Only realised yesterday it's exactly 4 years since I purchased my trusty Vado SL4 from the Bicycle Chain shop an hour up the M5 in Taunton and very good they've been too.
I've been recovering from a flu bug that wiped me out but got out for a short ride yesterday (in between massive rain showers).
I love my slightly battered Spesh. In that time though I've tweaked and changed and experimented and now have the ideal bike for me and for my local terrain.
From the get go then:
I bought the unequipped version. I had an old pair of speedrockers lying around from another bike and they fit perfectly. I likewise immediately swapped out the straight and wide bars for some narrower ones with a nice sweep. Those were sadly the last cheap changes in this addictive addiction. Next I swapped out the chainring to a 38. All the hills here are brutally steep. This wouldn't be the last drivetrain change. Later on I dropped to a 36T and swapped the 11x42 block for an 11x46 and the longer Deore mech that can cope with the extra teeth. Forgotten which model. I've had a veritable laboratory of tyres; the original Pathfinder Sports were fast but harsh as F. Next came a pair of WTB Nanos 40mm - nice tyre, grippy, bouncy - nice ride - and surprisingly nimble on road. Relized it's descended from the WTB Nanorapter MTB tyres, found a 26" one covered in cobwebs the other day in the garage! Next was a pair of Panny Gravelkings the knobbly SK one 43mm. Put these on for winter one year when the roads turn to muddy & gritty & flooded messiness. They were great. And on gravel it felt like I was on an MTB - fast and fearless. But on dry summer roads a bit sluggish so my next and current tyres are WTB Byways 44mm. These I think are perfect for my roads and as the label says, byways. I mostly ride byways. They are fast on road, great on gravel and very very comfortable. Despite the potholed and damaged nature of a lot of the farm lanes I ride on, I've never felt the need for suspension stem and I do think WTB make very bouncy tyres. I would however appreciate a dropper post. Very handy on some of the 25% descents on muddy rocky moor bridleways. Anyway that's most of the changes. Saddle has been great, I too fuckin' hate the D shape wedge seat post clamp thing- awful design, why change what was simple? An old fashioned mob quick release would be more useful. Pedals- I just have a cheap pair of VP 535s from that long established Taiwanese brand. No problems there. I've stuck to the original grips though they are getting hard now so I'll switch to Ergons soon. I replaced the front light so I could move it down to the fork crown to fit a KlickFix bag. Klickfix mounts are horribly made of cheap plastic and with deep seated Phillips screws all too easy to strip, but they are robust and you can attach the mounts on any number of bikes and use the same bag simply by clicking it on and off. Have a Timber! bell, rather then ringing it makes a rattly noise like something is banging off the bike a very natural sound, my kids say it sounds like sleigh bells! But it makes walkers and horse riders turn around without pissing them off. It's great. I got a cheap and nasty mirror from Temu as a £2 add on to an order, got it for a laugh and it's ugly as sin but it gives a fantastic view on the lanes and is surprisingly well built. Like an old mirror off a Honda 50 motorbike. The kickstand was amazon I think, can't remember the make but it's robust and has a wide foot handy for mud. What else... Oh I got a brand new rear wheel off an SL5 from eBay, nobody bid on it so it cost me a ridiculous 15quid. Disappointly it doesn't seem any different to the existing SL4 wheel, but I stuck it on anyway. And I've gone through millions of brake pads, with all the steep roads and tracks. Think that's it. No wait- the bad stuff. It's had the motor replaced twice under warranty, first due to the noise getting screamier and the second one was replaced (also for free, 3 months after the warranty ended) when it developed a knocking noise that we could not locate elsewhere so the bikeshop put in for a claim and hey presto a new motor again. And fingers crossed it's going fine since then. Plus I'm no longer worried about being out of warranty, there are a couple of good sounding motor repair houses in UK now and when I emailed out of curiosity about the SL motor I was quoted £250 for a complete motor overhaul. Failing that, the bike shop said I should get something like a 50% discount from Spesh on a replacement motor, but let's hope it doesn't come to that. That's it, raise yer glasses to a great survivor - actually I think it's the wheels that have impressed me most after 4 years of roads and trails and even some singletrack. They are very robust. Here's some pics from yesterday's ride:
I've been recovering from a flu bug that wiped me out but got out for a short ride yesterday (in between massive rain showers).
I love my slightly battered Spesh. In that time though I've tweaked and changed and experimented and now have the ideal bike for me and for my local terrain.
From the get go then:
I bought the unequipped version. I had an old pair of speedrockers lying around from another bike and they fit perfectly. I likewise immediately swapped out the straight and wide bars for some narrower ones with a nice sweep. Those were sadly the last cheap changes in this addictive addiction. Next I swapped out the chainring to a 38. All the hills here are brutally steep. This wouldn't be the last drivetrain change. Later on I dropped to a 36T and swapped the 11x42 block for an 11x46 and the longer Deore mech that can cope with the extra teeth. Forgotten which model. I've had a veritable laboratory of tyres; the original Pathfinder Sports were fast but harsh as F. Next came a pair of WTB Nanos 40mm - nice tyre, grippy, bouncy - nice ride - and surprisingly nimble on road. Relized it's descended from the WTB Nanorapter MTB tyres, found a 26" one covered in cobwebs the other day in the garage! Next was a pair of Panny Gravelkings the knobbly SK one 43mm. Put these on for winter one year when the roads turn to muddy & gritty & flooded messiness. They were great. And on gravel it felt like I was on an MTB - fast and fearless. But on dry summer roads a bit sluggish so my next and current tyres are WTB Byways 44mm. These I think are perfect for my roads and as the label says, byways. I mostly ride byways. They are fast on road, great on gravel and very very comfortable. Despite the potholed and damaged nature of a lot of the farm lanes I ride on, I've never felt the need for suspension stem and I do think WTB make very bouncy tyres. I would however appreciate a dropper post. Very handy on some of the 25% descents on muddy rocky moor bridleways. Anyway that's most of the changes. Saddle has been great, I too fuckin' hate the D shape wedge seat post clamp thing- awful design, why change what was simple? An old fashioned mob quick release would be more useful. Pedals- I just have a cheap pair of VP 535s from that long established Taiwanese brand. No problems there. I've stuck to the original grips though they are getting hard now so I'll switch to Ergons soon. I replaced the front light so I could move it down to the fork crown to fit a KlickFix bag. Klickfix mounts are horribly made of cheap plastic and with deep seated Phillips screws all too easy to strip, but they are robust and you can attach the mounts on any number of bikes and use the same bag simply by clicking it on and off. Have a Timber! bell, rather then ringing it makes a rattly noise like something is banging off the bike a very natural sound, my kids say it sounds like sleigh bells! But it makes walkers and horse riders turn around without pissing them off. It's great. I got a cheap and nasty mirror from Temu as a £2 add on to an order, got it for a laugh and it's ugly as sin but it gives a fantastic view on the lanes and is surprisingly well built. Like an old mirror off a Honda 50 motorbike. The kickstand was amazon I think, can't remember the make but it's robust and has a wide foot handy for mud. What else... Oh I got a brand new rear wheel off an SL5 from eBay, nobody bid on it so it cost me a ridiculous 15quid. Disappointly it doesn't seem any different to the existing SL4 wheel, but I stuck it on anyway. And I've gone through millions of brake pads, with all the steep roads and tracks. Think that's it. No wait- the bad stuff. It's had the motor replaced twice under warranty, first due to the noise getting screamier and the second one was replaced (also for free, 3 months after the warranty ended) when it developed a knocking noise that we could not locate elsewhere so the bikeshop put in for a claim and hey presto a new motor again. And fingers crossed it's going fine since then. Plus I'm no longer worried about being out of warranty, there are a couple of good sounding motor repair houses in UK now and when I emailed out of curiosity about the SL motor I was quoted £250 for a complete motor overhaul. Failing that, the bike shop said I should get something like a 50% discount from Spesh on a replacement motor, but let's hope it doesn't come to that. That's it, raise yer glasses to a great survivor - actually I think it's the wheels that have impressed me most after 4 years of roads and trails and even some singletrack. They are very robust. Here's some pics from yesterday's ride:
