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

[Stefan Mikes]

Swapping to a smaller chainring isn't likely to speed him up, it'd just make the pedaling easier (by making each stroke do less). I'd guess he just keeps the motor turned down instead of increasing the assist on the hills? That is one thing I really wish ebikes could get better at...automatically boosting the assist when you're climbing.

With the 48T chainring, he must be pedalling at very low cadence making both his legs and the motor far less efficient.

 

[Marcela]

With the 48T chainring, he must be pedalling at very low cadence making both his legs and the motor far less efficient.

Agree here! Smaller chainring can make more perceived power and torque because of the leverage, while the different choices available of rear gear can increase speed.

 

[rayray]

Well, chainring size does matter, but so does the cassette. My chainring is a 46t, and my cassette is 10-50t. I rarely need my lowest 3 gears, though they’re appreciated when I do. In my case, a smaller chainring would not be fun.

 

[kahn]

Well, chainring size does matter, but so does the cassette. My chainring is a 46t, and my cassette is 10-50t. I rarely need my lowest 3 gears, though they’re appreciated when I do. In my case, a smaller chainring would not be fun.

You must live in a different, less hilly Seattle than I do or are years younger!

 

[rayray]

You must live in a different, less hilly Seattle than I do or are years younger!

I’m not in Seattle proper, just nearby, and I try to avoid killer hills most days. But I do love a good one on occasion, so I can tell my wife about it.

As to age; 68. Funny story, just today, I got a haircut, and requested their senior discount. The gal looked up at me with a skeptical expression, and said “over 55?”. I laughed, told her my age, and tipped her well. I wonder if she does that with all the old men.

 

[ChezCheese:)]

Mine 2018 Vado 6.0 was converted at my Specialized dealer. Last summer the motor had stopped working and upon analysis the shop rep said they were upgrading to the TCD. And Specialized covered the cost!! A free upgrade on a 5 year old bike. I’m still a bit stunned.
Not sure what your results will be but maybe it’s negotiable.

My next ebike will be a Specialized, purchased through the dealer. A new Como step through, as soon as they are available for test ride.

So you had not bought your bike new/at a dealer? Because we got this one used, and I don't know if a dealer will be willing to do much, since we didn't get it from them. Maybe I just have low expectations of modern business...

 

[kahn]

I’m not in Seattle proper, just nearby, and I try to avoid killer hills most days. But I do love a good one on occasion, so I can tell my wife about it.

As to age; 68. Funny story, just today, I got a haircut, and requested their senior discount. The gal looked up at me with a skeptical expression, and said “over 55?”. I laughed, told her my age, and tipped her well. I wonder if she does that with all the old men.

You are years younger but not off the mark by much. I'm now closer to 80 than 70! My friend keeps trying to get me to go down the hill to the beach at Discovery Park but I don't think the Creo can climb back up. My converted Davidson did it twice but stalled on the third attempt about a block from the top. I pushed it up the rest. I thought I had burned out the motor. But it did restart but I've never tried it again and refuse with the Creo. The motor on the Davidson is stronger but the front hub makes it twitchy - particularly up really steep hills.

 

[rayray]

You are years younger but not off the mark by much. I'm now closer to 80 than 70! My friend keeps trying to get me to go down the hill to the beach at Discovery Park but I don't think the Creo can climb back up. My converted Davidson did it twice but stalled on the third attempt about a block from the top. I pushed it up the rest. I thought I had burned out the motor. But it did restart but I've never tried it again and refuse with the Creo. The motor on the Davidson is stronger but the front hub makes it twitchy - particularly up really steep hills.

I have two older brothers, one “closer to 80”, and the other not far behind. Neither of them is capable of riding at all, let alone walking without difficulty. I’ve been blessed with good fortune in that regard. My body may hurt, but it’s still functional….and riding makes me hurt less.

I haven’t yet tested my Creo with the absolute worst of hills to determine what it’s capable of, but in my case I suspect the rider would shut down first. On the other hand, my previous bike, with 85nm of torque, would climb anything. However, it sometimes felt like instead of riding it, it was taking me for a ride, and it had no motor tuning options. I find the Creo, with Mission Control and BLEvo, and it’s lower weight and more nimble handling, to be much more fun overall.

 

[BEC111]

I’m not in Seattle proper, just nearby, and I try to avoid killer hills most days. But I do love a good one on occasion, so I can tell my wife about it.

As to age; 68. Funny story, just today, I got a haircut, and requested their senior discount. The gal looked up at me with a skeptical expression, and said “over 55?”. I laughed, told her my age, and tipped her well. I wonder if she does that with all the old men.

She doesn’t, actually. She can’t imagine someone being older than their grand parents. (I’m 74)

 

[kahn]

I have two older brothers, one “closer to 80”, and the other not far behind. Neither of them is capable of riding at all, let alone walking without difficulty. I’ve been blessed with good fortune in that regard. My body may hurt, but it’s still functional….and riding makes me hurt less.

I haven’t yet tested my Creo with the absolute worst of hills to determine what it’s capable of, but in my case I suspect the rider would shut down first. On the other hand, my previous bike, with 85nm of torque, would climb anything. However, it sometimes felt like instead of riding it, it was taking me for a ride, and it had no motor tuning options. I find the Creo, with Mission Control and BLEvo, and it’s lower weight and more nimble handling, to be much more fun overall.

We just have to keep on moving. Today was Wallace Falls and last week, Heybrook Lookout. Various hills on the various loops I do out of Wallingford. Longest rides this year are the Edmonds loop and we did Mercer Island over the 520 and back via I-90 last week.

 

[rayray]

Yes. Use it or lose it.

I’m more and more loving riding. I rode 3 times last week for a total of 116 miles, and felt great, though tired, after each ride. Conversely, I’ve been unable to ride the past 5 days, and the aches and pains are noticeable. Tomorrow I’ll finally ride again, and I can’t wait!

 

[Stefan Mikes]

would climb anything.

A 19% ascent?
My big Vado is 90 Nm yet I needed 38-46T gearing for serious long climbs.

 

[rayray]

A 19% ascent?
My big Vado is 90 Nm yet I needed 38-46T gearing for serious long climbs.

You missed the implied “anything reasonable”.

 

[Marcela]

I picked up an old Puch bike, probably from the late 70s early 80s. Kind of reminded me of my old Montgomery Wards 10 spd, thought I'd do a R & R on it.

Was comparing chains. The difference between the 11 spd chains and the 5-9 spd chains is quite noticeable. I don't have an 1/8" chain to compare but that would look like a motorcycle chain in comparison to the 11 spd. It's no wonder now why my 10 spd chain on the conventional bike lasted quite so long in comparison to these 11 spd chains on the ebike.

So I'm considering on my next drivetrain R & R on Como to change it out to the 9 spd stuff. The parts are a lot cheaper and the shifter is only around $25. Give up two cassette gears for that might not be so bad around here with limited hill terrain. Too bad can't toss the 9 spd chain on the 11 gear drivetrain.

 

[Marcela]

Getting pieces together.

Anybody know the length of their Como or Vado 9 spd chain? Thanks.

 

[ChezCheese:)]

So we haven't gotten my husband's Vado 6 upgraded from BLOKS to TCD display yet, but yesterday I did have a chance to swap bikes with him so he could see if my BH Atom Diamond Wave Pro's Brose motor felt like it was giving him more or less torque, and I could see if his Vado was doing the needful on hills.

First of all, after having readjusted my handlebars on my BH so I am more upright, I have to say that the long downward reach on the Vado felt absurd. (This is also because I have longer legs and had to raise the Vado seat such that the Vado handlebars were lower than the seat, so not the right size bike for me.) Anyway, I tested out the assist and what I found was that it seemed like the assist in Turbo cut out. It would cut out and cut in. It felt like that tug when you reach 19.8 mph on a Class 1. When it was in, it was giving the kind of torque assist I would expect, but it kept popping in and out. So I'm thinking it needs a diagnosis from an ebike mechanic. Has anyone else experienced this?

Other than that, the Vado is a super ebike. Really smooth and accelerates fast. A classy bike! If I ever want to get a new ebike, I'll definitely be looking at a Como.

For his part, my husband said my bike was "Alright." Which is not useful, thank you, dear. He says he may have been in the wrong gear, which is odd coming from somebody who is a very experienced cyclist. He also said he preferred the more aggressive geometry of his Vado to my more upright BH.

This test was on the Olympic Discovery Trail, on a long but not too radical uphill. We will try another test on our home hill, which we both know well and which is the hill we really need to conquer every time we ride.

 

[Marcela]

For the 11 spd to 9 spd conversion on my Como 5, I have installed the 12-36 9 spd cassette in place of the oem 11 spd piece, it is a direct replacement, no spacers, etc. needed. I installed the 9 spd Alivio shifter and it comes with a cable, and it was an easy install. I was relieved when the cable went all the way through without any hitches, pulling the 11 spd shifter out with the cable is kind of a no going back type thing, but I suppose I could have removed the cable from the shifter if I was really worried, but it all came out and back in without any problems. There has to be a change between derailleurs because of the pull ratio difference which I just learned lately, so I ordered one and it should be in first of the week.

There is noticeable difference between widths of cogs and chains. In doing this exercise I'm expecting to extend chain and gear life at the sacrifice of 2 gears. I had a choice of the 11 or 12 top gear and went with the 12. The 36 low gear is the same for both.

Here are pics from left to right of a Schwinn chain I purchased at the local wally world for $7 for the old 10 spd I R&R'd, then an 8 spd, 9 spd, and the 11 spd far right. The two chains on the left should be the same, 9 spd thinner, 11 spd thinner yet. If there was a 10 spd chain it would split the difference between the 9 and 11, in plate width. The 8 spd is little thicker plate than the 9 spd and I think I may be able to use it. Shimano cogs which I am using are slightly thinner than Sram, and the 8 spd chain is that much thicker on the plates, so it may work.

All in I think I'm less than $150 on the change because of taxes, shipping was free through amazon. The shifter was $24, the cassette was $30, derailleur was $50.

I'll report back in a few weeks on the results.

 

[Marcela]

Well I got the change made form 11 spd to 9 spd, it's official now. I'm a niner. Everything installed easily. I was a little concerned about the amount of cable for the derailleur because the reach around for the 9 spd was more than the 11 spd, but there was enough, not too much though. Here's some pics. In the first you can see the difference in ratio between the arms. In the second you can see in the one the amount of cable pulled through from the front shifter to make up the bend by the scuffing on the outer sheath where it passed through the chain stay. The last is the display for the gears. Kind of reminds me of kindergarten where we used big pencils and crayons and ate the glue. So getting old can be like being young.......

And I am using an 8 spd chain without any problems. This gives you just a little more material than the 9 spd. Does it help? There are 980 miles on the Como mule right now. I'll report back sometime with the results. And I'm using the 36t chainring, 12-36 cassette, and 118t chain, though a 116 would work also.

 

[MrMackyB]

As a new Tero user (arrives Sat) I'm wondering has anyone connected their Garmin watch to their Tero? Is it possible or is it just the dedicated Garmin cycling computers?

 

[Marcela]

On my post above I made a mistake on the derailleur. The one I installed doesn't have the hanger which is part #4100, probably for a road bike with more compact cassette. The correct part # is 3100, has the hanger. #4100 works but not the correct part. Working on bikes is fraught with peril.