Specialized Creo (all models) - Longest Rides/Biggest Climbs

Love looking at all the data. I've had my Creo only about 3 weeks and 200 miles. Longest ride was 43mi. I also did one 31mi with 3000ft, most of which was in one 4.5 mile stretch. I could NOT have gotten up that hill without the assist.

I'm still in the mode of "becoming one" with my bike. Lol. Just enjoying the fact that it's an absolute blast to ride! I'll get around to the data analysis another time.
 
New to the forum. Has anyone actually done a ride with over 10,000 feet of climbing on a Turbo Creo? Thinking of doing two rides in North Georgia - one called Bald Bearhoti 62 miles with 10,753 feet climbing and the other called North Georgia Pinnacle 77 miles with 10,564 climbing. Thanks in advance for any replies (I do have a battery extender).
 
With an ebike and especially a light one like the Creo the question is not "How much miles or feet are possible with the battery?" but "How much support can be used to reach a certain goal and is the resulting support still enough/noticable compared to a bike without motor?".
As written before in this thread my longest Creo trip so far had about 6500 feet climbing and needed about 285 Wh in mostly level1 at 25% (and a motor limited to 25km/h). So with a range extender not squeezing the last drop out of both packs 10.000 feet would have been possible. But my motor support was still quite high. Not that it felt high for me, I would have liked to use more. But I was able to ride the whole day in a group with some guys two(!) classes fitter and lighter then me. Even with half of this support I would have had a noticable help that day. So with range extender even 20.000 feet is possible and you still get some help. Even more feet for light riders.
We already did a rough calculation somewhere here, that you need maybe around 4-5% support to equal the extra weight of the SL drive. So everything above this support already will make you ride faster or with less effort then on a normal bike. That would mean maybe 40.000 feet of climbing with range extender. But you won't really feel or enjoy 6% support with the SL drive, you need at least maybe 10-15%. So the already mentioned 20.000 feet with range extender...

Short answer: Yes, 10.000 feet is possible even without range extender.
 
Thanks I really appreciate the reply. Once I complete those rides I’ll post the results.
i agree with all the above; but it is going to depend entirely on your own contribution!

i typically use around 1.5wh per 50 feet climbed on a hard ride, not using the motor at all until the climb is fairly steep. i haven’t done more than 6,000 feet in a ride, but also haven’t used more than half the battery.

the way i’d look at the plan for a ride like this is as follows:

a 6% grade for 31.5 miles is 10,000 feet. it takes 240w for a rider my size to do that climb in around 4 hours (7.5 ish MPH). we know the battery contribution is limited to around 270wh (the motor isn’t 100% efficient and you can’t run it all the way to 0) so you don’t want to be drawing more than 65watts for those 4 hours. (65x4 = 260). that means you need to supply 175 wattts. you are doing 62% of the work (175/240), the bike is doing 38% (65/240). VERY IMPORTANT to note that the creo’s assist setting provides double the percentage listed, so the setting to achieve that amount of assist it 20%, not 40%. if i was riding that far i’d also cap the total assist at 25%, because otherwise if you ride really strong out the gate the bike will also expend more of the battery, and while it’ll be for less time, it’s less efficient to go fast.

long story short, this will be a tough ride without a range extender. don’t use the motor except when climbing, set the assist to something like 20/25, and use mission control to keep an eye on the motor output during your steady climbs.

and definitely let us know how it goes!!
 
Thanks for the reply. The two rides I'm looking at doing come to 10,000 feet of climbing differently one with sustained climbs and the other with mtn bike-type rolling hills. I'll post them when I'm done.
 
No battery extender. I'm about 155 lbs and main additional weight is just the water bottle. Longest ride stats: 58 miles with 2,648 ft elevation. Avg Speed was 15.6mi/h. Avg Power 149W.

I often do a different 56 mile route with less elevation and return home with about 10%-15% battery left.

soledad 2x.JPG
 
My longest is 62 miles on a paved trail , 1500 ft Climbing and 62% of battery consumed. I have gotten a bit stronger since this ride now averaging about 200 watts on my best days so I think I could do this with even less battery now. Vado SL 5.0. As you get a little stronger the range becomes a moot point. These are really fitness e-bikes.
 

Attachments

  • F8380B78-E450-48C5-8D32-CF4BB6495AE3.jpeg
    F8380B78-E450-48C5-8D32-CF4BB6495AE3.jpeg
    75.9 KB · Views: 165
  • A1F7F67C-EAB1-400D-9474-2CEDB3F2E4B0.jpeg
    A1F7F67C-EAB1-400D-9474-2CEDB3F2E4B0.jpeg
    193.3 KB · Views: 160
today i did 118 miles. other than a numb and aching left hand, feeling pretty ok.

i used 100wh on the dot, or just under a third of the battery. almost all at the climbs at the end, at which point i was lacking motivation to "do it myself."

i should add that although i didn't use too much of the battery, i could not have done the ride without it.

20211123-prlCenturyPlus.jpg
 
I think I could do 118mi with 8000ft, but all my batteries (internal one of the Creo and my "internal" one) would be very empty for quite a while...
I couldn't do it with only 100Wh in one day.
 
Great thread. These bikes are a bit out of my price range, but maybe in the future. It's really interesting to see what people are able to accomplish.

I've been working on building up my strength with a single speed belt drive ebike. Ride1UP roadster v2 only $1100 at a relatively lightweight 33 lbs, though with h20 bottle, suspension seatpost & tool bag weighed at 37 lbs... my experience here https://electricbikereview.com/forums/threads/1500-mile-review-of-roadster-v2-update-1.46186/

I'd really like to see if I rent a Specialized Turbo and see how well I can do. With my Ride1UP Roadster my max ride was 60 miles in PAS 1 (of 5) or off for flats/downhill with 95+% battery used, at about 14 mph average. With one of your bikes, seems like 100+ miles would not be a problem.

Thanks for all the interesting info and stats 😀
 
Great thread. These bikes are a bit out of my price range, but maybe in the future. It's really interesting to see what people are able to accomplish.

I've been working on building up my strength with a single speed belt drive ebike. Ride1UP roadster v2 only $1100 at a relatively lightweight 33 lbs, though with h20 bottle, suspension seatpost & tool bag weighed at 37 lbs... my experience here https://electricbikereview.com/forums/threads/1500-mile-review-of-roadster-v2-update-1.46186/

I'd really like to see if I rent a Specialized Turbo and see how well I can do. With my Ride1UP Roadster my max ride was 60 miles in PAS 1 (of 5) or off for flats/downhill with 95+% battery used, at about 14 mph average. With one of your bikes, seems like 100+ miles would not be a problem.

Thanks for all the interesting info and stats 😀
Well, from some limited research, there's a bike shop in Las Vegas that rents the Creo. Can't recall the name at the moment but I might be going down there in Jan so did some preliminary research.
 
Having trouble finding Creos or other high-end ebikes to rent. Seems like the pandemic is reducing LBS's that rent. Oh well :(
 
today i did 118 miles. other than a numb and aching left hand, feeling pretty ok.

i used 100wh on the dot, or just under a third of the battery. almost all at the climbs at the end, at which point i was lacking motivation to "do it myself."

i should add that although i didn't use too much of the battery, i could not have done the ride without it.

View attachment 107708
 
I recently went on a fairly long ride from the San Francisco bay area to New York. I rode with a group of firefighters and military veterans both active and retired for the 20th anniversary of 911. We left Aug. 1st and arrived in New York 40 days later on Sept. 9th. There were only 3 rest days the entire trip. Being that I was the oldest by a large margin at 72, I bought a Creo Evo to help get me there without braking this old body. My goal was to try and average 50 miles a day and ride every other day. Our daily average was going to be close to 90 miles a day. I approached this ride realistically knowing my limitations.

When I crossed the Brooklyn Bridge on Sept. 9th, I had biked 2,310 miles. I rode 28 out of the 37 days which averaged out 82.5 miles a day. As for total elevation I haven't taken the time to figure that out yet. As for data on battery usage, forget about it, I didn't bother. After 8 hours in the saddle that was the last thing on my list of priorities.

I was the only rider on an ebike so I was taking a lot of crap but all in fun. Even though most of the time I was riding without assist and staying with the group. The road remotes made it very easy to get support with just a tap and turn off. I had purchased a range extender for the big climbs all of which were in the first two weeks. As it turned out I only carried it when we climbed the Teton Pass which was the longest steepest climb of the ride. We had about 20 miles with an average of about 10% with some 20% grades thrown to make you cry. The summit was about 8,500 ft. The total distance from Idaho Falls to Jackson Wyoming 91 miles with 6,000 ft. of elevation gain. I forget what I had left in the tank but remember thinking I could have made it easily without the RE. I never used the RE again for the entire trip. The following day was a rest day before going over the Continental Divide at 10,000 ft. but only 4,000 ft. of elevation gain in 90 miles. As difficult as these climbs were the hardest ride was from Pittsburgh to Shanksville PA or the Flight 93 Memorial. This was 108 miles with 8,300 ft. of elevation gain. It was brutal with many steep hills. I didn't think to take my RE extender since there were no long climbs. At the end I was in the red and was about ready to grab the RE from our chase vehicle when we finally arrived at our destination.

I will be 73 in exactly one month, I consider myself to be in pretty good shape for my age especially now. I am 5'9", 165 lbs. When I started training for this ride I weighed 183, and the day we left I weighed in at 172. When I arrived in New York I weighed 161.

Can 10,000 Ft. be made on one charge; sure but that depends on a lot of factors the main one would be ones own fitness. Personally I would take the RE and use the hell out of it and have fun. I did this ride to see how I compare with guys much younger then me so I pushed pretty hard. I even did two 80 plus mile rides on my Santa Cruz Stigmata as well 109 miles on the Creo without any assist just to prove a point to guys that were having fun with me about riding an ebike. After that I said screw it, I paid good money for this bike and I'm going to use it the way it was made to be used. I loved blowing past the strongest riders on the hills laughing.

IMG_3385.jpeg
IMG_3386.jpeg
IMG_3469.jpeg
IMG_6839.jpeg
 
I recently went on a fairly long ride from the San Francisco bay area to New York. I rode with a group of firefighters and military veterans both active and retired for the 20th anniversary of 911. We left Aug. 1st and arrived in New York 40 days later on Sept. 9th. There were only 3 rest days the entire trip. Being that I was the oldest by a large margin at 72, I bought a Creo Evo to help get me there without braking this old body. My goal was to try and average 50 miles a day and ride every other day. Our daily average was going to be close to 90 miles a day. I approached this ride realistically knowing my limitations.

When I crossed the Brooklyn Bridge on Sept. 9th, I had biked 2,310 miles. I rode 28 out of the 37 days which averaged out 82.5 miles a day. As for total elevation I haven't taken the time to figure that out yet. As for data on battery usage, forget about it, I didn't bother. After 8 hours in the saddle that was the last thing on my list of priorities.

I was the only rider on an ebike so I was taking a lot of crap but all in fun. Even though most of the time I was riding without assist and staying with the group. The road remotes made it very easy to get support with just a tap and turn off. I had purchased a range extender for the big climbs all of which were in the first two weeks. As it turned out I only carried it when we climbed the Teton Pass which was the longest steepest climb of the ride. We had about 20 miles with an average of about 10% with some 20% grades thrown to make you cry. The summit was about 8,500 ft. The total distance from Idaho Falls to Jackson Wyoming 91 miles with 6,000 ft. of elevation gain. I forget what I had left in the tank but remember thinking I could have made it easily without the RE. I never used the RE again for the entire trip. The following day was a rest day before going over the Continental Divide at 10,000 ft. but only 4,000 ft. of elevation gain in 90 miles. As difficult as these climbs were the hardest ride was from Pittsburgh to Shanksville PA or the Flight 93 Memorial. This was 108 miles with 8,300 ft. of elevation gain. It was brutal with many steep hills. I didn't think to take my RE extender since there were no long climbs. At the end I was in the red and was about ready to grab the RE from our chase vehicle when we finally arrived at our destination.

I will be 73 in exactly one month, I consider myself to be in pretty good shape for my age especially now. I am 5'9", 165 lbs. When I started training for this ride I weighed 183, and the day we left I weighed in at 172. When I arrived in New York I weighed 161.

Can 10,000 Ft. be made on one charge; sure but that depends on a lot of factors the main one would be ones own fitness. Personally I would take the RE and use the hell out of it and have fun. I did this ride to see how I compare with guys much younger then me so I pushed pretty hard. I even did two 80 plus mile rides on my Santa Cruz Stigmata as well 109 miles on the Creo without any assist just to prove a point to guys that were having fun with me about riding an ebike. After that I said screw it, I paid good money for this bike and I'm going to use it the way it was made to be used. I loved blowing past the strongest riders on the hills laughing.
Quite the feat. I am more than impressed - that is phenomenal. And with minimal or almost no use of the Range Extender - wow.

So, what's the next great adventure, Gramps (said in gest as I've got a few more on you but no where near that ability)

I gather you had opportunities each night to recharge the battery.
 
Back