Specialized Turbo Vado/Como/Tero/Tero X User Club

[Stefan Mikes]

I have done it several times. It depends on how strong rider you are I had my bike mostly on sport mode and some even eco. I did use turbo on occasion. I am an average rider with knee issue so I am conservative not to push.
I think any ebike Would do fine in Solidad.
Good luck and enjoy. It is a great ride.

By sheer curiosity, I made a RideWithGPS route from San Diego to Soledad Mountain. It turns out the maximum gradient on the route is 7.5%, so you Nxkharra are right: any mid-drive e-bike would make it easily. From my own experience, I would need Turbo mode and low gears starting from 14% grade (85 Nm motor, 320% amplification, 48-46T gearing). Yet Sierratim made 31% on his Vado 5

Sorry for using metric values for the U.S.

 

[Oski1997]

By sheer curiosity, I made a RideWithGPS route from San Diego to Soledad Mountain. It turns out the maximum gradient on the route is 7.5%, so you Nxkharra are right: any mid-drive e-bike would make it easily. From my own experience, I would need Turbo mode and low gears starting from 14% grade (85 Nm motor, 320% amplification, 48-46T gearing). Yet Sierratim made 31% on his Vado 5

Stefan, how are you able to find out gradient on routes? I could use that info on my rides. A specific website? Or calculation? Oh wait, you mentioned Ride with GPS. I’ll look it up. Thanks for your thoughtful reply

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Oski, from all route planners, RideWithGPS offers the best handling of gradients. Just saying.

 

[Kam1936]

BLEvo doesn't allow you to alter mph. 15.6 mph is default speed limit. After the update I was able to change the speed based on the (firmware/wheel circumference) to 17.9 mph. An extra 2.3 mph boost. With a Class 3 wheel size set at 2000 mm will allow the bike to top out at 30.3 before the motor cuts out at the expense of display speed, range, and odometer being off. No speed dongle (Planet 3) needed to get a little extra speed. Although I already have it but I never installed it. Waiting for the bike to be outside of warranty.

 

[Marci jo]

Unbelievable. I'm the only person in the entire U.S. with a Turbo Vado 5.0 that got these updates?

Well let me warn those who are thinking of upgrading to new display/motor firmware. Taking my bike to the lbs local for main shop pickup. Pedaling unassisted is over for flat terrain. Turning off the battery seems to free it up but who wants to do that. Also, the firmware has reset my bike as a "class 1" so it seems I can get 21.5 mph (GPS) in 11th gear Turbo flats. Display shows 19.5 when the motor cuts out. Also, the range is greatly diminished now. The good news is since they screwed it up with update. (Specialized) They have to fix it. I do know that you can't undo this firmware and revert to the old firmware. Thanks to BLEvo it gave me a heads up to the problem. It appears the firmware update is for E.U version LEvo. Once I excepted the warning in BLEvo. The MPH changed from 15.5 mph max to 17.9 mph max. And this was possible through "Default Specy" found in BLEvo app profiles. Bad news is i'm going to be missing my bike 4 or 5 days while their main headquarters troubleshoots the issue. Motor was fine, battery was fine, display was fine before the firmware updates to display and motor.

Oh no Kam, so sorry for the troubles. Yes, Specialized should fix it. Be sure to keep good notes and your documentation.

I'm definitely old school: If it ain't broke, don't fix it!

 

[Marcela]

Playing with wheel circumference, I don't believe you change the actual mph across the ground. You change the display only.

 

[Kam1936]

Oh no Kam, so sorry for the troubles. Yes, Specialized should fix it. Be sure to keep good notes and your documentation.

I'm definitely old school: If it ain't broke, don't fix it!

I'm old school too. U break u fix. I'm only hesitant leaving my bike for pickup at their local LBS. According to Specialized ridercare they just need to reinstall the software as Class 3 and measure the wheel circumference then input it in their system for accuracy. I can take it to the Specialized dealer who did the update and get it back same day. Alternatively I can drop it off to LBS where I purchased the bike, where there is bad blood and wait for their headquarters to pick it up, look it over and apply the changes. Undecided. I will do one or the other today while the weather is good.

 

[Kam1936]

Playing with wheel circumference, I don't believe you change the actual mph across the ground. You change the display only.

Actually it does. Smaller wheel circumference in my case messes with the range and speed. The display return trip reports a couple mph slower than I was actually traveling. According to GPS. 26.2 mile trip, display reported 22.6 miles. The bike thinks I'm traveling slower and shorter distance. 2000 mm vs 2300 mm is not a huge difference. But if wheel size is reduced to 800 mm, like the old LEvo hack allowed that's significant.

 

[Kam1936]

Turbo Levo Tuning

I've just purchased a Turbo Levo FSR and am wondering whats involved in installing a tuning device such as the Sx2 Dongle or PearTune MSO. Does anyone know: What steps are involved to get access to the motor to attach the cables for these devices? I've asked the electricbiketuning guys but...

electricbikereview.com

Talks about another process here and a few other places in the forum. Perimeters for wheel circumference allowed by Specialized for the LEvo were 2000-2400. 13% + more speed before the motor stops assisting with 2300 mm wheels set at 2000 mm.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

But if wheel size is reduced to 800 mm, like the old LEvo hack allowed that's significant.

Yes, because that cheats the speed restrictor.
Besides, I came to a conclusion Kam your figure of 2300 mm has been correct for Electraks. Besides, how do you feel about riding them?

 

[Sierratim]

Actually it does. Smaller wheel circumference in my case messes with the range and speed. The display return trip reports a couple mph slower than I was actually traveling. According to GPS. 26.2 mile trip, display reported 22.6 miles. The bike thinks I'm traveling slower and shorter distance. 2000 mm vs 2300 mm is not a huge difference. But if wheel size is reduced to 800 mm, like the old LEvo hack allowed that's significant.

Most bike computers compute speed and distance using the wheel circumference. The wheel settings were initially different on our 2 Vados. They'd log different mileages on the same ride. Once the LBS set them the same the differences went away. I do get different speed and distance reports between the Vado TCD-W display and the GPS based Komoot app.

 

[Kam1936]

Yes, because that cheats the speed restrictor.
Besides, I came to a conclusion Kam your figure of 2300 mm has been correct for Electraks. Besides, how do you feel about riding them?

The Electraks are A1. The Triggers were too. They both handle great. I think I prefer the Electraks slightly more because they seem to have slightly less rolling resistance than the Triggers. What I'm trying to say is it feels like the tires roll a little farther and smoother than the triggers. If the wear is what they are made out to be than I would favor the Electraks a lot more than the Triggers because the Triggers were showing significant wear in the middle at 2200 miles.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Kam, an observation about Electraks: When they get dusty, they appear as if they were worn. After washing them you realise they got no slightest wear!

 

[Sierratim]

The Electraks are A1. The Triggers were too. They both handle great. I think I prefer the Electraks slightly more because they seem to have slightly less rolling resistance than the Triggers. What I'm trying to say is it feels like the tires roll a little farther and smoother than the triggers. If the wear is what they are made out to be than I would favor the Electraks a lot more than the Triggers because the Triggers were showing significant wear in the middle at 2200 miles.

My rear Trigger Sport tire had worn smooth in the middle section after ~1,500 miles. I ride frequent gravel roads so I tried Smart Sams on both wheels but found they added a bit too much rolling resistance for pavement. At my sons' suggestion I swapped out the rear for the still good Trigger Sport from the front to get a good compromise; lower rolling resistance than Smart Sams all around but still good handling in gravel.

So far, so good!

 

[Marcela]

When I measured the mile if I remember correctly the gps wasn't the greatest in accuracy either. The same distance can come up different on the tcd because of how it computes which is a mystery to me. Changing the wheel circumference setting will change the top speed reading on the tcd. When changing the Como to the wrong distance it would read 31 mph. When corrected for distance of the mile it would struggle to make 28 mph.

 

[Kam1936]

Kam, an observation about Electraks: When they get dusty, they appear as if they were worn. After washing them you realise they got no slightest wear!

 

[Kam1936]

Update: LBS applied the update tool at the display for the motor. I was standing right next to him and watched. There were three choices 25kmh, 30kmh and 28mph 45kmh. He selected the 28mph. The wheel size said 2000. We left it at that. I took it out for a spin but couldn't break the 19.5 mph threshold. At the display. Mechanic tested it he got similar results. He then changed the wheel size to 2255 prior to the update. He took it out for a test spin. Best he could get according to the display was 22.1 mph. Finally he adjusted the wheel size to the current Electrak tire at 2300 mm. He took it for a spin best he could get was 21 mph. And that is spot on with what GPS was telling me when the display at 2000 mm was saying 19.5 mph. The good: Tire circumference is correct now at 2300 mm. The shop manager knows that the update was initially showing my bike as a LEvo 2000 mm. And that after updating over this update the bike still wouldn't get near 28mph with a skinny youngster/technician, pushing it to its max. So, shop manager is emailing Specialized about the problem asking for what the update entailed, the old firmwares to restore the display and motor prior to the updates offered by MC app. If this isn't possible I'll probably receive a new TCD-w and motor with the old firmware. The bad: it might take awhile for them to fix it. &#$!@%.

 

[BEC111]

Update: LBS applied the update tool at the display for the motor. I was standing right next to him and watched. There were three choices 25kmh, 30kmh and 28mph 45kmh. He selected the 28mph. The wheel size said 2000. We left it at that. I took it out for a spin but couldn't break the 19.5 mph threshold. At the display. Mechanic tested it he got similar results. He then changed the wheel size to 2255 prior to the update. He took it out for a test spin. Best he could get according to the display was 22.1 mph. Finally he adjusted the wheel size to the current Electrak tire at 2300 mm. He took it for a spin best he could get was 21 mph. And that is spot on with what GPS was telling me when the display at 2000 mm was saying 19.5 mph. The good: Tire circumference is correct now at 2300 mm. The shop manager knows that the update was initially showing my bike as a LEvo 2000 mm. And that after updating over this update the bike still wouldn't get near 28mph with a skinny youngster/technician, pushing it to its max. So, shop manager is emailing Specialized about the problem asking for what the update entailed, the old firmwares to restore the display and motor prior to the updates offered by MC app. If this isn't possible I'll probably receive a new TCD-w and motor with the old firmware. The bad: it might take awhile for them to fix it. &#$!@%.

Very sad. Since it’s been snowing for three days here, I can only commiserate in theory, knowing a wait for me would be irrelevant.

 

[Kam1936]

Very sad. Since it’s been snowing for three days here, I can only commiserate in theory, knowing a wait for me would be irrelevant.

I left out other good. I still have my bike to ride until they decide when I need to bring it back for repair. Also, I have another E-bike that gets up to 24mph with a throttle, to ride and take my mind off this.

 

[Kam1936]

If you put Electraks Armadillos 2.0 on your Vado make sure the circumference is changed to 2300 mm.(converts in MC to 90.55 in).