EBR made me do it!

[Jeremy McCreary]

unfortunately the new specialized app doesn't have white on black mode - although if your phone isn't a new one (with an OLED screen) that won't make a big difference.

on an OLED iPhone white on black dashboard apps (like mission control, or cadence, or cyclemeter or strava) will last a very long time - i've done 100+ mile rides without a backup battery, but i do turn the screen off from time to time to just get in the zone, maybe 1/3 or so of a 6-8 hour day.

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.

 

[DaveMatthews]

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.

E ink. That is a battery winner.

 

[steve mercier]

All good advice. This will be my first mid-drive. Felt nice in the short test I had on an SL 4 EQ, but that involved nothing steeper than 3%. Have a whole list of test hills I've tackled with my hub-drive. Eager to see just how different the climbing experience will be.

You will surely enjoy the mid drive experience once get used to really using your gears more on hills and weaning yourself off the throttle. I started with a hub motor bike but now I am picking up my fourth mid-drive on Sunday. Kudos to you for trying to go with a beautiful super light bike like that but there is no shame if after 30 days you want more power. If I was 50 instead of 70 I would try to make a go of it with a super light. My new one is a Bulls Iconic Evo 2 Speed with 85 nm of power. I am already planning to modify it ( new pedals, change seat , shorten the handlebars, change the tires and add a seat post suspension. These are things I expect to do to bikes, but at least this one will not need a De-limiter. Here in Canada ,the speed versions are very hard to get.

 

[mschwett]

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.

yeah - as nice as they can be made to look, remember that the “black” on a traditional lcd screen is the exact same amount of light emitted from the backlight, just blocked by the screen of crystals.

on an OLED the black pixels are off, emitting no light and using no power. I got excellent battery life from Mission Control and Cadence on an iPhone mini. Cadence also allows you to select the map provider, and the native map algorithms (google maps for android, Apple Maps for iPhone) tend to be far better optimized for battery than third party ones.

 

[Jeremy McCreary]

You will surely enjoy the mid drive experience once get used to really using your gears more on hills and weaning yourself off the throttle. I started with a hub motor bike but now I am picking up my fourth mid-drive on Sunday. Kudos to you for trying to go with a beautiful super light bike like that but there is no shame if after 30 days you want more power. If I was 50 instead of 70 I would try to make a go of it with a super light. My new one is a Bulls Iconic Evo 2 Speed with 85 nm of power. I am already planning to modify it ( new pedals, change seat , shorten the handlebars, change the tires and add a seat post suspension. These are things I expect to do to bikes, but at least this one will not need a De-limiter. Here in Canada ,the speed versions are very hard to get.

Thanks! My neighbor has a Bulls similar to yours. Very nice bike.

Going to a lower-power ebike at 76 could be pure folly on my part. If I'm not strong enough a rider after all, or if my knees reject the added loads, at least I tried. Nothing lost but some pride.

The good news: Most current riding habits should transfer nicely to the SL. Always pedal with effort at generally low assist and use the throttle only to reduce knee strain — always on top of pedaling. Also rely heavily on gearing to keep cadence at 80-90 RPM.

Getting stronger by riding more with motor off and climbing lots of hills in the last 2 months. To make up for loss of the throttle, practicing downshifting at every stop and finding other ways to squirt through intersections.

There'll still be a learning curve with the SL but probably not a drastic one.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Not sure whether iPhone can do it but my Samsung S24 U has a Greyscale mode. It can be combined with the lowest resolution of the display, all giving huge energy saving. Now, using a phone GPS app requires turning the Battery Saver mode off. As S24U supports Modes and Routines, I made an Exercise Mode that makes the phone go low resolution, Greyscale and Battery Saver off with a single click I could restrict many unwanted apps for the Exercise mode if I wanted as well...

 

[Chargeride]

Right.

You asked whether you could charge your phone from the e-bike, and the answer was 'not'. Equipping our e-bikes took some of us years according to growing needs and experience. Similarly to @DaveMatthews, it took me a long time to ride with the smartphone on the bars and a powerbank. (Despite owning a Samsung S24 Ultra now -- the battery holding for two days with a proper configuration -- I still carry a powerbank in my pannier just in case). I bought my first Wahoo only after I could not bear using a smartphone on e-bike anymore (and smashing yet another phone).

Which reminded me of an adventurous day in West Pomerania. West Pomerania is (I guess) one of the wildest areas of Poland (sparsely populated, forests, wolves, etc). On the second e-bike ride of that day, I had to ride with the powerbank in my jersey back pocket and the cable extending to the handlebars When I was thinking of that very day, I recollected that was the single occasion when tubeless saved my day (and me in that wilderness!) I was actually thinking on that day on last Wednesday. Which reminded me of something really important!

When I go for a long or critical ride, I carry several items in my pannier:

• A set of hex wrenches, so nothing will become loose... Check.
• A repair set for the chain, so chain wouldn't even get the idea to break... Check.
• A first aid kit, disinfectant, pads, bandage, patches, so no crash would (of course) happen... Check.
• Toilet paper, so I wouldn't... Check.
• A pump... Wait, didn't I forget something?

I've been riding my Vado SL tubeless for 4 months now. Except regular re-inflation and a single sealant replenishment, I even didn't think of catching a flat. But I was missing the security, the tubeless repair set! I ordered one on Wednesday: a Lezyne one that even included CO2 cartridges for re-seating the tyre bead on the rim. On Thursday evening, I happily pedalled my Vado SL to the nearest InPost parcel locker. To my surprise, the QR code from the app produced an "Authorization Error" in the system, for the first time in my life! What could have gone wrong?! Well, I ordered the delivery not to that parcel locker but to the gardening store a kilometre away...

I wrote this to give you Jeremy a little bit of distraction!

View attachment 181906
My Vado SL holds very well!

Stefan mentions wolves and not a single response, you can tell its an American forum.

 

[kevinmccune]

Stefan mentions wolves and not a single response, you can tell its an American forum.

nothing wrong with wolves as long as they stay in other peoples forests,some dummies here in the us are trying to increase the gray wolf and grizzly bears range( the busybodies really screw the locals at times-otters were reintroduced in the alleghanies,now there is hardly a fish in the streams,the streams used to be loaded with panfish,minnows and bass,trout sometimes,now they are barren-i guess its the same mentality that turns formerly nice rideable fdr roads into unrideable trail bike hell)

 

[Watana Bob]

Thanks! My neighbor has a Bulls similar to yours. Very nice bike.

Going to a lower-power ebike at 76 could be pure folly on my part. If I'm not strong enough a rider after all, or if my knees reject the added loads, at least I tried. Nothing lost but some pride.

The good news: Most current riding habits should transfer nicely to the SL. Always pedal with effort at generally low assist and use the throttle only to reduce knee strain — always on top of pedaling. Also rely heavily on gearing to keep cadence at 80-90 RPM.

Getting stronger by riding more with motor off and climbing lots of hills in the last 2 months. To make up for loss of the throttle, practicing downshifting at every stop and finding other ways to squirt through intersections.

There'll still be a learning curve with the SL but probably not a drastic one.

Jeremy you will be fine on the Vado SL. I just picked up my new Turbo Creo 2 and was shocked at how nimble and fast that it was, even though you have 8 years on me I am physically 15 years older than you with very weak legs due to a late onset form of muscular dystrophy. I went up hills that I would use the sport setting on my old Bosch mid drive previously and used sport on the new Creo on same hills with no problems. If you can ride your current bike unassisted, you will feel like superman on your new ride. I've only ever ridden my old 54 lb. mid drive unassisted once when I suffered a crash that snapped my controller, and I had to ride it home about 2 miles- that was a real Jane Fonda workout! The Creo I road several miles initially before even turning on the power and it was easy-peezy. I would have gone with the Vado but I was concerned with the 35 vs. 50 newton meters of torque in my diminished condition. My only experience with the SL was in Hawaii a couple of years ago where I was able to rent a SL 4.0 for a few days, mainly a flat area and I did fine with it but this disease is progressive and I figured the extra 15 N.M would be needed now. Battery burn has been on par with my Bosch system, about 2% per mile with some unassisted some eco and some sport. I can probably expect 40-45 miles in mixed terrain the way I ride.
I have a feeling that you are going to be an animal on that bike and be loving it, hell you'll probably even be sleeping with it!

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Stefan mentions wolves and not a single response, you can tell its an American forum.

Ah, sweet memories from the West Pomeranian wilderness! At one November 2021 night, I woke up before the dawn in a very small town of Tuczno (@Brix hometown). I realized we had no coffee in the guesthouse! The nearest service station was located 12 km away in another mini town of Człopa (West Pomerania is our Wild West and is really sparsely populated!) I jumped into the car and was driving in the darkness and thick fog. At any time, a big beast such as a moose could jump out the forest! And meeting wolves was quite probable!

Had coffee and brought one (still hot) to Brix; still dense fog but at least it was bright!

Later on the same day.

 

[Jeremy McCreary]

Ah, sweet memories from the West Pomeranian wilderness! At one November 2021 night, I woke up before the dawn in a very small town of Tuczno (@Brix hometown). I realized we had no coffee in the guesthouse! The nearest service station was located 12 km away in another mini town of Człopa (West Pomerania is our Wild West and is really sparsely populated!) I jumped into the car and was driving in the darkness and thick fog. At any time, a big beast such as a moose could jump out the forest! And meeting wolves was quite probable!

Had coffee and brought one (still hot) to Brix; still dense fog but at least it was bright!

View attachment 181974
Later on the same day.

Totally get it, my friend. Who wouldn't brave wolves for morning coffee?

 

[Jeremy McCreary]

Jeremy you will be fine on the Vado SL. I just picked up my new Turbo Creo 2 and was shocked at how nimble and fast that it was, even though you have 8 years on me I am physically 15 years older than you with very weak legs due to a late onset form of muscular dystrophy. I went up hills that I would use the sport setting on my old Bosch mid drive previously and used sport on the new Creo on same hills with no problems. If you can ride your current bike unassisted, you will feel like superman on your new ride. I've only ever ridden my old 54 lb. mid drive unassisted once when I suffered a crash that snapped my controller, and I had to ride it home about 2 miles- that was a real Jane Fonda workout! The Creo I road several miles initially before even turning on the power and it was easy-peezy. I would have gone with the Vado but I was concerned with the 35 vs. 50 newton meters of torque in my diminished condition. My only experience with the SL was in Hawaii a couple of years ago where I was able to rent a SL 4.0 for a few days, mainly a flat area and I did fine with it but this disease is progressive and I figured the extra 15 N.M would be needed now. Battery burn has been on par with my Bosch system, about 2% per mile with some unassisted some eco and some sport. I can probably expect 40-45 miles in mixed terrain the way I ride.
I have a feeling that you are going to be an animal on that bike and be loving it, hell you'll probably even be sleeping with it!

Thanks for the encouragement! Plan A, knees permitting, is to make myself strong enough for the SL if at all possible. I think I have a pretty good shot at it.

I've been dreaming of sleeping with the SL for weeks now, but pretty sure I'll have to do it on the couch.
;^}

Hats off for going with the Creo 2 with progressive muscular dystrophy to deal with. If I may ask, does riding help in any way, or is it just a good distraction? Or maybe an act of defiance?