Specialized Turbo Creo 28mph Electric Road Bike

[Deacon Blues]

Interesting. I have the Vado SL 5.0, which has the same motor. I did a 26 mile ride with 2000 feet of climbing and only had 38% of the battery left. Yes the bike is about 7 lbs heavier than the Creo,

This really depends on which Creo you're talking about. You need to do an aluminum to aluminum comparison. Yes, the top-of-the-line carbon Creo weighs 27/28 pounds, but the aluminum Creo weighs 32 pounds.
The Vado SL 5.0 (without the fender/rack kit) weighs around 33 pounds, so it weighs very close to the same weight as the aluminum Creo.

 

[Capt MudBuster]

I can't speak to other models but I have the Creo Carbon Comp EVO, not the superlight S-Works. My most recent ride I was running Conti 4000's 28mm at about 80psi, rather than the gravel Pathfinder tires spec'd on the bike. I haven't weighed the bike in that setup but I'd guess it weighs about 37+ pounds with my range extender and frame bag. On top of that I had two 20oz water bottles, spare tube, co2, mini pump, multitool, pocket knife and enough food for 5 hours. And I weigh about 200lbs. I guess what I'm trying to say is that I wasn't traveling light, so I doubt the actual bike weight is the primary factor in range here. I'd guess mode-choice, aerodynamics and rider input are the main variables. Additional factors that are less in the rider's control are terrain and windspeed/direction.

 

[Captain Slow]

I don't think so. The whole idea behind the limiter is to cut the power off above the assistance limit. On Class 1 e-bikes (especially the 25 km/h ones) you "hit the wall" beyond the limiter speed, meaning no support is given to the crank.

I didn't mean faster than 45 km/hr. I meant faster than I'm going now i.e. 38 km/hr. or so.

 

[Nubnub]

To get rider power on your Garmin you have to tell it to disable the fake channel. I don't know why it works this way, but it does. Whenever I select rider power it just tells me I'm producing around 100 watts all the time regardless of the power I'm actually putting out.

I have a Vado SL and noticed the same. The fake channel is used to display the bike's battery level on the garmin using the cadence, power or heart rate slots. What you see as 100 watts is probably the battery level per centage. It should gradually go down as you deplete the battery. As you state, disabling fake channel will restore the proper power display from the SL motor. Unfortunately to get the SL battery disply on the garmin I would have to give up the cadence, power or heart rate displays and I find them more useful than the battery percentage.

 

[Capt MudBuster]

Thanks for the tips regarding rider power on a Garmin. I disabled the Fake Channel and power did indeed show up on my Garmin. I think it's accurate ... but I only rode back and forth in front of my house, so I'll have to do a longer ride to confirm. On a previous ride, I disabled the fake channel and thought it was working correctly, but it started showing me what were clearly rider+motor readings (or I suddenly got hella strong!).
Anyway, I'll give this a go. Thanks again for the help!

 

[Stefan Mikes]

I didn't mean faster than 45 km/hr. I meant faster than I'm going now i.e. 38 km/hr. or so.

Ah, you are from Canada, I have forgotten about that and misunderstood you. Of course, you're right, the Class 3 motor draws power in the 37-45 km/h range if you are pedalling (I mean while descending).

 

[Captain Slow]

I have a Vado SL and noticed the same. The fake channel is used to display the bike's battery level on the garmin using the cadence, power or heart rate slots. What you see as 100 watts is probably the battery level per centage. It should gradually go down as you deplete the battery. As you state, disabling fake channel will restore the proper power display from the SL motor. Unfortunately to get the SL battery disply on the garmin I would have to give up the cadence, power or heart rate displays and I find them more useful than the battery percentage.

Really? My Fenix 5X plus displays battery percentage, cadence, power, and heart rate.

 

[Nubnub]

Thanks for the tips regarding rider power on a Garmin. I disabled the Fake Channel and power did indeed show up on my Garmin. I think it's accurate ... but I only rode back and forth in front of my house, so I'll have to do a longer ride to confirm. On a previous ride, I disabled the fake channel and thought it was working correctly, but it started showing me what were clearly rider+motor readings (or I suddenly got hella strong!).
Anyway, I'll give this a go. Thanks again for the help!

What power setting do you use? I use the 3 sec avg and I suspect it is close but not precise. As an example I use both 35/35 Eco and a 30/100 setting to compare. When power indicated is less than 240 W, I believe the 35/35 setting should be providing more assist. At less < 100 W power displayed, I don't really feel a difference. But at around 150 W and up, the 30/100 setting definitiely feels like it is giving more assist. Perhaps the SL is reacting more to instantaneous power levels so tho the avg shows 150, maybe the peak is > 240 and causes the 30/100 setting to feel like it is assisting more?

 

[Nubnub]

Really? My Fenix 5X plus displays battery percentage, cadence, power, and heart rate.

I have a Garmin 130 and it does not support e-bikes. An earlier post suggested that the Garmin 530 can also display the battery percentage. I suspect the Fenix 5X does as well.

Interestingly enough while googling the Fenix 5X for compatibility with E-bikes, I stumbled across this : https://apps.garmin.com/en-US/apps/1532f0d9-fd19-4b63-b038-435d8fd670a4

It looks like it may add e-bike support to my 130. I've never added any apps to my garmin devices so I don't know how it works. But I will look into it.

 

[Sackaroo]

To get rider power on your Garmin you have to tell it to disable the fake channel. I don't know why it works this way, but it does. Whenever I select rider power it just tells me I'm producing around 100 watts all the time regardless of the power I'm actually putting out.

The Vado SL weighs 7 lbs more than the Creo?????? That's a big difference and I'm surprised it's that much. I would have guessed maybe 3 lbs.

It's interesting the impact the speed limiter has on battery life. I did a solo ride on Saturday and at various times I was going anywhere from 35 to 65 km/hr. - so the motor turned off. A few times on the flats I was going a bit quicker and in the 37-40 km/hr. range and not using any battery at all. But if I had the 45 km/hr. limit obviously I'd still be using battery, probably going a slight bit faster.

Hello! I just joined EBR and I’m thrilled to see that you brought up pairing the Garmin with Power Meter on the Creo. I had the same problem and because I had no one to turn to for advice, I called Garmin. They were extremely helpful and told me that this “glitch” will be fixed in a new release coming soon. In the meantime, they said to disable the Fake Channel. Unfortunately, I was only able to pair my Garmin 1030 with the Creo Power Meter when I had the Fake Channel Enabled.....and of course, I had very low, inaccurate watt readings during a challenging ride. I will try to disable again tomorrow and see if it works.

 

[tomyboy]

I just got now Vado 4.0 SL for my brother and took it for a spin and couldn't believe how silet motor was compared to my Creo.
Setup was the same 30%, 60% and 100%. On 30% on the flat, motor was virtually silent. Uphill, compared to Creo, motor was roughly 50% or more quieter in every mode.
Do you think, that there ware some improvement don't with the lates motor or it is just wear and tear and the gears in the motor will get louder within first hundreds of kilometers, or I might ask/push my mechanic for motor replacement?
Levo SL was also quite loud on different videos, but this Vado is on pair with my Turbo Levo regarding low noise.
Or it is maybe the alu frame vs carbon?

 

[abercrombie]

Looks like Wahoo computers also support eBikes from Specialized 2019+ & Giant 2020+.

Everything You Need to Know About ELEMNT LEV Integration

What is ANT+ LEV compatibility? - LEV stands for Light Electric Vehicle, and ANT+ LEV allows specific GIANT and Specialized E-Bikes with additional pairing capabilities to broadcast data to other d...

support.wahoofitness.com

 

[Captain Slow]

Wow that Wahoo support looks really good. Now I'm torn. I was going to get a bike computer because I'm tired of having to take a hand off the bars and turn my wrist every time I want some information about the ride. I was leaning towards the Edge 530 or the new Edge 130 plus because I wanted the mountain bike dynamics like jump count, grit and flow. But this Wahoo integration looks great for my Creo.

I guess I'll hold off for now and hope that either Garmin adds the LEV type integration that Wahoo has or that Wahoo decides to add the MTB dynamics to their computer. Whoever does it first will be what I buy.

 

[tomyboy]

Got new revision of the motor like Vado has. It is silent compared to the previous one.

 

[SwiftySanders]

Re the Creo motor. I took my bike back to the shop. They upgraded the software and firmware. That seems to have fixed the problem.

Can I do this myself? Nevermind, I can't. I have to go to Mikes Bikes today. The app showed me.

Question: Is anyone else having trouble getting the Creo to show actual 'rider power' on their Garmin? (I'm using the Garmin 830)
I've tried using the Fake Channel on the app, set to Rider Power. I either get one of two readings: a static power that doesn't change, like 100w --- or I get the combined motor+rider power reading. I've not been able to to just isolate my actual power input. Any thoughts or tips would be appreciated!

Do you have your ebike setting setup correctly on your device? You can add your eBike under sensors in the settings.

 

[RMK!]

I'm considering a Turbo Creo SL Comp Carbon EVO. I bought a 20" fat tire folder ebike in Feb and have put over 1700 miles on it in the last 4 months with little or no use of the throttle. I had nice road and mountain bikes hanging in the garage unused for years until I got back into cycling via this unusual route. I will keep the folders (my wife has one as well) for rides with her and to take on trips. I'm looking for a daily rider and the Creo seems perfect for my planned use.

I'm 69 and a little concerned about the more aggressive riding position at my age. I can easily go 30 miles on the fat tire folder with low pedal assist. I want to do longer rides (up to 50 miles) and use a "real bike" that better fits my 6'5", 200lb frame. I'm thinking about getting the XXL model as I have long legs/arms but due to the pandemic run on bikes, no dealer in my area actually has one in stock. Any thoughts are appreciated.

 

[Seeya]

I'm considering a Turbo Creo SL Comp Carbon EVO. I bought a 20" fat tire folder ebike in Feb and have put over 1700 miles on it in the last 4 months with little or no use of the throttle. I had nice road and mountain bikes hanging in the garage unused for years until I got back into cycling via this unusual route. I will keep the folders (my wife has one as well) for rides with her and to take on trips. I'm looking for a daily rider and the Creo seems perfect for my planned use.

I'm 69 and a little concerned about the more aggressive riding position at my age. I can easily go 30 miles on the fat tire folder with low pedal assist. I want to do longer rides (up to 50 miles) and use a "real bike" that better fits my 6'5", 200lb frame. I'm thinking about getting the XXL model as I have long legs/arms but due to the pandemic run on bikes, no dealer in my area actually has one in stock. Any thoughts are appreciated.

I’m 79, 6’3,” 175#, and have had the Creo Comp EVO (XL) for over a month. I have ridden it 600 or so miles with the longest ride so far around 40 miles. I find it extremely satisfying and comfortable, the drop bars allowing me to vary my position on the bike. Though some pan them, I even find the flared drops more comfortable than straight ones when using them.

 

[PaD]

Got new revision of the motor like Vado has. It is silent compared to the previous one.

That is very interesting information. I had a Creo comp evo on loan for half a day and it was really fun even being a 25km/h bike but I found it very loud compared to my Vado.

 

[e-levity]

I'm considering a Turbo Creo SL Comp Carbon EVO... I'm thinking about getting the XXL model as I have long legs/arms but due to the pandemic run on bikes, no dealer in my area actually has one in stock. Any thoughts are appreciated.

Not sure where you are in NorCal, but there are lots of XL models in both colors up there if you want to try that size first. Use the FIND NEARBY button.

Mike's Bikes in Pleasanton also shows an XXL in Navy Blue, and they can probably ship to one of their other locations if that's more convenient for you.

In any case both XL and XXL models are listed as available on the website so you can order direct for shop pick-up or have your shop order.
In both cases you can negotiate price or extras since the shop gets most of the profit even if you order direct "click-n-ship".

Good luck, and have fun!

 

[jim6b]

. . . models are listed as available on the website so you can order direct for shop pick-up or have your shop order.
In both cases you can negotiate price or extras since the shop gets most of the profit even if you order direct "click-n-ship".

I was advised by LBS to order bike through them. Then the LBS will be happier as they will get a commission . . . and, in my case, the dealer offered to let me back out of the deal, if, after riding (it was not in stock) the bike it did no meet up to expectations. To me a big plus.