Is the Vado SL Freehub noisy?

[rochrunner]

A couple of people who have ridden beside me -- including my wife -- have commented on how noisy the freehub ratchet is when I'm coasting on my Vado 4.0. It's almost made me hesitant to ride with a group in case I'd be annoying the other riders. On my other bikes as well as on my wife's Trek Verve+ it is virtually silent.

Do you find that the Vado SL makes a similar fairly loud clicking noise when coasting?

 

[Allan47.7339]

I don't think mine is any more noisy than average. There are some hub brands that are louder than others and I've ridden with people where you notice at first as unusual but not annoying. It makes it harder to sneak up on people on the MUP. Cats, rabbits and squirrels will hear you coming. Just keep peddaling, never coast.

 

[rochrunner]

I don't think mine is any more noisy than average. There are some hub brands that are louder than others and I've ridden with people where you notice at first as unusual but not annoying. It makes it harder to sneak up on people on the MUP. Cats, rabbits and squirrels will hear you coming. Just keep peddaling, never coast.

Yeah, I had a set of Mavic wheels on one of my road bikes that was pretty noticeable, then a set of custom wheels with totally silent hubs. I suspect that the mechanism on hubs intended for e-bikes are a bit more robust since there tends to be more jerking during shifts and generally higher loads.

 

[Ebiker53]

A couple of people who have ridden beside me -- including my wife -- have commented on how noisy the freehub ratchet is when I'm coasting on my Vado 4.0. It's almost made me hesitant to ride with a group in case I'd be annoying the other riders. On my other bikes as well as on my wife's Trek Verve+ it is virtually silent.

Do you find that the Vado SL makes a similar fairly loud clicking noise when coasting?

I noticed the same thing when we got our Como's 3 years ago.I'm used to it now but it does seem odd that it has to be that noisy.

 

[BEC111]

A couple of people who have ridden beside me -- including my wife -- have commented on how noisy the freehub ratchet is when I'm coasting on my Vado 4.0. It's almost made me hesitant to ride with a group in case I'd be annoying the other riders. On my other bikes as well as on my wife's Trek Verve+ it is virtually silent.

Do you find that the Vado SL makes a similar fairly loud clicking noise when coasting?

It is a bit noisy, but I sort of like it. Especially when I’m coming up upon a group of slow walkers with headphones. Between the coasting noise, my bell and me shouting, “on your left!” they have one more warning to ignore.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Just fancy how quiet Specialized e-bikes are if the freewheel whirr is the only noise heard on the ride

 

[Art Deco]

Just fancy how quiet Specialized e-bikes are if the freewheel whirr is the only noise heard on the ride

Famous ad for a 1950s Rolls Royce ? " ... at 60 mph the loudest sound you hear is the ticking of the clock ..."

 

[TS25]

... In sort of like it. Especially when I’m coming up upon a group of slow walkers ...

I really like the coasting sound and use it on purpose when I'm running up on pedestrians in front of me.
Or in the woods so the wild German bears and boars stay away from me .

 

[aage]

A couple of people who have ridden beside me -- including my wife -- have commented on how noisy the freehub ratchet is when I'm coasting on my Vado 4.0. It's almost made me hesitant to ride with a group in case I'd be annoying the other riders. On my other bikes as well as on my wife's Trek Verve+ it is virtually silent.

Do you find that the Vado SL makes a similar fairly loud clicking noise when coasting?

Turbo Vado 5 SL here. I find it very smooth and quiet. About the same as my Turbo Vado 3, but the motor has a little bit of whine , dont bother me , I´m 60 years old and probably not as good hearing as some younger guy ;-).

 

[Steve Brown]

Hi, I’m new here and it’s really interesting to read all your experiences.

My wife and I bought new Turbo Vado SLs back in April. Stocks were short, so I ended up with the 5EQ, and my wife the 4EQ. The dealer (Certini in Plymouth UK - highly recommended) did a deal with my wife to upgrade the rear cassette to an 11-51, which satisfied her requirement that she wanted to be able to get home from anywhere if the motor and new fangled electrics failed.

They are quite simply the best bikes we’ve ever had. They should be at the price, especially as we’ve never paid more than £5-600 for a bike before! I’m 67, and my wife 65. I have arthritis, or something which feels like it, in my hands, and I love the future shock front suspension. My wife loves the upgraded cassette, which gives her an easier bottom gear, and which she feels means that she is likely to turn on the power at around the same time as I do.

To me, the bike just seems to fly. Mostly we ride without power until we really need it, or just want to get home/up the hill, and the bikes are a delight to ride. We’re on holiday in Spain currently, and today did a 55km ride with 1,400m of climb in around 30.C (with a nice long lunch in the middle). When we got back to the house we still had 75% of the battery charge left, so we don’t expect too many range problems just yet.

We changed the standard tyres for Pirelli Cinturato gravel tyres on Certini’s suggestion, and they are brilliant on the tracks here in Spain, and on the muddy, narrow and hilly lanes of South Devon, where we live in the UK.

Gripes? Not many. I’ve read a number of comments on the lights, and can’t understand (a) why you can’t turn them off, and (b) why you can’t turn them on to a flashing mode. They seem to use quite a lot more power than they would if they could be set to flashing mode, which would be great with the short lines of sight we have in our narrow, winding lanes in Devon, which nearly always also have high hedge banks on both sides.

I also am too dim to understand what the various settings actually mean. When they talk of 35% support for example, what is the 35% measured against? Is it maximum battery/motor output, or your own output as measured by the system? Reviews I have read, which contradict each other, also seem quite confused. I should say here that I’m a bean counter by trade, and temperamentally unsuited to talk of watts, volts and amps.

Anyway, that’s my first post. Hope it’s not too boring, or totally uninformative!

The photo attached is a view of La Maroma, the highest mountain in our current area, at just of 2,000 metres, taken from our lunchtime restaurant. It’s a fantastic area for cycling.

PS yes the free hub is noisy!

 

[Art Deco]

Welcome to EBR. And thanks for your story.

 

[Art Deco]

A thread worth the following for questions and stories (some even true)
https://electricbikereview.com/forums/threads/specialized-turbo-vado-como-user-club.31893/
You are invited.

 

[Marci jo]

It is a bit noisy, but I sort of like it. Especially when I’m coming up upon a group of slow walkers with headphones. Between the coasting noise, my bell and me shouting, “on your left!” they have one more warning to ignore.

Same here, BEC111.
I prefer the ratchet sound of the rear hub to the sound of the Vado horn. That horn is the most obnoxious sound ever coming from a bike!

 

[rochrunner]

Great post and welcome. There is a detailed explanation of the tuning settings in an older thread in here somewhere. Maybe @Stefan Mikes will check in and direct you to it.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

I also am too dim to understand what the various settings actually mean. When they talk of 35% support for example, what is the 35% measured against? Is it maximum battery/motor output, or your own output as measured by the system? Reviews I have read, which contradict each other, also seem quite confused. I should say here that I’m a bean counter by trade, and temperamentally unsuited to talk of watts, volts and amps.

Yes I can answer your question, Steve. The short answer is: Assistance % is to determine how much the rider's leg power is to be amplified while Max Motor Power % is how much power the motor is actually allowed to deliver.

The long answer is:
The maximum amplification of your leg power for the SL 1.1 motor is 1.8x. That is, 100% Turbo means that if you can input, say, 80 W with your legs into the crank, the motor will assist you with 80 * 1.8 = 144 W of power. The more you give yourself the more the SL e-bike can assist you.

Fit, healthy, strong riders can provide far much leg power than a weak person can. So what actually does "35% ECO assistance" mean? It means you take 35% of 1.8x amplification, or 0.35 * 1.8 to get 0.63x amplification factor. Now, there comes a guy who can provide 200 W with his legs. In 35% ECO, the motor would assist him with 200 * 0.63 = 126 Watts.
------------
There is another parameter in Mission Control: Max Motor Power %. That is simply the % of maximum motor power of 240 W that e-bike is allowed to use (100% means the power ceiling for the motor is 240 W). Now, if ECO is set (for instance) to 35% Max Motor Power, the motor will be maxed out at 0.35 * 240 = 84 W. Even very strong rider won't be able to get the motor assistance of more than 84 W disregarding of how strong the pedalling would be.

Let's take the 200 W strong guy from the example above: The 35% Assistance means he demands getting assisted with 126 W but he will only get 84 W because of the power ceiling set by Max Motor Power %.

I hope that my explanation is understandable.

 

[Steve Brown]

Stefan, thank you very much. I’ve already read so many of your posts that it feels like I know you!
Your explanation is really good, though it’ll still take me some time to work it all out in terms of how I use the system.
My first reaction is that I, probably better just leaving the bike on factory settings, on the grounds that “Specialized knows best”. I’ve done that for mine, after changing it around experimentally a few times.
My wife feels that she is better off with a slightly lower Eco setting, as the default gives her too much push when she turns it on, and leaves her feeling a bit flat when she turns it off. That sort of makes sense to me too; she has the 4.0, due to stock shortages, and opted to change the standard cassette for an 11-51 range, instead of the standard 11-42.
Thanks again.
Steve

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Steve, the beauty of the Specialized system is you can play with the settings without any danger of upsetting the bike. I often ride with 20/20 Eco with slow traditional cyclists, 35/35 gives me pretty good battery range but I need to use 60/60 Sport to match athletic riders I always keep 100/100 Turbo for emergency.

P.S. Keeping the same Assistance % as Max Motor Power % is wise. Interesting setting, however, could be 20/100 that allows you riding slowly when necessary but accelerating very quickly with sudden energetic pedalling!

 

[kahn]

Stefan, thank you very much. I’ve already read so many of your posts that it feels like I know you!
Your explanation is really good, though it’ll still take me some time to work it all out in terms of how I use the system.
My first reaction is that I, probably better just leaving the bike on factory settings, on the grounds that “Specialized knows best”. I’ve done that for mine, after changing it around experimentally a few times.
My wife feels that she is better off with a slightly lower Eco setting, as the default gives her too much push when she turns it on, and leaves her feeling a bit flat when she turns it off. That sort of makes sense to me too; she has the 4.0, due to stock shortages, and opted to change the standard cassette for an 11-51 range, instead of the standard 11-42.
Thanks again.
Steve

How is that working out? Steps between gears not too abrupt? I've also seen folks changing the front gear to a slightly smaller tooth count. I would not mind easing some of our steeper pitches with a lower gear.

 

[Steve Brown]

Hi - Sue my wife really likes it. At 45:51 the gearing is a good bit easier (44:42 I think is standard) though there is a price to pay if you like closely spaced gears. We just like to get to the top, and couldn’t care less that, if we went any slower, we could probably actually watch the plants growing.
Chain wear may be an issue with the big changes - Sue’s chain has already been replaced, though that was a bit precautionary as we are away for a whole month of cycling.
Well we were - Sue was knocked off her bike on Monday by a guy in a parked car suddenly opening his door as she went past. Maybe, just maybe, if the lights had a flashing mode like the ones we use on our normal bikes, he would have seen her? Could/should this be the subject of a new thread, do you think?

 

[Steve Brown]

How is that working out? Steps between gears not to abrupt? I've also seen folks changing the front gear to a slightly smaller tooth count. I would not mind easing some of our steeper pitches with a lower gear.

PS I probably have a bit more to say on the gears topic, and about transitioning between conventional bikes and e-bikes, but would risk going miles away from the original topic of the thread. Would someone please advise me on when/whether to start a new thread?