Kris, you can absolutely ride your future Vado SL with stock components. Let me explain why I bought an SL 4 instead of 5 and why I felt modifications seemed necessary for me.
- SL 5.0 is equipped with FutureShock 1.5/carbon fork and superior drivetrain. I used a part of the price difference to buy full RedShift ShockStop system instead. As my daily rides do not involve significant climbs, I am satisfied with the less expensive 10-speed drivetrain. I have even chosen a smaller cassette with more equal gear spread as "the cadence is the King" in my case.
- I used the rest of the price difference for buying a Range Extender as I need to be pedal-assisted at all times
- I am a fan of good tyres. Hence, I chose Specialized Pathfinder Pro as superior gravel tyres.
- Vado SL is my daily e-bike. I would do everything to make it as much comfortable and perfect as possible. Hence the choice of SQlab Innerbarends for long hours of pedalling.
(Some of us are just fanboys of modifications)
I started with e-biking at 107 kg
My longest Vado SL ride has been 116 km in 5 h 41 min (moving time). And yes, I had a Range Extender on the bike (136% of batteries consumed). FYI, the average assistance level was 55/55%. The average speed was 20.4 km/h.
Good choice. Provided it is not much raining where you live, you could safely remove the front mudguard from the bike (but keep the rear one for the rack and tail-light).
Glad to be of help!
If your way home is indeed pitch black, you might consider -- for example -- one of Knog (Australian) or Lezyne or CatEye (such as CATEYE AMPP 1100) headlights.
A no-name hub motor, 250 Wh battery, and no connectivity? Your money. For me, Trek has totally lost its sense of direction. Nowadays, they offer:
- Bosch E-Bikes, older system
- Bosch E-Bikes, Smart System
- Fazua motors
- No-name hub motor
- A TQ motor.
If this won't make the company go belly-up someday, I would be very surprised.
Specialized offers only two systems: Brose and Mahle, and the brand owns both systems... Including the electronics, which is served by a single app called Mission Control. With full connectivity and ANT+.
Most of other brands is either Bosch E-Bike (the older system) or Mahle X35 hub-drive motor, It's your money.
You would not be happy to look between your knees to read data from Mastermind TCU
The older TCU is great because it allows you using a 10 EUR wonder app called BLEvo. Giving you far more information Specialized ever wanted to show you. The new Mastermind killed BLEvo.
A "charge cycle" is based on pumping fresh 320 Wh into your main battery. Partial charges are calculated. Whenever the sum of partial charges of the battery reached 320 Wh, a full "charge cycle" is being recorded. Having said the above: I have been riding my Vado SL 4 for 13 months. I have ridden for 5869 km. The main battery got 67 full charge cycles, and it is currently at 94% health, that is, storing 302 Wh instead of 320. This information comes from BLEvo, which shows the facts Mission Control would rather hide from you (MC always reports 100% health). With my rate of riding, I expect reaching the 300 charge cycles in 4 years and 10 months since the purchase, or will ride for some 26000 km. Not bad. Note: I use Range Extenders too, and these make the use of the main battery less profound.
Yes you are. As long as you stop considering silly alternatives