EBR made me do it! (new Vado SL 5.0 EQ)

[Jeremy McCreary]

Coming up on the 2 month mark on the SL. Just want to thank everyone who moved me closer to pulling the trigger on a glorious bike that I really wasn't sure I had the legs — or knees — to ride in this hilly area.

Turns out my fears were totally unfounded, the low power, torque, and battery capacity specs notwithstanding. As predicted by SL riders in this thread.

The bike's a dream to ride, even up short 15% grades. Reduced the chainring from 44t to 40t with encouragement from several SL riders here. Big win on the climbing front!

The nimble handling and sure-footed cornering are real joys -- as is the ability to just pick up the bike and put it where I want it. Far cry from my 70 lb hub-drive!

Riding more and more in OFF — surprisingly satisfying. ECO's plenty of assist most of the time but enjoying the thrill of SPORT and occasionally TURBO when the mood or need to squirt through traffic arises. Plenty of battery for my own neck-limited range (maybe 40 mi) with no foreseeable need for an RE.

Having no interest in hard-core MTB, totally satisfied with the offroad performance on tubeless 700x38 Pathfinder Pros at 35-40 psi. Between these and the Future Shock 1.5 up front, ride quality's just fine. Wouldn't have known to make that tire swap without EBR.

Of course, all of that was foretold in this thread. Here's what I didn't see coming...

As a STEM guy with an interest in cycling science, having an ebike that shows me assist mode, cadence, and real-time rider power all at once adds a new cerebral dimension to my riding -- without investing $$$ in a fancy third-party power meter and bike computer. Never knew my power before. Fascinating to watch assist mode, rider power, and cadence interact with the wind and terrain as I pedal along.

Spend most of my time in the lower custom TCU screen, occasionally flipping back to the home screen above it to see how much time and battery I have left. Between just this built-in display and the Future Shock, the 5.0 premium's been worth every penny.

The power display's also a gentle nudge to pedal a little harder. Between that and the joy of riding the SL in general, I've lost a good 6 lb since taking delivery and at 76 am now in my best shape in decades.

The SL's often called a "fitness bike", but I had no idea that it just sucks you into riding harder, smiling the whole way. Hard to avoid the Carrot Effect on this bike!

Last but not least, the bike's a total chick magnet -- at least when I'm not on it.
;^}

So thanks again for making me do it, EBR!

 

[mschwett]

…The power display's also a gentle nudge to pedal a little harder. Between that and the joy of riding the SL in general, I've lost a good 6 lb since taking delivery and at 76 am now in my best shape in decades.

so great to read this post, and that level of fitness at 76 is a real accomplishment, new bike or not! kudos!

there are many reasons to cycle, but i am pretty convinced that if your main reason is “fun” or “exercise” or “mental health” or “health” then less is absolutely more when it comes to assist. as tempting as it is to want to go faster, physics is a cold-hearted-master and the best e-bike is the ones that gets as close as possible to not being there while enabling bigger and more challenging rides than circumstances would otherwise allow. very different story for commuting, utility, children!

your +/- 50 feet per mile of climbing isn’t too bad, that’s about what i see these days too, typical coastal california roads while avoiding the big climbs for health reasons.

have you done mt soledad from the north yet? (capri rd.) a little steep but ought to be really fun on the SL!

for a long, gradual climb, throw the bike on your car and get as close as you need to palomar mountain to make the round trip doable, and climb this:

Climbing Palomar Mountain East, CA by bike - cycling data and info

Cycling Palomar Mountain East. View route map, streetviews, images, slideshows, videos and more for this cycling route to the top of Palomar Mountain East, CA, USA. All the info (difficulty, distance, altitude gained, elevation, average grade) you'll need to climb Palomar Mountain East by bike...

pjammcycling.com

should be a perfect time of year for it.

 

[MartsEbike]

View attachment 185611
Coming up on the 2 month mark on the SL. Just want to thank everyone who moved me closer to pulling the trigger on a glorious bike that I really wasn't sure I had the legs — or knees — to ride in this hilly area.

View attachment 185618
Turns out my fears were totally unfounded, the low power, torque, and battery capacity specs notwithstanding. As predicted by SL riders in this thread.

View attachment 185619
The bike's a dream to ride, even up short 15% grades. Reduced the chainring from 44t to 40t with encouragement from several SL riders here. Big win on the climbing front!

The nimble handling and sure-footed cornering are real joys -- as is the ability to just pick up the bike and put it where I want it. Far cry from my 70 lb hub-drive!

Riding more and more in OFF — surprisingly satisfying. ECO's plenty of assist most of the time but enjoying the thrill of SPORT and occasionally TURBO when the mood strikes or the need to squirt through traffic arises. Plenty of battery for my own neck-limited range (maybe 40 mi) with no foreseeable need for an RE.

View attachment 185612View attachment 185614View attachment 185615
Having no interest in hard-core MTB, totally satisfied with the offroad performance on tubeless Pathfinder Pros at 35-40 psi. Between these and the Future Shock 1.5 up front, ride quality's just fine. Wouldn't have known to make that tire swap without EBR.

Of course, all of that was foretold in this thread. Here's what I didn't coming...

View attachment 185620
View attachment 185621
As a STEM guy with an interest in cycling science, having an ebike that shows me assist mode, cadence, and real-time rider power all at once adds a new cerebral dimension to my riding -- without investing $$$ in a fancy third-party power meter and bike computer. Never knew my power before. Fascinating to watch assist mode, rider power, and cadence interact with the wind and terrain as I pedal along.

Spend most of my time in the lower custom TCU screen, occasionally flipping back to the home screen above it to check battery and time left to ride. Between just this built-in display and the Future Shock, the 5.0 premium's been worth every penny.

The power display's also a gentle nudge to pedal a little harder. Between that and the joy of riding the SL in general, I've lost a good 6 lb since taking delivery and at 76 am now in my best shape in decades.

The SL's often called a "fitness bike", but I had no idea that it just sucks you into riding harder, smiling the whole way. Hard to avoid the Carrot Effect on this bike!

View attachment 185617
Last but not least, the bike's a total chick magnet -- at least when I'm not on it.

So thanks again EBR for making me do it!

This bike is fantastic! In bright yellow against the stunning California sunshine, it looks perfect.

I can't help but agree with everything you've said about it!

If I can resist the “carrot effect,” this bike is impressively efficient. With a Euro-spec motor (limited to 15.5mph), pushing it faster under leg power costs nothing. On flat ground, with fresh legs, I can comfortably hit 17-20mph without much strain. And when my legs start to tire, there’s always plenty of battery capacity left to give me that extra boost to keep going.

Having Rider Power and Cadence info is a game-changer. Before owning this bike, I underestimated my power—never thought I could reach nearly 700 watts or my cadence hit over 130 rpm! Now, thanks to Strava's stats, I have the data to prove it. With winter approaching, I'll be holding off for a bit, but next spring, when the weather improves, I can’t wait to try and push myself and the bike to its limits.

As for changes to the bike? The only items I've purchased for it are new pedals and a Suspension Seatpost, which should arrive in a couple of days. I had considered changing the tyres - thinking they might be too skinny, but they’ve held up perfectly well after actually riding it.

I've also purchased a Range Extender, which, honestly, I haven’t needed yet—but I’ll put it to good use soon enough.

Anyway, to sum up, this bike does everything I need it to and I’m extremely happy with my purchase! Which again was mainly due to the great advice of EBR members!

 

[Stefan Mikes]

My 3 1/2 year old Fearless has undergone many modifications as I didn't realise during the purchase I actually needed a Vado SL 5.0 unequipped I was successfully riding this e-bike on numerous gravel group rides including races (the longest race was 263 km, four Range Extenders and overnight recharging! Bear in mind, you need to ride fast in a race!)

Today, I tried my Vado SL 4.0 on a Cross Country group ride, leader of which was riding a fat-bike and all the rest had XC bikes. Singletracks including climbing and descending on the tree-roots, a little bit of sand, and occasionally lifting the e-bike to carry it over fallen trees Nothing I hadn't tried before! I always prefer a lightweight e-bike in a rough terrain, and my Vado SL allowed me to participate in that interesting ride! For those interested: the principal assistance mode here was 60/80%. I went Turbo on a 6 km solo ride in the hope to catch up with the group before the finish line. 55 km plus 10 km for the commute used most of the Main Battery and Range Extender.

Regarding the Range Extender: I treat the extra bottle batteries as the way to protect the main battery against premature degradation. You can set 'Discharge the Extender Battery first' if you are on an occasional shorter ride (such as grocery shopping or other local errands). During the normal use, Main Battery + Range Extender together allow for a long ride with high power output until both batteries are almost spent. I completed my rides of today with 6/13% of the batteries, and still could have used Turbo for the last flyover!

 

[Jeremy McCreary]

My 3 1/2 year old Fearless has undergone many modifications as I didn't realise during the purchase I actually needed a Vado SL 5.0 unequipped I was successfully riding this e-bike on numerous gravel group rides including races (the longest race was 263 km, four Range Extenders and overnight recharging! Bear in mind, you need to ride fast in a race!)

View attachment 185622
View attachment 185623
Today, I tried my Vado SL 4.0 on a Cross Country group ride, leader of which was riding a fat-bike and all the rest had XC bikes. Singletracks including climbing and descending on the tree-roots, a little bit of sand, and occasionally lifting the e-bike to carry it over fallen trees Nothing I hadn't tried before! I always prefer a lightweight e-bike in a rough terrain, and my Vado SL allowed me to participate in that interesting ride! For those interested: the principal assistance mode here was 60/80%. I went Turbo on a 6 km solo ride in the hope to catch up with the group before the finish line. 55 km plus 10 km for the commute used most of the Main Battery and Range Extender.

Regarding the Range Extender: I treat the extra bottle batteries as the way to protect the main battery against premature degradation. You can set 'Discharge the Extender Battery first' if you are on an occasional shorter ride (such as grocery shopping or other local errands). During the normal use, Main Battery + Range Extender together allow for a long ride with high power output until both batteries are almost spent. I completed my rides of today with 6/13% of the batteries, and still could have used Turbo for the last flyover!

Looks like a fun gathering! About to try a local Wednesday morning group ride for the comraderie around cycling if nothing else. It's said to be pretty casual, probably all pavement. Receptivity to ebikes to be determined.

Very interesting point about using the RE to preserve main battery. Enjoying the SL's light weight so much that lugging an RE around just for that purpose has little appeal right now. But if a pressing need for an RE comes up, I'll certainly consider this option.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

There is one more thing...

We have an excellent public transportation system in Warsaw and around. However, not all the stations for railways, commuter trains or Metro are equipped with lifts. Now fancy me carrying my 26 kg plus pannier Vado 6.0 upstairs (Can be done with Walk Mode). Vado SL? I can carry it upstairs together with a pannier!

I could get with an SKM and then Metro from a SW county city to the very south of Warsaw under an hour at the cost of... £1.34 or US$1.73! With the bike! (A full price ticket!)

 

[MartsEbike]

Regarding the Range Extender: I treat the extra bottle batteries as the way to protect the main battery against premature degradation. You can set 'Discharge the Extender Battery first' if you are on an occasional shorter ride (such as grocery shopping or other local errands). During the normal use, Main Battery + Range Extender together allow for a long ride with high power output until both batteries are almost spent. I completed my rides of today with 6/13% of the batteries, and still could have used Turbo for the last flyover!

Excellent idea! You won't be surprised to hear that I'll be copying this!

Pulling power from two batteries instead of one helps with their longevity. Despite the weight penalty, I have constantly ridden my Frey dual-battery bike with both batteries. It's capable of pulling 30amps, and I was always mindful that this could damage the battery prematurely. Using both batteries means I've never pulled more than 15amps from each, well within its capabilities, it's certainly helped extend their life. It's 3 years old now and still performing well with little reduction in capacity.

 

[Jeremy McCreary]

so great to read this post, and that level of fitness at 76 is a real accomplishment, new bike or not! kudos!

Very kind, but I really can't believe it's anything special — even for my age. Lots of older seasoned cyclists on EBR, and I'm sure many would leave me in the dust on a road bike.

there are many reasons to cycle, but i am pretty convinced that if your main reason is “fun” or “exercise” or “mental health” or “health” then less is absolutely more when it comes to assist. as tempting as it is to want to go faster, physics is a cold-hearted-master and the best e-bike is the ones that gets as close as possible to not being there while enabling bigger and more challenging rides than circumstances would otherwise allow. very different story for commuting, utility, children!

Not sure I would have agreed with the less-assist-is-more part of that pre-SL, but I do now.

your +/- 50 feet per mile of climbing isn’t too bad, that’s about what i see these days too, typical coastal california roads while avoiding the big climbs for health reasons.

Good to hear. Is there a name for that vertical feet (vft) per mile stat? I'd like to learn more about it.

I've been watching it with casual interest since I started recording every ride in RideWithGPS ~2 years ago, but in a format I call "equivalent grade". A steady 100 vft/mi is very close to a 2% grade. Somehow easier to do in my head than straight vft/mi.

Most of my inland hill rides these days fall in the 1.5-2.5% range. I glance at my display and use this metric to decide whether to tackle another hill or drop down to the coast for the rest of the ride. Just another mind-game to play in the saddle.

have you done mt soledad from the north yet? (capri rd.) a little steep but ought to be really fun on the SL!

Great idea! Familiar territory from a 2-month stay in La Jolla Shores in 2022, just before my return to cycling. Steep indeed, but stunning views and maybe accessible by train from Carlsbad.

for a long, gradual climb, throw the bike on your car and get as close as you need to palomar mountain to make the round trip doable, and climb this:

Climbing Palomar Mountain East, CA by bike - cycling data and info

Cycling Palomar Mountain East. View route map, streetviews, images, slideshows, videos and more for this cycling route to the top of Palomar Mountain East, CA, USA. All the info (difficulty, distance, altitude gained, elevation, average grade) you'll need to climb Palomar Mountain East by bike...

pjammcycling.com

should be a perfect time of year for it.

Another interesting suggestion to look into! Did an introductory Palomar-Julian-Lake Cuyamaca-Laguna Mountain car trip last fall. Gorgeous! Saw lots of cyclists but kept thinking — wow, pretty steep country and not much bike infrastructure.

 

[mschwett]

Good to hear. Is there a name for that vertical feet (vft) per mile stat? I'd like to learn more about it.

I've been watching it with casual interest since I started recording every ride in RideWithGPS ~2 years ago, but in a format I call "equivalent grade". A steady 100 vft/mi is very close to a 2% grade. Somehow easier to do in my head than straight vft/mi.

i don’t think it has a name, but used very commonly. for serious road cyclists 100 feet per mile over a long ride is where rides start to get “hard,” becuase of course you also have to go down. assuming you’re going up half the time and down half the time, that’s about 4% for half the ride, which over hours adds up to a LOT of climbing, and of course it’s more likely to be 8% for a quarter of the ride, a quarter flat, and the rest the opposite.

average grade for a ride will of course always be zero if you end where you start, but your “equivalent grade” could be considered to be half the grade that you’re actually going up. again, assuming you end where you started!

the commonly used serious cyclist metric around actually climbing is VAM, which is italian for meters climbed per hour pro tour riders can hit 1500+ as could an e-bike rider!

 

[Stefan Mikes]

the commonly used serious cyclist metric around actually climbing is VAM, which is italian for meters climbed per hour pro tour riders can hit 1500+ as could an e-bike rider!

Just to give some perspective to it, my race metrics in rolling hills of Sudovia:

A classic 50 mile race in the area of serious post-glacial hills (not 'real' mountains!) See the VAM, 1/3 of what a pro rider can make. Jeremy, VAM is one of the metrics reported by RideWithGPS!

 

[Jeremy McCreary]

Just to give some perspective to it, my race metrics in rolling hills of Sudovia:

View attachment 185787
View attachment 185788
A classic 50 mile race in the area of serious post-glacial hills (not 'real' mountains!) See the VAM, 1/3 of what a pro rider can make. Jeremy, VAM is one of the metrics reported by RideWithGPS!

Impressive stats. Yes, I've seen the VAM in RideWithGPS but haven't paid much attention to it till now.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Impressive stats.

FYI: That was my Vado 6.0, which is twice as powerful as Vado SL.

 

[jason.flood]

The stock SL 5 chainring is now a 5-bolt, 110 BCD affair with 44t. Oddly, dealer found some smaller Specialized chainrings for it but got a "potential motor damage" alert when he tried to select 38t. Don't understand that, but if testing says I need to gear down, 40t could well be small enough.

I was also advised not to go lower than 40t by Specialized Rider Support.

 

[Jeremy McCreary]

I was also advised not to go lower than 40t by Specialized Rider Support.

Did they tell you why? My dealer's service manager mumbled something about risk of motor damage per Specialized but had no details.

Interesting because several EBR members like @Rás Cnoic run 38s on the SL with no reported problems.

In any event, 40t turned out to be just right for my legs and terrain. Would've lost too much top end with a 38t.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

I was also advised not to go lower than 40t by Specialized Rider Support.

Ah, bullshit! I could successfully ride my Vado SL with a 32T even in a race.

True MTB gearing < 20 gear-in (exactly 17 gear inches). I needed that for hilly gravel rides.

Now, I ride a 42T chainring in our flatland. Less wear on the cassette smallest sprockets.

 

[jason.flood]

No, there is no standard option to charge your phone. I suppose something could be wired after the warranty expires but it may not be a good idea.

I carry a power bank for those rides where I’m using RideWithGPS for turn-by-turn directions. Otherwise, my iPhone is good for about two or three hours, then I need the Powerbank. It’s annoying to have to use it, and you have to have some way of mounting it. My phone mount uses elastic bands so I can squeeze both the phone and powerbank onto it.

If I rode on roads rather than a rail trail all the time phone battery life would probably end in buying a cycling computer. Fortunately (?) I don’t have that issue.

I've found my iPhone 15 can last pretty much all day recording a ride with the Specialzed App so long as I don't have the screen on all the time.

 

[jason.flood]

Did they tell you why? My dealer's service manager mumbled something about risk of motor damage per Specialized but had no details.

Interesting because several EBR members like @Rás Cnoic run 38s on the SL with no reported problems.

In any event, 40t turned out to be just right for my legs and terrain. Would've lost too much top end with a 38t.

They didn't get back to me with the reason. After respond to my original question I left it a while before replying with "why no lower than 40t?' but they had already closed the support request and sent the survey asking how did we do?

I'm actually still on my original 44t, but mostly ride 30/30 of "off". however when I do hit hilly terrain an run out of gears I often relay on higher motor assistance to get me through. I think I will pickup a 40t or 42t soon though.

 

[jason.flood]

Interesting connection between battery life and screen technology.

Turns out I do have an OLED phone display. (Who knew?) May Specialized soon go white on black! Generally prefer that anyway.

My Specialized App is in white on black (or dark mode) probably because I have the global iPhone setting that way.

 

[jason.flood]

Now that's what I'm talkin' about!

The SL's a keeper, ladies and gentlemen! And I stand at this juncture only because I got the info and encouragement needed to take the leap on EBR.

View attachment 182333View attachment 182334
Rode the brand-new SL home the long way: 21 mi over several key test hills and along the coast with 1,243 ft of elevation gain on grades up to 10% per RideWithGPS.

Used ~60% ECO, ~20% SPORT, ~20% off, and no TURBO. Most hills conquered in ECO alone. Average rider power ~120W. Battery remaining 54%.

So the many yay-sayers were right all along: The SL will clearly get me around my usual terrain just fine — no, way better than fine — with acceptable exertion, knee loads, and battery range.

A few initial impressions relating to things you guys helped with...

1. What a sweet ride, inside and out! Much more powerful than expected, the low weight is a joy, and the responsiveness, agility, and rolling resistance are just what I'd hoped for.

View attachment 182335
2. Impressed with the Specialized app so far. Between the app on my phone on the bars and the customizable TCU pages, no need for a separate bike computer for the foreseeable future. Speed, cadence, rider power, and distance are visible at a glance, and that's really all I need in the saddle. Plus, easy to transfer rides directly into RideWithGPS for gradient display.

View attachment 182336
3. @Prairie Dog , the standard QuadLock out-front mount works fine pointing forward. Phone battery drain was quite acceptable for 21 mi, even with the screen always on.

4. The ordered suspension seat post didn't get installed, and I didn't miss it on this shakedown ride on generally nice pavement.

View attachment 182337
5. The LBS jumped the gun on replacing the stock 44t chainring with a Wolf Tooth 40t (above). Lost the chain guard in the process, but now that the 40t's in place, it feels like a keeper.

View attachment 182339
6. We'll see what's sore tomorrow, but fit, position, and saddle seem pretty good so far. Palms and wrists complained a bit after 15 mi or so, but they're used to a more upright posture. I see Ergon grips in my future.

View attachment 182338
7. Getting enough onboard storage without a full-size trunk bag will be a challenge, but this small ALMSTHRE frame bag with no TCU or boss interference will be part of the solution.

Thanks again for getting me onto this beautiful bike!

I'm gutted I wasn't able to spend time on the forum for all this buildup in realtime. Really please for you @Jeremy McCreary - and I'm loving that Wolftooth chainring. I can see myself going for one of those.

 

[jason.flood]

My friends and mentors on EBR will be relieved to know that I'm just about done with the hand-wringing over the SL. Only 2 remaining issues:

1. Storage: Want just the right amount without resorting to a big trunk bag. This will take time and a lot of trial and error. A 3L waist pack may be involved.

2. Tubeless tires: The tubeless Pathfinder Pros go on in 2 days. Tubeless tires weren't even a thing the last time I was an avid cyclist, and I have no experience with maintaining or repairing them.

Luckily, found someone very knowledgeable at the LBS doing the tire work who's willing to teach me and get me set up with a repair kit to carry.

BTW, this LBS (Cadence Cyclery, Encinitas) sells only the highest-end bikes. (Think S-Works Tarmacs and comparable Colnagos, Cervelos, Pinarellos, etc.) Way out of my league, but they're friendly and helpful nonetheless.

I bought two of these and put then either side of the stem just behind the handlebar. one velcro loop on each bag goes around the handle bar. Then I straddle a single vector look between the two bags while gripping the stem.

https://www.decathlon.co.uk/p/fabric-handlebar-bottle-cage/_/R-p-168751?mc=8487122&c=black

they Work a treat without having to modify (or obstruct0 the front light. Absolute bargain too.

HOWEVER - after a few months of use I realised the motion of the futureshock caused the bags to rub on the rubber boot around the shock, resulting in a split on either side. The rubber on that boot is really thin. My solution to this was to take a 2 inch slice of inner tube and slide it over the existing boot of the futureshock (after slipping the stem off the steerer tube) seems to be holding up to the Scottish weather.