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

[Cycologist]

Interesting. I've been wondering what tire I should use once I replace the stock Pathfinders on my Vado SL.
The vast majority of my riding is done on crushed limestone trails and while the Pathfinders seem to work OK, they lack grip when cornering and have given me a few scares.

On my old bike, I used 44mm Schwalbe Land Cruiser Plus tires which have a smooth center tread with side tread blocks like on the Rhombus. They worked very well.

With as fast as this Vado SL is, I really could use more aggressive tread for cornering.

 

[GAJ]

Perfectly happy with the stock tires for my particular needs.

No punctures yet though my dearly departed friend did get a puncture in his while paved trail riding.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

It is sad big companies treat their products like fashion, discontinue the good stuff and replace it with a new "collection", which does not need to be any better, just different.

• The new Pathfinder TLR only comes in 700x40, which is too big for Vado SL EQ
• The new Tracer TLR comes in 45 mm size, too big for any Gen 1 Vado SL
• The new Terra TLR comes in 45 and 50 mm, no use.

@Cycologist: Perhaps you can get a pair of Rhombus Pro on the online Specialized sale?

Let me rant a while longer.
Specialized had beautiful highly rated helmets:

Echelon II MIPS.

Specialized Align II.
Now, those helmets went 'out of fashion', and the best you can get is:

Chamonix III. It is kinda... ugly.

 

[Jeremy McCreary]

Now, those helmets went 'out of fashion', and the best you can get is:

View attachment 194883
Chamonix III. It is kinda... ugly.

Matter of taste — but of course, I look good in anything.
;^}

Love the Virginia Tech safety rating and ranking (No. 25 of over 250), ventilation, light weight, fit, and simple strap. Hard to beat for the price.

 

[Jeremy McCreary]

Bucket of bolts
Dang, my beloved SL 1 is out of commision at 9 months and 2100 mi. Shop can't take it for a week, and I fear they'll have it for a while.

Out of the blue, the motor started making a clatter like a slightly muffled bucket of bolts 3 rides ago. No functional impairment whatsoever. No error codes.

The sound's nothing like the normal motor whirr. Totally absent at gentle pedal pressures, then louder and louder with increasing pressure. Quite conspicuous at its loudest.

Pretty continuous above the threshold pedal pressure. Mostly an irregular rhythm, but there's a very minor component weakly synced with cadence. Will post video example.

Definitely not the drivetrain. Goes away after a mile or so, never to return on that ride, but present from the very start on the next. Should have stopped riding it the first time.

Still have my old hub-drive to ride in the interim, but it's sooooo hard to go back to after the SL.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

It might be a motor failure. The strange thing is no error codes!

Meanwhile, my Vado SL is almost 4 years old with 17,648 km (10,968 mi) on the odometer with no issues except a replaced crankarm...

 

[stompandgo]

@Stefan, I ride am S-Works helmet. I've been through a few of them. Great helmets.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

@Stefan, I ride am S-Works helmet. I've been through a few of them. Great helmets.

What model?

 

[stompandgo]

Prevail.

I'll add the usual disclaimer that helmet fit depends on design and the shape of your head. What might fit me like a glove could look like a mushroom on you.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

I have completely missed these very nice S-Works helmets (also Evade) as I was looking for something affordable for a friend who was expected to come to Warsaw for business from his province. The friend wouldn't buy an S-Works. I recommended the Chamonix to him. He was delighted by the Specialized Warsaw Soho store, the friendly personnel, the good price of the helmet and even a discount he got!

 

[Rás Cnoic]

Bucket of bolts
Dang, my beloved SL 1 is out of commision at 9 months and 2100 mi. Shop can't take it for a week, and I fear they'll have it for a while.

Out of the blue, the motor started making a clatter like a slightly muffled bucket of bolts 3 rides ago. No functional impairment whatsoever. No error codes.

The sound's nothing like the normal motor whirr. Totally absent at gentle pedal pressures, then louder and louder with increasing pressure. Quite conspicuous at its loudest.

Pretty continuous once the threshold pedal pressure has been exceeded. Mostly an irregular rhythm, but there's a very minor component weakly synced with cadence. Will post video example.

Definitely not the drivetrain. Goes away after a mile or so, never to return on that ride, but present from the very start on the next. Should have stopped riding it the first time.

Still have my old hub-drive to ride in the interim, but it's sooooo hard to go back to after the SL.

Hard luck Jeremy. As long as your bike shop are on the case it should be a straightforward new motor warranty swap, couple of weeks. Had 2 new motors in the 2 year warranty period. No quibble warranty claims & the second was a couple months out of warranty but they swapped it anyway, great bike shop. But I know the annoyance while bike is in the shop & the worry. Hopefully they'll run diagnostics quickly and let you know.

 

[Jeremy McCreary]

Had 2 new motors in the 2 year warranty period.

Thanks for the encouragement. Sounds like you need to lose a motor or two to become a seasoned SL rider.

What happened to your 2 motors?

 

[stompandgo]

This sucks, Jeremy.

 

[mschwett]

@Stefan, I ride am S-Works helmet. I've been through a few of them. Great helmets.

i‘m liking the current s-works evade 3 quite a bit. The align is also a very nice entry level helmet for occasional riders and the loma for slightly more enthusiastic ones. many choices and have never gone wrong with a specialized helmet.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

The align is also a very nice entry level helmet for occasional riders

Discontinued.
Loma looks nicely!

 

[Rás Cnoic]

Thanks for the encouragement. Sounds like you need to lose a motor or two to become a seasoned SL rider.

What happened to your 2 motors?

Neither broke outright. First one was sounding loud after 2 years hard riding. A friend in the bike biz advised I take it back to shop to check out before warranty ended. Bike mechanic rode it and compared noise to a new Vado SL on shop floor, rang me and said the motor noise was significantly louder so they were putting into Spesh for a replacement to which Spesh immediately agreed. Second exchange was odder and was probably a direct result of this- 3 months later I kept hearing subtle knocking noise from BB. took it back to shop, same mechanic checked with different wheel to try and locate issue, I'd already ruled out pedal bearings, loose seat post etc, it was one of those infuriating drive train knocking you feel through the pedals. Anyway he put it to Spesh and they promptly replaced motor despite it being three months out of warranty, I'm guessing because it was an issue with the replacement motor but neither me nor mechanic were sure! Funnily enough a similar situation arose earlier with the TCU unit when in the first year the motor on off stopped working and I had a water ingress warning. Took to shop, Spesh replaced TCU immediately. Couple of months later I had an intermittent TCU issue and it was replaced again- my suspicion is that there was a cable left loose in that first swap that caused the intermittent fault.

Anyhow, Specialized came through each time. It's a great bike shop, The Bicycle Chain in south west England with 3 branches if anyone is looking for a recommendation in the area, and they sell a LOT of Spesh bikes (and others like Giant, Trek, Whyte) so obviously have a strong relationship with Specialized and I guess that helps in warranty claims.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

A Jolly Good Performance of My Vado SL on a Gravel Group Ride

Not sure to what attribute the fact I was doing very well on a gravel group ride last Saturday. Were it the tubeless wheels under low pressure that soaked up the terrain vibration? Or, was it the 50/100% assistance that allowed me to ride in the lead for many kilometres upwind?

Yes, I rode derestricted but it only allows for riding faster than 25 km/h when the rider is pedalling with a solid input and especially downwind. The group were no racers, either. I loved the effect of the "100%" in the Max Motor Power term. It means a big boost from the motor if you pedal hard and fast. There was a longer and boring asphalt road segment. I sighed and started pedalling strongly. My Vado SL just shot forward, and I left the group in the dust! The max speed achieved was 42.2 km/h, and I must clearly say the terrain was mostly totally flat.

The battery consumption was reasonable in that assistance mode:

I rode for 70 km. Had to replace the Range Extender just 2 km before the originally planned finish line at the 77th km or maybe I would just finish with the derated motor assistance

 

[2wheelsgood]

Anyone upgraded the brakes? what did you go for?

I am increasingly finding the Tektro HD-R510 as the weak link in a fairly decent component set. Using a friends Shimano brakes (I forget what type) on his mountain bike was a far better experience; one finger operation, great modulation and huge bite when required.

Also, my bike hasn't had a little present in quite a while now so it is due one

 

[stompandgo]

I love my Maguro MT5 with 203mm Storm rotors. Scary good.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

I love my Maguro MT5 with 203mm Storm rotors.

2wheels cannot have brake rotors larger than 160 mm as the Vado SL brakes are Flat Mount. Yours are Post Mount.

Scary good.

Indeed. These are as scary as it is very easy to experience an Over-The-Bars with them (Ask me how I know).

Using a friends Shimano brakes (I forget what type) on his mountain bike was a far better experience; one finger operation, great modulation and huge bite when required.

Buy an e-MTB then Let me explain. Lightweight bikes have holes for Flat Mount brakes in the frame while heavy or MTB ones have bosses for Post Mount brakes. Flat Mount brakes are shorter and smaller (and more lightweight) than the Post Mount variety, and are not interchangeable. As I said above, the maximum Flat Mount brake rotor diameter is 160 mm. (Or, at least Vado SL won't take anything larger).

However, you can improve the performance of your already excellent HD510s (because they are excellent as for the Flat Mount type). Replace the brake rotors with another make/model.

You can, for instance, try installing Shimano "Disc Brake Rotor Ice Technologies Freeza" RT-CL800 for the front wheel. It has to be the 160 mm size. If you own a cassette wrench, replacing the rotors takes a few minutes. (I have replaced my front rotor with a Shimano RT-64, Centerlock, 160 mm as I didn't need anything more advanced).

I recommend starting with the front wheel as it takes around 70% of the stopping power, and the outcome is both noticeable and positive. However, I didn't replace the rear brake rotor and cannot remember why. The rear rotor is held in place by "Rotor Tektro SP-SS20 Centerlock Rotor w/Sensor Black". Technically speaking, it is possible to unscrew the existing Centerlock lock/magnet, replace the rear rotor, and tighten the new rotor with the existing SP-SS20. Why didn't I replace the rear rotor then? No idea!

Another thing you could do is replacing the organic brake pads with semi-metallic ones. No idea what replacement make/model would fit: consult a bike mechanic or a good bicycle store.

Again: as for the type, the Flat Mount brakes, Tektros are among the best ones.