25 CREO SL COMP CARBON UL

[PedalUma]

We mostly sell aluminum bikes in our market, but will sell as pre-order carbon, yet if those not fully satisfied on a first test, we will refund. These are not stock bikes. One came inbox to build today as a special order. It is a 2025 Creo Super Light Carbon UL. It is taking hours to build and will be ready in the morning. Since it is a 58cm I will be the one to test it and bed the brakes. I will tell more soon. The color is copper green metallic black liquid metal.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

A Creo 1 or 2?

 

[Chazmo]

@Stefan Mikes , just poking around I’m only seeing Creo 2s on Specialized’s web site. Not sure if PedalUma’s bike is one of the ones listed though as he mentioned special order. Three of the four models are carbon frames (excluding only the Comp E5 model, which is aluminum.

Boy, what a nicely designed bike. Specialized isn’t shy about their prices though, are they?

 

[Stefan Mikes]

@Stefan Mikes , just poking around I’m only seeing Creo 2s on Specialized’s web site. Not sure if PedalUma’s bike is one of the ones listed though as he mentioned special order. Three of the four models are carbon frames (excluding only the Comp E5 model, which is aluminum.

He's mentioning a 2025 model I am not aware of

Boy, what a nicely designed bike. Specialized isn’t shy about their prices though, are they?

Carbon bikes have never been inexpensive Yes, you pay a premium on Specialized bikes but also get a solid warranty for your money.

Besides, Creo 2 Comp is the least expensive Creo 2 in the model range. I'm sure you also eyed the Expert or S-Works, which are excessively expensive!

 

[Chazmo]

Yes, you pay a premium on Specialized bikes but also get a solid warranty for your money.

Super important point, Stefan. Also, you get an established company and a bunch of bike stores behind it. I get it, believe me. After watching Juiced collapse less than a year after I bought my bike from them, that point is acutely relevant.

 

[PedalUma]

Last night I was going on the side of the box description that is in code. It is the Cypress Green Metallic Black Liquid Metal in a 58. The total is greater than the sum of its parts. If you want a bike like this find a shop that is highly experienced because building it takes a very high level of skill. I did not put it together and dial it in. Anthony Lobec did with his 30 plus years of Specialized experience and tutelage under the likes of famous Steven Gravy in Fairfax, CA. He cannot ride a 58 so I bedded the brakes. Again, it is so much more than the spec sheet, it all works together seamlessly and intuitively with responsiveness, passion, and feel. Think concert Steinway on Jazz playing Beethoven. Do not focus on the spec sheet, it is the feel. It is also more gravel than its road category describes.

 

[Jeremy McCreary]

Photos of the Creo? Further impressions?

The Creo 2 Carbon Comp was my Plan A at one point but had to face the music: Trying some drop bar bikes in advance after many years of flat bars made it clear that my old neck was no longer drop bar-compatible. And since the stock cost was already a big stretch, a flat-bar conversion would have pushed the Creo's final cost into divorce territory.

So I "retreated" to the flat-bar Vado SL 5.0 — another beautifully orchestrated machine from Specialized — and absolutely love it. The Creo's lesser weight, greater power, torque, and compliance, and wider tires would've been nice, but the SL's proven more than adequate for my local hills and gravel. And I'm still married.

 

[PedalUma]

Jeremy, I also am above drop bar maturity for a daily rider. The geometry kicks out the fork adding stability beyond normal drop bar road bikes which to me are very twitchy. This one is planted. The dropper, I will say trigger instead of lever, is oddly placed on the left curve. That is one change I can see coming. In a decent a rider leans back with hands high on the hoods. That is where the lever-trigger should be located, up high. It would not look as clean but would work better in my opinion. I am more of a daily commuter and need fenders and a rack with an upright position. The Creo SL Comp Carbon is a weekend recreational sports bike. The tires are very off road capable. Yesterday a cyber truck guy with plastic surgery scoffed at it because it is not S-Works. It is raining so I will head into work at noon to build bikes when a shipment arrives.

 

[Chazmo]

Jeremy, I also am above drop bar maturity for a daily rider. The geometry kicks out the fork adding stability beyond normal drop bar road bikes which to me are very twitchy. This one is planted. The dropper, I will say trigger instead of lever, is oddly placed on the left curve. That is one change I can see coming. In a decent a rider leans back with hands high on the hoods. That is where the lever-trigger should be located, up high. It would not look as clean but would work better in my opinion. I am more of a daily commuter and need fenders and a rack with an upright position. The Creo SL Comp Carbon is a weekend recreational sports bike. The tires are very off road capable. Yesterday a cyber truck guy with plastic surgery scoffed at it because it is not S-Works. It is raining so I will head into work at noon to build bikes when a shipment arrives.

Tesla could take a lesson from Specialized on how to make a nice design. God, that Cybertruck is hideous.

 

[Jeremy McCreary]

Yesterday a cyber truck guy with plastic surgery scoffed at it because it is not S-Works.

I have a friend kinda like that. Despite other redeeming qualities, he judges everything on price and fame and rejects everything that's not the most expensive or most famous.

Funny thing is, he's well-off but not wealthy enough to have such tastes and as a result misses out on or fails to appreciate many very good things.

For example, we were recently on a beautiful local SoCal beach on an absolutely superb October day. Class A beach by any standard, fun ride to get there.

At one point, I commented on how lucky we are to live within easy biking distance of moments like this, and he said it'd be a lot nicer at some fancy island resort he'd visited.

I said as politely as a I could, "Maybe so, but man, look where you are — here and now!" Pretty sad way to live.

 

[Chazmo]

Last night I was going on the side of the box description that is in code. It is the Cypress Green Metallic Black Liquid Metal in a 58. The total is greater than the sum of its parts. If you want a bike like this find a shop that is highly experienced because building it takes a very high level of skill. I did not put it together and dial it in. Anthony Lobec did with his 30 plus years of Specialized experience and tutelage under the likes of famous Steven Gravy in Fairfax, CA. He cannot ride a 58 so I bedded the brakes. Again, it is so much more than the spec sheet, it all works together seamlessly and intuitively with responsiveness, passion, and feel. Think concert Steinway on Jazz playing Beethoven. Do not focus on the spec sheet, it is the feel. It is also more gravel than its road category describes.

View attachment 189339

PetalUma, just curious, but what’s so challenging about assembling the bike? When your bike store gets the bike does it have all the components with it? Anyway, that metallic green looks really sweet.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

PetalUma, just curious, but what’s so challenging about assembling the bike? When your bike store gets the bike does it have all the components with it? Anyway, that metallic green looks really sweet.

Chazmo, I must tell you a story!

The background of my Vado 5.0 has been very complicated. A 2017 model bought as new in 2019. Just 3 years into the ownership (a year post warranty) the motor failed, and the frame turned out to be cracked near to the motor. While I had to pay for the new motor (obviously), Specialized accepted the "lifetime frame warranty".

2022, five years from making that special European S-Pedelec (45 km/h). The guys at Specialized Warsaw were great. They not only found a replacement frame but also replaced many components to make an equivalent of a Vado 6.0, as that 2017 5.0 version was discontinued already in 2018! Now fancy what they had to do: they had to tear down the e-bike completely and rebuild it from the scratch, including the cable routing!

In the light of that the task of 'Uma seems banal

 

[PedalUma]

what’s so challenging

Cable routing and setting up the handlebar/cockpit. Then setting up the shifting. The bare bar is not attached out of box.
Oh, we will take a photo. We had gale force winds and flooding here today. We want a sunny day by the river as a backdrop. Cybertruck guy was in today and ordered $6,000 in suspension parts handmade in Colorado for his Levo. Last time he had us build custom wheels for $3,500 with jewelry grade silent hubs and carbon A-class rims. It coasts without any clicks and with instant engagement. Kids are placing bricks on all Musk mobiles with notes saying get rid of it or else. He is making sales pitches worth billions with access to foreign leaders while in the Oval Office. My free demo Vado 4 is fine for what I do but I would love a Tero-X with the rack and fenders.

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[PedalUma]

Two more carbon Creos arrived today including a 60. I mostly worked on restoring a 20 year old Sirus today with about a million miles that is ridden daily by a locally famous advocate. It needed everything. Toward the end of the day a couple walked in. I started them with a Pace 500. They will be getting two Tero-X 5 or 6's, and a third bike mid-drive for their son. They have two homes, one on the top of the hill in Pacific Heights and the other in Healdsburg. We will swap tires to Schwalbe gravel/adventure tires, and use Muc-Off sealant against street needles. They need to take the hills of SF and the trails and mountains of the wine country, with fenders and to carry a picnic in panniers with a place to stow layers and some wine.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

I wonder why to replace excellent Specialized tyres on a brand new ebike...