Trigger Warning: The following article contains descriptions of a bike and its components that are outrageously expensive. If you’re bothered by the already high and consistently rising prices in the bike industry, the new Specialized S-Works Turbo Levo 4 LTD may really grind your gears.
For a long time now, and especially for the past several years, Specialized’s top-tier S-Works bikes have commanded some of the highest prices in the industry. The last couple versions of the S-Works Turbo Levo models launched with prices ranging from $13,500 to $14,500. When the latest Turbo Levo 4 came out earlier this year, it retailed for a whopping $13,500, and has since gone up to $14,000 due to rising prices and costs associated with tariffs and other economic factors.
While already astronomically expensive, it seems the $14,000-ish range has been somewhat of a price ceiling that most major brands haven’t been too willing to break. Well, with the launch of the new $20,000 S-Works Turbo Levo 4 LTD, it would seem that Specialized has gone and blasted straight through it and raised that ceiling to a whole new level. All of a sudden, $14,000 doesn’t sound quite so expensive, right?
Specialized S-Works Turbo Levo 4 LTD: What’s so LTD about it?
The LTD version of the S-Works Turbo Levo 4 takes the existing, money-no-object S-Works model and cranks it up with a handful of extra fancy components. It is built around the same S-Works carbon frame, but it comes with a special — and eye-catching — Astral Blue paint job. Like the regular S-Works model, it boasts the extra powerful Specialized S-Works 3.1 motor putting out up to 720W of peak power and 110 Nm of torque. It also comes with the 840 Wh battery, and the 280 Wh range extender appears to be included — thank goodness.
The LTD swaps out the high-performance Fox 38 Factory for the uber-trick new Fox Podium inverted fork. The SRAM Maven Ultimate brakes are traded out of a set of Trickstuff Maxima brakes with 223 mm rotors front and rear. Specialized also chose to switch the SRAM XX Eagle eMTB cranks out for a set of titanium Cane Creek Electric Wings in the same 160 mm length. Lastly, the LTD version rolls on Industry 9 Hydra 2 hubs laced to the burly Roval Traverse HD rims, instead of the DT Swiss 240 DEG hubs on the standard version. Otherwise, as far as we can tell, the rest of the build is the same.
Does spending $6,000 more result in any weight savings? No it does not. In fact, the claimed 52-pound and 14.6-ounce weight of the LTD is 11.3 ounces heavier than the regular S-Works version in the S4 size.
Why Does it Cost $6,000 More?
When looking at the component upgrades on the Turbo Levo 4 LTD, we asked ourselves, does this add up to a price increase of $6,000 over the already totally dialed and very expensive $14,000 version? To find out, we did a little math using the retail prices of the upgraded components and those on the standard, budget S-Works model. Here’s what we came up with:
- Fox Podium: $2,000 – Fox 38 Factory: $1,249 = +$751
- Trickstuff Maxima Brake Set: $1,350 – SRAM Maven Ultimate Brake Set: $600 = +$750
- Trickstuff DH Rotors 223 mm: $92/each: $184 – SRAM HS2 200 mm/220 mm: $132 = +$52
- Cane Creek Electric Wings: $900 (on Cane Creek site) – SRAM XX Eagle E-MTB Crank: $275 = $625
- Industry 9 Hydra 2 Hubset: $700 – DT Swiss 240 DEG hubset: $740 = -$40
- “Complimentary” Range Extender and Cable: +$700
- Total difference: $2,838
Based on this math, the fancy Astral Blue paint job on the Turbo Levo 4 LTD costs somewhere in the neighborhood of $3,100. Of course, the equation above does not factor in various other cost increases related to shipping, production, materials, tariffs, etc., which have generally gone up across the board, but still…
Heck, you could buy the Range Extender, Podium fork, Trickstuff brakes and rotors, Cane Creek cranks, and Industry Nine Hydra 2 hubs as new parts, and that adds up to $5,834. Then you could swap them out at your leisure and have all of the regular S-Works components as backups, or you could sell them off to make some of your money back. Or don’t buy any of them at all, and take solace in the fact that the regular S-Works Levo is already one of the best full-power eMTBs you can buy.
Who Is Buying a $20,000 Bike?
If you’re wondering who the heck would buy $20,000 eMTB, well, so are we. At the same time, we ask the same thing about any $14,000+ bikes, and there’s no shortage of those out in the wild. Based on the number of regular S-Works Turbo Levo 4’s out there, it’s safe to assume that there’s a market for the LTD, too. We doubt they’ll be flying out the doors of bike shops, but you know there are a few folks out there who will pick one of these up simply because of how expensive it is.
The S-Works Turbo Levo 4 LTD is available now in sizes S2 through S6. You can learn more about it or purchase one for every member of your family on the Specialized website or at your local Specialized dealer.
