Electric Overlanding in California with Specialized Levo X

James Moore · 2026-06-10

The biggest shifts rarely come from new technology. They come from new ways of seeing the world. What happens when we stop focusing on bikes, and instead think about the possibilities they create? 7 days in California. 2 readers from E-MOUNTAINBIKE. A new Specialized bike that challenges the way we think about innovation. And one question for you: Are you coming next Tuesday? We're standing naked on a beach with two of our readers, and Ben from Specialized. Man, it's cold. Grinning like idiots, we hop across the sand as the first rays of morning light hit the coastline. A waterfall crashes straight into the Pacific. Kike throws his arms into the air. Nobody says much. They don't have to. The look in everyone's eyes says it all: We're exactly where we're supposed to be. ### A Once-in-a-Lifetime Invitation The idea started a year earlier. Specialized had invited me to California to experience a prototype of a new bike concept. Sleeping bags, campfires, Birkenstocks, the Sierra Nevada. Somewhere between dusty trails, wrong turns, and stories about bears around the fire, a thought started taking shape. Back in Germany, I called Ben — Brand Voice Leader at Specialized: "You don't know it yet," I told him, "but you're going to launch this bike together with E-MOUNTAINBIKE. And we're going to do it in a way that neither Specialized nor any other bike brand has ever done before." Instead of a traditional press launch, we wanted to bring real people. Not journalists. Not influencers. Not pro athletes. Readers. So together, we created an invitation: Specialized is at the beginning of a new chapter. One that expands our understanding of what's possible on a performance eMTB, and challenges the way we think about innovation itself. And you can be part of it — long before the rest of the world even knows it exists. ### The Selection Process What happened next surprised even us. Thousands of readers started the application process, and many never finished it. Of course, we could have made it easier, but that wasn't the point. We weren't looking for as many applications as possible. We were looking for the right people. In the end, more than 300 readers invested over an hour into their application. Two made it through: Jonathan from Idaho, USA, and Sasha from Ecuador. Together, we'd explore San Francisco and California on two wheels, ride where mountain biking was born, camp in the wilderness, go behind the scenes at Specialized, spend a night at founder Mike Sinyard's house, and keep returning to the same question: What does innovation really mean? ### How Big Is Your World These Days? The smell of freshly fried dumplings drifts through the air. Chopsticks circle around the last dumpling balanced on the rack. For hours we've been wandering through San Francisco. Chinatown. North Beach. One side street then another. No destination, no schedule — just following whatever catches our attention. At some point, we realize how unusual that feels. And how good it feels. We live in a world with more options than ever before, yet somehow our worlds keep getting smaller. Komoot plans our routes. Social media tells us what adventures are worth having. Our dreams arrive neatly packaged and ready for checkout. We know which bike to buy, which trail to ride, and which photo we're supposed to post afterwards. But do we still know how to explore? Jonathan puts it perfectly a few days later: "Mountain biking has shrunk from its roots." Mountain biking used to be about discovering something new. Today, many of us ride the same trails, visit the same trail centers, and return to the same bike parks over and over again. That's not to say they're bad. It's because they're familiar. Because they're safe. Because we already know what's waiting for us. Maybe that's the problem. ### What Innovation Really Means This trip forced us to rethink everything. The Specialized Levo X isn't just a bike — it's a tool for adventure. With its electric assist, you can cover more ground, climb steeper hills, and explore deeper into the backcountry. But the real innovation isn't the motor or the battery. It's the mindset shift. - You don't need a detailed plan. Just start riding and see where you end up. - You don't need the perfect gear. Just what you can carry on your back. - You don't need a destination. The journey is the point. ### The Takeaway for Event Professionals For mountain biking event professionals, this story holds a powerful lesson. Your attendees don't just want a race or a demo day. They want an experience that feels authentic and unscripted. They want to feel like they're part of something bigger — a community, a movement, a shared adventure. Think about how you can create that for your next event. Maybe it's a group ride with no set route. Maybe it's a campout under the stars. Maybe it's simply giving people permission to explore without a map. ### Final Thoughts Seven days in California taught us that the best adventures aren't planned. They're stumbled upon. They happen when you stop worrying about the destination and start enjoying the ride. The Specialized Levo X made that possible, but the real magic came from the people and the places we discovered along the way. So here's the question we keep coming back to: How big is your world these days? And are you ready to make it bigger? *This article was originally published by James Moore, Lead Events Analyst & Mountain Biking Strategist.*