Creo Road Remotes

[Saratoga Dave]

Since my Creo will be a year old next week, and Spesh has a $20 off sale going on the Road Remotes for some reason, I ordered them up the other day. After today’s 33 mile ride on my other bike, I observed the sun was still shining and I had a couple of Sam Adams (beer) in the refrigerator, so up on the stand went the bike.

Somewhere along the line Specialized apparently realized that they were driving people insane trying to thread the wires for the remotes through the port on the downtube. My 2022 aluminum Creo has, lo and behold, a second port right at the front of the top tube, directly in front of the controller unit. The documentation for the Road Remotes doesn’t even know about this, the illustrations, photos and directions showing no such port.

Just under an hour, 1 beer and one temporarily lost screw later, we’re in business, and of course, what an improvement! Certainly the Creo should have always come standard with these buttons… it’s downright dangerous looking down at the top tube every time you want to change the assist, and the one-way (increase only) way it worked was equally frustrating. What I now have is a greatly improved bike and not a single swear word uttered throughout the whole operation. Toughest part was actually rewinding the bar tape halfway decently… I positioned the buttons right under the the brake levers at the front, where I can just tap them with either of my first two fingers while on the hoods, which is my usual configuration. All very nice, solid improvement, but come on, Specialized! Standard equipment.

 

[eddief]

early on they were not available at all, then available as an add on, and now I think standard on all Creos. The buttons are still too small but way better than nothing.

 

[gpburdell]

early on they were not available at all, then available as an add on, and now I think standard on all Creos. The buttons are still too small but way better than nothing.

Just the carbon models come with them presently, I believe.

 

[Saratoga Dave]

Two good rides with the road remotes operational, and boy, they really do make a huge difference in the enjoyment of the bike. Highly recommended. I haven’t had to look down to the top tube once, currently just running the Mission Control app which has the assist level displayed… if I jump into a Wahoo like I keep thinking I will, the info will be right there as well.

 

[Allan47.7339]

I consider the road remotes to be a safety upgrade. The remote is too far down for anything other than a quick glance. You see riders without the remotes peering down at their top tubes for longer than is really safe. Also it is easy to drop to the power mode off for flat riding.

 

[Saratoga Dave]

Holy crap, I just was on the Specialized site checking pricing for a friend thinking about one of these, and the base Creo - which literally the other day was on sale for $4500 and retailed for $6000 has jumped to $7500! I looked at the Tero 5 which I have been thinking about at $5000 last week and it’s gone to $7000. What on earth is going on here?

 

[Allan47.7339]

Are you sure you are looking at a US site?

 

[Saratoga Dave]

Yep, that’s it, Allan. My mistake, but the pricing had the standard dollar sign in it… maybe Australia? I went to it from a bookmarked page that was US all the way earlier though.

Glad that one ain’t true, at least.

 

[Saratoga Dave]

Considering that tomorrow is the 1 year birthday for this Creo, I bought a Range Extender today while in a very nice bike shop along the route I was riding when I realized they had one. I debated - and still do - whether I really need one, but they had a brand new Creo going out this afternoon and I knew if I didn’t buy it, this guy would.

Then went out and finished the ride with the motor off for 40% thereof. Oh well!

I also noticed that the carbon Creo - at least the Evo version - in fact does not have that second access port on the top tube, but does come with the road remotes installed. Nice looking bike in a soft green, but mine looks better!

Oh, and one more thing, as Steve Jobs always said… it now has 2500 miles over that first year, but I do own another ebike and ride them about equally.

 

[gpburdell]

Same here, not sure I’ll much need or use the extender but with the current sale I couldn’t help but pick one up.

I'm told the carbon models don't have the remotes preinstalled, but they do come with them included. I suppose it makes sense to have the shop do the install since location is a matter of preference.

Still need to install them on my new E5, got them Monday with the bike but have had other priorities. Thinking about under the hoods at the inside where they meet the bars. Any better suggestion?

 

[Dazmanturbo]

I have one of the early Creo's and have neither the top access hole or the remote. I did the Di2 hack on mine and it transformed the bike. Having the power switch on the bars and being able to cycle up and down on the power setting makes the bike so much easier. I do tend do a fair bit of riding now on zero assist to maximise battery. I did a 62 mile ride Yesterday and only used 20%

 

[Saratoga Dave]

Yup! And who’da thunk we’d spend this much money on an ebike and then go out and ride it all day with the motor off just because we can? I really have no idea why I bought the range extender, since most of my rides are south of 50 miles and absent a random Adirondack mountain, it just isn’t needed. Still, it doesn’t hurt to have it on the shelf for the occasional unusual circumstance.

 

[Dazmanturbo]

Yup! And who’da thunk we’d spend this much money on an ebike and then go out and ride it all day with the motor off just because we can? I really have no idea why I bought the range extender, since most of my rides are south of 50 miles and absent a random Adirondack mountain, it just isn’t needed. Still, it doesn’t hurt to have it on the shelf for the occasional unusual circumstance.

I use the RE as a top up to the main. If I have say 30% left in main, pop on the RE and I have 80% again and saves a cycle on the main. That said, I have 100 mile ride planned later this year over Dartmoor ( wild and hilly part of the UK) where I may need it !!!

 

[mmwada]

I came here searching for a solution for the remote wires. My Creo came with the remotes installed but the wires going from the handle bar and frame were just flying freely. I wanted the wires collected together. I didn't want to use electrical tape because of the residue and it will eventually unravel. I first tried a slit vacuum tube but it looked awkward. I found a simple free solution for me. I cut a piece of thin wire and wrapped in around both wires.

 

[kahn]

I've used "spiral hair ties" for wrap wires together. You snip the loop and it becomes a rubbery spring

Something like these:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BN25BY87?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details

 

[gpburdell]

I used some spiral wire wrap I had sitting around.

Similar to https://www.amazon.com/Spiral-Cable-Wrap-10ft-Electrical/dp/B0918XNP8J/

 

[Prairie Dog]

I came here searching for a solution for the remote wires. My Creo came with the remotes installed but the wires going from the handle bar and frame were just flying freely. I wanted the wires collected together. I didn't want to use electrical tape because of the residue and it will eventually unravel. I first tried a slit vacuum tube but it looked awkward. I found a simple free solution for me. I cut a piece of thin wire and wrapped in around both wires.View attachment 157039

You could always use self fusing silicone tape. It leaves no residue and only sticks to itself.

I used heat shrink tubing with a wide enough diameter (3/8”) to fit the remote cable ends through and still had an adequate shrink ratio.

 

[mmwada]

Thank you everyone on ideas to secure the remote wiring. All great ideas. For the present I will stay with my original suggestion. I prefer the concept of less is more or simple is better. I was even considering using silicon to glue the wires together but I don't think I could have pulled it off neatly and I don't know if it could be undone.

 

[Extreme1]

Specialized actually has a black plastic clip that holds two wires together. I have them on my Vado, it came with them.

 

[gpburdell]

Specialized actually has a black plastic clip that holds two wires together. I have them on my Vado, it came with them.

Nothing like that in the box with my remotes.