Specialized Turbo Vado SL: An Incredible E-Bike (User Club)

[2wheelsgood]

Expensive to maintain these things it seems.

Just got an email asking me to book in for my 6 month service on my SL and it is £210 ($264)

 

[Rás Cnoic]

Expensive to maintain these things it seems.

Just got an email asking me to book in for my 6 month service on my SL and it is £210 ($264)

Jesus. Go on name & shame as that’s outrageous.

 

[Twowheelxtc]

Expensive to maintain these things it seems.

Just got an email asking me to book in for my 6 month service on my SL and it is £210 ($264)

So that would annually make it far more expensive than my car! Unbelievable and unnecessary. Ping the spokes, wiggle the headset and check chain wear. Plug in diagnostics. Can’t be more than 15mins work.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

So that would annually make it far more expensive than my car! Unbelievable and unnecessary. Ping the spokes, wiggle the headset and check chain wear. Plug in diagnostics. Can’t be more than 15mins work.

That is a wrong LBS.

 

[MartsEbike]

If you pay peanuts, you get monkeys....

 

[2wheelsgood]

If you pay peanuts, you get monkeys....

This is Balfes bikes which as I understand it is your LBS as well as mine?

They do a mini service for £150

 

[MartsEbike]

This is Balfes bikes which as I understand it is your LBS as well as mine?

They do a mini service for £150

View attachment 187898

Yeah I suspected it was from reading their website. They might not be cheap, but I did visit their Gatwick shop, and it was fully staffed on a Sunday. They must have had 6-7 people just in the repair/servicing workshop and another couple of people on the tills. Nice shop too. Compared to my actual LBS that has 1 person covering everything... and the owner turns his nose up at anything that isn't a £10k carbon racing bike.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Guys: Who of you needs a full service for 210 quids?!
It is not mandatory. It is actually totally unnecessary!

 

[Stefan Mikes]

I'll tell you what. Not sure how the things are done in the UK but Specialized Europe requests these actions to uphold the warranty:

• Register your e-bike at Specialized.com
• Have a Proof of Purchase (or hope your LBS has it in its digital archive) and keep the Warranty Card
• After 100-200 km ridden (or max 6 months post the purchase), meet the LBS once for the "mandatory service" that should be entered in the Warranty Card. That service cost me some 25 quids at Specialized Warsaw.

Then your warranty is upheld for 2 years, and you get a lifetime warranty on the frame (the latter works, proven; as long as you are the first owner).

In my two year ownership of Vado SL, I turned up for the "mandatory service" after a week of my ownership, and then did all servicing myself. As long as your Specialized e-bike does not break electrically (as it is the case of Marts), you can totally skip the LBS visits. I am not mechanically gifted but can do basic service action on my e-bikes myself... For me, the GBP210 offer is a kind of a scam Why should anyone need a "complete strip down and rebuild"?!

Yes, I brought my Vado SL for the firmware update 1 day post the warranty expiry. The salesman flashed my e-bike and additionally 4 Range Extenders not only post warranty but also completely free of charge!

That's the "right LBS" for you!

 

[MartsEbike]

Guys: Who of you needs a full service for 210 quids?!
It is not mandatory. It is actually totally unnecessary!

I'd do it myself, but there are plenty of rich people that are time poor around London. They had no shortage of bikes being serviced.

I'll tell you what. Not sure how the things are done in the UK but Specialized Europe requests these actions to uphold the warranty:

• Register your e-bike on Specialized.com
• Have a Proof of Purchase (or hope your LBS has it in its digital archive) and keep the Warranty Card
• After 100-200 km ridden (or max 6 months post the purchase), meet the LBS once for the "mandatory service" that should be entered in the Warranty Card. That service cost me some 25 quids at Specialized Warsaw.

After registration there is nothing extra required to uphold the warranty. It's not mandatory but many shops offer a free 6-week service.

To be honest Balfes registered my bike for warranty, so I didn't have to do anything. I just received an email to sign up on the Specialized website and it was done.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Martin, perhaps a £10,000 road bike requires total dismantling and then reassembling every 6 months but I think Balfes rather needs money to keep all their technicians employed

 

[Rás Cnoic]

This is Balfes bikes which as I understand it is your LBS as well as mine?

They do a mini service for £150

View attachment 187898

If it's an EMTB put through the wringer over several months of winter conditions or a high end road bike likewise & costing a few thousand pounds then perhaps a full service like this would be good. Though most people probably check and take care of their bikes themselves. Problem with an e bike is that unless the "complete strip down and rebuild' includes the motor then it's missing the most expensive part and the part that most needs checking for water etc. The rest of the components are usually so well made at this level that there is not much to check, and if a problem it'll be obvious previous to this.

The first maintenance check tends to be free. I had my one on my Vado Sl at The Bicycle Chain in Taunton - for free, part of the after sales service.

 

[Twowheelxtc]

If I ever owned a bike that needed ‘Frame reamed and faced where necessary’ I’d be straight back to the shop I bought it from demanding they sort it! Those are jobs done on a new frame before building up. My first check was free too. I asked the guys in the Specialiized shop what they did and he said it was mainly to check wheels for trueness, bearings for play and brake operation. I.e. normal non e-bike stuff. the motors are non serviceable dealers. They have done any software updates free as a matter of course.

 

[MartsEbike]

The first maintenance check tends to be free. I had my one on my Vado Sl at The Bicycle Chain in Taunton - for free, part of the after sales service.

The Bicycle Chain's "Gold service" is considerably more expensive than Balfes', but they'll charge the battery for you!

 

[Stefan Mikes]

While Balfes (or other British LBS) urge you to pay for expensive maintenance...
Specialized constantly sends me spam because perhaps I would buy yet another bike?

A Cannondale shop, which is located 5 km from my place also has the Gold and Silver services. It is as Martin said for rich but helpless people. I visit Jakoobcycles when I really need an advanced service such as a wheel repair or a new wheel build. We have even come to liking with Jakub: he knows I'm ready to pay and don't bother him with banal repairs

That was after Jakub convinced me I needed a new wheel built and then he returned the old wheel of my big Vado

April 14th, 2024. Jakub takes my Vado SL in for the tubeless setup. To enable me ride home and back on the next day, he lends me a historical bike that once belonged to the 1996 Olympic Champion Bart Brentjens , the new discipline called "Mountain Biking" Or, the same limited series bike.

 

[Allan47.7339]

So that would annually make it far more expensive than my car! Unbelievable and unnecessary. Ping the spokes, wiggle the headset and check chain wear. Plug in diagnostics. Can’t be more than 15mins work.

I just picked this comment to make a reply. I think you guys really went off the rails on this topic. The six months service is probably the only service some of the bikes will ever get. How many times do we see people posting on the forum to complain about the brand because they've basically ridden their bikes into the ground with no maintenance until they quit We are seeing really good local shops closing because it doesn't make financial sense to keep the doors open. The cost of service is location dependent and their meter is running 24/7 on their business expenses (rent, labor parts etc). Yes it might take 15 minutes to ping the spokes etc but the other 45 minutes or more to actually fix what they find. If it's not had any service the chain is probably crap along with the cassette.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Yes it might take 15 minutes to ping the spokes etc but the other 45 minutes or more to actually fix what they find. If it's not had any service the chain is probably crap along with the cassette.

It is not the rocket science to measure the chain stretch and replace the chain past the 0.5% mark. If someone is unable to replace the cassette or even individual cassette sprockets then let the shop do it but not for US$265. Adjusting the derailleur? There are YT videos how to do it. Replacing brake pads? About the easiest thing one can do.

I may sympathize with the owners of independent stores but it is why I am with Specialized owned shops after I paid the premium on their e-bikes. You may not realize it Allan as an American person but Specialized Europe has got rid of unprofitable dealers, at least judging by the example of Poland. Our province of Mazovia has 5 million inhabitants but Specialized left only 3 LBS in Warsaw/suburbs and one in Płock, the second largest city.

The world is changing.

Four dealerships in Mazovia, and one in Land of Łódź. But man, they do sell!

 

[Twowheelxtc]

I just picked this comment to make a reply. I think you guys really went off the rails on this topic. The six months service is probably the only service some of the bikes will ever get. How many times do we see people posting on the forum to complain about the brand because they've basically ridden their bikes into the ground with no maintenance until they quit We are seeing really good local shops closing because it doesn't make financial sense to keep the doors open. The cost of service is location dependent and their meter is running 24/7 on their business expenses (rent, labor parts etc). Yes it might take 15 minutes to ping the spokes etc but the other 45 minutes or more to actually fix what they find. If it's not had any service the chain is probably crap along with the cassette.

Hi Allan. I see your point but perhaps the contentious issue is that this is offered as a six month service I.e. giving the impression to those not too savvy that it should be carried out 6 monthly, which of course is somewhat misleading as most riders/bikes would not need that level of work. Also it doesn’t mention if any required parts are included….i suspect not. If it was just advertised as a ‘Premium Level Service’ maybe we wouldn’t be ‘off the rails’ .

 

[Jeremy McCreary]

Not complaining, mind you, but still struggling to account for (a) how fast my SL and I roll vis-a-vis other rider+bike combos of similar gross weight, and (b) how easy it is to pedal in OFF — even on modest hills.

I know that (a) contributes directly to (b) but can't help feeling that there's more to it. What, I can't say, but it's also unlikely to be aerodynamic.

The bare SL may be slightly aero, and I've tried to keep mine that way. But the riding position is still pretty upright, and no one would describe me as aero.

After offsetting differences in drag area (CdA), gross mass (M), and coefficient of rolling resistance (Cr) from the scenario above, the SL and I probably still have a roughly 9 mph crossover speed (Vc) — at which air resistance reaches 50% of total on smooth flat pavement in still air. In the figure caption above, TR = total resistance and RR = rolling resistance.

is around 10-12 mph on flat, smooth pavement in still air, as drag area (CdA) is probably closer to 0.50 than the 0.63 used above, and the coefficient of rolling resistance (Cr) with 38 mm Pathfinder Pro tubeless tires at 35 psi is probably closer to 0.005.

At the higher ground speeds generally involved in the observations in question, rolling resistance quickly becomes a small fraction of total, and I just can't see a big aerodynamic advantage in my favor.

What manner of sorcery be this?

 

[Twowheelxtc]

Not complaining, mind you, but still struggling to account for (a) how fast my SL and I roll vis-a-vis other rider+bike combos of similar gross weight, and (b) how easy it is to pedal in OFF — even on modest hills.

I know that (a) contributes directly to (b) but can't help feeling that there's more to it. What, I can't say, but it's also unlikely to be aerodynamic.

View attachment 187930
The bare SL may be slightly aero, and I've tried to keep mine that way. But the riding position is still pretty upright, and no one would describe me as aero.

View attachment 187929
After offsetting differences in drag area (CdA), gross mass (M), and coefficient of rolling resistance (Cr) from the scenario above, the SL and I probably still have a roughly 9 mph crossover speed (Vc) — at which air resistance reaches 50% of total on smooth flat pavement in still air. In the figure caption above, TR = total resistance and RR = rolling resistance.

is around 10-12 mph on flat, smooth pavement in still air, as drag area (CdA) is probably closer to 0.50 than the 0.63 used above, and the coefficient of rolling resistance (Cr) with 38 mm Pathfinder Pro tubeless tires at 35 psi is probably closer to 0.005.

At the higher ground speeds generally involved in the observations in question, rolling resistance quickly becomes a small fraction of total, and I just can't see a big aerodynamic advantage in my favor.

What manner of sorcery be this?

No Sorcery involved. It’s obviously the colour. Everyone knows red is the fastest and your experience proves that yellow must run a pretty close second!