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

2 updates today. First, I cracked 1000 miles on my Vado 4.0. I've had it since April and couldn't be happier with it. Im on track for 2000 miles in its first year. 2nd is that I got my panniers that @Stefan Mikes recommended and.. WOW. The quality and attention to detail on them is phenomenal. Thank you again for the recommendation.
 

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lloose said:
The quality and attention to detail on them is phenomenal.
Click to expand...
There's a small but important thing I completely forgot to tell you about. A small glitch of any Ortlieb pannier is the screws that connect the harness to the pannier body tend to become loose because of vibration after every couple hundred of miles. Ortlieb recommends occasional check-up and re-tightening the screws. While that would be so natural to just apply a threadlocker such as Loctite Blue on all the screws. I happened to overlook the Ortlieb advice, and finally solved the issue by thread-locking all screws in my panniers after, say, two unpleasant incidents on my travels.

There are two additional warnings:
  • Never try to overload the pannier; use two panniers if you need to carry a lot of weight.
  • If you are riding over any rough terrain (e.g., a lot of road bumps) and carry fragile/expensive items in the pannier, try securing the pannier with, say, bungee rope or whatever comes to your mind. In normal operation, the QL2.1 system holds the pannier to the rack in steadfast manner. If you are out of luck though, strong vertical shock might unload the pannier from the rack!
I know the above sounds like bashing Ortlieb products but it is not. Just practical remarks resulting from riding thousands of kilometres with different Ortlieb panniers, which are otherwise excellent.
 
Practical Road Bike Mimimum: 1000g
Creo Comp Carbon (DT470 al rim) GatorHardShell: 1429
Vado SL Smart Sam: 1680
Vado Smart Sam: 2172
Vado ElectraK: 2268

I’m looking forward to a wheel and tire upgrade :)

641722E9-24B0-4905-BEAC-58F35589E2A7.jpeg
 
Stefan Mikes said:
There are two additional warnings:
  • Never try to overload the pannier; use two panniers if you need to carry a lot of weight.
  • If you are riding over any rough terrain (e.g., a lot of road bumps) and carry fragile/expensive items in the pannier, try securing the pannier with, say, bungee rope or whatever comes to your mind. In normal operation, the QL2.1 system holds the pannier to the rack in steadfast manner. If you are out of luck though, strong vertical shock might unload the pannier from the rack!
Click to expand...
The rack attachment of an Ortlieb is really great and very secure but when you are using them for commuting, sometimes after a long day you may not take the time to properly attach the pannier. I always used an additional velcro loop strap if I was carrying my laptop. A couple of times I felt the load shift and when I checked it was hanging by one of the attachments and the loop. It was always because I had been in a hurry and not closed the attachment to the rack. I had visions of my company laptop getting run over by a truck in an intersection.
 
Allan47.7339 said:
The rack attachment of an Ortlieb is really great and very secure but when you are using them for commuting, sometimes after a long day you may not take the time to properly attach the pannier. I always used an additional velcro loop strap if I was carrying my laptop. A couple of times I felt the load shift and when I checked it was hanging by one of the attachments and the loop. It was always because I had been in a hurry and not closed the attachment to the rack. I had visions of my company laptop getting run over by a truck in an intersection.
Click to expand...
I had at least two occurrences under which a properly attached Ortlieb pannier shot up and detached during the ride. Sudden vertical force is "understood" by the rack attachment as a human trying to remove the pannier! For that reason, securing the pannier with (as you Allan said) velcro straps makes big sense.

Both situations occurred while riding off-road (rocks).
 
Looking for a weather proof milk crate looking thing to haul groceries and attach to the top of the carrier on the Como or even Vado. To fit two grocery sacks need something like 14" x 14". Anybody run across anything, looking to repurpose something maybe.
 
Hi,
I haven't been active on the forum for a while, but I follow some topics like this and the new Vado bikes ... too much work.

I ride my Vado 6.0 whenever I have time, so I have covered about 2,400 km since the beginning of the year. I have no problems except that the stop light at high heat> 32C was on as if braking, however with a drop in temp. everything works properly.
I replaced the chain and cassette at the beginning of the year, I think it’s time for a change. What do you say after these 2,400km?
Most or almost 100% of the time I ride 30% support on routes of 20-30km (flat terrain) where I develop an average speed of about 28km / h.

Maybe the bigger problem is to find a new chain with 138 links, so if anyone knows of any web shop in the EU to have in stock I would appreciate it.
 
Igor, I'm on a ride now but will answer in the evening. Look for Shimano CN-E8000, 11 speed chain.
 
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@Igor M:
You should replace the chain when it becomes stretched, not because you rode this and that distance.

@TS25's rule: "Get a caliper (possibly a digital one), and measure the distance between centre pins of 10 consecutive chain links. 127 mm is for a brand new chain, 128 mm indicates the need of replacement, 129 mm means the stretched chain has probably already damaged some cassette cogs".

Chain:
www.bike-discount.de

CN-E8000 11-speed E-Bike Chain with Quick-Link

Better performance: Shimano 11-speed CN-E8000 E-Bike Chain with Quick-Link Special E-Bike chain with SIL-TEC surface treatment, a quieter ride, increased chain life and better performance await you. Features - Shimano CN-E8000...
www.bike-discount.de www.bike-discount.de
Select the 138 link version.
 
Stefan Mikes said:
Chain:
www.bike-discount.de

CN-E8000 11-speed E-Bike Chain with Quick-Link

Better performance: Shimano 11-speed CN-E8000 E-Bike Chain with Quick-Link Special E-Bike chain with SIL-TEC surface treatment, a quieter ride, increased chain life and better performance await you. Features - Shimano CN-E8000...
www.bike-discount.de www.bike-discount.de
Select the 138 link version.
Click to expand...
THX, but it is not available, and this is how it is on all websites with 138 links
 

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Igor M said:
THX, but it is not available
Click to expand...
Holy cow, @Igor M! Not sure how I could help you...

See how lucky I am in Poland:
www.centrumrowerowe.pl

Łańcuch SHIMANO CN-E8000 | CentrumRowerowe.pl

Łańcuch do roweru elektrycznego – Shimano CN-E8000 jest mocny i posiada fluorowaną powierzchnię pinów i ogniw, co skutecznie redukuje tarcie.
www.centrumrowerowe.pl www.centrumrowerowe.pl

There's one thing you could do: Buy two shorter 11-speed chains and join them with extra Quick Links bought separately...
 
Friends,

I've got quite a story to tell you! Has anyone tried to ride their Vado/Como to squeeze the last electron out of the battery? I have done it for many times. When the battery level was going down to 5%, the electrical assistance was being switched off. The TCD-w display and lighting were remaining operable.

Yesterday, I rode for a long journey with a spare battery. User @Nubnub told me about some exciting features of the BLEvo app: Smart Power and Smart HR. These features adjust assistance levels automatically so you are kept at your desired workout leg power during the ride, and Smart HR prevents you against too fast heart rate. All at the cost of (possibly) increased battery consumption.

With Smart Power and Smart HR features on, I was speeding on the pavement and zooming through forest paths on my Vado 5/6. At some point of my trip, the battery #1 dropped to 5% (it was at 56.5 kilometres from the ride start). I expected I should stop to swap batteries on the e-bike. To my surprise, the Vado's motor was assisting me as if nothing happened! (I could see the Motor Power on BLEvo dashboard). Believe it or not but I made 3.5 km extra to get to the 60th kilometre with 1% battery left! BLEvo was telling me: "Range 0 km, 12 m elevation gain still possible. 6 Wh of bike battery left".

Now: It is a matter of some recent firmware update? Or, can BLEvo tweak the Vado electronics as much as to force the assistance to work below 5% battery level?!
 
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vado4.0 said:
and 12 speed comes in that size too, need it when you use 10-51 deore cassette
Click to expand...
@vado4.0: The photo I have just posted is of my brand new Shimano CN-E8000-11 138 L that I keep as a spare. It is clear it uses a Quick-Link. Moreover, I own a batch of 11-speed Shimano Quick-Links. Please do not spread uninformed news :)

I agree the 12-speed chain comes with a pin. We are not talking on 12-speed here though.
 
Stefan Mikes said:
Now: It is a matter of some recent firmware update? Or, can BLEvo tweak the Vado electronics as much as to force the assistance to work below 5% battery level?!
Click to expand...
Is the normal behavior of the Vado to cut power assist at <5%? On my SL, I ran main battery below 5% and assist was still available albeit limited to about 50 W motor power displayed on Blevo. This was at 4% battery remaining in both normal Eco mode as well as using Smart Power from Blevo. One interesting thing was that the range extender was down to 5% at the start of the ride. Stayed at 5% until I took the main battery down to around 30% and the range extender discharged as well until 3% remaining.
 
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