One is the bike everyone has been talking about since it launched in July last year, the other is the highly anticipated update to the established market leader. Yes, it’s the Amflow PL Carbon with the DJI motor and the latest generation 4 of the Specialized Turbo Levo. And while this isn’t a definitive test of the two hottest e-bikes on the market right now, we couldn’t resist getting them together on the trails for a shakedown session as soon as they turned up to the MBR office. The real testing starts now for the Specialized Turbo Levo, but how does it stack up against the Chinese interloper on stats, price, and features?

The new Specialized S-Works Turbo Levo Gen 4 is feature-packed, but can’t match the Amflow PL Carbon Pro on power or price.

Motor and battery

There are two levels of the Specialized 3.1 motor in the new Turbo Levo. Spend big bucks on the £12,500 S-Works version and you get access to the full potential of the Specialized-designed, Brose-built motor, with 720W and 111Nm on tap. Step down to the Pro model in the video – still a lofty £10,250 – and that’s throttled back to 666W and 101Nm. Considerably less in both guises than the Amflow’s DJI Avinox with 850W and 105Nm, particularly when amped up to 1,000W and 120Nm in Boost mode in short bursts. So the Amflow has the Specialized licked on paper, and on the trail, as our crude drag race showed. But speed is nothing without control, and there are many other facets to the motor that make it good for mountain biking. For more on how the Specialized delivers its power, read our first ride review of the S-Works Turbo Levo. And we’ll have a full review of the cheaper Amflow PL Carbon on the website very shortly, but for now, you can read Danny’s first ride review of the Amflow PL Carbon Pro here.

Specialized’s modular battery range includes the 280Wh range extender, 600Wh internal battery with extra storage capacity, and there’s even room for this SWAT bag with the biggest 840Wh unit.

All that power means you need a bigger battery to give a decent range, and the Turbo Levo fights back here with a 840Wh battery to the DJI’s 800Wh. Both brands also offer smaller, lighter 600Wh units, but only Specialized sells a range extender, and a big one at that. With 280Wh, the Specialized range extender brings the max capacity of the Levo to 1,120Wh, and it can also power the Turbo Levo on its own. Allowing owners to remove the internal battery entirely and drop a significant weight from the frame.

A quickly removable battery is a deal-breaker for some, and the Turbo Levo has it.

Another big advantage with the Specialized’s 48V battery is that it’s quickly and easily removable via door on the side of the down tube. Amflow’s battery is fixed in place, unless you remove the motor, which isn’t ideal if you don’t have power in your shed or garage.

The Amflow PL Carbon is the entry level model and comes in at £5,999 with the full 800Wh battery.

Frame and geometry

Both the Turbo Levo and the Amflow PL Carbon get 150mm of rear wheel travel with 160mm forks. But the Amflow is a full 29er, while the Turbo Levo uses MX wheels. There are pros and cons to both configurations, but while it’s possible to mullet the Amflow, you can’t run a 29in rear wheel in the Levo. However, Specialized gives you multiple geometry options, so you can play with the balance and handling of the Levo to your heart’s content. Amflow gives two positions via a flip chip at the shock, but Bike Test Editor Muldoon only found his favoured stance on the PL Carbon by running a 27.5in rear wheel and leaving the frame in the low setting. This slackened the head angle and dropped the BB height. Basically you’re a lot more limited when it comes to adjustments on the Amflow.

In terms of sizing, Specialized accommodates a much broader range of riders with its 5 options. Amflow only offers four frame sizes, and no small, so shorter riders are left out in the cold.

Both bikes are category 4 rated, but only the Specialized is warrantied to run up to 180mm forks, making it the obvious choice for heavier riders who like to go big.

At £10,299, the Specialized Turbo Levo Pro gets a great spec, but a restricted motor.

Weight

Specialized and Amflow run full carbon frames on both models, but the Turbo Levo frame is 2.7kg, while Amflow says the PL Carbon frame is 2.2kg. Chuck the two bikes on the scales and the S-Works Turbo Levo with the 840Wh battery (in size S4) weighs 23.8kg and the Pro model is 24.05kg. But that’s with DH casing tyres appropriate for how hard you can ride the Levo. On the other hand, the Amflow PL Carbon weighs 21.5kg as it comes out-of-the-box. Adding DH-casing tyres and a smaller rear wheel actually dropped that weight to 21.3kg – impressive! But it’s worth bearing in mind that the Levo has heavier brakes, a 38mm fork instead of a 36, and a piggy-back shock, all of which add weight. With lighter tyres and parts, and the 600Wh battery, it’s possible to get the Turbo Levo under 20kg.

Inside Specialized’s clever Genie shock.

Suspension

While both are the same travel, the Specialized has its proprietary Genie shock on the Turbo Levo. This gives you a dual-rate spring curve that’s plush and sensitive through the start and mid-stroke, but ramps up for bottom-out resistance. You can tune the precise feel of the shock with volume spacers in the two positive chambers. We’ve got a lot of messing around ahead of us to find the maximum potential of the Levo, even if it feels pretty good in stock trim.

We preferred the free-flowing shock of the cheaper model to the Float X on the PL Carbon Pro.

Our verdict on the Amflow suspension is that the bike is better with the more basic Float inline shock found on the cheaper model. It’s plusher, more active, and improves the grip.

DJI’s head unit gives you full control.

Controls and interface

DJI’s gives the Amflow an intuitive touchscreen interface on the top tube along with dual wireless handlebar controllers. As you’d expect from a drone/camera brand, it’s super slick and packed with features. And you can even remove the controllers and just run the bike off the display unit for a clean cockpit.

Specialized’s Apple watch screen is sleek and clear, but uses a wired-in remote.

Specialized integrates an Apple watch screen into the top tube of the latest Turbo Levo. It’s also slick, clean, and almost flush with the top tube. It’s not a touchscreen, and the controller is wired-in, so it’s not as clean and convenient as the Amflow’s DJI system, but it’s also a powerful brain with loads of cool features to play with.

Remove the internal battery from the Turbo Levo and you can run it off the range extender alone.

Other details

Specialized backs up the Levo with a lifetime frame bearing replacement, which means you get a free set of bearings every year. The frame and Roval wheels also benefit from a generous lifetime replacement warranty, two years on the motor, and Specialized has a massive dealer network to fall back on if anything goes wrong.

Amflow offers five years on the frame and 2 years on the motor.

At under £6k, the Amflow PL Carbon is a bargain for the performance it gives.

Pricing

Amflow’s PL Carbon costs £5,999 while Specialized’s cheapest Turbo Levo is the Comp at £6,799. For that extra £800 Specialized gives you a SRAM wireless AXS drivetrain, burly SRAM Maven brakes, DH-casing tyres, and a piggy-back shock – a decent package of upgrades if you can stretch the budget.

This is just a run down of the pros and cons of these two exciting new e-bikes. Stay tuned over the coming months as we put the new Turbo Levo through its paces, and see how it stacks up against the new arrivals with the DJI motor, and the latest crop of Bosch CX-powered bikes.