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

[Onimaru]

Hoping to ride my bike soon. Finally got my motor replaced. Test rode fine. Drove the bike home. Won’t power on now. Same behavior as if I try to turn on the TCD2 on my wife’s with the battery pulled.

So probably a loose connection from the wiring harness (Specialized had the LBS replace my motor, full wiring harness, and speed sensor). Back to the LBS today for (hopefully) a quick fix.

Will post a separate thread on the motor issue once it’s finally all resolved!

 

[Marcela]

when I had mine apart i zip tied the wires in a bundle and singles to doubles so they have support. Some of those wires are teeny weeny.

 

[Onimaru]

It was a quick fix. As expected, one of the harness clips didn’t fully seat and vibrated loose on the road.

 

[Marcela]

Boy I gotta pass this along. They make some awesome looking bikes. Resist. Resist. Resist.

polebicycles.com

 

[gpburdell]

Well look what followed me home today.

Stumbled on a five month old ‘22 Vado 4.0 with under 100 miles at a price that got me to rethink my intention to buy a 5.0.

Now to figure out what changes I need to make.

 

[CodyDog]

Well look what followed me home today.

Stumbled on a five month old ‘22 Vado 4.0 with under 100 miles at a price that got me to rethink my intention to buy a 5.0.

Now to figure out what changes I need to make.

View attachment 131988

Congrats!

 

[Marcela]

Well look what followed me home today.

Stumbled on a five month old ‘22 Vado 4.0 with under 100 miles at a price that got me to rethink my intention to buy a 5.0.

Now to figure out what changes I need to make.

View attachment 131988

Nice carrier. What brand is that? Nice bike too!

 

[gpburdell]

Nice carrier. What brand is that? Nice bike too!

Thanks.

Rack is a Super Duty Single from 1UP-USA. I like that it's fairly light and also expandable to two bikes with the Super Duty AddOn - of which two can be used for a total off three spots. There's a ramp option but we've not needed it.

1UP's stuff isn't cheap, but it's solidly built and they have great customer service if you have any questions.

Edit - I should add that when using with a bike with fenders you'll want to get a couple velcro cinch straps to secure the wheels to the trays, and thus not need to apply pressure on the rear fender. I still wrapped the spool with a small towel for cushioning. For extra "security" using a couple of the wheel locks from 1UP will ensure there's no way for the bike to exit the carrier.

Biggest thing I like is the modularity and the ability to adjust bikes to one side or the other to accomodate handbar/seat interference. Had a bugger of a time with my wife's Verve+2 and my hybrid on the Kuat NV 2.0 we started her with since the bike positioning is fairly static with just a little adjustment of the front wheel height. With the 1UP racks it's easy to ensure everything is clear.

 

[Onimaru]

Interesting morning. My LBS hosted a community ride this morning. About 8 folks showed up. Brought my daughter along on her Weehoo trailer.

About 3 miles from the end, my pedal fell off. I use the aluminum flats with pins from Specialized on some 21 mm extenders. I noticed the pins didn’t feel as grippy, looked down, saw the threads on the extender, as I went to brake it fell off.

Simple repair and back on the road with a snug up at the LBS when we returned. Still boggles my mind how it unthreaded without any back pedaling. The threads are designed specifically so that doesn’t happen.

Good news is got a good social 23 mile ride without issue since the motor swap!

 

[kahn]

Interesting morning. My LBS hosted a community ride this morning. About 8 folks showed up. Brought my daughter along on her Weehoo trailer.

About 3 miles from the end, my pedal fell off. I use the aluminum flats with pins from Specialized on some 21 mm extenders. I noticed the pins didn’t feel as grippy, looked down, saw the threads on the extender, as I went to brake it fell off.

Simple repair and back on the road with a snug up at the LBS when we returned. Still boggles my mind how it unthreaded without any back pedaling. The threads are designed specifically so that doesn’t happen.

Good news is got a good social 23 mile ride without issue since the motor swap!

I presume that the EXTENDERS are threaded to match either Left or Right pedals? But as I found with my Creo after a bike shop screw up (no pun intended). They had accidentally reversed the cranks which reversed the pedals and I think would also reverse the pedal threads meaning that they could have unscrewed?????? I only detected it after having trouble with my SPD cleats releasing from the backwards pedal.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Still boggles my mind how it unthreaded without any back pedaling. The threads are designed specifically so that doesn’t happen.

Probably not your case but it happened to me the pedal fell off twice, and it was a CrankBrothers Stamp 7, by no means a cheap pedal! The closer look revealed that the internal pedal bearings got stuck! Probably serviceable but I just replaced pedals with another set I had in my storage.

 

[gpburdell]

So today I decided to see if my Garmin Varia RTL515 works when mounted horizontally. Cobbled together a temporary mount and road a few miles at lunch.

I'd been considering how to mount my Varia to my Vado 4.0 so that it'd work both with and without a trunk bag on the rack. Only viable spot seemed to be where the reflector is - which is also where the 5.0 radar mounts.

Best I can tell it works as well horizontally as it does vertically - I'd watch for traffic in my mirror and I'd get alerts at the same sorts of distances and angles as I've been getting with it mounted normally on my roadbike.

So next step is to fabricate a bracket to go in place of the reflector, which I can then screw the quarter-turn base into.

 

[kahn]

So today I decided to see if my Garmin Varia RTL515 works when mounted horizontally. Cobbled together a temporary mount and road a few miles at lunch.

I'd been considering how to mount my Varia to my Vado 4.0 so that it'd work both with and without a trunk bag on the rack. Only viable spot seemed to be where the reflector is - which is also where the 5.0 radar mounts.

Best I can tell it works as well horizontally as it does vertically - I'd watch for traffic in my mirror and I'd get alerts at the same sorts of distances and angles as I've been getting with it mounted normally on my roadbike.

So next step is to fabricate a bracket to go in place of the reflector, which I can then screw the quarter-turn base into.

View attachment 132125

I like your experiment. What I have not ascertained is how it responds to approaching vehicles if you have it on BLINK mode. Blink uses a lot less battery. I know when the light is set for solid, it will blink to help alert rear approaching traffic. But if it is already on a blink mode, I don't know what it does in that case?

 

[GuruUno]

I ride with the https://www.rei.com/product/752285/bike-peddler-take-a-look-mirror on my glasses.
Although my Vado and Como have the Garmin built in, I turn it off, I find it annoying.
I can see what is coming, and the constant notifications and alert screens are most likely for those who prefer that means of notification.
Just sayin'

 

[gpburdell]

I like your experiment. What I have not ascertained is how it responds to approaching vehicles if you have it on BLINK mode. Blink uses a lot less battery. I know when the light is set for solid, it will blink to help alert rear approaching traffic. But if it is already on a blink mode, I don't know what it does in that case?

I'll have to check, I'm not sure. On my road bike I always have both the Varia and a Bontrager Flare RT ANT+ rear light, both paired to my Edge 830. Default ends up that the Edge sets the Flare to flash and turns off the Varia light. Then the Varia flashes when it picks up approaching traffic.

 

[gpburdell]

I ride with the https://www.rei.com/product/752285/bike-peddler-take-a-look-mirror on my glasses.
Although my Vado and Como have the Garmin built in, I turn it off, I find it annoying.
I can see what is coming, and the constant notifications and alert screens are most likely for those who prefer that means of notification.
Just sayin'

As with any tool there's situations where it's helpful and situations where it isn't.

If you're riding where you're constantly being overtaken by cars and trucks, sure, the Varia can become more nuisance than benefit.

That's not really where I ride though.

I prefer less busy suburban and rural roads where traffic tends to be relatively light. I do also use a mirror and typically the Varia alerts me to a car before I can easily see it. They hide well in tree cover shadows on windy roads. There's also the aspect where the Varia lets me know of multiple cars behind me rather than the one I can easily see - since my attention is often on the not-so-great road surface - and I know to hold the edge after the first car passes.

I guess that's a good argument for having the Varia not built into the bicycle - if I were to go into the city or use some crowded MUP I can easily just not turn it on or put it on the bike.

 

[Onimaru]

As with any tool there's situations where it's helpful and situations where it isn't.

If you're riding where you're constantly being overtaken by cars and trucks, sure, the Varia can become more nuisance than benefit.

That's not really where I ride though.

I prefer less busy suburban and rural roads where traffic tends to be relatively light. I do also use a mirror and typically the Varia alerts me to a car before I can easily see it. They hide well in tree cover shadows on windy roads. There's also the aspect where the Varia lets me know of multiple cars behind me rather than the one I can easily see - since my attention is often on the not-so-great road surface - and I know to hold the edge after the first car passes.

I guess that's a good argument for having the Varia not built into the bicycle - if I were to go into the city or use some crowded MUP I can easily just not turn it on or put it on the bike.

The version built into the 5.0 can easily be silenced using the handlebar remote while riding. I turn mine on when I’m on road and off once I hit bike path so it’s not annoying me when I don’t need it. Super simple to do.

 

[gpburdell]

The version built into the 5.0 can easily be silenced using the handlebar remote while riding. I turn mine on when I’m on road and off once I hit bike path so it’s not annoying me when I don’t need it. Super simple to do.

Are you doing something other than going into Settings->Setup->Sensors->Radar to change whether or not the TCD-w 2 emits a tone? 'cuz I can do that if I wish.

If there's some other method not in the user manual I'd like to know so I can give it a try. I'd be surprised if there were a UI difference.

 

[gpburdell]

So today's lunchtime project was to add some screen protection to the TCD-w 2 on my '22 Vado 4.0

Many might say it's unnecessary, and that's fine, but having scratched the display of my Bontrager RideTime Elite on my analog hybrid, I'd rather play safe than sorry.

First step - I made a template using some thin painters tape over the display, then with my fingernail I creased the tape at the edge of the clear display. Fine tip sharpie to trace that edge. Not a well defined edge/lip so it jumped a bit but did well enough.


Next, I transferred the tape to some 2" helitape I already had on hand and carefully cut just inside the line. (yes I started with template on front but decided to move it to the backing paper instead)


Finally I cleaned the display and applied the helitape in the usual manner of applying any of the 3M paint protection film based screen protectors.


It of course has the usual orange peel effect, but that doesn't bother me. As it's not touch screen no worries of decreased sensitivity. Perhaps if someday there's a tempered glass I might switch to that but for now I'm pleased with the result of a few minutes effort using stuff already on hand.

 

[Onimaru]

Are you doing something other than going into Settings->Setup->Sensors->Radar to change whether or not the TCD-w 2 emits a tone? 'cuz I can do that if I wish.

If there's some other method not in the user manual I'd like to know so I can give it a try. I'd be surprised if there were a UI difference.

That’s it. There’s another way in Mission Control to do it as well.