Vado SL 5.1 GQ, a 27.5/650b “Gravel-Queen”

[e-levity]

We decided to convert Mrs levity’s Vado SL EQ to a GQ, i.e. make it a gravel bike “fit for a Queen”.
We used bits we’d saved from her previously modified Vado 6 and Creo to customize a new Medium sized SL:

EQ parts: Remove the lights and fenders since we’re fair weather riders in southern California. Keep the kickstand, it rocks!

Handlebars: Replace the OEM bars with Answer carbon 20/20 bars (20mm rise and 20° sweep for hand and wrist comfort). Bars were shortened to 700mm wide, but are 20mm wider than the OEM bars providing more control leverage.

Handlebar height: Lower the bars to a more aggressive position by flipping the stem down and inverting the bars to give a further 20mm drop. This put the grips level with the seat. Removing the stem spacers and using the 15mm shorter “duckbill” topcap was not enough. A pad was installed on the top tube in case the lower handlebar controls hit during a crash.

Dropper post: PNW 90mm dropper internally routed with Wolftooth bar remote.

Wheels: Light Bicycle carbon rims, i30mm, DT Swiss 350 hubs.

Tires: Panaracer GravelKing SK 27.5 x 1.9. These measure 53mm (almost 2.1”) at 30psi on the i30 rims and have plenty of clearance in the fork, seatstays, and chainstays.

Seat: Ergon Core Prime for the ultimate in comfort.

Some beauty shots -

and enjoying it in the real world -

The larger tires provide great traction and extra cushion.

Warning: the wide, low bars and low bottom bracket invite hooliganism!

 

[mschwett]

Wow! Amazing build / mods. And I love that color / gradient - never seen a Vado SL like that.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

We decided to convert Mrs levity’s Vado SL EQ to a GQ, i.e. make it a gravel bike “fit for a Queen”.

Lovely mods!

 

[BioWheel]

Beautiful machine - nice setup with the dropper and like the bars too. Love the color/paint. Is that a bell on your bars? Can't tell but don't think it's light. And I see you're concerned with chain slap given your electric tape wrap of the chainstay. Engaging the little, gray 'clutch' on the derailleur can help with that too. And keep an eye on those tires in any mud - not much clearance and chance tire could stall with a lot of debris. Sweet ride and thanks for sharing!

 

[kahn]

Wow! Amazing build / mods. And I love that color / gradient - never seen a Vado SL like that.

Wow! Amazing build / mods. And I love that color / gradient - never seen a Vado SL like that.

@e-levity I like it and was also going to comment on that paint job.

 

[e-levity]

Thanks to all for the kind comments. Mrs levity is enjoying the bike, and as they say "Happy Queen, Happy Life"!

@BioWheel - Yes. that's a Timber Bell on the handlebars. Re the derailleur clutch: we're mountain bikers at heart so it's always on. And what is the "mud" stuff of which you speak? (we're in SoCal)

 

[Rás Cnoic]

Thanks to all for the kind comments. Mrs levity is enjoying the bike, and as they say "Happy Queen, Happy Life"!

@BioWheel - Yes. that's a Timber Bell on the handlebars. Re the derailleur clutch: we're mountain bikers at heart so it's always on. And what is the "mud" stuff of which you speak? (we're in SoCal)

LOVE what you've done with the SL! I looked into 650b wheels when I got mine and for the same reason as a lot of my rides are a mix of roads, lanes, bridleways and gravel forestry trails. I recall the boost width seemed hard to find and so the expense of the few wheels I found put me off at the time (I'm the king of ebay style deals!) Instead I run WTB Nanos (40mm) on the stock 700c wheels, which really help. I also have swept back bars and a 38T chainwheel up front. However I have to ride cautiously on the rougher stuff, especially downhill, something the smaller wheels/wider tyres would have been great for. So I'm envious now and you've made me think I might revisit this wheel option. Funnily enough I'd contacted Specialized UK for advice on 650b wheels and the reply was not to do it as it would lower the BB height! I don't think he understood that effectively the BB height would remain the same; the wheels might be smaller but only to fit larger volume tyres which meant the overall diameter would be similiar.

I wonder if Spez might bring out a gravel specific Vado SL this year as it seems a great idea to me. The Vado SL XC maybe!

How is the tyre clearance at the seat stay bridge? It looks very tight on my SL, any problems there? I also want a dropper post but will need to figure a way of rewiring the saddle light - in the UK's muddy rainy winters that light is invaluable to remain seen. And battery/usb charged lights are ok but need recharging which gets annoying. A dropper on some of the crazy steep rocky descents I find myself on would be invaluable however.

Please post more pics of the wheel/tyre clearances if you have the time, its very helpful info.

PS the timber bell is great, notifies walkers without annoying them. Around Christmas a hill walker laughed and said he thought it was sleigh bells coming up behind him! Santa on the way.

The pic below is of the bike the morning after a particularly muddy winter ride, just about to clean it!
Plus my first puncture in a year and a half. Luckily it was a slow one, didn't discover until that morning, was a tiny thorn in the sidewall.

 

[e-levity]

@Rás Cnoic – Your bike photo makes it pretty obvious why you need fenders in the UK!
And, yes, 700x40 is about as large a tire as you can fit under them.

re bottom bracket height – Specialized shouldn’t be concerned about using 650b wheels with larger tires. The Vado SL has less bb drop than a Creo (70 vs. 78mm), and the bb height on mrs levity’s SL with the fatter 650b tires is 273mm compared to 267mm on the Creo with 700x38mm tires.

We find that a dropper post is key – it’s a must for descending sketchy sections off-road, and even helps on curvy downhill stretches on pavement.

I wouldn’t give up a dropper post just to keep the wimpy rear light that comes on the SL seat or SL-EQ rack/fender.
I’d rather use a MUCH brighter battery powered rear light in any case.

re punctures – If you can get by with tire pressures less than 40psi I'd recommend going tubeless!

Here are some pics showing the rear tire clearance (click to enlarge):
Mrs levity’s SL with the 27.5 x 1.9 GravelKing SK rear tire has ~8mm clearance at the seatstays and 3-4mm clearance at the chainstays

The 700x47 Tracer tire on my SL has ~8mm at the seatstays and 4-5mm clearance at the chainstays

 

[Rás Cnoic]

@Rás Cnoic – Your bike photo makes it pretty obvious why you need fenders in the UK!
And, yes, 700x40 is about as large a tire as you can fit under them.

re bottom bracket height – Specialized shouldn’t be concerned about using 650b wheels with larger tires. The Vado SL has less bb drop than a Creo (70 vs. 78mm), and the bb height on mrs levity’s SL with the fatter 650b tires is 273mm compared to 267mm on the Creo with 700x38mm tires.

We find that a dropper post is key – it’s a must for descending sketchy sections off-road, and even helps on curvy downhill stretches on pavement.

I wouldn’t give up a dropper post just to keep the wimpy rear light that comes on the SL seat or SL-EQ rack/fender.
I’d rather use a MUCH brighter battery powered rear light in any case.

re punctures – If you can get by with tire pressures less than 40psi I'd recommend going tubeless!

Here are some pics showing the rear tire clearance (click to enlarge):
Mrs levity’s SL with the 27.5 x 1.9 GravelKing SK rear tire has ~8mm clearance at the seatstays and 3-4mm clearance at the chainstays
View attachment 114267 View attachment 114268
The 700x47 Tracer tire on my SL has ~8mm at the seatstays and 4-5mm clearance at the chainstays
View attachment 114270 View attachment 114269

Great pics thanks. Surprising amount of clearance at the stays. Thats great to see. Which model is in the pic with the seat stay bridge? Is that a creo?

I did consider tubeless but don't think the SL 4 stock 700c rims are tubeless ready. Plus, with the mix of roads & offroad my explorations take me, I like to have 54-50psi in the tubes. If I go 650B I'll look into it again - see if I'll keep the 700c for long road trips and the smaller fatter wheels for more off road adventures.

I saw in an earlier thread that you recommended the Shimano Steps sensor/magnet ready brake rotors? Is that what you used on the Gravel Queen?

 

[e-levity]

Great pics thanks. Surprising amount of clearance at the stays. Thats great to see. Which model is in the pic with the seat stay bridge? Is that a creo?

I did consider tubeless but don't think the SL 4 stock 700c rims are tubeless ready. Plus, with the mix of roads & offroad my explorations take me, I like to have 54-50psi in the tubes. If I go 650B I'll look into it again - see if I'll keep the 700c for long road trips and the smaller fatter wheels for more off road adventures.

I saw in an earlier thread that you recommended the Shimano Steps sensor/magnet ready brake rotors? Is that what you used on the Gravel Queen?

@Rás Cnoic - The pic above with the seatstay bridge is my Large Vado SL 5. The seattube on the Large size is longer than on mrs levity’s Medium, so the seatstays are longer and attach higher up allowing space for a separate bridge.

Yes, the SL4 uses different rims. I don’t know if they are tubeless ready or compatible.

The 650b wheels on mrs levity’s SL are built with DT 350 hubs that use centerlock disc rotors, so she was able to move the rotors and lock rings (rear with the speed magnet) directly over from the OEM 700 wheels. In any case you can buy centerlock rotors with built in magnets or separate magnet holders that attach to 6-bolt rotors.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Yes, the SL4 uses different rims. I don’t know if they are tubeless ready or compatible.

They are not.
@e-levity you have inspired me to invert the bars. Will do it tomorrow!

 

[BikeOn]

Thanks for the post. Also with a Vado 5 eq SL, in SoCA. I've also changed handlebars, pedals, seat, front light (mounted to side of fork with velcro/viola strap) raised handlebars, had new cables run to add length to allow a high handlebar (bad neck on my part). Anyway - When I went to change tires, the best I could do was to put pathfinders on the stock rims. I want to get ones similar to yours, but we couldn't make them fit. I think maybe I was not willing to give up the fenders, as I do appreciate them, it does rain even here . I did remove the rubber bottoms on the fenders. I changed to tubeless. Have 3900 miles and not one flat! Ridden on dirt, gravel, road, and whatever else.... love it! Great bike. Am going to look into your tires. There is a You Tube about the different strengths of springs in the stem mount. There are three different ones. Soft, med, hard. I want to know what I had, but the LBS guy wasn't aware of it. Think I need to go to Specialized store. Where did you get your tires and rims? Do you think you could have made them fit with the fenders on?

 

[e-levity]

... you have inspired me to invert the bars. Will do it tomorrow!

Stefan - You can use any combination of flipping the handlebars, inverting the stem, removing spacers, and using the short “duckbill” top cap to lower the bars. The largest change is made by inverting the stem. If you don’t need to lower your handlebars more than 30mm below the stock setup you could just 1) remove some of the three stem spacers and/or 2) replace the tall “duckbill” topcap with the low version which is 15mm shorter. That will keep the handlebars in the same orientation and you don’t have to remove and reposition any of the controls. It’s actually easier and faster than flipping the bars. If you want to drop the bars really low you can of course do all!

I inverted the stem, removed two of the three 5mm spacers, and use the short duckbill on my SL. This puts the Answer 20/20 bar grips level with the seat. Here’s a pic of my bike when I was using the tall duckbill with no spacers (click to enlarge)


and here’s a close up of the stem/headset area with the short duckbill/5mm spacer combo that I now use:

 

[e-levity]

... Also with a Vado 5 eq SL, in SoCA...

A 700x42 Pathfinder tire will fit in the fork of the SL with fenders. However, we found that the largest tire that would fit in the back with the stock rack and fenders was 700x38 due to contact with the small bolt in the center of the rear rack that attaches it to the fender. If you remove that bolt you can fit a 700x42 in the rear. Mrs levity rode it like that on a few rides before she switched to 650b wheels & tires. You may be able to use a shorter bolt or nut.

re Future Shock 1.5 springs – You’ll have to check your bike. Neither of our bikes came with any spring at all! When I asked our LBS about this they gave us a couple of kits that came with other Specialized bikes but had not been used. You might ask your shop or just buy a kit on eBay or from Specialized direct. Mrs levity uses the soft (blue coded) spring, and I use the mid-firm (black coded) spring. These seem to work fine so we haven’t bothered to experiment.


re mrs levity’s 27.5/650b wheels – these were an older mtb set originally purchased from Light Bicycles that we had lying around in the garage. There are many suppliers or wheelbuilders that can provide wheels with carbon or less expensive alloy rims. I’d recommend going with an inner rim width of 25-27mm but a few mm less or more is OK.

 

[BikeOn]

Thanks so much for the follow up. I will look into your suggestions. I changed my handlebars to Box One Triple Cromo flat 31.8 BMX bars with a 6" rise. (I think).... needed the more upward seating position for neck problems.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Stefan - You can use any combination of flipping the handlebars, inverting the stem, removing spacers, and using the short “duckbill” top cap to lower the bars. The largest change is made by inverting the stem. If you don’t need to lower your handlebars more than 30mm below the stock setup you could just 1) remove some of the three stem spacers and/or 2) replace the tall “duckbill” topcap with the low version which is 15mm shorter. That will keep the handlebars in the same orientation and you don’t have to remove and reposition any of the controls. It’s actually easier and faster than flipping the bars. If you want to drop the bars really low you can of course do all!

I inverted the stem, removed two of the three 5mm spacers, and use the short duckbill on my SL. This puts the Answer 20/20 bar grips level with the seat. Here’s a pic of my bike when I was using the tall duckbill with no spacers (click to enlarge)
View attachment 114478

and here’s a close up of the stem/headset area with the short duckbill/5mm spacer combo that I now use:
View attachment 114480

Mr @e-levity:

What I did in the past was:

• Inverting the Redshift stem (-6 degrees)
• Removing all spacers but one.

I don't understand what the "duckbill" is.
Should I be afraid of anything strange if I additionally invert the handlebars?

 

[e-levity]

I don't understand what the "duckbill" is.
Should I be afraid of anything strange if I additionally invert the handlebars?

The “duckbill” is the plastic topcap spacer that sits on the base of the Future Shock just above the frame. The photo below shows a short duckbill, a tall duckbill (15mm taller), and a tall duckbill snapped apart. The short version has a hole on the drive side to allow direct access to the 4mm hex bolt that clamps the future shock into the steerer tube. The tall duckbull has to be snapped apart to gain access to the bolt. Specialized bikes usually come stock with the tall version installed, but you should have received the short version to enable you to lower the future shock/stem/bars.


All you need to do is loosen the 4mm hex bolt and pull the future shock/stem/bars out as a unit together. Then you can switch duckbills and remove any spacers. Keep some weight on the bike’s front end when doing so. When you reinsert the future shock you’ll need to make sure the bars are aligned correctly, then tighten the 4mm hex bolt to 4Nm (same torque as for a stem or handlebar). Easy, breezy.

If you lower your bars make sure none of the controls hit the top tube when the handlebars are rotated full lock. It they do you could damage the frame. We zip-tied a pad to the top tube of our bikes to protect it (see photos in posts above).

I can't make out what has been done to the Future Shock that usually comes on the Vado SL 5. Looking at the top photo you posted above it appears that you may have replaced your future shock with some sort of extension (?). Whatever it is protrudes out too far judging by the 3 large spacers above the stem. I recommend lowering the extension/shock so that the top cap is flush with the top of the stem to get rid of the spacers. The system will be stronger with the extension/shock inserted further. IIRC, Specialized recommends using no more than three 5mm spacers between the tall duckbill and stem to insure that the future shock is inserted enough to hold. Your bike appears to have three 10mm spacers above the stem. Thus the extension/shock may be as much as 20mm too far out and could come loose or fail. I realize that your stem is actually lower giving less leverage, but the section protruding above the stem could injure you in a crash.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

I understand. Vado SL 4.0 comes with the duckbill but without the Future Shock. I wouldn't touch the part. My only concern is whether inverting the bars might lead to some unpredictable or inconvenient results.

Besides, Specialized offered they would cut the excess of the steering tube for me.

 

[e-levity]

Oops, I thought we were discussing SL 5 bikes. I also neglected to ask you how much you wanted to lower the handlebars.

I don't see why flipping the bars over would have an adverse effect. You'll have to play with their rotation which may affect reach.
Since the handlebars have a 15mm rise, flipping them will lower the grips about 30mm depending on their rotation.
You could flip the stem back up and/or move one or two of the 10mm upper spacers below the stem to give less.
Depends on what you want. Experiment and try it.
And yes, I'd recommend cutting the steering tube shorter once you get things dialed.

 

[kahn]

Thanks so much for the follow up. I will look into your suggestions. I changed my handlebars to Box One Triple Cromo flat 31.8 BMX bars with a 6" rise. (I think).... needed the more upward seating position for neck problems.

My Creo came with no spacers installed and I added two and then added the third. But I also got a stem with more rise. I, too, have neck issues. I rarely, if even use the drops anymore. Well, maybe I did when blasting down Washington Pass at 45mph!!! I would probably raise it more if I could.