Turbo technology in 2014

[Brambor]

The only disappointment was that I thought I was getting two chargers. One travel charger and one regular charger. But the bike only came with one charger. I still have the rep checking into it but I feel I might have been under sweet delusional expectations. It will all sort itself out after more miles under my belt. All in all I think the bike feels so stealthy that it's almost a disappointment it doesn't scream more like I'M AN ELECTRIC BIKE. Besides the battery light it's hardly noticeable it's an ebike.

I got the Large frame size. I'm really borderline L / M - I'm 5'11.5" but I seem to prefer the large frame even on my regular bikes. The pedals are great - feel wide and like a solid piece. The black color of the bike will really grow on me as the time goes. The absence of squeal in the brakes was a great relief for me too.

There is a slight wiggle in the battery. I sort of expected it to be super tight. The guy at the shop said the tightness can be adjusted. We tried it but it was at the last setting (we thought) and it still a little wiggled. I'm talking probably 5mm play that would probably slightly rattle on crushed rock riding. I told him when I bring it back after 100 miles we'll reevaluate it and asked him to research in the meantime whether it can really be tightened or not.

 

[Ravi Kempaiah]

Excellent..! (I mean for the ride, not the rattle)
Is it possible for you to check who is the maker of your battery?
The manufacturer of Stromer and BH ebikes' battery is TD Hi Tech but in the case of Turbo, it is awesome that they tucked in ~520wh of power in that small down tube.

 

[Brambor]

let me go to the basement and check... brb. hmm I found no trace of other manufacturer other than specialized. here are some pics:

 

[Brambor]

yeah and I thought I was getting a bell ~! nada

 

[Ravi Kempaiah]

Thanks Brambor. I am eager to know more about your bike and see some beautiful pics.

Purchasing from a brand (& hopefully the dealer) like Specialized should leave you worry free for some years.
About the battery rattle, I noticed some soft tapes on my battery. May be they minimize the clearance or something.

 

[Brambor]

Interesting Ravi. I'll see if I can padd it from the inside similar to yours. Alternatively I think a velcro or rubber strap like this would take care of it completely.

 

[ChrisDuke]

I got a black Turbo today. Looks like you have to sacrifice the rear lamp if you get a thudbuster or similer, the wires travel through the tube.

I got a bell, and only the big charger. The travel charger is an accessory on the Specialized site, and takes twice as long to charge the battery

 

[Brambor]

Chris - You're the man! Congratulations. I hope you like the bike as much as I love it.

I did not get a bell. I'm just going to have to yell louder.

ooh interesting about the thudbuster. Well I won't be getting one then. It's no big deal for me really. The roads are fine and that is now at the beginning of my commuting endeavor. I think I will get more used to the saddle as the time goes on.

 

[ChrisDuke]

I don't have a thudbuster, so don't know that there isn't a path for the lamp wires, but suspect not. Perhaps someone else can confirm.

 

[James]

What about a CirrusCycles Body Float? Looks like a pretty good design...

 

[Admin]

Good call James! I like the design but it appears you may still have to use their seat post? From what ChrisDuke was saying it sounds like the wires on the Specialized Turbo run through it so maybe just a suspension saddle would work best? There are plenty with rubber bumpers or old fashioned springs but it's not quite the same as a seat post shock

Specialized has an offering of their own in the suspension seat post category called the COBL GOBL-R (cobble gobbler) but it wouldn't solve the wiring situation either and it seems less sophisticated than the Cirrus Body Float... though probably a lot lighter.

 

[James]

Yeah I was looking at that last night Court... pretty cool design. I wonder what the eventual fatigue would be with something like that? Would it stop rebounding at some point?

 

[Admin]

Yeah I was looking at that last night Court... pretty cool design. I wonder what the eventual fatigue would be with something like that? Would it stop rebounding at some point?

Great question... it looks like the post is some sort of flexible alloy or maybe carbon fiber and the rebound is handled by a rubber insert... which could get hard over time. I guess that's the case with most of these things, both of the Thudbuster posts (short travel and long travel) use rubber inserts as well. The CirrusCycles Body Float appears to have springs so maybe it would be more resilient?

 

[jwdkhan]

I don't have a thudbuster, so don't know that there isn't a path for the lamp wires, but suspect not. Perhaps someone else can confirm.

Hello everyone, my first post though I have been following all the discussions and commuter logs for the past few weeks. After reading up on everyone's experiences here, I decided to try out a Turbo at my local bike shop here in Redmond, WA who were gracious enough to let me test a demo model at home for 3 days. I was blown away and got delivery of my Turbo last week.

My experience from the first few days confirmed that the ride was a bit stiff and I decided to try out a Thudbuster. My personal view having used it for the last 2 days has been a marked decrease in seat shocks. I still tend to the raise the handle bar when going over a pot hole and instinctively do the same on my seat but for smaller bumps where I stay seated, I have noticed a definite improvement in the ride. Of course this required drilling a small hole in the top of the Thudbuster seat post to pass the wire for the seat light (and saying goodbye to my Thudbuster warranty) but that was fairly straight forward and everything seems to work fine. If anyone has any questions, please feel free to ask.

 

[ChrisDuke]

Hello everyone, my first post though I have been following all the discussions and commuter logs for the past few weeks. After reading up on everyone's experiences here, I decided to try out a Turbo at my local bike shop here in Redmond, WA who were gracious enough to let me test a demo model at home for 3 days. I was blown away and got delivery of my Turbo last week. My experience from the first few days confirmed that the ride was a bit stiff and I decided to try out a Thudbuster. My personal view having used it for the last 2 days has been a marked decrease in seat shocks. I still tend to the raise the handle bar when going over a pot hole and instinctively do the same on my seat but for smaller bumps where I stay seated, I have noticed a definite improvement in the ride. Of course this required drilling a small hole in the top of the Thudbuster seat post to pass the wire for the seat light (and saying goodbye to my Thudbuster warranty) but that was fairly straight forward and everything seems to work fine. If anyone has any questions, please feel free to ask.

Interesting to see that you successfully drilled the hole. Was it difficult? did you have to disassemble the new post to get a straight shot with the drill?

I noticed that the Specialized panniers for the turbo claim that the existing seat lamp wires are rerouted to the lamp on the back of the rack frame. Can anyone confirm this?

As an aside, when I got the new bike, the tires were set to 75psi, which clearly contributed to the rock hard ride. Now that the pressure has dropped a bit (I haven't pumped the tires again), the ride has improved significantly, making me re-consider whether I need a new post.

Chris

 

[Brambor]

I haven't yet touched the tires. I don't even know what pressure they're at but they are wicked hard ;-) I definitely try to avoid potholes but I seem to like the tire hardness. My no electrical bike also has the tires pumped up hard.

for some reason I try to delay softening of the ride.

 

[jwdkhan]

The Thudbuster seat-post is aluminum and it was fairly easy making a hole in the top. The better way of doing this would be to remove the elastomers to have clearer access to the top with a drill. Since I was not able to keep my drill bit in the same place due to the angle (notice all the scratches in the picture), instead I poked a hole with a nail/hammer which gave me enough of a spot to 'stick' the drill bit in and get a rounded hole.

As you will have noticed, I also got the Specialized rack/fender set which has an integrated rear light. I believe the wiring for this light travels on the inside of the fender and comes out near the bottom of the crankset. The included manual suggested disconnecting the seat light, pulling the wire back to the bottom from the seat post and connecting the fender light to this wire. That would have have made the seat lights useless. Instead I split the seat wires just beneath the seat post and added a second wire which I ran down the main post to the crankset bottom. Here I connected this to the fender light. There is a little 'lid' kind of piece under the bike where the wires pass. This is where the fender wire goes in and connects to the seat wiring. I now have all 3 lights working. If anyone plans on doing this, I could always take some pictures and provide more details.



I must however add that for some reason even after I turn the battery off, the fender lights stay on for a few minutes, though fairly dimmed down. I am thinking there is still some current coming through some kind of capacitor that keeps them on for 10-15 minutes before they completely turn off. Since the battery is turned off, I hope they are not drawing anything from the battery although I have not seen any drop in the battery level even after they turn off in 15 minutes. Not sure why the seat lights don't act the same way, perhaps someone has a better answer.



The Specialized Turbo fender/rack set is built by RackTime and integrates very well with the overall look of the bike. Not dorky looking at all and has been very useful in the rainy Seattle/Redmond weather - but like everything Turbo, quite pricey.

http://www.specialized.com

Jawad

 

[Brambor]

dang that red makes the bike look awesome! Congrats!

 

[jwdkhan]

Thanks Brambor .

I love the bike and reading everyone's comments on here convinced me it was something I had to try. I have a 16 miles round trip commute to work, the last 2 miles near my home being a steep uphill climb. I got into biking after a 18 year break and bought a regular Specialized Hybrid last summer to commute to work. But after a dozen or so rides and being frustrated with my return journeys, I gave up for the winter and wasn't really looking forward to biking anymore. However the Turbo has changed that and I actually can't wait to get back on the bike everyday. I just wished the Turbo were priced a bit more reasonably, that was huge hurdle to cross.

 

[Brambor]

I feel your pain. Did you get it with the larger battery? I did 26 miles today in eco mode, lots of wind and had 28% battery left. I am (I weighed myself yesterday) 264lbs! I wish it weren't true but I hope more exercise with commuting to work will help curbing the weight.