Known Issues & Problems with Specialized Products + Help, Solutions & Fixes

Got my firmware update from my LBS today. The tech said I had quite a few before this one. I was never notified of the earlier ones in the 2 years and 3 months I've owned this VADO 3. How and where is one to know when an update is available? Is there somewhere I can check for updates? This was the only time my Mission Control notified me about this latest update. Posed this question to LBS tech, SHE didn't know!!
 
starbeem said:
Got my firmware update from my LBS today. The tech said I had quite a few before this one. I was never notified of the earlier ones in the 2 years and 3 months I've owned this VADO 3. How and where is one to know when an update is available? Is there somewhere I can check for updates? This was the only time my Mission Control notified me about this latest update. Posed this question to LBS tech, SHE didn't know!!
Click to expand...
I've gotten the notice in Mission Control. I'm not sure that there's any other way. Obviously, the bike shop would see it if they hooked up the bike to the computer. There does not appear to be any site where Specialized posts current versions and/or change logs.
 
Marcela said:
Okay here's what I did. Had the creaker thing going and it was annoying, getting louder anyway. There are three fasteners that hold the motor in. Mine were pretty much just hand tight when I checked them.

The plastic covers are.....just plastic covers. Decades ago they'd made them of metal. How many times can you remove and replace them. They're like throwaways. Should be a future in covers. I didn't remove the top cover but you can peel it back to get to the top bolt.

To work right the fasteners should be perpendicular to the pedaling motion, but they're not designed that way so it's a make do situation. The designers use serrations under the bolt head or nut to keep them from backing out. On aluminum that is not a good idea. The aluminum deforms of course and cannot hold the deformation so eventually the nuts will loosen. I would expect this creaking motor thing to be a continual bother. There was not any thread locker used. So I had some 7/16" AN washers that fit perfectly the nuts with shoulders and used them along with some blue thread locker, the stud uses a 3/8" washer. That should fix that and if it doesn't I'll report back. Test ride proved me correct. Couldn't tell if the studs were a press fit with no head or what was on the other side so used 10 ft. lbs. torque on the fastener.

And use plenty of zip ties on the wires, you don't want them moving and you don't want any sharp bends on those separate little wires where they exit the sheathing.

Also had the lbs change the tire circumference to 2180 in the quest for perfect distance. Checking on the measured mile was short about 20 ft one distance, the opposite direction showed perfect.

So I believe the Como was 2123, and the Vado is 2180 in my small world if you're looking for correct distance which should equate to correct mph.

Good luck and good will.
Click to expand...
You might want to get to your dealer to get your motor bolts properly torqued.
 
Marcela said:
Why is that?
Click to expand...
I'll elaborate.

My local LBS suggested 40 Nm which is about 29 ft. lbs, his is a Specialized dealership and he was familiar with the squeaking motor mounts.

A posting member on this forum sent a diagram from Specialized that was quite elaborate in it's torque sequence and specified 12 Nm for one bolt, 25 Nm for another, and the third was 20 Nm.

I had contact with a well known UK Brose rebuilder, he suggested 22.5 Nm for an aluminum frame, carbon being different. I inquired bout the fasteners and he said they were standard M8 bolts, though I did not inquire about the grade. The thread pitch appears to be coarse, so the values of torque for the lowest grade 8.8 bolt is 28.8 Nm.

You decide.
 
A new apparent failure on my 2016 Turbo Levo FSR. I'm on my third motor, which was installed in January, 2020 and has worked flawlessly. Have about 6000 miles on bike, so maybe 2000 miles on this motor. Rode today, and just at the end of a 25 mile ride, bike became hard to pedal, I downshifted to 3-4 times, still hard cranking on level ground. Battery still had 20% showing. I'm thinking it's another motor failure??

Harold
 
New (I think) question/request for help:
I have a Turbo Tero 5.0 and loved it for the first few weeks that I could ride then winter set in. However I have one problem. I use a phone mount/holder on my handlebars with an iPhone 12 Pro phone, and was powering the phone through the USB-C power port on the side of the Mastermind display. All was fine for the 8-10 rides. Then, without my making any changes, when I would plug the phone in to the cable connecting display and phone the phone would vibrate indicating that it was just connected to power but within a minute the power would cut off. I have tried several different cables from several different manufacturers, including an Apple-branded USB-C to Lightning cable and there is no continuous power. So, as I have tried an Apple branded cable I know the issue is not related to MiFi/certified issues, and because it powers the phone for a minute or so and then disconnects, even without the bike moving at all, I know it's not a connection issue.

Other than this issue, I LOVE this bike! I love having Komoot powered on while I ride but after 90 minutes or so my phone battery is pretty run down.

Any ideas?
 
I can see a similar phenomenon on my USB-equipped car radio. While the USB port can charge my cheaper smartphone, it stops charging my S21 Ultra shortly (even if that worked fine in the very beginning). I assume it is the fact your iPhone demands too high charging current. (If iPhone is closer to 100%, the demand for the charging current drops).
 
STL ebiker said:
New (I think) question/request for help:
I have a Turbo Tero 5.0 and loved it for the first few weeks that I could ride then winter set in. However I have one problem. I use a phone mount/holder on my handlebars with an iPhone 12 Pro phone, and was powering the phone through the USB-C power port on the side of the Mastermind display. All was fine for the 8-10 rides. Then, without my making any changes, when I would plug the phone in to the cable connecting display and phone the phone would vibrate indicating that it was just connected to power but within a minute the power would cut off. I have tried several different cables from several different manufacturers, including an Apple-branded USB-C to Lightning cable and there is no continuous power. So, as I have tried an Apple branded cable I know the issue is not related to MiFi/certified issues, and because it powers the phone for a minute or so and then disconnects, even without the bike moving at all, I know it's not a connection issue.

Other than this issue, I LOVE this bike! I love having Komoot powered on while I ride but after 90 minutes or so my phone battery is pretty run down.

Any ideas?
Click to expand...
And that phone charges fine on other chargers or only one specific charger? If you want, there are usb tester/adapters that can measure the power of that port. Or have you lbs check it out the next time you are in. You'd think that if they provided that port, they would output sufficient power for various devices.
 
Vado and Como (and possibly other models):

The leads in the charging receptacle are live. If you accidentally put something conductive in there, say for example a key, you will short the battery and damage the electronics. The battery will still hold a charge, but it will be unable to recharge. This has been mentioned in numerous threads:
2022 Thread
2021 Thread
2020 Thread

As of now, there is no documented fix for this short of battery replacement.
My recommendation is to be exceptionally careful with the charging port. Always replace the magnetic cover immediately after unplugging the battery and take care to avoid touching anything conductive to the exposed terminals.
 
Stefan Mikes said:
1 A is not very much nowadays.
Click to expand...
That was the diagnosis!

iPhone 12 (and I imagine most higher end phones today) requires 2 amps according to Apple’s website.

My LBS tried it with a Garmin unit and it worked, then with an iPhone 8 and it worked, but my iPhone 12 would not charge.

I found an inexpensive Moto Android in my basement that I had retired a few years ago that was not worth much so I kept it. And it charges fine. Was able to download Komoot, Apple Music, etc. ai believe I bout it for $49 new and that was 5 years ago, so no big deal if it somehow gets hit hard or stolen; no SIM, no important personal data. Just really disappointing that Specialized underpowered their port on an expensive bike I suspect that a software upgrade on a hardware port.
 
STL ebiker said:
That was the diagnosis!

iPhone 12 (and I imagine most higher end phones today) requires 2 amps according to Apple’s website.

My LBS tried it with a Garmin unit and it worked, then with an iPhone 8 and it worked, but my iPhone 12 would not charge.

I found an inexpensive Moto Android in my basement that I had retired a few years ago that was not worth much so I kept it. And it charges fine. Was able to download Komoot, Apple Music, etc. ai believe I bout it for $49 new and that was 5 years ago, so no big deal if it somehow gets hit hard or stolen; no SIM, no important personal data. Just really disappointing that Specialized underpowered their port on an expensive bike I suspect that a software upgrade on a hardware port.
Click to expand...
I can only tell you my car radio (with Bluetooth) broke because I was trying to charge my Samsung S21 from the radio's USB socket.
 
Hello Guys,
I am new here. I bought second-hand Specialized Turbo Vado 2.0 with old BLOKS. non touchable display. The engine worked good but one day it's stopped. The bike was rided about 1500km. I can turn on the battery, display shows up. I downloaded Mission Complete app, turnet Bluettoth on my phone, connected to the bike. Display didin't showing nothing, but when I am opening mission complete app it not founding my bike.
Where is the problem?
 
kitojplanetoj said:
Hello Guys,
I am new here. I bought second-hand Specialized Turbo Vado 2.0 with old BLOKS. non touchable display. The engine worked good but one day it's stopped. The bike was rided about 1500km. I can turn on the battery, display shows up. I downloaded Mission Complete app, turnet Bluettoth on my phone, connected to the bike. Display didin't showing nothing, but when I am opening mission complete app it not founding my bike.
Where is the problem?
Click to expand...
A flat button battery in the display? There is a tiny screw at the base of the display. Please unscrew it, then the BLOKS can be rotated to remove it. Replace the button battery.

Also, there is a tiny silver point at the base of the BLOKS. Press the point with a ball-pen or the smallest Allen key (that will reset the display). If the display battery is good, resetting the BLOKS will help. You even do not need to replace the small screw as you might need to reset the BLOKS for many times later...

Many BLOKS e-bikes will not work with the inoperable display (flat battery or BLOKS that hung-up).

P.S. BLOKS does not work with Mission Control.
 
Last edited:
kitojplanetoj said:
With BLOKS. battery is everything alright. I checked it and rested display but I still can't find my bike on Mission Complete and Engine is not working.
Click to expand...
Please do the BLOKS reset. I had this problem very early on my BLOKS Vado. You have to unscrew the locking screw, remove the display, locate the small silver point at the bottom of BLOKS and long-depress it with a small tool. That will reset the BLOKS.

Trust me, I was resetting the BLOKS for many times during 7 months I had to use that display. Eventually, Specialized replaced the BLOKS with TCD-w.

And BLOKS has never worked with Mission Control.
 
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