5.0 Turbo Vado SL EQ First Ride Impressions. OMG, please somebody wipe this annoying smile off my face!! 1st ever e-bike purchase. 1st ever real e-bike ride as well. Sorry if this forum thread Reply is long, but this 6’ 1 3/4” 57 year old 260 pound fat guy is a cyclist again!! Just got home from a fairly hilly 1st ride on my my brand spanking new Turbo Vado SL 5.0, and I am absolutely jacked and stoked!! Yup, I gained 30 lbs. during this Covid crisis—but also obviously wasn’t exactly slim to start with. But after watching Court’s video reviews (of many bikes), researching, reading this forum and this thread and all of your posts in particular (and after repeatedly riding—trying to ride more like it—a 15 mile loop thru my South Salem, Oregon hills on my 17-year old size XL Giant Cypress with a buddy who has a newer Class 1 Trek, and after painfully huffing and puffing to keep up with him—even walking the tips of a couple of the steeps—he‘s a good friend, he walked and talked with me—I decided I really needed an e-bike if I were going to be a cyclist again. But not just any e-bike. I needed a real bike. So, I made a deal after some protracted and intense (sometimes playfully brutal) negotiations with that woman who has been the true head of my household for the past 23 years (my best friend, who am I kidding? I got the better end of that whole exchange rings deal). If I agree to deposit 5k into her checking account with no strings attached, then I can go guilt free buy me a Specialized Turbo Vado SL 5.0. It was a fricking no-brainer!! And oh, my God did I ever get the better end of that deal as well!! I feel like a 6th grader again who just endured a month‘s worth of strawberry picking to buy a $120.00 yellow 42 lb. Schwinn Varsity 10 speed, a real boys bike! Same smile on my face, too.
BUYING EXPERIENCE: Local Specialized shop in Salem, Oregon has no bikes (same local shop where I bought my Giant 17+ years ago—they sold Specialized then, too, but that new dad of 2 infant sons simply couldn’t afford a Specialized bike and a used Burley trailer to haul those 2 sons up those hills back then, so he bought a Giant). This weekend, I found The e-bike Store (www.ebikestore.com) in Portland, Oregon, and they had both an XL and Large 5.0 in stock. Can’t say enough good things about those guys—definitely worth the trip to North Portland. Brian, Jeff, and the owner Wade. Met them all, they are a Class Act from start to finish. Being a tweener at 6’ 1+”, over the phone Brian thought I’d best fit in a Large, so they assembled one for my Covid-19 appointment later Monday, and I sent them the coin sight unseen (they would have taken a deposit, but I wasn’t taking any chances). They also let me know they had an already assembled XL with about 7 miles on it, and if it was still there when I got there, that would also be an option. I rode the Large around north Portland. It was stupendous. And I would have been very happy with it for another 17 years until I bought my next bike at age 74. The Large did feel a bit upright, even a bit cramped, but it was still a dream to ride. I then tried the XL just for sheets and giggles before closing the deal. OMG, Specialized custom made that that XL for my body and how I like to ride—a little forward but not road bike forward. Bam! Little longer wheelbase, little longer top tube, plus the steering tube is extended a few centimeters which permits me a bit more forward posture—not quite drop tube’ish, but more so than the Large. I still quivered awhile and sought advice and input from Brian and Jeff. My hesitancy? The top tube is high. I have a 32” inseam, long thighs, long arms. Standing over the top tube on the XL at the lowest point, I can lift the wheel only a couple of inches—some concern. More groin clearance with the Large. But the rest of that XL just felt batting glove right.
RIDE: OMG! This is still a bike. It is solid and stable. My hilly curvy loop which took me 2+ hours the other day on my Giant Cypress (with some embarrassing walking) took me less than an hour this evening. And I was riding, not fighting. I actually went a bit further, because I wanted to see how the bike (and my compression carbon forks) handled on steep downhill curvy rutted gravel. And the forks get an A+! The bike itself and tires get a gravel score of B from me, because it got a bit squirrelly over 15 mph, and I had to ride the brakes to keep my speed down. But it was new spring gravel over steep lateral ruts, and my bike was bouncing pretty severely, but I felt no discomfort, zero harshness, and never felt like I was losing steering, even if the bike itself wasn’t ripping thru that gravel. It felt like skiing a steep spring mogul run—always just on the verge of losing control in bad snow, having to brake. My Giant and Urban RockShox would have ripped it. Nicely dampened. That’s the word I would use to describe my 5.0 carbon forks in rutted gravel. Definitely worth the price of the upgrade from the 4.0. I did get thru the gravel, and the rest of the ride, OMG! The downhills were a grin. I kept it on level 1 ECO instead of off, and the downhill curves wouldn‘t let me comfortably get much above 36 mph, but the bike was solid. While I had to take my eyes off the ride computer after hitting 36 (to avoid free falling off a ravine and into an old growth Douglas Fir—would have scratched my new paint), I was in 11th gear, peddling, and I still had power left in 11th gear. The bike was balanced and solid. I would have been braking on my Giant Cypress to control my speed. Not on this bike. I never once felt I was close to the edge on paved curves at speed (unlike the downhill gravel experience—but in all fairness, that gravel chute is challenging even on my analog Giant, a bike I intimately know after 17 years). I got down to the Willamette River bottom and rode probably 3 miles on rolling flats in level 1. Peddled pretty workout hard, but not straining, and comfortably kept a speed in 7th-9th gear of 18.2-19.5 mph. As others have said, this motor likes cadence. You can feel it. This bike gives feedback. That may sound cheesy, but it really does. The other thing is that the 5.0 derailleur is a dream. I was constantly shifting up and down to maintain constant speed and cadence. I’ve never been able to do that before. Shifting was smooth and instant. I‘ve never experienced a quality derailleur before. And I like it.
WHAT ABOUT TURBO AND 2 TIMES YOU? Yup! That‘s the answer. I was biking. I went up those same steeps I had to walk up the other day after losing momentum in 1st gear, but on the Vado, I stayed in 2nd-3rd gear and comfortably maintained 6-8 mph with some effort, but zero strain. The bike didn’t get me up those hills. I got me and my bike up those hills. But there was most definitely no huffing, puffing, pain, or cramping. They were hills. And I climbed them. On my bike. God, I love this bike, and I’ve only ridden it once. As soon as I crested each of those hills in Turbo, I went back to ECO level 1.
WHAT ABOUT THAT SMALL BATTERY? Fearful of being on the wrong side of a hill with no juice, I purchased the auxiliary battery. Glad I did. But I’m also taking it off for any 1-2 hour hard ride. Don’t need it. After about an hour-long fairly hard ride using Turbo on several fairly long hills, I clicked below 8 of 10 bars of power about 1/2 mile from my house.
GENERAL OVERALL IMPRESSION: Holy Crap!!
BUYING EXPERIENCE: Local Specialized shop in Salem, Oregon has no bikes (same local shop where I bought my Giant 17+ years ago—they sold Specialized then, too, but that new dad of 2 infant sons simply couldn’t afford a Specialized bike and a used Burley trailer to haul those 2 sons up those hills back then, so he bought a Giant). This weekend, I found The e-bike Store (www.ebikestore.com) in Portland, Oregon, and they had both an XL and Large 5.0 in stock. Can’t say enough good things about those guys—definitely worth the trip to North Portland. Brian, Jeff, and the owner Wade. Met them all, they are a Class Act from start to finish. Being a tweener at 6’ 1+”, over the phone Brian thought I’d best fit in a Large, so they assembled one for my Covid-19 appointment later Monday, and I sent them the coin sight unseen (they would have taken a deposit, but I wasn’t taking any chances). They also let me know they had an already assembled XL with about 7 miles on it, and if it was still there when I got there, that would also be an option. I rode the Large around north Portland. It was stupendous. And I would have been very happy with it for another 17 years until I bought my next bike at age 74. The Large did feel a bit upright, even a bit cramped, but it was still a dream to ride. I then tried the XL just for sheets and giggles before closing the deal. OMG, Specialized custom made that that XL for my body and how I like to ride—a little forward but not road bike forward. Bam! Little longer wheelbase, little longer top tube, plus the steering tube is extended a few centimeters which permits me a bit more forward posture—not quite drop tube’ish, but more so than the Large. I still quivered awhile and sought advice and input from Brian and Jeff. My hesitancy? The top tube is high. I have a 32” inseam, long thighs, long arms. Standing over the top tube on the XL at the lowest point, I can lift the wheel only a couple of inches—some concern. More groin clearance with the Large. But the rest of that XL just felt batting glove right.
RIDE: OMG! This is still a bike. It is solid and stable. My hilly curvy loop which took me 2+ hours the other day on my Giant Cypress (with some embarrassing walking) took me less than an hour this evening. And I was riding, not fighting. I actually went a bit further, because I wanted to see how the bike (and my compression carbon forks) handled on steep downhill curvy rutted gravel. And the forks get an A+! The bike itself and tires get a gravel score of B from me, because it got a bit squirrelly over 15 mph, and I had to ride the brakes to keep my speed down. But it was new spring gravel over steep lateral ruts, and my bike was bouncing pretty severely, but I felt no discomfort, zero harshness, and never felt like I was losing steering, even if the bike itself wasn’t ripping thru that gravel. It felt like skiing a steep spring mogul run—always just on the verge of losing control in bad snow, having to brake. My Giant and Urban RockShox would have ripped it. Nicely dampened. That’s the word I would use to describe my 5.0 carbon forks in rutted gravel. Definitely worth the price of the upgrade from the 4.0. I did get thru the gravel, and the rest of the ride, OMG! The downhills were a grin. I kept it on level 1 ECO instead of off, and the downhill curves wouldn‘t let me comfortably get much above 36 mph, but the bike was solid. While I had to take my eyes off the ride computer after hitting 36 (to avoid free falling off a ravine and into an old growth Douglas Fir—would have scratched my new paint), I was in 11th gear, peddling, and I still had power left in 11th gear. The bike was balanced and solid. I would have been braking on my Giant Cypress to control my speed. Not on this bike. I never once felt I was close to the edge on paved curves at speed (unlike the downhill gravel experience—but in all fairness, that gravel chute is challenging even on my analog Giant, a bike I intimately know after 17 years). I got down to the Willamette River bottom and rode probably 3 miles on rolling flats in level 1. Peddled pretty workout hard, but not straining, and comfortably kept a speed in 7th-9th gear of 18.2-19.5 mph. As others have said, this motor likes cadence. You can feel it. This bike gives feedback. That may sound cheesy, but it really does. The other thing is that the 5.0 derailleur is a dream. I was constantly shifting up and down to maintain constant speed and cadence. I’ve never been able to do that before. Shifting was smooth and instant. I‘ve never experienced a quality derailleur before. And I like it.
WHAT ABOUT TURBO AND 2 TIMES YOU? Yup! That‘s the answer. I was biking. I went up those same steeps I had to walk up the other day after losing momentum in 1st gear, but on the Vado, I stayed in 2nd-3rd gear and comfortably maintained 6-8 mph with some effort, but zero strain. The bike didn’t get me up those hills. I got me and my bike up those hills. But there was most definitely no huffing, puffing, pain, or cramping. They were hills. And I climbed them. On my bike. God, I love this bike, and I’ve only ridden it once. As soon as I crested each of those hills in Turbo, I went back to ECO level 1.
WHAT ABOUT THAT SMALL BATTERY? Fearful of being on the wrong side of a hill with no juice, I purchased the auxiliary battery. Glad I did. But I’m also taking it off for any 1-2 hour hard ride. Don’t need it. After about an hour-long fairly hard ride using Turbo on several fairly long hills, I clicked below 8 of 10 bars of power about 1/2 mile from my house.
GENERAL OVERALL IMPRESSION: Holy Crap!!
