Specialized Turbo Como 3.0
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Uburoibob
Active Member
What kind of lock is that? I have the Specialized forge lock from a while back, but the bike mount case broke. Looks like that might fit it.
Uburoibob
Active Member
I am thinking of a seatpost suspension. How do you like the Kinekt?
Volts
Active Member
The Kinekt works better for Jan since she is lighter. I'm at 260 pounds and I mostly compress the springs. It does take away harsh vibration like you get from a gravel road though.
It sounds like you are enjoying your bike. Where do you ride? Let's see pictures, everyone likes pictures!
Isn't that a nice Jag I saw on the ride:
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Uburoibob
Active Member
I am riding through the forest preserves in the western suburbs of Chicago, primarily on the Salt Creek Trail, the Illinois Prairie Path, the Great Western Path etc. I haven't shot any photos yet. The only mod I've done is put a Delta riser on to bring the bars up and back a bit. I've also got a RANS Stratus long wheel base recumbent.
So far I am loving the Como. I ride without assist most of the time, using it as I'd use a front derailleur on hills, against the wind, etc. Or sometimes just for fun. I decided to go with the 2.0 because I didn't really want the temptation of going faster on these trails. They wind a lot, and there are a lot of walkers and other riders. I've found that cruising along at the 19mph you can get out of the assist is fine for me. PLUS, it was in stock, where 3.0s are backordered from the factory until January.
I got the bike a week ago last Sunday. Did a 35 mile ride the first day. 20 the second, and then had to stop for a few days as I discovered I had diverticulitis and spend a couple days in the hospital. So, back to it now, and loving it.
And YES - the e-type Jag is gorgeous.
I'll try to get some photos soon!
So far I am loving the Como. I ride without assist most of the time, using it as I'd use a front derailleur on hills, against the wind, etc. Or sometimes just for fun. I decided to go with the 2.0 because I didn't really want the temptation of going faster on these trails. They wind a lot, and there are a lot of walkers and other riders. I've found that cruising along at the 19mph you can get out of the assist is fine for me. PLUS, it was in stock, where 3.0s are backordered from the factory until January.
I got the bike a week ago last Sunday. Did a 35 mile ride the first day. 20 the second, and then had to stop for a few days as I discovered I had diverticulitis and spend a couple days in the hospital. So, back to it now, and loving it.
And YES - the e-type Jag is gorgeous.
I'll try to get some photos soon!
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Volts
Active Member
Ha, I've got a RANS recumbent too, Stratus LE. It's been hanging on my wall for ten years, there are just too many hills around here.
Thanks for posting! Good stuff.
Uburoibob
Active Member
While I typed Sirrus (since corrected) I meant that I have a Stratus (the first edition). I am still riding it and will be alternating with the Como once the honeymoon period is over. We don't have a lot of hills here, so I still love riding both!
Volts
Active Member
I knew what you meant. I like that long steel frame on the RANS, it acts like a springboard, such a unique laidback luxury position. and now the electric Specialized. Ahhh...., these are the finer things in life I think many would say.
Electrarider
Member
Ah Fall is finally taking a strong hold here in the Central Valley of California! On my Sunday ride the temps never got past 80! It was nice to ride without sweating profusely for a change! Like before I ride the same trail most of the time I either go upstream or downstream, the trail parallels the American River in the Sacramento Area. And now, the trail takes on a whole new identity, squirrels are madly packing nuts away for winter, Wild Turkeys are rooting around looking for food and the summer time Rafters on the river are for the most part gone. So the trail is a little quieter, bike traffic is still about the same. But with the new scenery it just makes it seem like a whole new trail, the Como 3.0 is still going strong and I seem to love it more with every ride! My only problem now is the strong breeze coming back home sucks the power up fairly fast. Plus with the cooler temps I rode about 28 miles before turning around and heading back home (wind was at my back), so needless to say there was a few miles of no power, which really sucked, because as some of you already know the last 3 miles home is all uphill. With this weather it is very easy to ride well beyond the range of the bike which is something I need to figure out without spending $800.00 on a spare battery. (Next ride I'll steal the battery from my wife's bike, she said it was too cold to ride!) LOVING THE COMO 3.0! And for Bob the Como 2.0 is very awesome too!
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Uburoibob
Active Member
Most of my weekday rides are about 10 miles. Just curious how everyone goes about charging their batteries. Should I hook up after every ride, or allow it to run almost all the way down and then charge? Or does it matter? I know that the battery is supposed to be good for appx 400 charging cycles. Do the incremental charges count toward a full charging cycle, or as an entire full charging cycle? I'd hate to have to replace the batter after a year or so.
Electrarider
Member
Hi Bob, if I'm only riding 10 or 15 miles I don't recharge my battery. I only try to make sure my battery is almost dead by Friday Night so I have a full charge for a Saturday or Sunday "Good" Ride. There are many theories/stories about how to treat your battery I've heard the "80-20" theory which means stop charging at 80% and stop riding at 20%. That's not going to work for me, I'm trying to go further right now. The only thing that seems consistent across the board is; don't store the battery in cold weather and leave about 50% charge in the battery over long periods of non use. I would suggest taking the battery down to at least the 40% mark before recharging, but I have no Scientific research to offer. But based on all the lithium Ion Batteries I've dealt with it seams better to discharge them to a fairly low level before recharging. Again just my opinion there are surely going to be people to offer highly technical info but I don't want to make my bike rides overly technical I just need this bike for stress relief and excercise. Hopefully my battery will last for a while!
BU-808: How to Prolong Lithium-based Batteries
https://batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/how_to_prolong_lithium_based_batteries
Table 2: "Cycling in mid-state-of-charge would have best longevity."
Figure 6: "75–65% SoC offers longest cycle life but delivers only 90,000 energy units (EU). Utilizes 10% of battery."
(But: "* Discrepancies exist between Table 2 and Figure 6 on cycle count.")
Once a month I charge to 100% to have the cells balanced, but otherwise charge after every trip, just until it hits 4 bars (out of 5), which is hopefully 75-65% ish, so shallow discharge, shallow charges.
Don't store 100% charged, never discharge below 20%.
https://batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/how_to_prolong_lithium_based_batteries
Table 2: "Cycling in mid-state-of-charge would have best longevity."
Figure 6: "75–65% SoC offers longest cycle life but delivers only 90,000 energy units (EU). Utilizes 10% of battery."
(But: "* Discrepancies exist between Table 2 and Figure 6 on cycle count.")
Once a month I charge to 100% to have the cells balanced, but otherwise charge after every trip, just until it hits 4 bars (out of 5), which is hopefully 75-65% ish, so shallow discharge, shallow charges.
Don't store 100% charged, never discharge below 20%.
They count partly towards a full charge, so 5 x 20% charges is counted as a full cycle.
Electrarider
Member
Hi C ! So by charging your battery to 80% mark your saying I'll be able to go farther or I'll get more cycles out of the battery? Right now my typical rides on the weekend far surpass the range of the battery, I'm even turning off the PAS on at least 10% to 15% of my ride and usually ride in "Eco" mode I try to save the battery for the last 2.5 to 3 miles back home (all uphill), by managing my battery usage I get between 40 and 45 miles out of a fully (100%) charged battery (I'm a very heavy rider tipping the scales at 245, when I started 3 months ago I was at 270) Hopefully the weight will keep going down so the range of the bike will go up. On the nights when I need Stress Relief the PAS goes to Turbo and I ride hard and fast usually don't see any speed below 22mph but my range when doing that is usually only about 25 to 28 miles and that is usually enough to make me feel better, I find that it is very hard to maintain 28mph, at least I can't do it, but I'm an old fat guy, and my wife calls me lazy so what do I know!
(Currently at 878 miles on my bike and 80 miles on my wife's bike Love my Como's I've put more miles on my wife's bike than she has, her bike has a total of 105 miles on it now)
(Currently at 878 miles on my bike and 80 miles on my wife's bike Love my Como's I've put more miles on my wife's bike than she has, her bike has a total of 105 miles on it now)
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Charging to no more than 80% is to get more cycles; help the battery have a longer total life.
BUT avoiding storing it at 80-100% is more important than not charging it above 80, and not deep discharging it is the most important.
Since you need all of the range you can get, if you can charge, charge all the way to 100% just before you use it (to minimise time sitting at 100) and try to still have at least 20% at the end of the ride.
Volts
Active Member
I've watched all those Specialized videos on Youtube over time, of Switzerland engineers and california vice presidents yak about Specialized electric bikes mountain bikes, vados, and in in general. Somewhere I remember they told me that their chargers are programmed for all that 80/20 stuff. No I can't cite footnotes on this.
No where in their literature do they tell me to do anything special. I plug it in as soon as I get home all the time, I want the bike fully charged and ready for a long ride if the whim is there.
I've read this Specialized forum extensively. No where am I seeing long term owners cry about wasted batteries.
I choose to ride it and plug it in when I'm done. I'm sure some will think my method sloppy and cavalier.
No where in their literature do they tell me to do anything special. I plug it in as soon as I get home all the time, I want the bike fully charged and ready for a long ride if the whim is there.
I've read this Specialized forum extensively. No where am I seeing long term owners cry about wasted batteries.
I choose to ride it and plug it in when I'm done. I'm sure some will think my method sloppy and cavalier.
Electrarider
Member
My method is not the best way, according to this info that C has referenced. I charged it up fully on Sunday after my long ride and was out of town Monday and got home late Tuesday so I wanted to come home to a fully charged bike in order to ride. It was after dark when I got home last night but I just needed to ride for a little bit, only rode locally around my house but squeaked out 7 miles. So my battery sat almost 2 days with a full charge, and after my ride I didn't charge it last night, during the week i usually get about 2 or 3 rides before charging, so my method also must qualify as "Sloppy and Cavalier", I guess I'm a battery abuser too.
Electrarider
Member
I'll try to manage it differently based on this but it will be hard. Thanks C!!!
Volts
Active Member
So that was a 50 something mile ride? Pretty cool. It's fun to hear of your rides. It's refreshing to hear of others who are using the bikes just for fun instead of commuting and shopping.
You can use your wife's como for spare parts.
I think some of the battery concern is because we spent 3200 hundred dollars on something and feel like we should somehow "do" something to make it last. It also reminds me of the millions of car forum pages devoted to people talking about the best gas. Somehow, if I cant see it (i just dispense it to a tank through a hose) and the bike battery, I can't see when it's full or what's going on inside. Fun to talk about something we can't see. In the end I might get slightly better performance by doing something special but I doubt it.
Electrarider
Member
Yeah I've robbed the battery a couple times already
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