Specialized’s ultra-light 120-mile range e-bike - Turbo Vado SL

[bimmerman]

If this had been available a couple months ago I would've heavily debated ordering one instead of the Creo! I really wanted a "lightweight" e-bike that didn't have much/any perceptible drag from the motor when unpowered or over the speed rating. After demoing a Creo last year I ended up ordering a Comp one a month ago since nothing like the Vado SL was available...but realistically the Vado SL would've been the better fit for what I'll use the Creo for. I didn't give the Vado non-Sl / Como much of a look primarily due to their absurd-to-me weight, so...yea. The Vado SL definitely has a market.

 

[Ebiker01]

I APPROVE IT.

Like Ravi said b4 it's light years away from what the Fazua ebikes offer. For the Vado , the SL 240watts motor it's power is misleading, it puts out close to 600watts in high assist.

The only issue would be the difficulty in removing the battery on a ride and it's slow charge rate . But is very light and agile.

Competition: BMC AMP 1 and that's about it

Would put drop bars, lighter wheels, remove the heavy components and build an affordable CREO for us the millennials with budget issues...

 

[TomD]

the SL 240watts motor it's power is misleading, it puts out close to 600watts

Are you sure? Court's review indicates 240W nominal and peak and I thought that might be a typo but I've seen it indicated elsewhere that peak is 240W.

 

[Ravi Kempaiah]

48v battery the Amp rating must be extremely low? Like in the under 10A range

Yes, I would think it's more like 48V, 8A controller operating at 5A nominal rating to provide about 240Watts.

@tomdav is right. It provides about 240W of power and it is certainly not for everyone.

I had a friend in Maryland who would do 100 mile rides every Saturday morning on his road bike.
Now with 2 small kids, he is often tired but this bike would work extremely well for someone like him.

 

[Asher]

Yes, it is dependent on the above-average (fit) rider input required to reach 28 mph. YMMV

How do you know?

 

[FlatSix911]

How do you know?

You need to generate more power than your average rider input of 150W... pro level riders can more than double that figure.

Can this bike reach 28 mph on flats with typical rider pedaling? I get 24 mph from bikecalculator.com for a 150 lb rider at 150 watts of pedaling.

This sounds about right. I think it would be take above-average rider (fitness) to reach 28mph or sustain upwards of 24 mph.

The 48V system is geared for efficiency and power while maintaining small form factor.

 

[Over50]

...It provides about 240W of power and it is certainly not for everyone.

I had a friend in Maryland who would do 100 mile rides every Saturday morning on his road bike.
Now with 2 small kids, he is often tired but this bike would work extremely well for someone like him.

I got into the habit last year of packing my Spot Champa (acoustic) in our Subaru to carpool with my wife to work. I'd ride home about 20 miles averaging about 11.5 mph. For windless days, particularly Fridays, where time is not critical, I've been pining for a very light-assist and lightweight e-bike. One I could do the full 32-35 mile commute on and get a robust workout (but still leave some gas in my tank such that I could mow my lawn after I got off the bike). There are days I want to work hard and then there are other days where it is windy and I need more assist or I don't want to work as hard (Mondays). Monday is a good day for lots of assist. Friday is a good day for mostly me. Since there were few to no flat bar, light-assist, commuter options in the USA, I had considered converting my Spot to a DIY electric. But then I thought that would really mess up a fine looking bike. The Vado SLs really fit the bill for that lightweight, light-assist bike for the Friday and windless day commutes. My poor Spot may not see much more action if this Vado SL 5.0 ends up in my garage.

On any of the e-bikes I've owned, I've rarely ridden over 26mph. 25 or 26 is about my comfort zone. More commonly my cruising speeds are 19-23 mph. Top speed really isn't an important criteria for me. I don't care about how easy the bike gets the rider to 28mph. I care to not have a cutoff at 19.5mph. On my Bosch bikes, I'd guestimate my usage of Turbo mode has been 0.05%. Sport mode maybe 10-15%. If a comparably equipped and supported Fazua commuter had hit our market prior to the SL I'd probably have preferred the Fazua. But I have high hopes that the SL will be pretty close to riding a regular bike and with just enough assistance to take the edge off of a 30+ mile Friday commute.

 

[Captain Slow]

But I have high hopes that the SL will be pretty close to riding a regular bike and with just enough assistance to take the edge off of a 30+ mile Friday commute.
View attachment 52809

Based upon my experience with the Creo, I'd say the Vado SL would likely do that for you. I used the Smart control on my Creo for the first time today. I had it set so the motor would only come on if my HR exceeded 135 bpm. My ride companions were feeling lazy today so we never pushed the pace despite me trying multiple times. No one would grab my wheel when I wanted to take off and I had to repeatedly slow down for my riding partners. The end result is that I used a mere 45 wh to go 70 km's. So a tick over 0.6 wh per km. That's hardly anything compared to most ebikes. I pretty much was riding a regular bike for most of the ride today.

 

[Jay12345]

Just got the Vado SL 4.0 and I was wondering if there was anyway to turn off the front and back lights when charging?

 

[onlineaddy]

Just got the Vado SL 4.0 and I was wondering if there was anyway to turn off the front and back lights when charging?

The bike doesn't need to be on to be charging; does it? If not, why are the lights on?

 

[PaD]

The bike doesn't need to be on to be charging; does it? If not, why are the lights on?

From the manual
” Always turn the bicycle off before connecting or disconnecting the charger or the RE from the charge port.”
But I don’t have a Vado SL so I don’t know if the light goes on when charger is connected.

 

[TMH]

I remember one of Court's reviews on a Specialized bike (sorry, don't recall which bike), but in the review he stated that he was so happy that Specialized had changed/fixed their system so that the bike lights no longer came on while charging...

 

[Jay12345]

found out how to turn the lights off and yes I did read the part about turning off the bike before charging. Looks like the lights turn on and stay on whenever you plug in the bike even when the bike is turned off, what I had to do to turn the lights off was to push the power button after plugging in.

 

[Jay12345]

quick initially review of my new bike the Vado SL 4.0. I’m 38, 200 pounds, out of shape, haven’t been on a bike for about 5 years but used to ride a lot of XC style biking and this is my first electric bike. Did a round trip to work which was about a 40 min journey each way and my legs were wishing I had chosen the regular Vado as they felt like jello from being so out of shape but I’m sure within a week I’ll be ok. On flats With full turbo the bike rode with ease and I was getting up to 32km without much effort but once I got past that I had to put in a lot more effect to pass 32km due to the motor cutting off here in Canada. Going uphill I felt I was getting just enough assists to make it up long hill climbs without killing my out of shape self if I slow it down and got on the easier gears. I think with the regular Vado i would have been able to make it up the same hill At about the same time but with much less effort as I was definitely getting a work out. Also as a experiment I turned off power during my climb only to find myself almost coming to a dead stop as I was just too out of shape, I would have been able to do that same climb 5 years ago with a full suspension XC bike. I’ll have to do another review when I get into better shape in order to take full advantage of this bike as I think this bike is definitely more suited to someone who is already in decent shape.

As for the bike itself, i didn’t like the brakes as I was more used to Xtr or XT one finger braking, ride was harsh on bumpy roads and it didn’t help that my ass was hurting from not riding for so long, head Light is only there so that people can see you but too weak to light up the road enough at night, back light only Stays solid and doesn’t blink which means I’ll have to install one that does, everything else seems good So far.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

quick initially review of my new bike the Vado SL 4.0. I’m 38, 200 pounds, out of shape, haven’t been on a bike for about 5 years but used to ride a lot of XC style biking and this is my first electric bike. Did a round trip to work which was about a 40 min journey each way and my legs were wishing I had chosen the regular Vado as they felt like jello from being so out of shape but I’m sure within a week I’ll be ok. On flats With full turbo the bike rode with ease and I was getting up to 32km without much effort but once I got past that I had to put in a lot more effect to pass 32km due to the motor cutting off here in Canada. Going uphill I felt I was getting just enough assists to make it up long hill climbs without killing my out of shape self if I slow it down and got on the easier gears. I think with the regular Vado i would have been able to make it up the same hill At about the same time but with much less effort as I was definitely getting a work out. Also as a experiment I turned off power during my climb only to find myself almost coming to a dead stop as I was just too out of shape, I would have been able to do that same climb 5 years ago with a full suspension XC bike. I’ll have to do another review when I get into better shape in order to take full advantage of this bike as I think this bike is definitely more suited to someone who is already in decent shape.

As for the bike itself, i didn’t like the brakes as I was more used to Xtr or XT one finger braking, ride was harsh on bumpy roads and it did t help that was ass was hurting from not riding for so long, head Light is only there so that people can see you but too weak to light up the road enough at night, back light only Stays solid and doesn’t blink which means I’ll have to install one that does, everything else seems good So far.

Do you think installing the optional wireless TCD display is doable with the SL?

 

[Scott Adams]

As for the bike itself, i didn’t like the brakes as I was more used to Xtr or XT one finger braking, ride was harsh on bumpy roads and it did t help that was ass was hurting from not riding for so long, head Light is only there so that people can see you but too weak to light up the road enough at night, back light only Stays solid and doesn’t blink which means I’ll have to install one that does, everything else seems good So far.

thanks for sharing your experiences!

IIRC, the 5.0 version has a brighter light (though it might still not be up to our standards) as well as a "suspension" / flexi handlebar

in my opinion either model should be upgraded with a cirrus suspension seatpost to smooth the ride

the 5.0 also has dual piston brake calipers

hard to wrap your head around speccing a non-blinking taillight on any bike

 

[Jay12345]

Do you think installing the optional wireless TCD display is doable with the SL?

yep I’m sure it’s possible as there are models with that come with it in the US. I’ll most likely pick it up soon myself and will update you how it goes

 

[BEC111]

quick initially review of my new bike the Vado SL 4.0. I’m 38, 200 pounds, out of shape, haven’t been on a bike for about 5 years but used to ride a lot of XC style biking and this is my first electric bike. Did a round trip to work which was about a 40 min journey each way and my legs were wishing I had chosen the regular Vado as they felt like jello from being so out of shape but I’m sure within a week I’ll be ok. On flats With full turbo the bike rode with ease and I was getting up to 32km without much effort but once I got past that I had to put in a lot more effect to pass 32km due to the motor cutting off here in Canada. Going uphill I felt I was getting just enough assists to make it up long hill climbs without killing my out of shape self if I slow it down and got on the easier gears. I think with the regular Vado i would have been able to make it up the same hill At about the same time but with much less effort as I was definitely getting a work out. Also as a experiment I turned off power during my climb only to find myself almost coming to a dead stop as I was just too out of shape, I would have been able to do that same climb 5 years ago with a full suspension XC bike. I’ll have to do another review when I get into better shape in order to take full advantage of this bike as I think this bike is definitely more suited to someone who is already in decent shape.

As for the bike itself, i didn’t like the brakes as I was more used to Xtr or XT one finger braking, ride was harsh on bumpy roads and it didn’t help that my ass was hurting from not riding for so long, head Light is only there so that people can see you but too weak to light up the road enough at night, back light only Stays solid and doesn’t blink which means I’ll have to install one that does, everything else seems good So far.

Thanks for the review. I just ordered one today, it will be ready Wednesday, and you hit upon my main concerns.

My friend and I road our analog bikes about 8 miles to the dealer. I was therefore really warmed up and a bit tired so my legs were about right for evaluating an ebike on a long ride which is a main driver for going electric. On my test ride I liked the smooth assistance, but was concerned it might not fully do the job, but the Vado 4 was just too heavy for me to handle. The extra oomph would be nice, but the penalty doesn’t work for me.

 

[Jay12345]

is anyone familiar with the BLevo app, I was wondering if I could use that app to increase the top speed on my Canadian version Vado SL (20mph) to 28mph before the motor cuts off?

 

[Sierratim]

is anyone familiar with the BLevo app, I was wondering if I could use that app to increase the top speed on my Canadian version Vado SL (20mph) to 28mph before the motor cuts off?

The Blevo app is discussed in a couple of threads. Search for 'Blevo' and you'll find them.

Since top speed is a regulatory compliance issue I don't believe there's anyway for an app to access that.