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

[Stefan Mikes]

Perhaps Marcela you could upgrade to the 12-speed SRAM AXS (the version that fits your HG freehub body) and go electronic?

 

[Marcela]

I could dig some electronic shifting. There is a lot of shifting with the 9 spd riding around town, lot of speed change, imagine a 12 spd would be even more. I could see the attraction of higher gear numbers if I was going to maintain a fast pace. Riding the wired ebike which has a 7 spd and that works really well, think if I had to change gear numbers it might be something like an 8 spd, bigger chain, if the gear selection was there. I have adjusted both the 9 and 7 spd gears for better spacing and am happy with them. I did try an 8 spd chain on the 9 spd cassette and it didn't work, well, it did work, but there was noise where the chain would rub the next cog.

I see there is now a 13 spd, that is a lot of gears. I would still try the electronic shifting with fewer gears, probably have to wait for the trickle down effect when they run out of things to change.

The present cable setup has worked well for 6 yrs and almost 4k miles with what should have been only a cable changeout. That's pretty good.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

I see there is now a 13 spd, that is a lot of gears.

Not only is the 13-speed cassette gross but also almost all 12-speed (and above) cassettes require a special freehub body (that you do not have). A SRAM xD or Shimano Microspline freehub body is necessary to hold a cassette with the smallest 10 or 9 teeth cog. SRAM PG-1230, 12-speed, 11-50T cassette is one of very few 12-speed cassettes that fit the standard HG freehub body (which probably you have on on your e-bike). Now, the electronic SRAM AXS derailleur and a wireless shifter work with such a cassette perfectly.

You are questioning the need of many gears. Well, I like having many gears as I prefer a smooth cadence over a wide range of terrain. For this reason, my mechanical 11-speed drivetrain on Vado and wireless 12-speed one on my Vado SL fulfill my specific needs. Your own preferences can be totally different!

The obvious benefit of the wireless drivetrain is the lack of any cable and very precise shifting that can be adjusted by an app at any time. You can downshift or upshift up to 3 gears at any time with a simple deep click. You can even allow shifting over the whole cassette range with a long press of the button! Yes, it is expensive and you need to recharge the derailleur battery at some time. Not that I recommend the wireless to you, just mentioning the options.