Specialized Turbo Vado SL: An Incredible E-Bike (User Club)

[BioWheel]

Well, Karl has an option to buy it as his dream e-bike My point is TREK decided to use a Fazua motor for that e-bike, and that was a grave mistake. A motor you could not trust and an exorbitant price.

However...

View attachment 204000
This man bought a 2021 TREK e-Caliber for his wife, and he asks her to lend him the e-bike for gravel races He always wins them even if the assistance is limited to 25 km/h

Meanwhile, TREK has decided to discontinue the e-Caliber because it was troublesome and didn't sell. Meaning, the @BioWheel's idea to make an XC gravel e-bike was not commercially justified. He can still buy a Vado SL 2 LTD Racing or a Levo SL carbon

The SL Racing model downtube is too big. I'm picky about that - down tube should have less circumferance than water bottle imo. And why do batteries have to go in one spot in the down tube? Make the downtube smaller and have smaller battery packs located in other parts of the frame as well.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Make the downtube smaller and have smaller battery packs located in other parts of the frame as well.

1. Impractical. Think of removing the batteries (you can do it on a SL by dropping the motor, easy)
2. The centre of gravity shall be low.

TREK E-Caliber 9.6 Gen 2 (discontinued). The battery is only 250 Wh.

 

[stompandgo]

AMFLOW PL Carbon Pro. 800Wh internal battery. 157km range. 105Nm full power with 120Nm boost mode. 19.2kg in Large. $8,599.00 US.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

We're talking 13 to 14 kg, Stomp At least Karl would like to have it.
We, SL owners don't need a high power e-bike.

 

[Ebikelife72]

We're talking 13 to 14 kg, Stomp At least Karl would like to have it.
We, SL owners don't need a high power e-bike.

I think the point is that you can have an 800wh battery in a down tube that looks like a normal size.

 

[stompandgo]

I think the point is that you can have an 800wh battery in a down tube that looks like a normal size.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

I think the point is that you can have an 800wh battery in a down tube that looks like a normal size.

Relatively. In a proportion. Now, measure the size of the bottom tube in AMFLOW.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

@Ebikelife72: What would you say about the proportions and elegance of this e-bike?

 

[BioWheel]

1. Impractical. Think of removing the batteries (you can do it on a SL by dropping the motor, easy)
2. The centre of gravity shall be low.

View attachment 204047
TREK E-Caliber 9.6 Gen 2 (discontinued). The battery is only 250 Wh.

COG matters on airplane but not so much on bike. You routinely put a lot of stuff on the back of your rack Stefan. Are you saying it dramatically changes your ride?

 

[BioWheel]

I think the point is that you can have an 800wh battery in a down tube that looks like a normal size.

Yes - ideally battery technology will get better and downtube will look 'more normal'. And I'm not trying to hide fact it's e-bike. Just don't want the down tube to be so rediculously big. Add some batteries in the top tube or near the hollow by the motor. I just want the lightest, most bike-looking, comfortable, not-overpowered, all-terrain/general use bike ever created. It's really that simple - get to it Specy

 

[Stefan Mikes]

COG matters on airplane but not so much on bike. You routinely put a lot of stuff on the back of your rack Stefan. Are you saying it dramatically changes your ride?

I'm not riding technical singletracks but when I do ride hard terrain I prefer having no panniers.

 

[rochrunner]

Yes - ideally battery technology will get better and downtube will look 'more normal'. And I'm not trying to hide fact it's e-bike. Just don't want the down tube to be so rediculously big. Add some batteries in the top tube or near the hollow by the motor. I just want the lightest, most bike-looking, comfortable, not-overpowered, all-terrain/general use bike ever created. It's really that simple - get to it Specy

It would be wildly impractical to design and mfr a bike with batteries stuck all over the place along with the wiring, charging control logic, etc. that goes along with them, not to mention how you'd get to the inside of places like the top tube for service.

 

[Chazmo]

View attachment 204076

AMFLOW PL Carbon Pro. 800Wh internal battery. 157km range. 105Nm full power with 120Nm boost mode. 19.2kg in Large. $8,599.00 US.

Chris, does your shop sell these? Is anyone buying them? Just curious.

 

[Rás Cnoic]

It's interesting looking at the blurring of lines at the cutting edge of competitive Gravel racing and XC. Shows how everything evolves and for gravel there is no set locked in standard, even from race to race bike set up changes, let alone model changes from year to year.

Here's some MTBs from the Leadville 100 - an out and back pretty unique MTB race, with large stretches of gravel:

Then here's Tom Pidcock's gravel bike from a South African gravel race this month:

And lastly his 'normal' XC bike:

For both Gravel and XC the suspension choice is varied, with full suspension or hard tail or plain old rigid (for gravel obviously not XC, though with 2.2 inch tyres).

Been using Conti race kings for many years on my MTBs, have a pair on my old 26er right now, and saw that they sold out massively this year because of the top riders using them in gravel races!

Really these days anything that gets you winning, goes.

 

[stompandgo]

Relatively. In a proportion. Now, measure the size of the bottom tube in AMFLOW.

Just look at the two pictures and decide what your eyes tell you.

This is a Specialized forum. I posted that picture to answer a question, not to challenge Specialized as a company, or their products. I only wanted to show another manufacturer's product that answers the question. It wasn't about measurement, it was about looks.

 

[stompandgo]

Chris, does your shop sell these? Is anyone buying them? Just curious.

That's a running joke inside the industry.

AMFLOW sells direct and through dealers. DJI sells their motors to about a dozen companies, but 90% of them go to AMFLOW. AMFLOW has very, very few dealers. Both companies purposefully control supply to enhance demand, which is already through the roof. The bottom line is, at least at the end of 2025, if you want a DJI powered EMTB, the fastest way to get one is to buy direct from AMFLOW, or wait to buy one through an AMFLOW dealer or one of the other manufacturers that use DJI motors. Most of the non-AMFLOW manufacturers are small, custom, low production manufacturers like Crestline. Word on the street for 2026 is that is going to change soon, as multiple major manufacturers have signed on with DJI.

We have had a few of them come through the shop, all purchased direct. We upgraded the fork and shock on one of them.

 

[Rás Cnoic]

That's a running joke inside the industry.

AMFLOW sells direct and through dealers. DJI sells their motors to about a dozen companies, but 90% of them go to AMFLOW. AMFLOW has very, very few dealers. Both companies purposefully control supply to enhance demand, which is already through the roof. The bottom line is, at least at the end of 2025, if you want a DJI powered EMTB, the fastest way to get one is to buy direct from AMFLOW, or wait to buy one through an AMFLOW dealer or one of the other manufacturers that use DJI motors. Most of the non-AMFLOW manufacturers are small, custom, low production manufacturers like Crestline. Word on the street for 2026 is that is going to change soon, as multiple major manufacturers have signed on with DJI.

We have had a few of them come through the shop, all purchased direct. We upgraded the fork and shock on one of them.

Decided to look up what Amflows sales for 25 internationally were like, given it was launched in Europe last summer (24) but low and behold the wonderful dysfunctional bike industry does not issue annual sales lists, unlike the car industry say, preferring to keep things tight lipped (its such a paranoid jittery basket case of an industry as the last few boom to bust cycles have shown) so you can't tell how big the Amflow/Dji actual inroads to the industry has been. But certainly in UK, it's the bike & motor system that's been getting all the press. I'd love to actually know if it translates to sales, or is a nice journey type bubble with most EMTBs still being Giant, Trek Spesh etc.

 

[Jeremy McCreary]

Really these days anything that gets you winning, goes.

Wait, are you saying that narrow thinking in rigid categories doesn't actually get the job done? Some of our members will be very disappointed.

 

[Rás Cnoic]

Wait, are you saying that narrow thinking in rigid categories doesn't actually get the job done? Some of our members will be very disappointed.

Cheeky!

 

[Stefan Mikes]

This is a Specialized forum. I posted that picture to answer a question, not to challenge Specialized as a company, or their products.

What I wanted to say was @BioWheel's wish for a possibly lightweight low power XC e-bike could be just satified with a carbon Levo SL Yes, the rear suspension/big fork add to the weight same as big tyres.
I had an opportunity to demo ride an alloy Levo SL and was disappointed. Singletrack? Sand? Yes, yes, yes! Pavement? Deadly slow. I could ride a way more efficiently on my Vado SL!

Vado SL Gen 1 was one of its kind and it wouldn't return. The Pinarello Stomp rides could be an answer.