Lead Designer for Levo F1 platform. Photo Credit: Specialized Bicycle Components
As lead designer for Levo 3, the most important part of my job was to set the visual tone of the platform. With a full-sized motor and 700wH battery, there is no hiding the mass of these components. Instead, I chose to build momentum with the volumes and use the sidearm design to strike a bold and futuristic silhouette. The final design is confident and dynamic.
Motor and battery positioning make sizing difficult with every E-bike. I worked closely with engineering to build size silhouettes that consistently grew in overall proportion- Thus ensuring that every size feels appropriate to the design ethos.
We tried a different approach on this project- Instead of passing around CAD files and struggling with different modeling methods, we concentrated on developing surfacing logic that was tunable and scalable to different frame sizes. Besides making our frame engineer’s life much easier, we were able to get to class A surfaces and capture design intent faster.
The Levo 3 features an updated shock extension and links. We decided to use a split link design for better clearance at bottom out. Splitting the links meant we needed to make up for rigidity by smartly choosing cross sections for the separate links.
Motors and battery components need covers. By choosing panel lines that manage visual weight, we made the motor area feel tidy and manageable. We also worked hard on adding further weatherproofing to the power plug.
I was excited to collaborate with another talented designer to make sure the MasterMind HMI fit with the other aesthetic elements on the bike.