Motor tuning modes in new Specialized app

[Dirtbagg]

The new Specialized app provides for three tuning modes: Universal. Battery Friendly, and Racing.
I would like to add additional tuning modes to fine tune the selection to my needs. I cannot find an option to add additional modes.
There appears to be a “+” plus sign in the old Mission Control app, tho it is no longer available for download in the iOS App Store, but there is no such “+” sign in the new Specialized app. I don’t wanna start screwing around with the established modes, so, does anyone know how to add additional tuning modes?

 

[Jahallen]

The new Specialized app provides for three tuning modes: Universal. Battery Friendly, and Racing.
I would like to add additional tuning modes to fine tune the selection to my needs. I cannot find an option to add additional modes.
There appears to be a “+” plus sign in the old Mission Control app, tho it is no longer available for download in the iOS App Store, but there is no such “+” sign in the new Specialized app. I don’t wanna start screwing around with the established modes, so, does anyone know how to add additional tuning modes?

I was able to add one custom mode by turning off the three presets and moving the sliders around. They stay where I put them even when powered off. But I would like to be able to save several custom modes for different types of rides (and name them) but don’t see an option for that. Any help appreciated.

 

[Jeremy McCreary]

Curious, how do these "tuning modes" relate to the usual Specialized X%/Y% assist levels? Are the levels programmed differently in each mode?

 

[mschwett]

Curious, how do these "tuning modes" relate to the usual Specialized X%/Y% assist levels? Are the levels programmed differently in each mode?

right, each “mode” has unique settings for the three assist levels. so you could have the highest assist mode (turbo) be less than 100/100 in your “battery friendly” tuning mode. or you could have one where lowest assist mode (eco) was at a very high level of assist, for whatever reason! it’s kind of excessive.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Curious, how do these "tuning modes" relate to the usual Specialized X%/Y% assist levels? Are the levels programmed differently in each mode?

These are the same X%/Y% settings, only presented graphically and under new names. You can set the Assist (Ease)/Motor Power as you wish per a level.

These are the settings for my Vado 6.0 for the gravel group ride of today. The Eco is set for average traditional riders, Sport is for a little more diffiult surface, and Turbo of only 40/40% is for emergency situations, such as checking where the tail of the group could be and then going forward to join the group co-leader

 

[Jeremy McCreary]

right, each “mode” has unique settings for the three assist levels. so you could have the highest assist mode (turbo) be less than 100/100 in your “battery friendly” tuning mode. or you could have one where lowest assist mode (eco) was at a very high level of assist, for whatever reason! it’s kind of excessive.

Interesting. If it were easy to switch modes on the fly, you could have non-overlapping low- and high-assist modes and effectively turn 3 assist levels into 6 for finer control.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

If it were easy to switch modes on the fly, you could have non-overlapping low- and high-assist modes and effectively turn 3 assist levels into 6 for finer control.

There is Microtune too, @Jeremy McCreary. You are riding and just press + and -, getting the assistance adjustment in 10% increments/decrements You could say it is "infinite tune". Or, OFF, ECO, SPORT, TURBO, MICRO (10 levels) as well as SMART The SMART mode is controlled by the app to allow you making a goal such as distance ridden still on the battery.

 

[Jahallen]

There is Microtune too, @Jeremy McCreary. You are riding and just press + and -, getting the assistance adjustment in 10% increments/decrements You could say it is "infinite tune". Or, OFF, ECO, SPORT, TURBO, MICRO (10 levels) as well as SMART The SMART mode is controlled by the app to allow you making a goal such as distance ridden still on the battery.

Is the Motor Power set at a constant (e.g. 100%) when micro-tuning is on or can it be micro adjusted too?

 

[Jahallen]

Interesting. If it were easy to switch modes on the fly, you could have non-overlapping low- and high-assist modes and effectively turn 3 assist levels into 6 for finer control.

Great idea, Jeremy, but that would only work if you could save alternate assist profiles. Which takes us back to Dirtbagg’s original question about whether that is possible. Still waiting for an answer to that.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Is the Motor Power set at a constant (e.g. 100%) when micro-tuning is on or can it be micro adjusted too?

The motor power is set to be equal to Assist/Ease. Such as 40 /40, 50/50. It works extremely well.

 

[pmacdona]

I would think that when you make section for "Power" you are setting the percent of motor power you want to assist you in that Mode as you pedal; but what does Specialized meant by "Ease"? (I'm not ashamed to ask dumb questions.)

 

[mschwett]

I would think that when you make section for "Power" you are setting the percent of motor power you want to assist you in that Mode as you pedal; but what does Specialized meant by "Ease"? (I'm not ashamed to ask dumb questions.)

"power" is the power output by the motor relative to the maximum possible; if the bike is capable of 500w of power, but you have the "power" set to 50%, you'll only get 250w no matter how hard you're pedaling, how fast you're going, etc.

"ease" is how hard YOU have to pedal to access that power. if you put the "ease" at 100, pedaling lightly will result in the motor delivering lots of power, up to the maximum specified in "power."

if you set the ease very low, you have to pedal much harder to get the motor to provide large amounts of power. this gives you multiple ways to tune the bike for different situations. let's say i want to go really fast, but get a really hard workout: high power, low ease. let's say i want to go fast and not work hard (like a commute, or i'm sick) : high power, high ease. let's say i want to do a long ride, not burn myself out but also maximize range : medium ease, low or medium power.

it's a good system (used by many other manufacturers) which allows you to dial the degree to which the bike acts like a non electric bike, control range, speed, your workout, etc.

you can assign different power and ease to each of the three modes, which are selectable from the buttons on the bike. you can also modify three different profiles, which are selectable from the app. each profile is a set of two values for each of the three modes, so really there are 9 combinations of "ease" and "power" which you can set.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

what does Specialized meant by "Ease"?

"Ease" is the new name for the parameter formerly known as "Assist"

 

[Superdad]

The SMART mode is controlled by the app to allow you making a goal such as distance ridden still on the battery.

It’s my understanding that SMART mode no longer exists since Mission Control was retired in favor of the new app. Also gone are sliders for “Acceleration Response” and “Shuttle.”
Is that correct?

 

[Stefan Mikes]

It’s my understanding that SMART mode no longer exists since Mission Control was retired in favor of the new app.

It does and can be activated in the new app, too. Please click the "Record" in the bottom toolbar. In the next screen, you will find a small section containing Battery Level and a gamepad icon. That gamepad icon is Smart Control.

Also gone are sliders for “Acceleration Response” and “Shuttle.”

These two features have only been valid for Levo and Kenevo and are invisible for other Turbo e-bike models.

 

[Superdad]

It does and can be activated in the new app, too. Please click the "Record" in the bottom toolbar. In the next screen, you will find a small section containing Battery Level and a gamepad icon. That gamepad icon is Smart Control.

Thank you very much Stefan!
Now I finally found the series of usage guides for the new app on the Specialized site--https://support.specialized.com/kb/sp_en-us/browse/202300000002310/Using-the-app.
Seems they only just added all those articles on June 24 this year. It would be nice if they had a User Guide PDF for download--or if they included a printed guide with their new bikes. (How much more paper would it take? They already include a 25mm manual for the bike in 8 languages...)

These two features have only been valid for Levo and Kenevo and are invisible for other Turbo e-bike models.

Good to know--and now I do see the new buttons, which in turn bring up sliders, for Shuttle and Responsiveness.
That's because in addition to the Vado 4.0 Step-through for my wife (fantastic deal at just $2,600), for myself I ended up purchasing the Turbo Levo Comp Carbon (instead of the Tero X 6.0). Got the Comp Carbon for just $6K--that's less than $6.5K of the Tero X 6.0. For the S3 size, nearly 10 pounds lighter with a quite similar fit. I can always add some guards to keep rain off my back and lights if I need to. I might change to 36T or 38T chainring, and I'm for certain going to switch to SQLab bars with 12- or 16-degree backsweep for my wrists. Already cut the ultra-wide 780mm stock bar down to 740.

I'm happy and having fun. And since I don't commute and don't like high speeds I am fine with the Class 1 Levo. So glad to finally be able (again after 25 years) be able to ride the big hills that start right from my house!
But I do wish the Specialized sub-forum here at ElectricBikeReview had more Levo users. This place seems more active with Vado and Tero owners. I have learned a lot from you here!
Cheers,
--Alex C.

 

[Dirtbagg]

Thanks so much, Superdad.
These new links help answer my question:
Presets
If you would like to customize the Motor Power and Ease settings for each mode based on your preference, then this will be saved as your custom settings outside of the 3 default presets (think of it as a 4th preset that you can customize). Tapping a selected preset will deselect it and change all settings back to the custom values.

I’ll experiment with this and see how far I can take it.

 

[Superdad]

Presets
If you would like to customize the Motor Power and Ease settings for each mode based on your preference, then this will be saved as your custom settings outside of the 3 default presets (think of it as a 4th preset that you can customize). Tapping a selected preset will deselect it and change all settings back to the custom values.

Frankly I still find that section very confusing!

In their animation they show Universal, Battery Friendly, and Racing--and they show single dots for Eco, Trail, and Turbo moving around as the 3 aforementioned tabs are alternating. But as we know, each mode has two settings, Ease and Motor Power.

Plus, what is this business about a "fourth" preset?

My prior assumption was that essentially you can customize 9 presets:
You have Eco, Trail, and Turbo--which while riding you can quickly jump to with your thumb. (And each of those can have any combo of Ease and Motor Power preset.)
Then you have Universal, Battery Friendly, and Racing--screens for which you can set up combos for each of the Eco, Trail, and Turbo settings.
3 x 3 = 9.

Thus I find what they wrote confusing.

And whoever wrote the sentence "Tapping a selected preset will deselect it and change all settings back to the custom values." should win the word-salad award for the day!
Trying to translate: "Tapping" means selecting, so selecting will deselect?! And that will change your settings back to "custom values?" Whose custom values? Yours or the bike's default values? Since when are default values called "custom?"

 

[MikeDD]

Maybe not on topic, but my 2018 turbo levo batteries still going strong.

 

[mschwett]

Frankly I still find that section very confusing!

In their animation they show Universal, Battery Friendly, and Racing--and they show single dots for Eco, Trail, and Turbo moving around as the 3 aforementioned tabs are alternating. But as we know, each mode has two settings, Ease and Motor Power.

Plus, what is this business about a "fourth" preset?

My prior assumption was that essentially you can customize 9 presets:
You have Eco, Trail, and Turbo--which while riding you can quickly jump to with your thumb. (And each of those can have any combo of Ease and Motor Power preset.)
Then you have Universal, Battery Friendly, and Racing--screens for which you can set up combos for each of the Eco, Trail, and Turbo settings.
3 x 3 = 9.

Thus I find what they wrote confusing.

And whoever wrote the sentence "Tapping a selected preset will deselect it and change all settings back to the custom values." should win the word-salad award for the day!
Trying to translate: "Tapping" means selecting, so selecting will deselect?! And that will change your settings back to "custom values?" Whose custom values? Yours or the bike's default values? Since when are default values called "custom?"

they show a single dot for each setting because it’s a dot on a two dimensional chart. the two numbers you’re recalling are the X and Y axes.

there are three preset “sets” of values. if you move the dots in any of them, it becomes a custom set, which is essentially the fourth one. you can switch between the three they give you and the customized fourth one by tapping any of the standard three.

it works, just a little differently than the old system. more intuitive for some, less for others it seems!