Specialized Turbo Vado/Como/Tero/Tero X User Club

[Stefan Mikes]

Is 15,000 km a normal lifespan for an electric bike? That's not very long (3 or 4 years!).

For the moment, I don't ride a lot since my motors have problems...!

It really depends. The motor can give up at that mileage or a way later. My Vado SL has over 18,000 km on the odometer and shows no signs of wear.

The battery can give up in 3-4 years if heavily used. Well, my own yearly mileage is 8,000 - 11,000 km!

 

[Palmthree]

The battery can give up in 3-4 years if heavily used. Well, my own yearly mileage is 8,000 - 11,000 km!

That seems pretty normal. All batteries work this way.

The motor can give up at that mileage or a way later.

That seems less normal.
I mean, I can't buy two new e-bikes every 4 years. :|

 

[Stefan Mikes]

If the motor fails, you can order replacing it

 

[Palmthree]

If the motor fails, you can order replacing it

I already have to.^^
Both of my engines have a similar problem. I hope they will be replaced with new ones and fixed.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

I already have to.^^
Both of my engines have a similar problem. I hope they will be replaced with new ones and fixed.

Still on the warranty?

 

[Palmthree]

Still on the warranty?

Yes, thankfully!

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Here's how my rear Specialized Rhombus Pro tyre was cut on our ride in Bolimowski Landscape Park.

My brother suspects a shard of glass as the cause. He tells me to protect the tyre from the inside by an automotive tyre patch and special cement. Will do it! This tyre is too expensive to go to waste!

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Replacing a CR1220 coin battery in Vado 6.0 Display after over 2 years

A Vado 6.0 requires a coin battery in its display for the e-bike to operate at all. On a last group ride, my mate Marek started panicking because a weak battery was reported in one of his electronic Di2 brake/shifter levers. It is not possible to buy a CR1632 in a convenience store! (The fact the battery was weak didn't mean it was flat, though).

I thought to myself: When was the last time I replaced the 1220 in my Vado? Strava came to help me. It was on one of 94 km road racing group workouts, namely the 27th of July 2023, over 2 years ago. Uh-oh

And let anyone say again Strava is worthless

I could find a spare CR1220 and replaced it. Now, I have no reason to worry as I also replaced the cassette several days ago, the chain is almost new, and I replaced the brake pads last night!

 

[Marcela]

Pretty good battery life.

 

[pete H]

Last week I was due to go for a 30 mile ride so I decided to fully charge the battery on my Vado SL. Switched on the charger and after a pop noise it's completely dead. Checked everything with multimeter and new fuse. Nothing. The bike and charger is kept in a dry garage. The bike is standard not fiddled with. I contacted the LBS they confirmed the charger had expired. It's only 3 years old, I'm disappointed with the longevity of this device with a replacement costing me £95!
The LBS has raised a complaint on my behalf let's see what happens

 

[Chargeride]

I think specialised should back off from slim as possible and put some heat management in their chargers.
My Yamaha charger is larger, same charging current and is practically unheated after a full charge, the specialised is the limit of my heat endurance when held

 

[Marcela]

My wired ebike chargers put out 3.5 amps and have a fan.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

I think specialised should back off from slim as possible and put some heat management in their chargers.
My Yamaha charger is larger, same charging current and is practically unheated after a full charge, the specialised is the limit of my heat endurance when held

I own two SL chargers. Both have worked for over 4 years now, no issue.
I own two full power Specialized chargers. Both have worked for almost 6 years now.

Electronics does break sometimes. I "love" reading comments like "Specialized should" backed with no experience.

 

[pete H]

TBH I hadn't thought about the overheating concept. My charger lived in this hanger even whilst charging. It seems that may have been the problem. Warning to others who may have one?

 

[pete H]

So just an update. Specialized agreed to refund me 33% so that is £33. Fair play I'm pleased with that

 

[Stefan Mikes]

I had to fix the front mudguard in my Vado 6.0. I need to start with it is one of a very few original parts on my e-bike! (Almost everything else -- I say everything including the frame -- was replaced!) I only removed the long mudflap several years ago as it was a constant nuisance.

For several past months something was squeaking near the mudguard; I was never inclined to check what that was The left side strut (that held the fender in place) separated from the fork on my last longer ride. Now, I had to take a closer look!

There was a bolt screwed into a socket of the fork. The bolt head socket was threaded, too; a small adjustment assembly was screwed onto the bolt. The strut end was going into a minute clamp, and was fastened with another bolt. Turned out, the adjustment part threaded end got sheared off because of fatigue. What to do? I could have bought a new mudguard of any make but decided to go another way. I realised that (except for the total rebuild of my Vado 2022/23) the mudguard has been never removed from the e-bike, simply no need to. So I prepared a droplet of epoxy glue, and just glued the strut into the socket Interestingly, the fender remained true despite removing the adjustment bit!

The glue seems to hold the metal extremely well!

 

[teskow]

I hav a bike with a Brose motor (Ride1Up) and I feel the same about it as you do. I love silent. After all it is a bicycle so should be silent.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Winter Studded Tyres

At last! Rose Bikes, an online bike store in Germany had wrongly addressed the shipment of Schwalbe Marathon Winter Plus 50-622 tyres; they used the street address but no apartment number. This morning, I posted a notice with the flat number to the courier on the block's front door, and the Belarussian man gladly brought a big box to me together with my notice. He complained the sender didn't give him my phone number as he would have called me the day before. (How do I know he was a Belarus? Belarussian is a language very similar to Polish only with a soft, singing accent. It is very easy for a Belarus to learn Polish. On contrary, Ukrainian is accented pretty hard and the nation has more words different from Polish. These three languages are to a great extent mutually intellligible, while a Pole has to learn Russian to understand and speak it).

So. The Winter Plus are big, very heavy tyres. To my surprise though, I had a way more problems to pry the summer Specialized Rhombus Pro tyres off the rims than to install stiff and heavy, wired bead Schwalbes!

Everyone regrets Calvin from Park Tool has retired. I'll tell you what: When I was watching Calvin demonstrating the tyre swap, everything went too easy for him but not for me! I've recently watched a video of (I think) Ollie Alex at GCN Tech, and that lesson was invaluable to me! Ollie Alex patiently explained that some tyres were just beasts, what the reasons for that were, and how to cope with difficult situations. The most valuable lesson from Ollie Alex was "do it very slowly and patiently", So did I, and to my big surprise, I could effortlessly install the winter tyres for my big Vado. I even didn't need the soapy water!

Now, I'm setting off for a short winter shopping ride to see how the new tyres handle the weather

 

[e-levity]

@Stefan Mikes “ . . . I even didn't need the soapy water!“

Try Windex or a Euro equivalent window cleaning spray Instead.
Easy to apply, spray the rim and the tire bead, no messy cleanup.
(Also useful for applying frame protection material.)

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Try Windex or a Euro equivalent window cleaning spray Instead.

But no need for it at all! The Winter Plus popped into the place as it wanted it happen (Otherwise, thank you for the suggestion!)

Was on a 4 mile shopping ride. Down to -7C, calm. The streets were not exactly clear, yet I rode with a full confidence and quietly at night... What a pleasure!