expensive enough that it took me a while to talk myself into it, and I see it's gone up quite a bit since then, probably tariff issues?) It's front suspension only, while the adult version has full suspension; but neither Dave nor I feel the need for full suspension for the sort of riding we do.

The kids' bike seemed like an especially good option for me. At 5'2" I find most mountain bikes too big, even bikes from the 26" wheel days. On an oversized mountain bike, you can still ride, but it's harder to shift your weight around to find the best traction, and it's also more difficult if you have to get off in a hurry.

But Dave, at 5'10", thought he might like an STLSLK as well. Even at his size, he finds that bike shop people are always trying to steer him to a bigger bike than what he wants, and he thought the STLSLK might be fairly easily adaptable to a normal-sized man.

None of the bike shops in Santa Fe had the STLSLK in stock (but more on that later), so any order would have to be sight-unseen. We decided I would be the guinea pig.

Teething Pains

My STLSLK was Dead On Arrival when I went to pick it up. I took it out for a test ride, and came back: "hmm, that motor is really subtle. Even in Turbo mode I really couldn't feel it." That, it turned out, was because it didn't work. At all. It took a week and a half for Specialized to ship a new motor. Not an auspicious start, and I was on the verge of cancelling the order and telling them to send it back, when the new motor finally shipped. I'm happy to report that the bike works fine now, and I haven't had any other problems with it.

First Impressions

The fork (RockShox Reba 26) seems to work pretty well. I'm sure there are better forks out there, but I've never had a top-end fork so I don't know what I'm missing. The brakes (SRAM Level T) work well enough, but more on that later.

The 11-speed 11-42 cassette (with SRAM NX shifters) works well. There's a nice low bottom gear for trail riding, and the top gear, while not enough if you want to bomb down roads at high speeds, is fine for casual around-town riding.

What isn't great for around-town riding is the speed limit. The bike has a top speed of either 10mph or 15.5mph (you can't change between them yourself; it has to be done at a Specialized dealer). 15.5 turns out to be rather slow on the road; when we ride to the market or library, if I'm on my STLSLK and Dave is on his Lectric or Jackrabbit, he has to slow down on flats and uphills so I can keep up. I'm sure the same would be true of family rides where the adults are riding adult ebikes. That ridiculously low speed limit is really my only major criticism of the bike.

But the real test: how well does the motor system work? Answer: really well!

I worried about the lack of a throttle. On the Lectric, the throttle is a huge help when starting on a hill, since the motor doesn't kick in until you've been pedaling for a second or two.

No such need on the STLSLK. Its motor starts as soon as you start pedaling, and it has a torque sensor, so it boosts in proportion to how hard you're pedaling. Starting on hills is easy ... at least if you're in anything remotely approaching the right gear.

I absolutely love being able to tune the amount of boost with the torque sensor. The Lectric had tons of power, and when the motor kicks in (even on level 1) you really feel the lurch forward. The STLSLK is much more civilized. Pedal lightly and you don't get much boost; crack down, and the motor really kicks in. If you want, you can keep it in Turbo mode and just adjust the boost with your feet on the pedals. (It has three power settings, Eco, Trail, and Turbo; you can customize them a little, plus you can add your own mode with a customized power curve).

One scenario where the torque sensor really helps is riding with someone else. When we rode around town on the Lectrics, I always found that I was either going a little faster or a little slower than Dave; I couldn't find a combination of gear and motor assist level where we were going the same speed, even on identical Lectrics. Riding with him on the STLSLK, I just have to push a little harder or a little less hard on the pedals and I can go whatever speed I need (subject to that annoying speed limit). And on trails, I don't have to constantly bump between power levels; I can make adjustments with my feet.

(I don't want to sound like I'm knocking the Lectric. It's a great first ebike, and keep in mind that it costs a third what the STLSLK costs, and less than a fifth of an adult STLSL. For the price, they're terrific, and I never regretted buying mine.)

Having the fine control is especially good on rocky uphills, which we have in abundance in White Rock. Having some extra climbing power that can be applied smoothly makes it SO much easier to get up those technical rocky sections.

I was surprised how well the STLSLK works as an unpowered mountain bike. 36 lbs is a bit heavy for a mountain bike, but not totally out of the question; with good gearing and okay tires, it's a lot better even unpowered than a lot of low-end bikes. On the trail, mostly I leave the motor off, and just blip it on in preparation for the occasional steep or rocky climb.

After riding only the STLSLK for a few weeks, I got back on my Cannondale to do the same ride I'd just done the previous day on the STLSLK. On the uphill sections, it was a wash: the bikes felt surprisingly similar, and though the motor assist helps a lot on the technical sections, there were other sections where the Cannondale's weight advantage made it easier.

Then we hit the downhill. I have to admit, the lightweight, flickable Cannondale was more fun bombing down the Sherwood-to-Kimberly trail.

On the other hand, there are plenty of times when I just don't have the energy, or it's too hot, and having the STLSLK option is a blessing.

Fitting a Small Adult

I've made surprisingly few changes. The stock seatpost wasn't long enough for me, so I replaced it. I also went to a slightly taller stem, cut down the handlebars to a reasonable width and added bar ends. With those changes, it fits me pretty much perfectly.

The stock saddle is a kids' version of the Specialized Bridge Sport Dave and I use on our other bikes. The kids' version is a little shorter front to back but otherwise the same. Seat choice is always personal, but I find it fairly comfy. The pedals are kid-sized too, but they work fine for me.

Works for Bigger People Too

After riding mine, Dave ordered one of his own. At 5'10" he's a much less obvious candidate for a teeny 24" wheeled kids' bike. But he likes small bikes, and was convinced he could make it work for him.

And by that time, we discovered that we could have test-ridden one after all (now that we no longer needed that). The trick is, on the Specialized website, you have to choose a color before you can search for dealers who stock it. Then repeat for the other two colors. It turned out there was a bike shop in Albuquerque that had one in stock, and there was even one in Santa Fe, the new F1 Cyclery, which is small and out of the way, but super friendly and helpful. They had one in a box, but when we showed up to ask about it, they built it for us on the spot. That's the bike Dave ended up buying.

He's customized a lot more than I have. He had to use a much longer seatpost, of course, and a taller stem. He replaced his saddle with an adult-length Bridge Sport. He replaced the pedals with adult-sized pedals with less spikey pins.

He also tried replacing the front wheel with a 26" (the stock fork can take either 24" or 26"), a configuration which for no reason I've been able to find is called a "mullet". After riding the mullet for a while, he recently went back to the original front wheel. His succinct summary: "26 is more capable, but 24 is funner."

He wondered if he'd need a longer crank, but the stock crank has been fine. A good thing, since the bike is prone to pedal strikes as it is. The pedals are only an inch or so closer to the ground than on a 26" wheeled mountain bike, but that's enough that we have to be extra careful of our pedal position when going through rocky sections. Dave says the mullet made a noticable difference there.

Miscellany

Another advantage of small bikes is that it's easy to take them on trips. If you take both wheels off (fast and easy: the rear requires a 6mm allen key, the front doesn't need tools) you can pack two STLSLKs in the back of a Rav4 without needing to use the rear seat space. Very handy for trips.

The Turbo Levo comes with a dropper seatpost, something I'd never tried before. One bike shop guy I talked to said "I used to think of it as a cure for a problem I didn't have", which is pretty much how I felt. But he also said that once he started using one, he'd hate to go back. I've had my STLSLK for a bit over half a year now, and I still forget to use the dropper. Old dog, new trick. I'll get it eventually.

I know I should say something about range, but honestly, I have no idea. I hardly ever charge it, yet I think the lowest I've seen the battery is around 65%. But then, I run it with the motor off a lot of the time.

Dislikes

I already mentioned the speed limit, my biggest criticism. I can only guess that Specialized sets it that way so adults will be less tempted to buy the much cheaper kiddie version (the adult version apparently tops out at 28mph).

The freehub ratchet is annoyingly loud. You can quiet it down a little by disassembling it and packing it with as much grease as you can force in. That lasts for maybe a month and then it gets loud again.

The SRAM disk brakes stop well but are prone to squealing. Dave hates SRAM anything, and has replaced his brakes with Shimano. My brakes have mostly been pretty quiet, but just recently the rear started squealing. I'm going to try cleaning with alcohol, but if that doesn't work, I'll follow Dave's example and switch to Shimano.

The color selection isn't great. I got the dark green, which is so dark it's nearly black. Maybe I'll find a way to jazz it up. Dave's is orange with black flecks. The third option is black and grey. You'd think a kids' bike would have more color options.

The Specialized phone app has some fun features, but also some annoying problems. I'll write about that separately.

That's a pretty short list of dislikes. Overall, I'm very happy with my STLSLK (whom I've named "Juniper"). It's a bit expensive, but after seeing how much fun and utility I got out of the Lectric, I decided I could justify upgrading, and I'm glad I did.