Void warranty

[Kevin C]

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?

I have a Garmin heart strap. That has worked flawlessly with my Garmin computer.
But if you want one to connect to the mission control app, you Will need a Bluetooth compatible strap. The wahoo one is very popular. Also the Polar H10.
I’d love to hear how you get on with the chip!

 

[Nonlinear]

I have a Garmin heart strap. That has worked flawlessly with my Garmin computer.
But if you want one to connect to the mission control app, you Will need a Bluetooth compatible strap. The wahoo one is very popular. Also the Polar H10.
I’d love to hear how you get on with the chip!

Thanks! And I will update once I get the chip!

 

[mschwett]

…

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

polar H10 has worked very well for me, both with mission control and other apps.

 

[jodi2]

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).

66min for 30km, more than 27km/h average speed is great for a bike with 25km/h limit! But I’m surprised that you already need so much battery on a flat route with 27km/h average. My average speed for my 40km with maybe around 175 height meters with the limited Creo is about 29km/h (a bit exhausted) up to 30km/h (very exhausted). The battery usage is very low (only 13-14%, so around 10% for 30km) and so is the gain in average speed or time, without motor my average speed is already 28-29km/h. The limited Creo is quite useless or let’s say, the motor not necessary for such a route. But if you use about 3 times the amount of battery, the motor is definitely a real help.
Usually with 25km/h limited bikes slower riders use a lot more battery than faster riders as they mostly ride below 25km/h. But then the average speed is also much lower and below 25km/h. With 27km/h average on a Vado SL with straight handle bars, you’re a fast rider and normally not staying lazy below the 25km/h limit. Maybe your route has more height meters than you thought/said? Or it’s the more upright position/the straight handle bar on the Vado SL compared to the Creo, that slows down a little bit? I should try my route as well with the Vado SL to compare it with my Creo…

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

I personally don't like the look that much. Also it's disappointing that Stromer cares more about design and look than about features like fenders and carrier for a commuter. But riding performance at higher speeds is incredible and beats every Bosch/Brose/Yamaha by far.

 

[Kevin C]

It's probably two things.
1. I am 192cm tall 95kg. I like to keep my effort even, so on inclines I will let the bike take over the vast amount of the work.
So as to keep my heart rate even, and not be a sweaty mess when I get to work. So the bike is working quite hard to propel my weight on inclines
and against winds, plus my height on a flat bar bike catches a lot of air. I've come from always using drop bars on the road to now using flat bars with the Vado.
This has a lot more drag than I had envisioned.
2. My commute is 29.44km and my average speed according to my Garmin is in and around 26.5kph. Yes I am riding a good bit of the journey well above the 25k cut off,
but as you probably know the motor doesn't cut out completely until about 26.4kph. It tapers down the assist to even out the cut off. so the bike is still working up to that speed.

These factors along with living beside the Atlantic ocean, I think might answer your question.
I have no doubt though, that a Creo would have been a better purchase for me, but my budget didn't allow it.

 

[jodi2]

I have no doubt though, that a Creo would have been a better purchase for me, but my budget didn't allow it.

I didn't want to say that. On the contrary, I wanted to describe that my limited Creo on a flat tour (where I need only about 1Wh/1km) is dissappointing and I guess I would gain more with a limited Vado SL with a higher battery consumption. Maybe you don't gain time or speed but you save some sweat.
But if I use my limited Creo for hilly tours (and that's what I bought it for), I like it a lot and more than the Vado SL.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

I didn't want to say that. On the contrary, I wanted to describe that my limited Creo on a flat tour (where I need only about 1Wh/1km) is dissappointing and I guess I would gain more with a limited Vado SL with a higher battery consumption. Maybe you don't gain time or speed but you save some sweat.
But if I use my limited Creo for hilly tours (and that's what I bought it for), I like it a lot and more than the Vado SL.

Jodi, I simply cannot get you. What is different between Creo and Vado SL? Creo gives less air drag so it requires less electrical support. If you simply increased the assistance, you would be riding at 25 km/h effortlessly and without sweating.

 

[jodi2]

It's just that the disadvantages of a motor (price, weight, more complex technology to maintain) should give me "something" back on most tracks. If bike or circumstances do not allow this, I would choose a bike without motor. So if my main use case woud be to cycle my more or less flat track to work, I would buy/use a gravel bike without motor for this (or a Stromer...) instead of a limited Creo. The Vado SL seems of more use here, even if you're not faster and you need more battery.
So even if I like the Creo more than the Vado SL, I won't recommend the limited version for any use case.

But the solution could be easy, just raise the limit up to 32km/h. This would be enough for most riders even with a Creo/race bars to benefit from the motor even if it's flat and to invest some "natural energy". And it would be safer und more useful in the cities. In Germany the 30km/h limit in cities get's more and more common (I guess in whole Europe). 32km/h on the bike computer (so in realitiy 30km/h or less) would be a good speed there. But with 25km/h on the Vado SL I'm an obstacle and cars behind me are often impatient and drive too close or try to overtake me. Most of them won't do that if I would ride with 30-32km/h there...

 

[tom9779]

For me personally I don’t really see the point of removing the top speed assist unless your riding a road bike and perhaps ride up to 50/60km/h plus and want to keep the pace up assisted??

What’s people are probably more interested in is Torque. And as far as I know that’s not limited by manufacturer.

Ie getting up to speed quickly. But doing that is also going to cost you in repairs and parts not to mention battery life ? Usually why you only see the torquey motors on eMTB and heavy bike builds because they are built tough and have a lot to haul?

Or am I off the mark?

 

[Stefan Mikes]

This all depends on the rider's fitness and specific needs. My bad legs cannot get any better, so it is not possible for me to pedal faster than 25 km/h unassisted. Were I only riding alone, I would not care very much. However, I often ride with healthy gravel cyclists in a group. That requires me using 80/80% SL assistance to stay together with the group. To get an average speed of 21.8 km/h while riding over 50% of the time in the forest, I need my Vado SL derestricted to get assisted up to 30 km/h (and I am talking about the "recreation group" here).

Now, with my shape of health, I cannot ride my Vado SL with the "strong group" to make 104.5 km in less than 4 hours (average speed of 26.2 km/h). It is not only about the derestriction but also the motor power (Vado SL is too weak for me for such rides). Luckily, I could be riding my 45 km/h Vado 5.0/6.0 on such trips. If I had no chance to own that Speed E-Bike (which you cannot buy in Australia Tom), I would have certainly derestricted my big Vado, too.