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

Appears you are lacking lubrication. Whatever you are using needs to flow. After the tooth leaves the chain the lubricant has to be replaced, or flow back onto the surface where it was wiped off. I'd suggest motor oil. Or stay off the smaller cogs. Or go slower. Or stay home and watch the world go by. Probably motor oil. :)
 
Marcela said:
Appears you are lacking lubrication. Whatever you are using needs to flow. After the tooth leaves the chain the lubricant has to be replaced, or flow back onto the surface where it was wiped off. I'd suggest motor oil. Or stay off the smaller cogs. Or go slower. Or stay home and watch the world go by. Probably motor oil. :)
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Motor oil is a bad choice for bicycle chains. It is too thick and it is not designed to be used in the environment that bicycle chains operate in.
 
You mean, lubricate the cassette? To attract dirt? I though it was the chain that should be lubricated?
 
Marcela said:
BS
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There are many downsides to motor oil as a bicycle lubricant.

Motor oil is designed to be applied at pressure and at high temperature within a sealed environment where it is filtered and kept away from moisture, mud, and dust.

It is too thick to really penetrate the rollers and pins on a chain.

It isn't designed to stick to the surface of the chain or shed contaminants like a bicycle chain lubricant. Sure, it will take some contaminants with it as it, very quickly, leaves the chain and gets all over your derailleur, chainstay, pants, etc.

It contains detergents to clean carbon and other deposits away from internal surfaces which isn't good.

If you are so confident, please explain how motor oil is equivalent to lubricants specifically designed for bicycle components. At end end of the day, it is your bicycle. I'd personally prefer not to spend $200 or more a year replacing drivetrain components because I used 10W30 instead of a proper lubricant.
 
I also need to mention wearing the smallest cogs is a well-known phenomenon, especially with the mid-drive motor. Big stress acts on very few teeth (it is shared over more teeth on larger cogs), and the mid-motor adds its massive torque to the equation. That's why two smaller cogs are available separately: to replace them instead of the whole expensive cassette.

The problem is especially pertaining to 1x drivetrains as you would like to have a climber at one time and a speed machine at another. Going with a small chainring has its positive sides but wearing the small cogs is the fact.
 
Regarding motor oil on a bike chain.
In my opinion a full synthetic 0-10 or 0- 20 motor oil with some fine teflon powder mixed in is as good an as economical a chain lube as you can get. Synthetic oil does not get sticky like detergent motor oil as it does not evaporate like mineral. 0-20 viscosity is light enough to get in the tight clearances. One drop with an eye-dropper on each chain pin, let it soak in over night and wipe off well. This chain lube will last a long time before needing oil again. This works well for hard clean surface riding but if operating in heavy dust and dirt a dry lube would be better. I don't believe dry lubes are are much for lubricating qualities but the dust and dirt doesn't stick as much.
Auto detergent mineral oil does evaporate and eventually gets very sticky like glue, not good.
 
What you people are discussing now is lubing the chain rollers. I'm talking natural wear of the cassette cogs.
 
The flow or run off of Lubing the chain will lube the cassette. I was watching a vid about a guy testing a moly product and somebody made a comment they did wear testing on some type of valve for industrial use and came to the conclusion that mobil 1 5w20 and marvel mystery oil and moly were the optimum combination for their use, didn’t mention any ratios or specifics. I believe in the moly as I was using it dry but wasn’t getting the benefits I thought I should.

I don’t know Stefan, what you say is true of the small cogs. Everything is a trade off. Just be happy and it doesn’t really matter:).
 
Marcela said:
I don’t know Stefan, what you say is true of the small cogs.
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It is true. That's why the smallest cogs can be bought separately. There is a big difference in cost between the replacement cog and a very expensive cassette. Large cogs as well as chainring spread the stress easier, that's why we replace the whole cassette or a chainring rarely, and the chain is being replaced the most often.

Bear in mind we lube not the chain but only the rollers. It is the roller pins that need lubing. The rest of the chain could and should be clean to not attract the contaminants.
 
teskow said:
I thought about using compressed air to clean my chain but after rethinking it, it may just drive the dirt into the pins and rollers.
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I've heard that concern in some youtube videos on chain maintenance. I use compressed air to blow water off my chain after a wet clean and haven't noticed any problems so far.
 
Stefan Mikes said:
There is some information @Marcela that might be of interest to you.

As long as I was riding my 38T chainring Vado in the mountains, I was using all the gears (including the 46T granny gear). After my return to the plains, I seem to be riding in high gears mostly. Guess what. After just 2000 km ridden since the cassette replacement, a brand new chain started skipping on the 11t cog! My brother did a precise measurement: the cog teeth got worn by 0.5 mm. If you do some math, it is the amount of wear equivalent to the necessity of replacing the chain.

As I hate the thought of returning to the 48T chainring, I guess using a 42T one might shift me to using more of middle gears. Thoughts?

View attachment 110294
My brother had disassambled the cassette and gave it thorough cleaning...

View attachment 110295
Assembled it step by step...

View attachment 110296
To finally giving me the Vado back with the new 11t cog and in perfect shape.

(I have been fortunate to be able to buy some spare 11 and 13t, 11-speed cogs for my stock).
Click to expand...

Do you by chance have the part numbers for the 11 and 13 tooth cogs? I need to replace those and probably the 15 tooth as well.
 
If you use a Shimano 11-speed cassette, look for cogs for CS-M8000 (Deore XT) or CS-M7000 (SLX). The cogs are fully compatible. I do not have their part numbers though.
 
Stefan Mikes said:
If you use a Shimano 11-speed cassette, look for cogs for CS-M8000 (Deore XT) or CS-M7000 (SLX). The cogs are fully compatible. I do not have their part numbers though.
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I have the ten speed unfortunately with the CS-HG500 cassette. I can find 11t XT 10 speed cogs but there are at least two part numbers I'm seeing. One for an 11-32 cassette and another for the 11-36. I am striking out on HG500 specific cogs.
 
As far as I can understand, Shimano small cogs are compatible as long these are made for the given number of speed in the cassette (10-sp in your case).
 
Stefan Mikes said:
The rigid fork is the best thing that might have happened to that very model. Combined with the 2" tyres and proper geometry, the ride is super-smooth even on very bad roads. There is a direct comparison. My other e-bike is a classic hybrid e-bike with 1.6" tyres and a cheap suspension fork. I ride both bikes on the same roads. Vado handles damaged road surface or off-road terrain far more smoothly than the other, front-suspended bike. Trust my word.

Some pictures:
View attachment 45158
It is the status of my Vado now. Note the risen handlebars.

View attachment 45159
On a ride

View attachment 45160
On a damaged road

View attachment 45161
On a commuter train

View attachment 45162
In the city


View attachment 45163
Just after the purchase and the first ride from Warsaw to my place
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Stefan, where do you live? You mentioned a Warsaw ride? I was born in Radom… I still have family there.
 
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