Whoops I did it again...

GrayFox

GrayFox

Member
On my last ride I noticed that the front handlebar bag was becoming undone from the handlebar. I stopped and tightened the straps and then tried to resume my ride.

I set the power mode to Turbo and when I tried to resume the ride I could not get enough forward speed to stabilize the bike and fell over ( fortunately onto a nice small patch of grass, except for the right side of my shin that got scraped on the gutter). Luckily there were no witnesses. I moved to the other side of the road where I was able to start from a more upright position and after a bit of wobbling I was able to get underway,

I typically ride 20-26 miles non-stop, in fact over the last two years I probably have not stopped in mid ride more that 5 or 6 times so I am unskilled at starting from a dead stop. My driveway is slightly downhill so starting from home is no problem.

After I got going again I mentally kicked myself for not down shifting before stopping. I normally use the third smallest cassette ring and there is one short hill that I down shift to the fourth smallest cassette ring,

When I got home I peered at the rear cassette and found that I had been in the second smallest cassette ring, tain't clear to me how I got there.

Sigh....I would have thought that my 210 pounds focused on one pedal in Turbo mode for my Vado SL 5.0 should have easily launched me.

Does the crank have to be moving much to supply power?

I guess I have to start downshifting when approaching situations that might call for a quick stop...
 
GrayFox said:
On my last ride I noticed that the front handlebar bag was becoming undone from the handlebar. I stopped and tightened the straps and then tried to resume my ride.

I set the power mode to Turbo and when I tried to resume the ride I could not get enough forward speed to stabilize the bike and fell over ( fortunately onto a nice small patch of grass, except for the right side of my shin that got scraped on the gutter). Luckily there were no witnesses. I moved to the other side of the road where I was able to start from a more upright position and after a bit of wobbling I was able to get underway,

I typically ride 20-26 miles non-stop, in fact over the last two years I probably have not stopped in mid ride more that 5 or 6 times so I am unskilled at starting from a dead stop. My driveway is slightly downhill so starting from home is no problem.

After I got going again I mentally kicked myself for not down shifting before stopping. I normally use the third smallest cassette ring and there is one short hill that I down shift to the fourth smallest cassette ring,

When I got home I peered at the rear cassette and found that I had been in the second smallest cassette ring, tain't clear to me how I got there.

Sigh....I would have thought that my 210 pounds focused on one pedal in Turbo mode for my Vado SL 5.0 should have easily launched me.

Does the crank have to be moving much to supply power?

I guess I have to start downshifting when approaching situations that might call for a quick stop...
Click to expand...
YES, downshift before the stop. As an urban rider I have to do that regularly for lights or stop signs or I have to really push down on the pedal to get forward movement. If I forget and I do, then you can probably hear me mumbling under and over my breath! And, I believe, turbo mode requires even more force or a few feet to kick in - it is not quite instantaneous.
 
Yes GrayFox, down shifting before a stop definitely aides in starting out. I find two gears lower works for me. A simply click, click, may suffice. Your bike may be able to shift two gears quickly with two clicks of the lever. Like Foofer said, practice some stops in an empty parking lot. Find whatever gear works for you. Soon it will become second nature when you come to a stop.

Glad you had no witness when you went down. That makes it worse. Safe cycling!
 
if you practice on grass I bet when comfortable there pavement should be just a couple attempts to get used to and should be easier on general
 
While it's always best to avoid it, if it does happen and your bike has a kickstand it's easy to fix. Get off the bike, put down the kickstand. Tilt the bike toward you until the back tire comes off the ground slightly. Use walk mode (or throttle if your bike has one) and click down through the gears to the proper one. Get back on the bike and ride away.
 
Marci jo said:
Your bike may be able to shift two gears quickly with two clicks of the lever.
Click to expand...
Your e-bike allows downshifting as many as three gears with a single DEEP depressing the shifter, @Marci jo :) Have you tried that? Just push the downshift lever all the way down! You might be surprised! It is because the shifter on your Vado 6.0 is a premium one. (Even cheap Shimano shifters allow shifting two gears down with a deep click). Interestingly, SRAM was never able to deliver the same functionality...
 
Jon A said:
While it's always best to avoid it, if it does happen and your bike has a kickstand it's easy to fix. Get off the bike, put down the kickstand. Tilt the bike toward you until the back tire comes off the ground slightly. Use walk mode (or throttle if your bike has one) and click down through the gears to the proper one. Get back on the bike and ride away.
Click to expand...
I do it while stationary, and straddling my e-bike. First, I downshift three gears down with the good Shimano shifter. Then, I lift the rear of my e-bike slightly by saddle with my right hand. Then I depress the Walk mode button with the thumb of my left hand. The mid-motor spins the crank and makes my e-bike get in lower gears. Once I had to do that procedure to get as low as to the granny gear while stationary before a dramatically steep climb!

1634116370047.png

I stopped to take the photo of the road-sign. Then I had to downshift all the way to the granny gear using the Walk mode technique to be able to continue the ride!
 
Food for thought. If you don’t like thinking about shifting, you can look at the new 2022 IGH models that shift for you. Then you never have to think about it again if it’s a concern for you.
 
Jon A said:
While it's always best to avoid it, if it does happen and your bike has a kickstand it's easy to fix. Get off the bike, put down the kickstand. Tilt the bike toward you until the back tire comes off the ground slightly. Use walk mode (or throttle if your bike has one) and click down through the gears to the proper one. Get back on the bike and ride away.
Click to expand...
This is great advice and it is something I had not thought of, so thanks!
 
Onimaru said:
Food for thought. If you don’t like thinking about shifting, you can look at the new 2022 IGH models that shift for you. Then you never have to think about it again if it’s a concern for you.
Click to expand...
Whatever gear you start in, 19% is steeeep. You miss getting your other foot on pedal and you risk falling over or cracking your shin on the pedal. You almost need walking mode just to start. It's one of the reasons why you see the team mechanics pushing the racers after a wheel change.
 
Allan47.7339 said:
Whatever gear you start in, 19% is steeeep. You miss getting your other foot on pedal and you risk falling over or cracking your shin on the pedal. You almost need walking mode just to start. It's one of the reasons why you see the team mechanics pushing the racers after a wheel change.
Click to expand...
That is why I've occasionally turned around to head downhill to get started. But you need sufficient turning room to head back uphill and if you're stuck in the middle, you may not have any choice to to walk it to the top or bottom.

Question or whatever - I don't think that the Creo has a walk mode. Anyone know for sure?
 
I thought 19% on a tandem is called walking?

I assume the Creo does not have the walk mode turned on in the firmware but someone who's retrofitted the Vado SL handle bar remote control might know if it works. I have not seen it in the manual or searching the support page.
 
Allan47.7339 said:
Whatever gear you start in, 19% is steeeep. You miss getting your other foot on pedal and you risk falling over or cracking your shin on the pedal.
Click to expand...
I checked that was possible with the full-power Vado in 38-46T gear :) It was only necessary not to think it was impossible :D

1634163870430.png

After the sixth and the last climb on the day :)

There were some motorbikers zooming the hill up and down all the way. I could not understand what fun you could have with doing that and prayed I could clear the segment before they could return on the road :D
 
Stefan Mikes said:
Your e-bike allows downshifting as many as three gears with a single DEEP depressing the shifter, @Marci jo :) Have you tried that? Just push the downshift lever all the way down! You might be surprised! It is because the shifter on your Vado 6.0 is a premium one. (Even cheap Shimano shifters allow shifting two gears down with a deep click). Interestingly, SRAM was never able to deliver the same functionality...
Click to expand...
I must be reading this wrong because my roughly 12 year old SRAM shifters can in fact downshift more than one gear at once by pressing further. It might be that this functionality has changed though - it's been some time.

I still have the bike and can try if I remember sometime.

Great hack with the walk mode shifting though. 👍
 
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