Playing with Mission Control makes it feel like a new bike

[Mr. Max]

I've said a bunch on this forum that since the pandemic hit I try to ride my Vado 4, 15-35 miles every day. Fitness, stress relief and seeing the world outside of my work at home computer screen are my primary goals, so most days I ride about 25% of the ride at zero pedal assist, 60% of the ride at 15% assist and the rest of the ride at 30% assist. Between now and the end of March when I bought the Vado is a lot of bike riding days. I'll be honest. I'm starting to get a little bored. Lately I've been shaking things up by randomly changing the assist levels through Mission Control. Like today, I reset the bike to the Specialized pre-set assist levels just for fun. Every time I do that adjustment, it's like getting a new bike. It's so much fun!

Mission Control is like having the option to to change the front cogs and rear cassette whenever you want.

Is anyone else doing that just for fun, to play around and shake your regular rides up?

I'm sure there is, but off the top of my head, I can't think of another brand of ebike with a similar app to Mission Control.

We're all doing what we gotta do to keep on keeping on, stay alive and outlive this Covid mess. Stay safe! Ride on!

 

[Marci jo]

I've said a bunch on this forum that since the pandemic hit I try to ride my Vado 4, 15-35 miles every day. Fitness, stress relief and seeing the world outside of my work at home computer screen are my primary goals, so most days I ride about 25% of the ride at zero pedal assist, 60% of the ride at 15% assist and the rest of the ride at 30% assist. Between now and the end of March when I bought the Vado is a lot of bike riding days. I'll be honest. I'm starting to get a little bored. Lately I've been shaking things up by randomly changing the assist levels through Mission Control. Like today, I reset the bike to the Specialized pre-set assist levels just for fun. Every time I do that adjustment, it's like getting a new bike. It's so much fun!

Mission Control is like having the option to to change the front cogs and rear cassette whenever you want.

Is anyone else doing that just for fun, to play around and shake your regular rides up?

I'm sure there is, but off the top of my head, I can't think of another brand of ebike with a similar app to Mission Control.

We're all doing what we gotta do to keep on keeping on, stay alive and outlive this Covid mess. Stay safe! Ride on!

Congrats on all your "new bikes". What fun.
I myself am a torque and adrenaline junkie and quite often turn the bike on turbo. This summer is my hill summer so I deliberately seek out routes with multiple rolling hills. It's even more fun if there's a headwind. Love the feel of the smooth motor and torque flying up the hills.
Many more rides to you!!

 

[RobEich]

I use the BLEvo app. It’s like Mission Control on steroids. You are able to adjust the assist on the fly. Also it has a “Smart Power” mode. With this you tell the app how much rider power (in watts) it should allow. If your power is too low it’ll back off the assist % automatically and if the rider power is too high it’ll add assist %.

It also has “Smart Heart Rate” mode. With an inexpensive chest HR monitor you can set your desired HR in the app and BLEvo will auto adjust the assist % up or down to have you stay within your heart rate zone.

If you want you can combine the two Smart modes. I’m having fun playing around with this.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

I use Mission Control intensely for my rides. Since my legs need a solid support, it is often:
Eco --> "Fortified Eco" 40/40
Sport --> "Steroid Sport" 60/60
Turbo 100/100.

When I am on a long ride with two batteries, I often increase the support significantly en route, for example Sport 70/100 (giving 34 mile range on the flat).

What I have, however, found is the possibility of making a single setting which is very flexible: 50/100. Meaning, the motor supports my own torque/power with 0.50 * 320% (the figure is for the 1.2s motor) = 160% (me * 1.60). With 100 W user input, the motor will respond with 160 W assistance. With 200 W cycling power at the cranks, the motor will assist with 320 Watts.

With the x/100 setting, you don't limit the motor's peak power. Meaning: If you give a lot yourself then the motor can support you up to 520 W. If you, however, reduce the Max Motor Power to 50% (like x/50 setting), the motor wouldn't ever give you more than 0.5 * 520 = 260 W regardless how much the "x" is and how strong you can pedal. (For example, your input could be 100 W, "x" = 100%, actual support 3.2x should give 320 W but the motor only can give 260 W).

Reducing Max Motor Power is important for long range in case your legs are strong because the motor would give you tons of unwanted support otherwise.
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I have tried the BLEvo. The app seems to be overly complicated to me. It is targeted at Levo riders, and it also can help getting correct ride data in the case a Class 1 bike has been derestricted with Planet3.

It also has “Smart Heart Rate” mode. With an inexpensive chest HR monitor you can set your desired HR in the app and BLEvo will auto adjust the assist % up or down to have you stay within your heart rate zone.

Rob, you might learn Mission Control has exactly the same capability in SmartControl mode

I'm sure there is, but off the top of my head, I can't think of another brand of ebike with a similar app to Mission Control.

Neither can I.

 

[RobEich]

@Stefan Mikes Unless I'm mistaken, SmartControl will provide assist to ensure you have a predetermined remaining battery charge after a predetermined distance.

BLEvo Smart HR will use your heart rate to determine what assist to provide. This and BLEvo Smart Power are good for fitness training.

When using the "regular" assist modes of the bike I can go on a long ride and feel like I had a comfortable cruise. When I use any of the BLEvo Smart Modes I can ride the same distance and feel like I had a workout. I switch between them depending on what I would like to achieve on the ride - am I going to the office and don't want to arrive huffing & puffing and all sweaty, or am I doing an evening workout ride.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

@Stefan Mikes Unless I'm mistaken, SmartControl will provide assist to ensure you have a predetermined remaining battery charge after a predetermined distance.

Not.

Smart Control options:

• Assist to meet desired distance
• Assist to meet desired riding time
• Assist to maintain desired heart rate

That MC is a very good app nowadays.

 

[Ike582]

Not.

Smart Control options:

• Assist to meet desired distance
• Assist to meet desired riding time
• Assist to maintain desired heart rate

That MC is a very good app nowadays.

Stefan, do you know if anyone has been able to get Mission Control working on the older 2018 Turbo Levo bikes?

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Stefan, do you know if anyone has been able to get Mission Control working on the older 2018 Turbo Levo bikes?

I'm afraid that's not possible. According to my best knowledge (but I could be wrong!) the Levo has had the TCU since 2019. Only the TCU Levos can work with MC. To verify my information, I would have to re-watch some Electric Mountain Bike Network videos on YT and cannot do it right now. Try to find the EMBN vid with the title like "2019 Turbo Levo". If they mention the new thing is the TCU that would mean my info is correct.

(I can only tell you I was sick before Specialized upgraded my Vado with electronics making me able to use the MC).

@Brendon@TBSM, is it possible to upgrade the 2018 Levo with the TCU?

 

[RobEich]

Not.

Smart Control options:

• Assist to meet desired distance
• Assist to meet desired riding time
• Assist to maintain desired heart rate

That MC is a very good app nowadays.

Thanks for that. I have not looked at MC for a while. Are these options recent?

I’ll try the HR option and compare it to BLEvo.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Thanks for that. I have not looked at MC for a while. Are these options recent?

I’ll try the HR option and compare it to BLEvo.

Yes, they have to be recent. (I can only use the MC since May this year).

 

[Mr. Max]

So many new things to try! Like I said, each power assist adjustment makes it feel like a new bike.

I'll be honest, I've stayed away from 100% Turbo like it's really tasty candy that's not good for me. Mainly because Turbo sucks up so much battery power so fast, but I am missing out on some excellent bike fun. I'm going to try Marci Jo's way and go for a 10 mile Turbo ride and embrace the power and Joy.

I've also never tried the Mission Control - Smart Control. I'm going to do that on today's ride. Yesterday I went for a 35 mile ride. Today I'm going to do that exact same ride with Smart Control and see how that goes.

Finally, BLEvo. Maybe I'll try that too? Here's a great video about that app on a Kenevo.

I love how he bought a cheap smart phone as a monitor. Really smart idea!

There are a huge number of excellent e-mountain bike videos. I'm kind of obsessed about watching those these days. This morning I watched one by Electric Mountain Bike Network that had 14 things to never do on an e-mountain bike. All of them would be good to not do with a road e-bike too. Like never wash your bike turned upside down. The water goes in the drain hole under the crank and fills the frame/battery/motor cavity with water.

I'm off for a ride. Thanks folks!

 

[Marci jo]

Mr. Max,
Ha! You're gonna love it. Careful, it can be addicting.
Actually I ride primarily in Sport, saving Turbo for hills and the last 6-8 miles for the run home. So using those modes I estimate a 50-55 mile range.
Please post your experiences.

 

[Mr. Max]

Yesterday, I rode for 35 miles with Mission Control - Smart Control. I probably should have read instructions as it only sort of worked. I wasn't sure about all the settings, so I just set it for 35 miles distance and to end up with 20% battery. I got to 33.5 miles when I reached 20% battery, so it didn't last the whole way. It kind of felt like an automatic transmission that was out of sync. When I road up a steep hill, it didn't kick in more power and then when I was on flat terrain sometimes it would bump up the assist way up. It wasn't horrible or anything, it wasn't as smooth as I thought it would be.

For me battery range is a big deal. There's no way that I could do what Marci Jo does and go 50-55 miles on full Sport & Turbo. I can only accomplish that distance if I cut the power assist way down. Probably that has to do with weight. That's one thing they talk a lot about on the Electric Mountain Bike Network is that if you have two riders with equal fitness and the same model ebike. One is 100 pounds and the other is 200 pounds. The 100 pound rider will go faster and have a longer battery range on an ebike.

Today, I'm going to see how far 50/100 Sport Mode will take me.

Happy Saturday!

 

[Marci jo]

For me battery range is a big deal. There's no way that I could do what Marci Jo does and go 50-55 miles on full Sport & Turbo. I can only accomplish that distance if I cut the power assist way down. Probably that has to do with weight. That's one thing they talk a lot about on the Electric Mountain Bike Network is that if you have two riders with equal fitness and the same model ebike. One is 100 pounds and the other is 200 pounds. The 100 pound rider will go faster and have a longer battery range on an ebike.

Happy Saturday!

Wow, range has such huge amount of variables.
The range I mentioned is an estimate. Never really completely tested it.

This is my summer of hilly rides. I try for around 30 miles of rolling hills, including roughly 8-10 miles flat.

Variables to consider:
-Hills Your hills may be way bigger than our little bumps here in the Upper Midwest
-Weight On a good day I'm around #135.
-Modes Riding with less the 10% Eco (mostly on the trail to slow down my speed); 50% Sport; 40% Turbo

Last few rides of around 30 miles I have roughly 35% battery remaining, so I'm guessing a range on those modes of around 50 miles.

Side note: I have not converted from the original Bloks display. It's been working just fine and with over 3000 miles (4800 km) I have no plans to change it. Yes, all the cool features of Mission Control would be fun to this tech geek but I saw a YouTube video of the "operation." OMG, it was like a heart, double lung, and liver transplant all in one. I totally freaked out and will not be doing that to my much loved Vado.
"If it ain't broke, don't fix it!"

Keep playing with the Mission Control and please post your results.

 

[rochrunner]

I gave up on BLevo because it just didn't seem to work right on my 2020 Vado 4.0. As someone pointed out, it isn't designed for Vados and there are some differences vs the Levo line.

 

[RobEich]

I gave up on BLevo because it just didn't seem to work right on my 2020 Vado 4.0. As someone pointed out, it isn't designed for Vados and there are some differences vs the Levo line.

What about it did not work?

I have a 2020 Vado 4.0 as well. The issue I had was that it wrongly reported the battery capacity. It think it saw it as a 400wh battery instead of 500wh. I reported this to BLEvo and they released a new version that has fixed this.

 

[GuruUno]

I did a 36 mile run this morning all in Eco mode and returned at 47% capacity remaining.
I'm attempting to gauge the limits of my max mileage so I can plan longer rides.
This was all in the standard OEM out of the box Mission Control settings, no tweaks or mods.
I'll try the Smart Control tomorrow, as I'm doing a 21 mile run and will attempt to understand it's use.
Do I just plug in my anticipated mileage to do or time and the autopilot kicks in?

 

[rochrunner]

What about it did not work?

I have a 2020 Vado 4.0 as well. The issue I had was that it wrongly reported the battery capacity. It think it saw it as a 400wh battery instead of 500wh. I reported this to BLEvo and they released a new version that has fixed this.

This was one of the issues I saw so maybe he's fixed more than that and I'll have to give it a try. But mainly it seemed to not set the parameters correctly. After setting them with BLEvo I'd run MC and find that the values it showed (which should definitely be accurate) were really messed up compared with where I had set them.

So I'll try it again. I never tried any of the "smart mode" features since I basically didn't trust what it was doing. I also don't see the need at this time to have variable power and am content for now to keep the boost at a very low assist level and then use the higher modes when I feel the need. No need to maximize range either at this time, especially since my current settings give me more range than I'm likely to need.

 

[kattanm]

So after a ride, how can I tell how much of the ride I spent with assist off vs. in each of the 3 modes? For one thing, I'm only using my Garmin and not running any apps on my phone when I ride. Was hoping this information was easily accessible in the Garmin .fit activity file afterwards...?

 

[rochrunner]

So after a ride, how can I tell how much of the ride I spent with assist off vs. in each of the 3 mode For one thing, I'm only using my Garmin and not running any apps on my phone when I ride. Was hoping this information was easily accessible in the Garmin .fit activity file afterwards...?

I don't believe that the Garmin connects to your bike in such a way that it can get at that data, plus there's no accommodation for recording e-bike-specific data. My Vado uses ANT+ to broadcast cadence, speed, and rider power that my Garmin taps into, but that's about it.

BLEvo and Mission Control will give you that data, but it's not saved in your activity file or uploaded to Strava AFAIK.