Stefan Mikes
Gravel e-biker
- Region
- Europe
- City
- Mazovia, PL
As a person living in a flatland (with occasional rolling hills), I was quite happy with the 2020 setup of my Vado 5.0/6.0, which was a 48T chainring and 11-42T cassette. On a rare road mountain trip, I was met with a difficulty: I could hardly climb a 14% grade incline, which was relatively short. Now, confronted with numerous mountain road trips (and sometimes off-road ones), I had to rethink the gearing (and other aspects) of my full power e-bike.
The major change I made to my Vado was to replace the existing chainring with Shimano STEPS SM-CRE80/SM-CRE80-B one, a 38T chainring. I used steel MTB chainring bolts because I was afraid aluminium bolts could be too delicate. By that occasion, I learned you never use a torque wrench to tighten the chainring bolts: you do this by feeling, tightening the screws for several times until they got properly seated. Additionally, I used a Loctite Blue equivalent threadlocker.
Before the chainring replacement, I swapped the 11-42T cassette for the 11-46T 11-speed one (which was the original specification of my Vado). Effectively, the 38-46T granny gear produced the gearing of approximately 23 gear-inches, which was close to the proper MTB gearing. The gearing change also meant dropping many links in the existing (new) chain.
To ensure good traction, I reduced tyre pressure to 3 bar (44 psi), which was the rated minimum inflation for the Smart Sam 47-622 tyres.
The thing I overlooked (and it could cost me dear life) was tightening the stem bolts. Good I noticed handlebars having had turned slightly on a fast downhill ride, and I could fix it before any disaster happened.
I had also thoroughly inspected the TRP Zurich 4-piston hydraulic brakes prior to the trip. The total thickness of the front brake pad (metal and the pad itself) was 3.5 mm (Tektro says you should replace the pads at 2.5 mm). The brakes were totally quiet on steep descents and the braking was excellent.
Conclusions:
It is interesting too see the motor was not working at all during approximately 10-km-long steep descent.
The steepest ascent calculated on the route was 19.5% (not 18.9) but that was very short. While the total climb there was 8 km, with average grade of 5%.
I'm so happy with the mod I made to my Vado that I might want to keep that setup for the future. Anyway, I'm not going back to the 48T ring. A 42T or 44T would do.
The major change I made to my Vado was to replace the existing chainring with Shimano STEPS SM-CRE80/SM-CRE80-B one, a 38T chainring. I used steel MTB chainring bolts because I was afraid aluminium bolts could be too delicate. By that occasion, I learned you never use a torque wrench to tighten the chainring bolts: you do this by feeling, tightening the screws for several times until they got properly seated. Additionally, I used a Loctite Blue equivalent threadlocker.
Before the chainring replacement, I swapped the 11-42T cassette for the 11-46T 11-speed one (which was the original specification of my Vado). Effectively, the 38-46T granny gear produced the gearing of approximately 23 gear-inches, which was close to the proper MTB gearing. The gearing change also meant dropping many links in the existing (new) chain.
To ensure good traction, I reduced tyre pressure to 3 bar (44 psi), which was the rated minimum inflation for the Smart Sam 47-622 tyres.
The thing I overlooked (and it could cost me dear life) was tightening the stem bolts. Good I noticed handlebars having had turned slightly on a fast downhill ride, and I could fix it before any disaster happened.
I had also thoroughly inspected the TRP Zurich 4-piston hydraulic brakes prior to the trip. The total thickness of the front brake pad (metal and the pad itself) was 3.5 mm (Tektro says you should replace the pads at 2.5 mm). The brakes were totally quiet on steep descents and the braking was excellent.
Conclusions:
- The e-bike has got enormous acceleration capability. Start in the middle gears, and my Vado can accelerate as a rocket;
- The practical cruising speed on the flat dropped to some 32 km/h at cadence of 80 rpm;
- There was no incline the e-bike could not handle: was it a 19.5% road climb or 17% off-road ascent; and I could still breathe and speak;
- On downhill rides, I could pedal up to 38 km/h at cadence of 80-85; above that speed, pedalling was not necessary.
It is interesting too see the motor was not working at all during approximately 10-km-long steep descent.
The steepest ascent calculated on the route was 19.5% (not 18.9) but that was very short. While the total climb there was 8 km, with average grade of 5%.
I'm so happy with the mod I made to my Vado that I might want to keep that setup for the future. Anyway, I'm not going back to the 48T ring. A 42T or 44T would do.
Last edited:
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You can see how slowly you climb despite of vigorous pedalling, and say, you need to continue the climb for 30 minutes...
