Wow, what a what a small world. My wife likes to go to the Berkshire meetings every year. Too many long lines for me. Next time you come we should get together and go for a ride. We can ride up the steepest and 2nd steepest hills as they are only 1.2 miles apart. Very pretty rides north of Omaha up the bluffs along the Missouri river. Hopefully, I will have my e bike by then.
Stefan, Yes it does help, thanks. Love the photo of you lifting your e bike.
Nice looking bike. Ohhhhh. I did not know Bianchi offered their color to Specialized.
That's my bike! I wanted the drop bars because of the extra hand positions even in the upright positions. Due to neck issues I am almost never in the drop position but move my hands around from the bars to the hood area. I'm more than a bit overweight and getting the Creo up some of our hills is definitely work or a workout. But that is what I wanted, some work, but also important was the overall weight of the bike. I have a few short flight of steps to get the bike into my house and HEAVIER was just not going to work.
With that dinner-plate-size sprocket on the rear I doubt there's an Omaha hill you can't conquer on an SL. It might take a while at the speed you'll go in the lowest gear, but with the assist you should make it. Hint: even when the motor is doing max assist, remember to shift down like you would if going on human power alone -- it makes it easier on the motor and draws less juice that way.
I was riding this morning and thinking about this ... why does cadence influence climbing so much? If you shift down and up the power to TRAIL or TURBO it's a lot easier to climb, rather than upping the power and simply stomping on the pedals without changing to a lower gear.
It's hard to simplify this without my over-simplifying it and getting jumped on by someone over a technicality, but (leaving the motor out of it) this is what's going on. Whether you shift to a lower gear or not, you will do the same amount of work (where "work" is defined in physics as moving a weight through a distance, i.e., you and your bike's weight up a vertical distance). "Power", on the other hand, is the "rate of doing work". So if some beefy guy rides in a higher gear and really mashes the pedals, he'll get to the top of the hill before the guy who is in a lower gear and spinning without having to apply as much force. At the top of the hill, they will both have done the same amount of work, but one of them will probably be more tired out by having exerted more power (burned more calories).I was riding this morning and thinking about this ... why does cadence influence climbing so much? If you shift down and up the power to TRAIL or TURBO it's a lot easier to climb, rather than upping the power and simply stomping on the pedals without changing to a lower gear.
I'm sure there's a good technical reason involving physics and stuff ...
I really like the Redshift suspension seat post smoothing out bumps on my Vado 4.0 SL EQ. Glad I bought it.Nice looking bike. Ohhhhh. I did not know Bianchi offered their color to Specialized.
Do you ride mostly road or trails?
I ride on city streets to local parks and the beautiful Eastbank Esplanade bike trail, which runs for miles along the Willamette River. No “off-road” stuff.
I don’t own a Vado (recent Creo purchaser), so I can’t speak to the need for a suspension seatpost. However I did add a Redshift post to my Trek 9.9S, and the difference was huge, in that my lower back was getting killed without it and was very comfortable with it. Unfortunately, the Redshift website says there’s a 242 lb. limit. It’d be worth a call to Redshift to inquire further about that weight limit if you think it’s needed on the Vado.
Seems like the Vado SL 5.0 has a rear light integrated in the seatpost, so maybe it won't be possible without losing the light. I guess I'll try it without first.
I have a Redshift on my SL 5.0 and I did have to remove the light. But, as mentioned above, the Redshift is probably not the best option given your weight. You might look into the Kinekt suspension posts that have a number of alternate spring weights available. In addition, I think that they can modify the post for a hole that the wiring for the light can pass through (still a bit of cut-and-splice required to do it I think).
Just got back from the creo sl test ride. OK, I'll admit it. I'm still smiling from ear to ear. Oops, I forgot to ask about mission control settings.
The hills around the bike shop weren't nearly as steep as the hills where I live are. I put the Creo sl into max assist and never needed the lowest gears. What a lovely machine. I'm pretty sure the turbo vado sl 5.0 will work great for my needs. The sales guy said it takes 2 to 3 weeks to get the bike in and built. I think I will put the 40t on front and some thinner tires, 32's or 35's. Still smiling a little.
It could be probably fit to my body (especially, if the bike were selected in the proper size) but the main difference is I could make a Metric Century on my Vado SL in the third day of my ownership but was overly tired after riding of 57 km on Creo.No reason whatsoever. Your Garmin will be a perfect display once connected to the SL e-bike by ANT+.
