I could smell my Vado motor about to fail

[Gionnirocket]

Battery fires? Have you ever heard of a battery fire of a premium e-bike? No, it is the DIY contraptions that catch the fire.

I have.... And you well know the only reason you haven't on the so called premium bike that only last 8700mi is the insurance settlement tied with an NDA.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

I owned a Specialized Turbo Vado 5.0 MY 2017, and it has become the current Vado 6.0 per Specialized warranty. Interesting how many online companies or Pedaluma would do that after 3.5 years of an e-bike ownership.

 

[linklemming]

You have never built a bike. You are taking a bike that was never meant to be an e-bike. You maim those gorgeous vintage e-bikes. You let your customers ride at high speed and effortlessly on very dangerous contraptions and do not care about the safety. Fortunately, no-one was killed or injured riding your conversions yet. Still, thinking a electrified traditional bike could ride at speed of order of 30+ mph and remain safe might only come to a mind strongly skewed by the use of tetrahydrocannabinol.

Battery fires? Have you ever heard of a battery fire of a premium e-bike? No, it is the DIY contraptions that catch the fire.

Moreover, you have never owned a Specialized e-bike.

Have you actually ever actually built a bike?

Last I recall, you were not even capable of changing a tire without assistance from your brother.

What exactly in your mind constitutes as 'building a bike'.? I consider building a bike anything starting with a frameset. What is your definition?

 

[Stefan Mikes]

What exactly in your mind constitutes as 'building a bike'.?

Designing it in the first place. Making the frameset first. What you are describing is called the assembling.
I do not need to design or build any bike. I buy e-bikes designed to be e-bikes from the day 1 from respected e-bike manufacturers.

Our DIYers such as Uma make me think of people finding an old acoustic gitar in a pawnshop, slapping always the same pickups and potentiometers onto it, a little bit of soldering, and they resell it as "electric guitars". But that's not an electric guitar. And they did not make it. While Specialized could be compared to Fender or Gibson with their guitars & basses made to be electric since the beginning. Gibson, Fender or PRS often buy pickups from DiMarzio, Seymour Duncan, EMG and other manufacturers, and they also make own pickups. The same way Specialized makes part of the e-bike components themselves but also buy parts from Shimano or SRAM.

 

[Gionnirocket]

View attachment 154482
I owned a Specialized Turbo Vado 5.0 MY 2017, and it has become the current Vado 6.0 per Specialized warranty. Interesting how many online companies or Pedaluma would do that after 3.5 years of an e-bike ownership.

It's very easy for Specialized to do so since you've already paid for more than two bikes from the beginning and then have you constantly returning to the LBS to purchase every over priced accessory and maintenance.
Curious on the initial purchase do they drop the bill of sale on the floor so you have to bend over?

 

[Gionnirocket]

Aloha @Stefan Mikes.
I like reading his posts he has two Specialized ebikes and stores one in a micro van.
Show photos where you rode today that's a good start.
I keep coming back to ebr to see new posts from you.
I spun my crank here.

So who gets on top?

 

[ElevenAD]

Might i suggest a Bafang Middrive powered bike such as Frey or Biktrix, these motors may be better equipped for your type of riding, they are over built to help eliminate premature failure!

 

[Jeremy McCreary]

Might i suggest a Bafang Middrive powered bike such as Frey or Biktrix, these motors may be better equipped for your type of riding, they are over built to help eliminate premature failure!
View attachment 154496

Not suggesting that the OP is to blame for his motor failures, just curious: Are there riding habits or environments known to shorten a mid-drive motor's service life?

Guessing that repeated overheating would be one way. I know how to do that on a hub-drive, but how do you do it on a mid-drive without a throttle? Repeatedly ride up big hills in too big a gear at max assist?

 

[Gionnirocket]

Not suggesting that the OP is to blame for his motor failures, just curious: Are there riding habits or environments known to shorten a mid-drive motor's service life?

Guessing that repeated overheating would be one way, but how do you do that on a mid-drive without a throttle?

Easy.... It's an overpriced underpowered p o s
...and they're basically paying for a warranty that they know most won't use as their market in general are the snobby deep pocket type that just pleasure ride.

 

[PedalUma]

I know of two people who have had their Specialized bikes explode. One guy in PA lost his home in the resulting fire. Typically there is a settlement with a NDA. That is why we don't hear about them. Because I sold and serviced Specialized eBikes and would take them home on weekends, I never wanted to own one. Because I know better. That is why. @Stefan Mikes never rode a good bike, is clueless yet highly opinionated.

 

[PedalUma]

I heard about a guy who said his mom is the best cook. But he never ate anywhere else. Clueless.

 

[BlackHand]

Takes a real special type of person to come onto this OPs thread and post all this crap just because you don't like the attitude of another poster who owns the same brand.

Did it even occur to anyone to express any sympathy or encouragement to the OP?

@dollarbin - hope your LBS can get you sorted quickly, sucks to lose the bike at the beginning of summer.

 

[kahn]

I heard about a guy who said his mom is the best cook. But he never ate anywhere else. Clueless.
View attachment 154520

Ah, today's menu in the making: Osso Buco.

 

[PedalUma]

The important thing is how they compensate for a crappy bike by adding wiz-bang gizmos, so you can do stuff like pair your phone with it to generate a graphic to share just how crappy your bike is with the data to back it up.

 

[steve mercier]

In the last several weeks I started to notice a faint but distinct rubber smell coming off my 2020 Vado 5.0 at the end of my 16 mile commutes. Sure enough last week a few miles into my ride I was greeted by loss of power and the distinctive whir of a blown motor. This is the second time for my Vado, the first happened at 1800 miles and was replaced under warranty. The second motor went almost 4100 miles but is unlikely covered by any warranty so I'm now waiting for word from the bike shop on what the replacement will cost. I'm somewhat broken hearted about this. I sincerely love just about everything about this bike but if I have to spend thousands of dollars replacing the motor every few thousand miles it's going to make me wonder if it's worth keeping a bike that costs more to operate than my car. Is there a consensus expectation for the number of miles one can expect to get out of these motors?

Next time get a Bosch powered bike. We have four Gen 2 CX motor bikes with a total of almost 100,000 kms on them. No problems ....plus they all have de-limiters installed. Bulletproof.

 

[DaveMatthews]

 

[fooferdoggie]

roast some weenies on your bike

 

[Deacon Blues]

Internet posters: I see you have a problem (probably your own fault), but WHAT ABOUT ME!
PedalUma, I have a lot of respect for what you do. Stefan, I respect you too, but sometimes you can be a a bit of a pain.

 

[mschwett]

Internet posters: I see you have a problem (probably your own fault), but WHAT ABOUT ME!
PedalUma, I have a lot of respect for what you do. Stefan, I respect you too, but sometimes you can be a a bit of a pain.

it's pathetic. not saying the individuals in question are pathetic, but their posting habits certainly are.

 

[Gionnirocket]

I think y'all be taking things way too seriously.
Twisting them is just plain funny... especially on those that live to be an EBR Superstar.
Well at least from where I'm sitting.
Happy Memorial Day Weekend