Road cycling world is a very specific thing to me; as far from my thinking as Vado is for you. It is hard to assign a simple bike category to Vado. "Hybrid" (between road bike and MTB), "Active Lifestyle", or "General Purpose" bike descriptions might come helpful. Vado belongs to the same category as its direct competitor, Trek Allant+. These e-bikes have been conceived from the very start as the pure form of an integrated battery/mid-motor e-bike, not really reflecting existing categories such as road bike or MTB.
Let us look to Vado SL first. The lightweight cousin of both Vado and Creo is in fact a "fitness e-bike" that may be ridden unequipped and has no suspension (if we do not count the Future Shock stem on the 5.0). Yes, Vado SL can be ridden for long distances on the same internal battery and range extender as in Creo. Provided you are a fit person, it gives you similar performance as the Creo does.
Full power Vado is a different animal. It is beefier, equipped with a strong motor (Vado 5.0 is equipped with a MTB motor, Vado 4.0 has a pretty strong motor, too, and 3.0's motor is still far more powerful than the SL 1.1). More powerful motor means more battery charge is needed. All Vado/Como e-bikes share the same format of removable battery (460, 500 or 600 Wh, depending on the model); the replacement or spare battery is always 600 Wh and can be used on any Vado or Como. What is different to Creo is the wired TCD-W display giving you five pages of configurable ride data (including cadence, rider's power, calories burnt, etc); and a handlebar remote.
Mid-drive motors of Vado/Como are from Brose, modified, equipped with electronics, firmware and software, and branded by Specialized. You own a Creo with Specialized branded Mahle motor, and the electronics and software are similar for Vado/Como so it is something you are familiar with already. Special thing about Specialized/Brose motors is these are virtually silent (no whirr you experience on Creo whatsoever!), and these are the only silent mid-drive motors present in the market. Performance ranging from 90 Nm torque/550 W peak power/380% assistance (5.0) through 72 Nm/520 W/320% (4.0) to 50 Nm/280% one found on 3.0 (not sure about the peak power of that 1.2E motor).
I'm not an expert on bike geometry. Unmodified Vado requires a sporty, forward riding position; for that reason many of us have raised their handlebars with a stem riser for increased ride comfort.
Vado feels to me like e-bike Ferrari. Don't expect to ride it unassisted (it is a heavy e-bike, some 53 lb) but once powered, it is very nimble and can accelerate like a rocket as long as you put a little more energy in pedalling and use the derailleur in wide range from cold start to high speed. I often enjoy that game: while I'm riding my Vado slowly, I'm overtaken by a fast traditional roadie. Almost automatically, I switch the assistance to Turbo and start pedalling vigorously at high cadence, gradually shifting up. I could overtake the roadie just for fun but I only follow him instead. Typically, the guy cracks at the first ascent encountered
Many Vado owners claim the e-bike gives them too much of assistance, so many of us play with Mission Control or BLEvo app to dramatically reduce the assistance and save on battery for long rides. (If you rode Vado 5.0, you would need to halve the assistance to get to the Creo level).
Purpose. Anything from grocery shopping through leisure riding through touring to riding mild off-road such as forest fire-roads or even easy trails. Standard issue Vado is a road machine: replacing the stock tyres with, say, Schwalbe Smart Sam enables Vado to ride on-road and off-road. It is important to say Vado (especially 4.0 and 5.0) has inherited many MTB components, such as thru-axles, powerful brakes or drive-train.
Now I have talked a lot. Is it possible for you to organize a Vado demo ride in your area?
Me on a touring trip.
