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

[grnmtnbk]

Hi everyone,

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

Grand Teton National Park
Jackson Hole, Wyoming​

 

[grnmtnbk]

Vado SL 5.0 non-EQ
Overall super delighted on Vado SL

So happy for you!

BTW: If anyone is looking for this same model, Hoback Sports in Jackson Hole, Wyoming has several in stock.

 

[waghmare]

I could be wrong Indeed, these cassettes are huge!

View attachment 126147
12th gear on a 11-50T cassette. The derailleur is not totally horizontal!

View attachment 126148
In the granny gear (50T). That length of the chain ensures proper tension in any gear.

What groupset is that?

 

[AdmChr]

Hi everyone,

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

View attachment 126183

Grand Teton National Park
Jackson Hole, Wyoming​

Wow... what a background! Great photo!

 

[rayray]

Hi everyone,

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

View attachment 126183

Grand Teton National Park
Jackson Hole, Wyoming​

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.

 

[kahn]

Hi everyone,

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

View attachment 126183

Grand Teton National Park
Jackson Hole, Wyoming​

Nice looking mountains, ahem, I mean bike. Nice color.

 

[CodyDog]

Hi everyone,

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

View attachment 126183

Grand Teton National Park
Jackson Hole, Wyoming​

Awesome pic!

 

[Nubnub]

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.

 

[Seasider]

A nice 40km ride around the Magic Kingdom at Tokyo Disneyland. Ship ahoy! The SS Columbia

 

[Stefan Mikes]

tire clearance between the 32 mm Gatorskins and the 42 mm Pathfinders

I'm surprised the 42 mm tyres fit inside the fenders...

 

[Seasider]

Crank it up I installed some new Praxis Carbon Cranks for the VSL!


View attachment 126178

Did you order them directly from Praxis or through an LBS? Was the main reason to upgrade a bit of weight saving?

 

[rochrunner]

What groupset is that?

SRAM GRX Eagle. During the pandemic, Spec switched from Shimano to SRAM on some (most?) models mainly due to supply issues.

 

[rochrunner]

Hi everyone,

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

Grand Teton National Park
Jackson Hole, Wyoming​

Will it outrun a grizz in Turbo mode?

 

[AdmChr]

Did you order them directly from Praxis or through an LBS? Was the main reason to upgrade a bit of weight saving?

Yep, ordered from Praxis. Pretty much, just had some extra bike funds laying around that was burning a hole in my pocket.

 

[ronaan]

80%

63.5% currently but I concede

 

[rochrunner]

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!

 

[CodyDog]

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!

What tires are you running? I'm looking to make a change.

 

[kahn]

A nice 40km ride around the Magic Kingdom at Tokyo Disneyland. Ship ahoy! The SS Columbia

View attachment 126206

Welcome and enjoy that ride.

 

[kahn]

Will it outrun a grizz in Turbo mode?

Possibly on a steep downhill stretch with a good tail wind!

 

[rochrunner]

What tires are you running? I'm looking to make a change.

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.