Matt Phillips

3 weeks ago | bicycling.com | Matt Phillips

You’ve heard about the tariffs. Should they remain in place, they are poised to wreak havoc on the worldwide bicycle industry. The price of bikes and everything associated with them is going to increase. But that’s just the beginning. Because of the tariffs, brands and shops will need to make difficult choices. Some of those choices may include delaying orders, routing USA-bound goods to other markets, or offering fewer products in the USA.

4 weeks ago | bicycling.com | Matt Phillips

The cycling industry finds itself in a peculiar moment. It was just beginning to see the light at the end of the post-pandemic sales crash when the news about new tariffs blew away any semblance of calm that had settled in. These are some of the reasons why the product scene and the vibes at Sea Otter were so interesting. I saw a few products I wasn’t aware of, a whole lot of products I already knew about, and more than a handful of products I can’t tell you about yet.

4 weeks ago | bicycling.com | Matt Phillips

The inevitable has come to pass: Specialized did something with its new Levo 4 e-mountain bike that seemed predestined to happen to e-bikes. Consider other motorized/assisted vehicles for an enthusiast audience. What is the one thing you’re guaranteed to get when you buy the top-of-the-line trim? A bigger motor. Do you want the most powerful Chevrolet Corvette? That’s not the $68,000 base model with 490 horsepower; it is the $175,000 ZR1 with over 1,000 horsepower.

1 month ago | bicycling.com | Matt Phillips

Specialized launched the latest generation of its Levo e-mountain bike today. It’s a superb bike—the best e-MTB I’ve yet ridden—but it has one feature that is sure to be VERY controversial. The feature and related controversy that is sure to follow touch on many topics. Chief among them is trail access. All mountain bikers know the forces at play that seek to prevent, restrict, or eliminate mountain bike access to trails.

1 month ago | bicycling.com | Matt Phillips

Eight years and four generations into its life, the Specialized Levo is one of the best-known and most regarded high-performance e-mountain bikes. From its beginnings, Specialized took a unique approach with the Levo, and all its e-bikes. Instead of installing an off-the shelf system from Shimano, Bosch, or other well known supplier, Specialized worked with partners to create proprietary Specialized-only e-bike ecosystems.