Specialized Turbo Levo SL 2 Comp

A lighter kind of trail e-MTB

You want help on the climbs without the bike taking over the ride. The Specialized Turbo Levo SL 2 Comp is a lightweight full-suspension electric trail bike, with 150mm of rear travel, mixed wheels and an SL 1.2 motor that tops up your pedalling rather than replacing it.

It suits intermediate and advanced riders who like technical singletrack and a trail-centre loop, and who are willing to work on the climbs. Newer riders can get on fine once the size and the suspension are set up. Riders chasing maximum motor support, or the cheapest way into electric mountain biking, will feel the difference quickly.

Second-generation Comp, two frames

The 2025 Turbo Levo SL 2 Comp is the latest official UK version, and it is not in the current manufacturer catalogue. It is the second-generation Levo SL in GENIE-equipped Comp form, in carbon or as Comp Alloy. Expert and Pro models sit above this Comp tier in the Levo SL 2 range.

Original UK RRPs were £6,250 for the carbon bike and £5,250 for the alloy. The £1,000 gap is weight and shifting, not a different motor or battery. Carbon and alloy are different bikes in the details that change the ride, so the frame material is the thing to match.

Assistance you can still feel through the pedals

The motor is a Specialized 1.2 SL Custom RX Trail Tuned unit, rated at 50Nm and 320W. It is tuned to feel natural and to leave some of the work with you. A long steady climb feels more manageable. A steep, loose technical pitch still needs a proper effort, and it will not winch you up the way a full-power motor can. BikeRadar's Tom Law, on an earlier-spec second-generation Comp Alloy, found the motor quiet and short of the climbing grunt of a Bosch SX or Fazua Ride 60. He also found the chassis balanced and agile on the descents.

Power comes from a fully integrated Specialized SL1-320 battery of 320Wh. How long it lasts depends on assistance level, your fitness and the day itself. On a carefully managed BikeRadar test of an earlier second-generation Comp Alloy, Law covered 32km and 1,000m of climbing. Treat that as a picture of thrifty use on this 320Wh system, not a guarantee for every build or every day.

A separately sold 160Wh Range Extender adds 50% battery capacity when 320Wh looks short for the riding you actually do. It occupies the bottle-cage position, so the extra energy takes the place of a bottle mount. The main pack stays in the frame. There is no quick-swap battery.

GENIE suspension and a tunable chassis

FACT 11m carbon, with an alloy shock extension, is the frame on the standard Comp. The carbon and alloy listings both specify a FOX FLOAT 36 Rhythm fork and a FOX FLOAT X Performance shock with GENIE Shock Tech. Rear travel is 150mm. Fork travel is 160mm from S2 to S6. S1 uses 150mm of fork travel and a 210x52.5mm shock, rather than the 210x55mm shock on the other sizes, so the smallest frame has a little less suspension to play with.

GENIE is there for a sensitive start to the stroke, support through the middle and resistance to a harsh bottom-out. You still set sag and damping for your weight. Stock wheels are 29in at the front and 27.5in at the rear, which keeps the back end lively while the front holds a line. Head angle and bottom-bracket height are adjustable. A pivot-link chip also lets the frame take a 29in rear wheel, bought separately, if you later want more rollover and traction than the stock mixed setup gives you.

Carbon Comp or Comp Alloy

The carbon Comp is the lighter build, with a claimed S4 weight of 19.11 kg (42 lb, 2.1 oz). Shifting is SRAM AXS: a Pod controller, an S1000 Eagle Transmission derailleur and a 10-52t XS-1270 cassette. Brakes are SRAM Maven Bronze, four-piston, with 200mm rotors front and rear. Tyres are a 29x2.3in Butcher GRID TRAIL T9 front and a 27.5x2.3in Eliminator GRID GRAVITY T9/T7 rear. The dropper is an X-Fusion Manic, with travel that changes by size.

Comp Alloy uses an M5 frame and a claimed S4 weight of 20.26 kg (44 lb, 10.7 oz), which is 1.15 kg more. Its listing specifies the same FOX 36 Rhythm, GENIE shock and Maven Bronze brakes with 200mm rotors. The drivetrain is mechanical: a SRAM GX Eagle trigger, an X01 Eagle derailleur and a 10-52t XG-1275 cassette. You keep the wide climbing gear and lose the AXS Pod.

Riders who notice weight, and who want the Pod shifter, will prefer the carbon frame. The alloy frame suits riders who would rather keep that £1,000 and can live with the extra 1.15 kg and a cable shifter.

Controls, tyres and size

MasterMind TCU, the handlebar remote and MicroTune let you move assistance in small steps instead of jumping between coarse modes. ANT+, Bluetooth and the Specialized app sit on the same system, so you can see what the motor is doing and adjust it from your phone. Those fine steps suit a 50Nm motor, where a little too much help is as noticeable as not enough.

Rims are tubeless-ready and the tyres are 2Bliss Ready, though tubes are fitted. Valves and sealant complete the conversion, which lets you drop pressure and leave the inner tubes out. It is an afternoon's work.

Sizing runs from S1 to S6 under Specialized's S-Sizing, with overlapping published height bands from 150cm to 203cm. Bar width, rise and dropper travel change with the frame, and S1 is the size with the shorter fork and shock. The height chart is the right place to start. Reach is published for each size, but it is not a substitute for those bands.

Get the size right and the Turbo Levo SL 2 Comp is a bike you can look forward to riding. Trail-centre laps, wooded singletrack and the climb back to the van all suit a motor that helps without taking the ride off you. Choose the carbon Comp for the claimed 19.11 kg S4 weight and AXS shifting, or the alloy Comp if a little more mass is a fair swap for the lower original price. Either way you get the involving, lightweight trail character this bike is built for.