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

Hi everyone,

Here's a picture of my bike's recent adventure. 🙃

IMG_3062.jpg

Grand Teton National Park
Jackson Hole, Wyoming​
 
grnmtnbk said:
Hi everyone,

Here's a picture of my bike's recent adventure. 🙃

View attachment 126183
Grand Teton National Park
Jackson Hole, Wyoming​
Click to expand...
I’m impressed that you can even ride at that elevation. I was planning on going for a day hike near Jackson Hole, but after walking up a stairway we knew that was not going to happen. We hired a guide and went for a great horseback trip.
 
so here's my derailleur pics on a 4.0 EQ. Mostly to show the difference in tire clearance between the 32 mm Gatorskins and the 42 mm Pathfinders. My chain can be shorter because the big cog on the casette is 36 instead of the original casette so my derailleur positions aren't quite as extreme.
 

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2022-06-17 09.47.58.jpg


I got my SL 5.0 out on some of our gravelly trails that I'm very familiar with yesterday for the first time, comparing it to both my Vado 4.0 and my old Crosstrail hybrid. It's much closer to the Crosstrail than the old Vado, which is exactly what I was looking for. The first part of this ride ends with a short downhill with lots of loose gravel. This is never fun on anything short of a "fat bike", but the SL certainly felt more secure than the heavier Vado. Even though the front wheel was starting to plow a bit, the bike felt in control the whole time, which was definitely not the case when I rode this part last year.

Another thing I did just for fun was to take it on one of the recently added MTB trails that they've put in over the last couple of years. I took the same easy-rated trail that I did last year on the Crosstrail (never attempted with the Vado 4) and the bike did pretty well. I might note that they have a number of constructed ramps and such and always provide a bypass route if you don't want to attempt them. Except for a couple of the really easy ones I always took the bypass; I'm no MTBer! But again, the SL handled quite well in the many tight (but nicely banked) curves and I was able to keep it on 10% assist the entire way.

The big difference was that erosion on the trail has made it quite bumpy is spots with rocks and roots exposed, and it was here that the difference between the Futureshock (or probably any stem-based suspension) and decent suspension forks as on my Crosstrail comes through. With the stem-based products, the bike itself is not really suspended at all and can be thrown off-line when hitting these obstacles that are impossible to avoid. So I had to slow down and stand on the pedals when hitting the bumpy stretches. Whereas I had fun doing a couple laps of the trail last year on the Crosstrail, I was glad to get to the end this time and not repeat it. Great bike, but not a serious off-roader!
 
rochrunner said:
View attachment 126218

I got my SL 5.0 out on some of our gravelly trails that I'm very familiar with yesterday for the first time, comparing it to both my Vado 4.0 and my old Crosstrail hybrid. It's much closer to the Crosstrail than the old Vado, which is exactly what I was looking for. The first part of this ride ends with a short downhill with lots of loose gravel. This is never fun on anything short of a "fat bike", but the SL certainly felt more secure than the heavier Vado. Even though the front wheel was starting to plow a bit, the bike felt in control the whole time, which was definitely not the case when I rode this part last year.

Another thing I did just for fun was to take it on one of the recently added MTB trails that they've put in over the last couple of years. I took the same easy-rated trail that I did last year on the Crosstrail (never attempted with the Vado 4) and the bike did pretty well. I might note that they have a number of constructed ramps and such and always provide a bypass route if you don't want to attempt them. Except for a couple of the really easy ones I always took the bypass; I'm no MTBer! But again, the SL handled quite well in the many tight (but nicely banked) curves and I was able to keep it on 10% assist the entire way.

The big difference was that erosion on the trail has made it quite bumpy is spots with rocks and roots exposed, and it was here that the difference between the Futureshock (or probably any stem-based suspension) and decent suspension forks as on my Crosstrail comes through. With the stem-based products, the bike itself is not really suspended at all and can be thrown off-line when hitting these obstacles that are impossible to avoid. So I had to slow down and stand on the pedals when hitting the bumpy stretches. Whereas I had fun doing a couple laps of the trail last year on the Crosstrail, I was glad to get to the end this time and not repeat it. Great bike, but not a serious off-roader!
Click to expand...
What tires are you running? I'm looking to make a change.
 
CodyDog said:
What tires are you running? I'm looking to make a change.
Click to expand...
Just the OEM Pathfinders at this time. I might go with tubeless Pathfinder Pros next year, possibly 42s, but want to fully understand what I'm getting into with a tubeless setup before taking the plunge. Some recent articles on things like maintaining the sealant level, etc., have put me off a bit.
 
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