Specialized is now also electrifying mountain bikes and is launching three full-suspension bikes and four hardtails with plus-size tires as well as a fat bike under the family name "Turbo Levo" in spring 2016. One of the biggest difficulties with e-bikes is handling. That's why the engineers at Specialized set themselves the goal of achieving handling on their e-mountainbikes that comes very close to that of non-motorized bikes. The FSR presented here is very similar to the new Stumpjumper, so it is not surprising that the geometry is also similar. The head angle is set at 67 degrees. The chainstays, however, are slightly longer at 459 millimeters due to the design. At 342 millimetres, the bottom bracket is also slightly higher than on the Stumpjumper.

Another important point is the motor and the look. Together with its motor partner, Specialized has managed to merge the drive and battery with the frame. This means that the motor does not look like a foreign object, but is part of the bike. The motor is well packaged and protected in the forged suspension of the M5 aluminum frame. The Li-ion battery is housed there in the U-profile of the down tube with a special mount and fixing system to prevent it from wobbling. The cables are also safely housed underneath.

The motor and battery are built and adjusted 100 percent according to Specialized's specifications. The Trail Tuned motor weighs 3.4 kilograms and delivers 250 watts of support power. The output is 530 watts, i.e. 90 newton meters of torque. Furthermore, the motor should respond quickly, impress with smooth load changes and make relatively little noise when developing power.
The battery is built to be very robust and has the second-highest IP67 (IP = Ingress Protection) rating, which describes the protection against dirt and moisture. The following link explains the IP rating: www.bluesea.com/iprating

Clever control and powerful features
The speed sensor is hidden on the brake side at the rear dropout. Only a cable that runs along the brake line and the pulse magnet on the brake disk reveal its position. The pulses are transmitted from there to the motor control unit. This is switched on at the frame and the Eco, Trail and Turbo levels are also selected there. Meanwhile, the cockpit remains clean. However, the motor can be coupled with Garmin devices via the ANT interface, which can also be used to select the levels.

The other option is to connect the motor to the Mission Control app via Bluetooth using a smartphone. In addition to all the information about the battery level, gears or navigation, it is possible to make personal settings, connect to apps such as Strava and Apple Health, or have your ride monitored. If you want to go on a two-hour ride, the Mission Control app determines the remaining battery charge and then only releases enough support power to get you through the ride without any problems. So that you only have to concentrate on the ride.

The "TURBO LEVO FSR EXPERT 6FATTIE" is equipped with a Sram gear mix of the X1 and X01 models. The chain is also kept in check by a chain guide. The bike also features Sram's Guide RS brakes with 200 millimetre brake discs and Specialized's "Comand Post iRoc" variable seatpost. However, the "most important" add-on parts are the wheels. Here, the 38 millimetre wide Roval Traverse rims are fitted with Roval hubs and covered with the in-house 6Fattie tires Purgatory and Ground Control, in 27.5x3.0 inches.
In terms of suspension elements, Specialized relies on the Rock Shox Pike fork and the specially adapted "Custom FLOAT Factory DPS" rear shock with Autosag from FOX.

www.specialized.com