Void warranty

[Kevin C]

Hi there , I'm new to this forum as I only bought an ebike this week. I have two questions.
1. What's the best derestrict chip to get for a Turbo vado SL 4.0 2022 ( it does not have the mastermind TCD)
2. If I derestrict my bike, and remove the chip before bringing it back to my specialized dealer for its first service.
Will they be able to see through their plug ins, or Bluetooth app, that I had it derestricted?
Possibly voiding my warranty?

Any thoughts?

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Hi there , I'm new to this forum as I only bought an ebike this week. I have two questions.
1. What's the best derestrict chip to get for a Turbo vado SL 4.0 2022 ( it does not have the mastermind TCD)

PearTune 3.0.

2. If I derestrict my bike, and remove the chip before bringing it back to my specialized dealer for its first service.
Will they be able to see through their plug ins, or Bluetooth app, that I had it derestricted?
Possibly voiding my warranty?

They will see it instantly and will void your warranty.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Kevin, let me tell you something.

The reasons for which I derestricted my Vado SL 4.0 EQ were:

• Making my SL zippier up to 25 km/h. My legs are ailing and they can only produce 80 W on average. Derestricting means the bike "thinks" you ride slower than you actually are, and the system is providing more oomph up to 25 km/h.
• Enabling me to ride at the speed of an average member of my gravel cycling club. So called "slower group" cruises at 25 km/h on forest paths and they reach up to 34 km/h on asphalt when they ride with the tailwind. Matching them requires me using as much as 80/80% of SL assistance and that happens at the cost of multiple Range Extenders on the Club 100+ km rides.

If your legs are healthy, you could easily pedal past 25 km/h without any assistance. Otherwise, using 100% of assistance with a derestricted Vado SL will get you at 34 km/h on the flat and in windless conditions because of air drag. Riding at assistance levels over 65% is emptying the battery at enormous rate, which leads to rapid deterioration of the battery. For instance, 100% Turbo will give you the maximum range of 36 km in favourable conditions on the main battery. Worthy to derestrict? It depends on your physical shape and needs.
------------
Now, Peartune 3.0 works perfectly after a little bit tricky install. The dongle connects to the TCU, and the TCU is the first thing a Specialized techie looks at, for different reasons (the e-bike PIN is printed on the TCU; the upgrades are installed to the TCU).

What I did, I asked for the first service and all firmware updates prior to derestricting my Vado SL. Now, I avoid seeing the LBS with my Vado SL as they were the devil incarnated! I have owned my Vado SL for 16 months now, and the odometer reads 7495 km, no issues so far.

 

[Seasider]

I bought the Levociraptor chip for my 2022 Vado SL back in Aug and have not installed it. I guess I thought derestricting is what I wanted/needed. On reflection, the 15mph limit on mine suits most of my needs being a 90% urban rider. I’m not worried about voiding the warranty more about getting stopped by the police and them checking my bike over. I might install it one day to check it out but basically a wasted of money.

 

[tomjasz]

I remain confused by you fellas buying restricted eBikes and then try to sort a hack. I’m apparently missing the logic. Or do buyers not read the specs ? Honest question no insult implied or intended.

 

[Kevin C]

I bought the Levociraptor chip for my 2022 Vado SL back in Aug and have not installed it. I guess I thought derestricting is what I wanted/needed. On reflection, the 15mph limit on mine suits most of my needs being a 90% urban rider. I’m not worried about voiding the warranty more about getting stopped by the police and them checking my bike over. I might install it one day to check it out but basically a wasted of money.

Kevin, let me tell you something.

The reasons for which I derestricted my Vado SL 4.0 EQ were:

• Making my SL zippier up to 25 km/h. My legs are ailing and they can only produce 80 W on average. Derestricting means the bike "thinks" you ride slower than you actually are, and the system is providing more oomph up to 25 km/h.
• Enabling me to ride at the speed of an average member of my gravel cycling club. So called "slower group" cruises at 25 km/h on forest paths and they reach up to 34 km/h on asphalt when they ride with the tailwind. Matching them requires me using as much as 80/80% of SL assistance and that happens at the cost of multiple Range Extenders on the Club 100+ km rides.

If your legs are healthy, you could easily pedal past 25 km/h without any assistance. Otherwise, using 100% of assistance with a derestricted Vado SL will get you at 34 km/h on the flat and in windless conditions because of air drag. Riding at assistance levels over 65% is emptying the battery at enormous rate, which leads to rapid deterioration of the battery. For instance, 100% Turbo will give you the maximum range of 36 km in favourable conditions on the main battery. Worthy to derestrict? It depends on your physical shape and needs.
------------
Now, Peartune 3.0 works perfectly after a little bit tricky install. The dongle connects to the TCU, and the TCU is the first thing a Specialized techie looks at, for different reasons (the e-bike PIN is printed on the TCU; the upgrades are installed to the TCU).

What I did, I asked for the first service and all firmware updates prior to derestricting my Vado SL. Now, I avoid seeing the LBS with my Vado SL as they were the devil incarnated! I have owned my Vado SL for 16 months now, and the odometer reads 7495 km, no issues so far.

Yes Stefan, you make a lot of sense.
My story is, I’ve been commuting two to three times a week, for about three years.
It’s 30k each way. Flat terrain, but winds can be quite strong ( west of Ireland )
The commute is fine, but any more than 3 days, leaves me quite tired at the weekend.
So I decided to try an ebike, to see if I could commute 5 days, and be relatively fresh and the weekend.
So just two days done on my Vado Sl, and I’m delighted with the result.
But boys being boys, we all want a bit more if it’s available .
I can see where you are coming from about the battery depletion. And after just two days, I can see that I’d probably struggle to get home on the return leg if I used turbo, plus derestricting the Vado.
I don’t really want to go down the battery extender route yet, so maybe in a couple of weeks, with a bit more mileage, I can get a clearer picture.

 

[Kevin C]

I remain confused by you gellas buying restricted eBikes and then try to sort a hack. I’m apparently missing the logic. Or do buyers not read the specs ? Honest question no insult implied or intended.

Our local law restrict our bike to 25kph.
Now the exact same bike has a 28 miles per hour, in the US for example.
So if the bike is able to handle a higher assist speed, then why not avail of it?
Yes it’s against the law. But I know that, and I think I’m responsible enough to know when to keep to a safe speed, when it urban areas.
I live in the country with open roads.

 

[tomjasz]

im sorry i just can’t stop laughing knowing what mr by the book is probably posting. I guess being a builder and seeing the prices and restrictions…

Nice bike BTW. Those restrictions made a lot of kit sales and commissions for me.

I hope it works out for you.

 

[Kevin C]

I bought the Levociraptor chip for my 2022 Vado SL back in Aug and have not installed it. I guess I thought derestricting is what I wanted/needed. On reflection, the 15mph limit on mine suits most of my needs being a 90% urban rider. I’m not worried about voiding the warranty more about getting stopped by the police and them checking my bike over. I might install it one day to check it out but basically a wasted of money.

Yes, if my commute was urban, then I wouldn’t even think about derestricting it.
My commute is 90% country roads.
Long straight ones at that, so a few kph with assist would be nice I’m thinking.
Up to 30-32kph ideally.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Yes Stefan, you make a lot of sense.
My story is, I’ve been commuting two to three times a week, for about three years.
It’s 30k each way. Flat terrain, but winds can be quite strong ( west of Ireland )
The commute is fine, but any more than 3 days, leaves me quite tired at the weekend.
So I decided to try an ebike, to see if I could commute 5 days, and be relatively fresh and the weekend.
So just two days done on my Vado Sl, and I’m delighted with the result.
But boys being boys, we all want a bit more if it’s available .
I can see where you are coming from about the battery depletion. And after just two days, I can see that I’d probably struggle to get home on the return leg if I used turbo, plus derestricting the Vado.
I don’t really want to go down the battery extender route yet, so maybe in a couple of weeks, with a bit more mileage, I can get a clearer picture.

Kevin,
I wonder if you wouldn't be better off with a full power e-bike such as a Vado (non SL). Vado SL is vulnerable to headwind as any normal bike. It could slow you down to 18 km/h easily. To get at 25 km/h against a strong headwind, you either need strong legs or solid assistance. Add some hills to that...

If your legs are strong, you will be able to ride pretty fast after the derestriction. However, if you are not strong, getting 30-32 km/h in good conditions on a derestricted Vado SL requires a lot of assistance. Whereas, the restricted e-bike is pretty economical. Use high assistance against headwind and uphill. Your battery will thank you for that! It is because the most of power demand occurs at high speed due to air drag. The power demand increases in the cube power with increasing bike-to-air speed.

 

[Kevin C]

Stefan.
I spent a lot of time reviewing different bikes, and test rode a Reise and Muller Charger 4.
But the SL stood out to me, because of its weight and agility.
Being my first dip into the ebike world, it is a nice start bike. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not looking for a bike to whisk me to work. I was just wondering with a little tweaking with mission control with the assist percentages.
Maybe when derestricted, I could find a sweet spot, that would get me in and out of work with enough support to average about 30kph with less effort that my push bike, and so my commute is about one hour.
Obviously head winds will completely disrupt that setting,
Anyway it’s early days Stefan. I’ll get back in a few week when I have a bit more experience on it.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

All understood Kevin!

it is a nice start bike.

Lucky you to call one of the most modern, premium, extremely well engineered, and designed with a deep thought e-bikes "a start bike"!

I assume you are met with the assistance loss above 25 km/h pretty often? If yes, derestrict!

 

[TrevorB]

I remain confused by you fellas buying restricted eBikes and then try to sort a hack. I’m apparently missing the logic. Or do buyers not read the specs ? Honest question no insult implied or intended.

25kmhr cutoff is designed to slow ebikes when mixing with unassisted bikes on busy dutch and germany cycles. For low cycling populations its not necessary, 32kmh is better option.

We are lucky in NZ as there are no speed limits on ebikes yet and to late to introduce them as it would penalize all owners of 45kmhr ebikes. Still few unassisted riders going at 20-25kmhr but most have converted to 32 or 45kmhr bikes. Lycra crowd still manage to do 25-35kmhr without headwind and draft ebike when there is one.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

An information to the Minnesotan:
Almost all e-bikes sold in the European Union (which includes Ireland as a very important member state), the UK, Norway, Australia, and even in Russia (but not in the Switzerland) are limited to 25 km/h (15.5 mph) by law. These e-bikes are just treated as regular unassisted bikes by the law and can be ridden anywhere a traditional bicycle is allowed.

There are very rare and very expensive 45 km/h (28 mph) e-bikes here that are Type Approved as L1e-B class (a moped) for the EU, the UK and Norway (but not for Australia), are equipped with numerous safety features, and require registration, number plate, third party insurance, and wearing the helmet. The L1e-B bikes cannot be ridden on MUPs or bike paths (except in Denmark).

For all aforementioned reasons, the L1e-B e-bikes are not popular at all in Europe. It will not help to "read specifications" as any regular legal e-bike in the regions as above will be restricted. Owners are not happy with that and often derestrict their e-bikes. Derestricting voids the warranty.

As the outcome of a very tragic accident in France, a penalty of 30,000 EUR is applied to any user caught with an illegal or derestricted e-bike in that country.

 

[Te. S]

I bought the Levociraptor chip for my 2022 Vado SL back in Aug and have not installed it. I guess I thought derestricting is what I wanted/needed. On reflection, the 15mph limit on mine suits most of my needs being a 90% urban rider. I’m not worried about voiding the warranty more about getting stopped by the police and them checking my bike over. I might install it one day to check it out but basically a wasted of money.

you must have the european version here in the US we are very lucky we have a 28 MPH witch is 45.KmH limit that is fast enough for me but i have looked at the Levociraptor 2 or 3 looks pretty cool maybe later on i would like to know if anyone has installed in the US and what they think of it

 

[jodi2]

I also think that a "normal" 45km/h s-pedelec is the better choice here for this use case and such a distance. I guess you have this ebike class in Ireland as well? It's less the law or that it's legal, it's also the bigger battery and the amount of support and time&nerves it saves you for daily commuting a long distance and (quite often I guess) bad weather.
During the last 10 years I first used a "normal" 45km/h Bosch, then a superfast Stromer 45km/h and then a 25km/h Creo SL to ride to work 22km one way (almost flat) almost every day, summer and winter (the last three years 40km one way). The Bosch was ok for this use case but after a few years not that satisfying anymore, so I became lazy and used it only 2-3 days per week. The Stromer is like a Porsche or a Ferrari and motivated me all over the years until we moved further away. But even with the fast Stromer 40km one way is a very long distance for commuting twice a day and all year long. I do it only once a week anymore. With the Creo it’s more sport and the motor doesn’t help much, but once a week in summer is fine.

In summary: For 30km one way each day all over the year as often as possible and over years and in irish weather you should choose the most powerful ebike with the biggest battery available. If you just want to ride once a week in summer, you don’t really need 45km/h and even can do it with a 25km/h Vado SL. Anything between will give you as much and as long motivation as it has power. An unrestricted Vado SL will be much slower than a “normal” Bosch 45km/h bike and bring less motivation. I would use it for 30km one way the first year a few month in summer. In winter or next summer maximum 1-2 times a week.

 

[Kevin C]

I also think that a "normal" 45km/h s-pedelec is the better choice here for this use case and such a distance. I guess you have this ebike class in Ireland as well? It's less the law or that it's legal, it's also the bigger battery and the amount of support and time&nerves it saves you for daily commuting a long distance and (quite often I guess) bad weather.
During the last 10 years I first used a "normal" 45km/h Bosch, then a superfast Stromer 45km/h and then a 25km/h Creo SL to ride to work 22km one way (almost flat) almost every day, summer and winter (the last three years 40km one way). The Bosch was ok for this use case but after a few years not that satisfying anymore, so I became lazy and used it only 2-3 days per week. The Stromer is like a Porsche or a Ferrari and motivated me all over the years until we moved further away. But even with the fast Stromer 40km one way is a very long distance for commuting twice a day and all year long. I do it only once a week anymore. With the Creo it’s more sport and the motor doesn’t help much, but once a week in summer is fine.

In summary: For 30km one way each day all over the year as often as possible and over years and in irish weather you should choose the most powerful ebike with the biggest battery available. If you just want to ride once a week in summer, you don’t really need 45km/h and even can do it with a 25km/h Vado SL. Anything between will give you as much and as long motivation as it has power. An unrestricted Vado SL will be much slower than a “normal” Bosch 45km/h bike and bring less motivation. I would use it for 30km one way the first year a few month in summer. In winter or next summer maximum 1-2 times a week.

Well guys, I have 900k done on my Vado SL, and I’m really happy with the bike.
My commute is taking me an average of 66min. And the first thing I noticed about an ebike is the consistency of my times.
Unless I’m up against a strong headwind, my commute is 66min +|- 2min.
I always use a heartrate monitor, as it gives a good sense of effort. I’m staying in zone 2 for my full commute, which keeps me fresh for the spin home, and to keep my legs fresh for the following days. This also gives me a good steady level of effort.
Regarding derestriction.
I think I’m happy to stick with the 25km cut off for a while. On a calm day, I’m usually left with 40% left in the battery after my 60k commute (30 each way).
So I’m thinking in the future if I derestrict, and use maybe 65/70% assistance. That it will will work, getting a slightly higher average. Saying that, a windy day will probably put my battery in the red. But I’m getting more aware of this and watching forecasts and wind directions, so I can manage my battery consumption.
This is all the stuff I think about on my commute. I’m sure ye guys are the same, always looking for the extra little bit.

All in all, I’m very happy with my purchase.
Just have to put up with the slagging from my workmates.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

All in all, I’m very happy with my purchase.

I'm so happy with your happiness! Many safe kilometres!

 

[Nonlinear]

Hey Kevin, I have about the same km on my Vado, but my commute is way shorter (only about 15 minutes each way haha). I am glad to hear you are liking the bike. I certainly love mine. I did order a derestrictor chip and am waiting for it to arrive from Czech Republic (unfortunately I asked for the slow shipping!).

By the way, what do you all recommend for a good heart rate monitor?

 

[Kevin C]

I also think that a "normal" 45km/h s-pedelec is the better choice here for this use case and such a distance. I guess you have this ebike class in Ireland as well? It's less the law or that it's legal, it's also the bigger battery and the amount of support and time&nerves it saves you for daily commuting a long distance and (quite often I guess) bad weather.
During the last 10 years I first used a "normal" 45km/h Bosch, then a superfast Stromer 45km/h and then a 25km/h Creo SL to ride to work 22km one way (almost flat) almost every day, summer and winter (the last three years 40km one way). The Bosch was ok for this use case but after a few years not that satisfying anymore, so I became lazy and used it only 2-3 days per week. The Stromer is like a Porsche or a Ferrari and motivated me all over the years until we moved further away. But even with the fast Stromer 40km one way is a very long distance for commuting twice a day and all year long. I do it only once a week anymore. With the Creo it’s more sport and the motor doesn’t help much, but once a week in summer is fine.

In summary: For 30km one way each day all over the year as often as possible and over years and in irish weather you should choose the most powerful ebike with the biggest battery available. If you just want to ride once a week in summer, you don’t really need 45km/h and even can do it with a 25km/h Vado SL. Anything between will give you as much and as long motivation as it has power. An unrestricted Vado SL will be much slower than a “normal” Bosch 45km/h bike and bring less motivation. I would use it for 30km one way the first year a few month in summer. In winter or next summer maximum 1-2 times a week.

Have to say Jodi, the stromer looks amazing . Now that would be fun!