I find eco louder then Sport or Turbo - on hills anyway. I put it down to the restricted (and small) motor having to work harder so it has a higher pitch, sounding quite shrill. When the road rises further and I hit Sport the note is lower.
Specialized Turbo Vado SL: An Incredible E-Bike (User Club)
- Thread starter Stefan Mikes
- Start date
Stefan Mikes
Gravel e-biker
- Region
- Europe
- City
- Mazovia, PL
35/35 just gives enough power to the motor to operate smoothly. I think the motor noise depends on the cadence. Where the motor is the most efficient (70-90 rpm), the motor noise is the most audible...
I've tried tons of settings. For me... I use Eco 35/35 when I'm trying to conserve power and am going on a longer ride where I'm not sure if I'll have enough battery. I really want to use sport as the mode I'm using when I'm just riding and not thinking about things and I know I have plenty of battery for the ride. I've tried Sport at 50/50, 55/55, 60/60, and 65/65. I've also tried 30/100, 50/100, 55/100, 60/100, 65/100. Using the /100 settings feels to me like I'm pushing myself but also getting assistance when I need it up hills. 55/55 and others like this, helps, but I'm not getting enough assistance on the hills. Sometimes on steeper hills I want to switch to Turbo.
30/100 doesn't really help that much on the hills, because I'm not able to output enough power to have the motor help me as much. I might as well be on regular ECO with a little more help.
50-65/100 seems to be the most comfortable. I can go fast 15mph+ average. I get a good heart rate. I don't feel like I'm killing myself on hills. Right now I have it set at 60/100, but might go down to 50 or 55. When I tried it last time at those rates, I felt like I was tiring out more quickly on the hills.
30/100 doesn't really help that much on the hills, because I'm not able to output enough power to have the motor help me as much. I might as well be on regular ECO with a little more help.
50-65/100 seems to be the most comfortable. I can go fast 15mph+ average. I get a good heart rate. I don't feel like I'm killing myself on hills. Right now I have it set at 60/100, but might go down to 50 or 55. When I tried it last time at those rates, I felt like I was tiring out more quickly on the hills.
Stefan Mikes
Gravel e-biker
- Region
- Europe
- City
- Mazovia, PL
Jeremy McCreary
Bought it anyway
- Region
- USA
- City
- Carlsbad, CA
Interesting. Why would there be such a strong rise in battery drain rate above ease E = 60? Motor power (Pm) is either linear or flat in E in steady riding, and the drain rate is roughly proportional to (Pm / e), where e is the motor's electromechanical efficiency.
Hopefully, the efficiency doesn't fall off a cliff at E > 60. And if it does, how come?
Stefan Mikes
Gravel e-biker
- Region
- Europe
- City
- Mazovia, PL
Jeremy, I don't know why and even do not try to guess. What I say is experience based. There was a time I actively measured the Vado SL range at different assistance levels, and it was usually at E=M. (Bear in mind I own as many as 4 Range Extenders and never hesitate to use them, haha!) I even made some graphs that I posted on this forum but we won't find them.
My basic assistance for gravel group rides used to be 60/60. It was good to ride together with weaker, especially tired riders. Riding with average guys and girls required 80/80 (and the derestricted speed). 100/100 was impractical as the batteries were drained too fast and it was still too weak assistance to keep up with the "horses" on asphalt. (I could keep up with the "horses" on gravel riding my Vado 6.0 at 60/60, equivalent to SL 120%).
The charts showed Vado SL was economical up to 60/60%. Above that, there was a curve of range decrease and then the curve became very steep. It might have something to do with the air drag?!
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