Turbo Vado SL 4.0 Wheel Durability

[ckendall]

Mount difficulty as far as tightness goes was average for tubeless. I used one tire lever for each bead. Two lever lifts per bead to mount. A shop mechanic probably would have rolled it on all hands no tool, but I am not that good. If you don't do a lot of tires it could take a little patience.

The G-one Speeds in my experience are looser, either that or they are thinner and stretchier. They are good tires - very fast rolling, light and supple. Easier mount than Allround, which are thicker and better grip on gravel.

So many other tires out there in the same general category. Some easier to mount, some harder. Avoid Challenge tires - some are unbelievably hard to mount. Also avoid Panaracer - some mount too loose and tend to burp or even blow off if you inflate too much.

Also don't overlook TPU tubes instead of Stans and tubeless mounting. TPU tubes weigh the same as tubeless fluid, are quite tough, and are nearly as supple as tubeless too. Not messy, no struggle to seat the bead when inflating, etc. The RideNow's perform indistinguishably from the expensive TPU's, and cost like 6 bucks a pop on AliExpress. Spares are good to have too.

Will definitely try those RideNow TPUs on my bikes first. Sounds like you are like me. I love to wrench and tinker with optimizing setups etc. and now its on my wife's new bike. But I’m unlikely to stay tubeless because while I like wrenching I don’t like the tubeless goops and refresh every 6 months.

 

[ckendall]

my somewhat limited experience (four different types of rims) with tubeless is that the rims which are explicitly and recently designed for tubeless are a lot easier, and even more so when paired with recently designed tires designed specifically to be tubeless. i’m a reasonably strong guy, and found it totally impossible to mount reneherse 42mm knobbies on my DT Swiss R470 rims. like not even close.

GP5000 Pre-tubeless on those rims, possible, but very very hard.

GP 5000 TL S (the most recent ones) and the alpinist II (redesigned for tubeless, allegedly) rims on my specialized not electric road bike, those I can get on with my bare hands. no soapy water no tire irons just the “make space“ technique combined with the “rolling palms” technique.

My recent experience was with some Bontrager carbon rims and the stock Bontrager tires they came with on my Trek Super-Caliber cross country bike. Getting the tires off was super hard as they did not want to release from the rim seal. Then getting back on was super super tough. I want to try some different tires hoping its easier and possible to change in the field or on the road.

 

[hankj]

GP 5000 TL S

Phenomenally good tires.

The Continental Terra Speeds come in 700x45mm. Relatively easy mount, fast and light. Bit on the the rebound-y side (as opposed to damp, these are a bit springy) but reduce vibration nicely. Sticky on pavement but take bit of care on gravel. Good tire for a lighter weight rider biases toward pavement but who rides sone smooth dirt too. Reminds of the GP5000 in ways ....

 

[Rás Cnoic]

Mount difficulty as far as tightness goes was average for tubeless. I used one tire lever for each bead. Two lever lifts per bead to mount. A shop mechanic probably would have rolled it on all hands no tool, but I am not that good. If you don't do a lot of tires it could take a little patience.

The G-one Speeds in my experience are looser, either that or they are thinner and stretchier. They are good tires - very fast rolling, light and supple. Easier mount than Allround, which are thicker and better grip on gravel.

So many other tires out there in the same general category. Some easier to mount, some harder. Avoid Challenge tires - some are unbelievably hard to mount. Also avoid Panaracer - some mount too loose and tend to burp or even blow off if you inflate too much.

Also don't overlook TPU tubes instead of Stans and tubeless mounting. TPU tubes weigh the same as tubeless fluid, are quite tough, and are nearly as supple as tubeless too. Not messy, no struggle to seat the bead when inflating, etc. The RideNow's perform indistinguishably from the expensive TPU's, and cost like 6 bucks a pop on AliExpress. Spares are good to have too.

Really interesting thoughts on the Vado SL and tyres etc. Currently running WTB Byways (44s) on my Vado SL after a winter on Panaracer GKs 42 I think, the SK knobblies ones, actually ran wider then the Byway 44s. The Byways are better on the dry summer roads for sure. Re the TPU innertubes I've always been interested in these but I read somewhere you can't repair the punctures? Is that true? They won't take patches. Great tip on the Ali express RideNows - worth trying a pair at that price! Regardless of repairs.

 

[hankj]

Re the TPU innertubes I've always been interested in these but I read somewhere you can't repair the punctures? Is that true? They won't take patches. Great tip on the Ali express RideNows - worth trying a pair at that price! Regardless of repairs.

TPU's are easy to repair! The patch is essentially just a sticker, similar to the Park Tool speed patches.

The trick with patching TPUs is to use an alcohol wipe first. The patch area needs to be very clean and no oils for the sticker to adhere.

The patches seem to work universally across brands, except Tubolito patches don't. (Maybe others, but so far only Tubolito not cross compatible in my experience).

The other tricky thing about TPUs is that once they stretch to the size of the inside of the inflated tire, that's the size that they stay. You need to be careful not to inflate them much outside of a tire, and careful not to pinch with a tire lever when reinstalling after first inflation.

But not bad at all to repair as long as you use an alcohol swab first.

 

[Rás Cnoic]

That's really helpful. And yes maybe it was Tubolitos I was reading about. Ali Express here I come!

 

[hankj]

That's really helpful. And yes maybe it was Tubolitos I was reading about. Ali Express here I come!

Tubolito patches work well on Tubolitos, but not on other brands. No idea why!

 

[Yamanovichson]

Today, returning home, I was startled by a noise coming from behind. When I checked, I saw that a spoke had broken off the rear wheel and there was a finger-sized hole in the rim. I don't know what to do now. Does anyone have any ideas?

Should I try my warranty chances if it is a manufacturing defect, or what should I order to replace it?

The warranty expires in November. I've done 1500 kilometres so far.
(Vado SL)

 

[mschwett]

Today, returning home, I was startled by a noise coming from behind. When I checked, I saw that a spoke had broken off the rear wheel and there was a finger-sized hole in the rim. I don't know what to do now. Does anyone have any ideas?

Should I try my warranty chances if it is a manufacturing defect, or what should I order to replace it?

The warranty expires in November. I've done 1500 kilometres so far.
(Vado SL)

should be covered by warranty unless you’re over the load limit etc. take it to your specialized LBS and they’ll get it sorted. they’ll likely just replace the whole wheel.

if you don’t want to bother, the wheel is probably a DT swiss r500, but the 12x148 through axle version is not that easy to find.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

I try my warranty chances if it is a manufacturing defect

Absolutely this.

 

[Yamanovichson]

Today, returning home, I was startled by a noise coming from behind. When I checked, I saw that a spoke had broken off the rear wheel and there was a finger-sized hole in the rim. I don't know what to do now. Does anyone have any ideas?

Should I try my warranty chances if it is a manufacturing defect, or what should I order to replace it?

The warranty expires in November. I've done 1500 kilometres so far.
(Vado SL)

OK now!

The rear wheel of my bike was replaced on November 15 (covered by warranty).

However, after using the bike from November 2024 to March 2025, I have encountered the same problem again with the recently installed rear wheel.

This issue is becoming increasingly inconvenient.

From my experience, the latest rear wheel does not seem to match the original DT Swiss quality, which may be a factor in the recurring issue.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

I cannot understand it. Despite I am a rather heavy person, the 28-spoke rims are the standard Specialized issue, and I often ride hard terrain, no issues with my wheels since June 2021!
What's wrong in your situation?

 

[Yamanovichson]

I think the last wheel installed was not good enough.

E-shop

This is official B2B and B2C European Novatec e-shop.

www.eshop.novatecwheels.eu

Brand: NOVATEC
Model: Twentyfive

I travel 50 km every day and have logged over 20,000 km since 2022. I have not encountered any issues with the original DT Swiss equipment since reaching 15,000 km.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

You see, I have ridden my Vado SL for 17,100 km since 23rd of June 2021, and even didn't need to ever true the wheels! Not DT Swiss. Probably Novatec.

 

[Base]

OEM (R)oval wheels used to be on formula hubs and with white label rims. out the top of my head the ones in the Vado SL's are Formula hubs in DT R series rims.

What I think I see with those rims on the pictures is that either the tension on the spokes has been decreasing and thus has a bigger chance to come loose and janked back in place with each rotation, that would explain this issue. Or the tension has been to high (not very likely) and you hit a pothole at fullspeed with a lot of weight.

at the service counter I would advice a proper wheelset set with good rims and advice to have the tension checked after 500Km riding.

 

[Rás Cnoic]

Yeah Vado SL owner 4+ years and never a bother. Not exactly gentle with them on rough roads and gravel. I do have tyres with a lot of squish however. But as it's only an SL 4.0 I have marvelled at how tough these wheels are.

To happen once is just one of those things, twice is pretty unusual. Bad luck.

 

[Base]

Hmm, TA's on the SL2 are at a higher torque value 15 front 16 rear. SL 1 goes 15 Nm for both