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

[Kam1936]

I'm a process engineer and I seem to understand numbers I cannot understand obscure explanations though.

Will you care answering my questions or shall I run an experiment?

@Stefan Mikes. Hey. So I got this stuff. I know I need the tubes. Lbs is thriving still with COVID -19. The manager was too busy to take me through a crash course on the items. From what I understand the NM is important when tightening. She told me the lever is for flats. That's news to me. I have no idea whose on first. However, I'm anxious to learn. I'm willing to pay for step by step instructions to change out front and back tire in case I flatten out. Is this everything I need? And are you up for the task? Mind you nothing pretty like being on a bike stand. I haven't gotten around to that yet. I need step by step visual instructions for dummies like myself on the side of the road for fixing a flat. I'm willing to pay for the demo and walk through. The Youtube videos assume a lot. Rather then a patch job, I want to change out the entire tube. And learn how to do the patch job at home.

 

[Nxkharra]

@Stefan Mikes. Hey. So I got this stuff. I know I need the tubes. Lbs is thriving still with COVID -19. The manager was too busy to take me through a crash course on the items. From what I understand the NM is important when tightening. She told me the lever is for flats. That's news to me. I have no idea whose on first. However, I'm anxious to learn. I'm willing to pay for step by step instructions to change out front and back tire in case I flatten out. Is this everything I need? And are you up for the task? Mind you nothing pretty like being on a bike stand. I haven't gotten around to that yet. I need step by step visual instructions for dummies like myself on the side of the road for fixing a flat. I'm willing to pay for the demo and walk through. The Youtube videos assume a lot. Rather then a patch job, I want to change out the entire tube. And learn how to do the patch job at home.

@Kam1936 one of the friends on this forum recommended this inexpensive devise which could be used in the field or at home without the need to own a stand. I have ordered it for the road.
just a recommendation.
@Stefan Mikes encouraged me to change the tires (Specialized Trigger to Schwalbe E Plus) of my Vado 5 myself as opposed to LBS.
I did so last week and worked well.
I know you can do this. I am not mechanically inclined.

 

[Sierratim]

@Stefan Mikes. Hey. So I got this stuff. I know I need the tubes. Lbs is thriving still with COVID -19. The manager was too busy to take me through a crash course on the items. From what I understand the NM is important when tightening. She told me the lever is for flats. That's news to me. I have no idea whose on first. However, I'm anxious to learn. I'm willing to pay for step by step instructions to change out front and back tire in case I flatten out. Is this everything I need? And are you up for the task? Mind you nothing pretty like being on a bike stand. I haven't gotten around to that yet. I need step by step visual instructions for dummies like myself on the side of the road for fixing a flat. I'm willing to pay for the demo and walk through. The Youtube videos assume a lot. Rather then a patch job, I want to change out the entire tube. And learn how to do the patch job at home.

Torque, often expressed in inch-pounds or newton-meters (NM), is an important spec to correctly tighten fasteners on your bike. The Ritchey tool your LBS gave you is a torque wrench preset to 4NM, a common, but not all-encompassing, bike spec. You can use this for some basic adjustment and service tasks. I would recommend a more fully-featured multi-tool to take on rides and a couple of more tools for your home shop, but that's another topic. I like the Topeak Alien II multi-tool, but there are lots of choices.

Park Tool, the maker of the other tool your LBS gave you (a tire lever), has a wonderful set of free instructional videos available to the public. These are accessible from their web site, parktool.com, and their YouTube channel; https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzaZ1sPWEuZN-I8_XT6AH8g.

I use these videos to help teach local youth groups how to repair a flat; https://www.parktool.com/blog/repair-help/wheel-removal-and-installation, https://www.parktool.com/blog/repair-help/tire-and-tube-removal-and-installation, https://www.parktool.com/blog/repair-help/inner-tube-repair after which they remove their wheel, tire, and tube. I then give them a tube with a hole. Their job is to find and patch the hole, pressure tets their patch, and then make their bikes ready to ride again. It's good to practice.

Removing either wheel on a Vado requires a 5mm hex wrench. It seems that this bit is included with the Ritchey tool, but the torque setting for the through axel is 15NM as I recall so you'll likely need a different tool to remove the axle. As I mentioned, I'd recommend you carry a basic bike tool with this bit plus tire levers (2 minimum), a patch kit, a spare tube, and a Presta compatible pump on your rides. Flats happen. For the spare tubes, I always coat them with baby powder to keep them from vulcanizing to the tire casing, ruining both. I carry the powdered spare tube in a zip lock bag in my saddlebag with the other pieces and parts needed for a flat repair.

Using a work stand does make flat repair easier. In the field, some turn the bike upside down. I leave the bike upright and lean it against a tree, bench or whatever after removing a wheel. This is straight forward for the front wheel. For the rear you want to keep the drive train out of the dirt. I put the kickstand down and position the bike near something it can lean against (tree, bench, etc). Start by shifting to the smallest cog on the cassette (per the video). Then standing at the rear of the bike turn the derailleur clutch to off and remove the through-axle with one hand while supporting the bike with the other. Next extend the derailleur fully with one hand while pulling the wheel out with the other (this takes a bit of 'jiggling' and leaning the bike into its nearby tree or whatever). Leave the bike supported on its kickstand and tree and make the repair. Reverse the process to install the wheel.

The process is a bit awkward at first but gets easier with practice.

BTW - Your hands are going to get a bit grimey. I carry a couple of individually packaged degreaser wipes to clean up after a field repair. Grease Monkey wipes are my preferred brand, though the individual packs are getting hard to find. In the shop I keep a spray bottle of an 'orange' degreaser and paper shop towels around for this.

Hope this helps. Practice makes perfect.

Ride on.

 

[Nxkharra]

I just bought a pair of handlebar jacks. It's much, much easier to work on an ebike, epecially if it's a hub drive, when the bike is upside down.

@Deacon Blues what is the best and easiest way to turn the heavy bike upside down without hurting bike components and/or yourself. I realize you might not have used yours yet.
I am getting mine tomorrow and hope I never have to use it in the field.

 

[Sierratim]

@Deacon Blues what is the best and easiest way to turn the heavy bike upside down without hurting bike components and/or yourself. I realize you might not have used yours yet.
I am getting mine tomorrow and hope I never have to use it in the field.

The bike weight is the biggest concern I have with these handlebar jacks.

 

[Nxkharra]

The bike weight is the biggest I have with these handlebar jacks.

@Sierratim please elaborate. I don’t get it.

 

[Sierratim]

The Vado, with battery, weighs ~50lbs. If you're riding solo you need to rotate this heavy bike without assistance to make use of the handle bar jacks. When I was younger I used to do this with my ~25lb mechanical. I quit doing this as my back got more sensitive to the stress. At 70, I'm not sure my back could take the weight of the Vado as I rotated it.

 

[Nxkharra]

The Vado, with battery, weighs ~50lbs. If you're riding solo you need to rotate this heavy bike without assistance to make use of the handle bar jacks. When I was younger I used to do this with my ~25lb mechanical. I quit doing this as my back got more sensitive to the stress. At 70, I'm not sure my back could take the weight of the Vado as I rotated it.

That is one of the major reasons I asked. The thought of taking the heavy bike upside down scares me. May be I can ask for a help if I need it in the field.

 

[Sierratim]

That is one of the major reasons I asked. The thought of taking the heavy bike upside down scares me. May be I can ask for a help if I need it in the field.

Or, you coild leave it upright and lean it against a tree. Just sayin'...

 

[Stefan Mikes]

@Stefan Mikes. Hey. So I got this stuff.

Taking the wheel out (especially the rear one) from the Vado and replacing the tube were one of the most appalling experiences I had; replacing the wheel was just horrific, even if I had the workstand and could rotate the bike freely. The major problem was everything was so heavy and the Electrak tyres were very stiff. I wouldn't dare to replace the tube in the field myself.

That's the reason I keep very strong Elektrak Armadillo tyres on the Vado and the Marathon E Plus ones on the Lovelec. To increase the chance of survival, I have used the Michelin Protek Max inner tubes (durable and self-repairing). Other people -- especially in the U.S. -- use Tannus Armor and fill their inner tubes with Slime.

In case of a flat, I try having a "support and gear" car available by a phone call. As I am alone now, Mr. Andrzej the local cab driver would be happy to drive to help me. I can at least take the front wheel off (with a simple size 5 Allen key) to shorten the bike for the transportation in the car so he could take me and the Vado home.

Sierratim has described the procedure very well. The point is, I couldn't do that on the ride myself. I could do that with a traditional bike: Just place the lightweight bike upside down on the handlebars and the saddle, remove the wheels with the quick release and so on. The e-bike is just too heavy.

One important thing already explained is you need to tighten the thru-axle bolt with 15 Nm torque, using the 5 mm hex bit.

 

[Kam1936]

Taking the wheel out (especially the rear one) from the Vado and replacing the tube were one of the most appalling experiences I had; replacing the wheel was just horrific, even if I had the workstand and could rotate the bike freely. The major problem was everything was so heavy and the Electrak tyres were very stiff. I wouldn't dare to replace the tube in the field myself.

That's the reason I keep very strong Elektrak Armadillo tyres on the Vado and the Marathon E Plus ones on the Lovelec. To increase the chance of survival, I have used the Michelin Protek Max inner tubes (durable and self-repairing). Other people -- especially in the U.S. -- use Tannus Armor and fill their inner tubes with Slime.

In case of a flat, I try having a "support and gear" car available by a phone call. As I am alone now, Mr. Andrzej the local cab driver would be happy to drive to help me. I can at least take the front wheel off (with a simple size 5 Allen key) to shorten the bike for the transportation in the car so he could take me and the Vado home.

Sierratim has described the procedure very well. The point is, I couldn't do that on the ride myself. I could do that with a traditional bike: Just place the lightweight bike upside down on the handlebars and the saddle, remove the wheels with the quick release and so on. The e-bike is just too heavy.

One important thing already explained is you need to tighten the thru-axle bolt with 15 Nm torque, using the 5 mm hex bit.

Thanks for the info. Lbs has a workshop on Thursdays. Due to COVID-19 it's shutdown until further notice. How do you know it's tightened to 15 nm with a regular 5 mm hex? I have regular . I thought there was a special tool at lbs for that but I only was able to get 4 nm one. I'd like to see a Video of someone changing out the tube in on the side of the road on the Vado. I know practice makes perfect. I learn better with visual and someone showing me or hands on. Explaining doesn't do much for me. I need to see. And then do it myself. For example, I watched a step by step instruction video of how to take apart a hp computer, upgrade processor, ram, WiFi card and fan. After taking it apart and putting it back together a couple of times with pictures, I was able to confidently do on my own pretty fast. That being said, Vado is not a laptop. A whole new ball game.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

How do you know it's tightened to 15 nm with a regular 5 mm hex? I have regular .

You unscrew the bolt with the regular wrench. You tighten it with the torque wrench, which is both a tool and an instrument.

 

[Kam1936]

This is from the emtb forum. Came from someone who rep'd Specialized. Thought it was useful so here goes. Here is the link to the full thread also.

Mission Control - Understanding Support vs Peak Power in Mission Control App v2.0

Hi Specialized I have a 2019 Turbo Levo. I'm wanting clarification of Support vs Peak Power plse. Have read forum answers where I can and I think I've established that at 100% Support and 100% Peak Power, with a 500w battery, say rider input of 100 watts then bike will deliver 320w (3.2 x...

www.emtbforums.com

Support = the multiplier of rider power added by the motor
Peak Power = maximum electrical power available to supply the motor

In terms of support, each e-Bike motor is slightly different. 100% on the slider means 4.1x rider power for 2019 Levo (2.1 motor), 3.8x for 2018 Levo (1.3 motor) and 3.2x for older Levo (1.2)

When you talk about motor power, bear in mind that two types of power regularly get confused when discussing e-bikes:

a) Electrical input power (battery power that the motor consumes)
b) Mechanical output power (motor power that is added to rider power at the crank)

Mission Control (+ all other apps using ANT data) measure the electrical input power to the motor (Battery Voltage x Current). This is what you see if you view the stats page whilst riding, and it's what you limit when you reduce peak power - if you reduce peak power to 50% you're effectively limiting the motor to draw up to 50% of maximum permitted battery current. Reducing peak power therefore helps you to preserve battery life/range.

In the real world, what you actually care about/feel is the mechanical output power of the motor. Motors are not 100% efficient, some power is lost to heat so let's use 75% efficiency as an arbitrary estimate. In this example, for every 100W of electrical power the battery supplies to the motor you'd get 75W mechanical power at the crank.

However there are two other things to bear in mind - YOU are not 100% efficient either, often riding in the wrong gear and asking the motor to do all the hard work - PLUS the motor is happiest when you ride in the right gear at a good cadence - let's say 70-90 rpm. So when you're riding in optimum gear and around 80rpm, you're turning 75% of the electrical power consumed into mechanical power - but when you're riding in the wrong gear at 40rpm uphill don't expect the same results!

Below is a graph (data presented by us but measured/validated by an independent lab) showing how power varies with cadence for a number of motors - you can see that aiming for a constant cadence of around 80-90rpm will not only give you optimum power but also efficiency. Whether you are after power or range, pedaling at the right RPM makes a big difference.

To put all of this together, let's talk through the default support settings in Mission Control. You can change these to suit your riding style at any time, but let's use these as an example.

In Turbo mode on a 2019 Levo with 4.1x rider support at 100%, you'll only need to put in about 140W rider power for the motor to supply you with the maximum assist of 560W (taken from the graph above), assuming you're spinning at about 80-90 rpm. Lots of fun, also useful to get to the trail but possibly too powerful for steep climbing - especially if the ground covering is loose.

On the same bike with Support set to 35%, you're getting approx 1.5x rider support. This will feel much more natural to ride and you'll use less battery - in Trail mode with 100% peak power the motor will still reach it's maximum assist of 560W but this time you need to put in 390W rider power to get there. You get more of a work out and in practice you'll use far less battery. Aim for this mode to give you the best blend of power and efficiency so that you also have optimum control for trail riding.

In Eco mode with support set to 35% you still have approx 1.5x rider support - however you're now limited to 35% peak power (35% of 560W is approx 200W maximum motor assistance). In practice this means that you'll get linear support from the motor up until you put in about 140W rider power (200W added from the motor), but above 140W rider power you'll still only receive 200W support from the motor. This is great to preserve battery life but if you hit that peak support limit whilst climbing something steep, you have to make up all the extra with your legs.

Note: All power mentioned in this Mission Control example is mechanical power output by the motor. If you look in the stats screen of Mission Control whilst riding you will see electrical power consumed by the motor which will be higher. Re-read this article a few times and if still completely unsure...

I'm not promoting Blevo over Mission Control App. I'm a consumer of both. I do think Blevo does better in real time stats of showing what you are trying to explain. Way better.

 

[Sierratim]

Thanks for the info. Lbs has a workshop on Thursdays. Due to COVID-19 it's shutdown until further notice. How do you know it's tightened to 15 nm with a regular 5 mm hex? I have regular . I thought there was a special tool at lbs for that but I only was able to get 4 nm one. I'd like to see a Video of someone changing out the tube in on the side of the road on the Vado. I know practice makes perfect. I learn better with visual and someone showing me or hands on. Explaining doesn't do much for me. I need to see. And then do it myself. For example, I watched a step by step instruction video of how to take apart a hp computer, upgrade processor, ram, WiFi card and fan. After taking it apart and putting it back together a couple of times with pictures, I was able to confidently do on my own pretty fast. That being said, Vado is not a laptop. A whole new ball game.

An adjustable torque wrench is a tool that you'll want to get for your shop. 2-24Nm is a good range. These are ~$50 and up. They're too big to take in the field. In the field you need to improvise. 1Nm = ~0.74ft-lbs so 15Nm = 11ft-lbs. If your 5mm hex is 6 inches long you'd need to apply 22lbs of force to get the right torque on the through axle. My bike multi-tool is ~4" long so i need to apply 33lbs of force, i.e. I need to really crank on that guy. When I get home I correctly set the torque with the torque wrench.

 

[Kam1936]

An adjustable torque wrench is a tool that you'll want to get for your shop. 2-24Nm is a good range. These are ~$50 and up. They're too big to take in the field. In the field you need to improvise. 1Nm = ~0.74ft-lbs so 15Nm = 11ft-lbs. If your 5mm hex is 6 inches long you'd need to apply 22lbs of force to get the right torque on the through axle. My bike multi-tool is ~4" long so i need to apply 33lbs of force, i.e. I need to really crank on that guy. When I get home I correctly set the torque with the torque wrench.

Here's what I have. Do I need any more tools than these for flat out in the field?

 

[Sierratim]

Here's what I have. Do I need any more tools than these for flat out in the field?

Yes. In addition to your multi-tool with a 5mm hex you'll need 2 tire levers, a patch kit, a spare tube, and a Presta compatible pump. Why a patch kit and a spare tube? Because on some days one flat is not enough. My record is 3.

I also carry a CO2 inflator. I find using the pump to be way too tedious, esp when its hot. The larger volume Vado tires need either a 25gram (more $) or the most part of 2-16gram (less $) cartridges.

 

[Kam1936]

Yes. In addition to your multi-tool with a 5mm hex you'll need 2 tire levers, a patch kit, a spare tube, and a Presta compatible pump. Why a patch kit and a spare tube? Because on some days one flat is not enough. My record is 3.

I also carry a CO2 inflator. I find using the pump to be way too tedious, esp when its hot. The larger volume Vado tires need either a 25gram (more $) or the most part of 2-16gram (less $) cartridges.

Thanks. Then I guess I'm all set. Now comes the practice. Also, I don't have patches, just guessing spare tubes are good enough. I think you mentioned that you didn't get any added protection in your original tires. I had these installed in my triggers when I first got my Vado. I was going to slime them too but the bike mechanic told me this would be enough against thorns along with tire liners. I did put slime in my marathon plus tires for additional protection. That ebike has shraeder valve. It was easy and straight forward. The presta valve seems it would be more complicated.

 

[Kam1936]

Thanks. Then I guess I'm all set. Now comes the practice. Also, I don't have patches, just guessing spare tubes are good enough. I think you mentioned that you didn't get any added protection in your original tires. I had these installed in my triggers when I first got my Vado. I was going to slime them too but the bike mechanic told me this would be enough against thorns along with tire liners. I did put slime in my marathon plus tires for additional protection. That ebike has shraeder valve. It was easy and straight forward. The presta valve seems it would be more complicated.

I forgot attachment.

 

[Sierratim]

I forgot attachment.

Looks like you're good to go.

I do patch my tubes, just can't stand throwing away a $6 tube when a patch costs pennies (sheets of 50, Ebay). Never had a patch fail.

 

[Kam1936]

Looks like you're good to go.

I do patch my tubes, just can't stand throwing away a $6 tube when a patch costs pennies (sheets of 50, Ebay). Never had a patch fail.

Thank you. I didn't mean throw away. I would patch the tube at home instead of in the field. I'm thinking of having them slimed for extra protection, the one in there now.