Ever take your Vado off road?

[TS25]

Schwalbe Smart Sam 28 x 1.75" on Vado 5: First impressions

What a fun!

(I could have concluded here)
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The tyres thinner than Electrak 2.0 make a funny impression at the first sight, leaving a lot of clearance to the DryTech fender. The ride...

No sound on blacktop. Low rolling resistance. Ride like a dream on gravel. The side tread is so aggressive the small pebbles are taken by the tyre and rattle inside the fender.
...
Many thanks to @FlatSix911 and @TS25 for the recommendation!
I'll attempt a forest ride early in the morning.

You do need more space between a nobby tire and the fender so collected clay etc can spin off and that's why the tires need to be smaller.

So let's wait for your report about your forest trail tour - picture with a smile behind a mud covered face please.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

picture with a smile behind a mud covered face please.

I will have to disappoint you in this regard It is not without reason I also own the Trance E+: That's the proper off-road e-bike! No, the story behind is different.

Since I own too many e-bikes, I share them with my brother (at least for so-called "cycling season"). He "pays" me for the use with maintenance of the bikes and making improvements to them. Our grand plan to finish his cycling season is this (coming) Sunday trip:

Jacek will ride my Trance, while I'm riding the Vado. To avoid high quality roads and make the Trance ride a pleasure, I made the ride plan as above. The point is, Vado would "hate" such terrain with the stock road-oriented tyres. Hence, replacing them with Smart Sams. No need to get dirty: It is enough for me Vado could handle forest paths covered with a thin layer of the dreaded Mazovian sand... The nearby forest is of the same type and I will see how good the Smart Sam would be in such a terrain.

I need to add my third e-bike, the Lovelec is fitted with 42-622 Marathon E-Plus, and that one is good for paved and gravel roads (it handles the gravel surprisingly well). But those Marathons cannot ride through "loose over hard" at all.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Smart Sam 28 x 1.75" Vado Off-Road Test

Nothing to complain about, especially with the pressure of 3/3.5 bar (44/51 psi) Front/Rear. Smooth, smooth ride even over tree roots or gravel. No issue in some mud. Most importantly, I could cross sand patches without any trouble (could not do it on slick 2" tyres before). True, the terrain was not demanding, just regular forest paths and fire-roads.

It was cold as if it were the last (mild) Winter, 7-8 C (40s F). Here, on exiting the forest.

I've realised didn't show how the Smart Sams looked on the Vado.

 

[TS25]

Smart Sam 28 x 1.75" Vado Off-Road Test

Nothing to complain about, especially with the pressure of 3/3.5 bar (44/51 psi) Front/Rear. Smooth, smooth ride even over tree roots or gravel. No issue in some mud. Most importantly, I could cross sand patches without any trouble (could not do it on slick 2" tyres before). True, the terrain was not demanding, just regular forest paths and fire-roads.

You could/should lower the tire pressure even more for sandy conditions.

With my motorbike I reduce from 1.8 to 0.7 bar but it has "tire holders" so the tire can't slide on the rim.

Different story: I wanted my motorbike tires to be balanced and searched for professional maintance. Only one out of ten tire companies said it could do it for motorbikes but didn't have the right balancing weights at hands. Took them two days to have them sent from one shop to mine. They finally gave up after keeping the bike for 5 days and claimed it couldn't be done and wasn't usual/necessary at all for nobby tires. Complete bullshit.
So I searched for simple tools which were about 30€ and balanced the tires by myself in 1 hours time.
What a difference: far smoother run on blacktop roads.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

You could/should lower the tire pressure even more for sandy conditions.

I'm afraid of the "snake's bite" as we would also ride more normal roads... I intend to collect my Trance from brother soon as he cannot stand cold ride conditions anyway The minimum rated pressure on Smart Sam is 3 bar. (I got me nice "slimed" inner tubes from Decathlon; still, we are taking tyre levers, an MTB pump and spare tubes for the ride).

 

[TS25]

I'm afraid of the "snake's bite" as we would also ride more normal roads... ... The minimum rated pressure on Smart Sam is 3 bar. (I got me nice "slimed" inner tubes from Decathlon; still, we are taking tyre levers, an MTB pump and spare tubes for the ride).

If it's a longer sandy stretch lower the pressure to less than 3.0 bar when you get there and pump up for the rest of the tour.
Enjoy.

 

[AdminUC78]

Maybe a gravel ride or some easy single track MTB riding? If so, how did that go?

I have a 2022 Turbo Vado 4.0. I installed a Maxxis Minion DHF Maxx Terra EXO (it's a mouthful) 27.4 x 2.3 for my front tire, and a Maxxis Aggressor 27.5 x 2.3 EXO on the rear tire. It was hard getting the OE tires off, the bead refused to release but after some hot water and much pressure from my thumbs, I was able to remove the OE tires and install the much grippier Maxxis. I did the same with my wife's Turbo Como 2 years ago. Absolutely no issues with fender clearance. We ride alot of rough gravel double track as well as hilly rutted dusty California style fire roads: alot of short burst climbing, short but quick rutty downhills and some sweeping double track style "switchbacks". The Vado does just fine. The SRAM 11 speed is great for quick bursts burst up steep climbs and the 70nm of torque is just right. The Maxxis tires are like night and day when it comes to handling these types of trails and varied surfaces: we can power through deep gravel and small rocks with inspired confidence. I replaced the original suspension seatpost on my Vado with a Cane Creek Thudbuster ST and the stock 80mm travel Suntour Mobie works fine. Not as plush as my old Rock Shox and Fox air forks, but it takes enough off the stutter bumps and 2 inch ruts with ease. My wife's Turbo Como rides with a French built Baramind BAM City suspension handlebar and it weirdly enough works great on light trail chatter and bumps. Her Como also has the Thudbuster installed as well as the Maxxis tires, and the Como also does fine off road. I used to cross-country mountain bike somewhat extensively in the late 80's and 90's and I still once in a blue moon, rock my 1994 custom Klein Fervor and 1996 Klein Mantra Comp, which are presently considered "vintage". I am in my mid 60's now and remain relatively fit, but my single track x-country mountain bike days are way behind me. The Maxxis tires make my Vado 4.0 trail ready, at least for the types of trails I ride now and the fun and adventure once again can resume.