Specialized Turbo Vado Sl EQ, any experience?

Thinking of buying one for my mum, specifically This one here, she doesn’t like heavy bikes and currently rides a quite lightweight Halfords Carrera subway but it’s getting on a bit as it’s 15 years old. Her mate she goes cycling with has recently bought an electric bike, nothing fancy and rather heavy which put my mum off the idea of an e-bike. She can still manage 20-25 miles comfortably despite being 69 years old but I want to treat her to something decent as she does pretty much everything for me as I have advanced spms and rely on her for stuff around the house.

Anyone have a Turbo Vado that can offer an opinion on good/bad points would be appreciated, I thought about the standard Turbo Vado step through such as this and showed her a picture but she doesn’t like how it looks and it’s bloody heavy at 24kg rather than 15kg for the SL variant

I don’t know much about that bike, but I have 2 Spesh e-bikes with the same motor and electrics and have nothing but praise for them, backed up by strong warranties and good dealer service. Mine are both summer 20 bikes.

The Creo SL needed a new wiring loom when about 4 months old, all done under warranty, and otherwise faultless.

The Levo SL was fine until the motor developed some play, a few months out of warranty. It was replaced by LBS on a 40% discount deal (and no labour charge) backed by Spesh.

I used one for a year and thought it was ace for someone who still wants to put some effort in. Stick swept back bars, full guards & a rack on it and it’s a cracking bike.

Real world range of about 25 miles but you can always add the range extender which is another 50%.

Mrs SSS is on her 2nd Specialized Turbo Vado 4.0 SL.

First one was a step through, and in lime green. Bought at 8 months old. Sold a year later.

Bought a non-step through model in dark grey, brand new about 3 months ago.

Difference in the 4.0 and 5.0 EQ is the 5.0 has the mudguards and also has a front suspension stem thingy.

She loves it.

It can do around 40-50kms and about 600m of climbing being sensible with the battery. She also has a range extender to take her to 150% battery (effective) and easily 60-70kms and 1000m of climbing (finishing with about 20% battery)

You can download the app and set the 3 settings – lets call them eco, sport and turbo – to your own thresholds which is good. So everyones Vado may be different depending on how theyve set the power thresholds.

You can buy a ‘head’ for it to see the display proper and battery health etc (LCD screen – garmin size) or use an iphone/android and have the app running.

It charges quickly, and has the power changer on the handlebars.

Its not a full fat ebike so you will have to pedal going uphill to support it. But at 15kg (compared to Mrs SSS Cube Reaction Hybrid Performance eBike at 23kg) its positively lightweight.

If your going to do technical/steep climbs/big short efforts then the full fat non SL model would be recommended for the additional power/support level. However at 69, i doubt that?

Up to this point, no issues – no failed motors in both bikes, and it tells you when it needs firmware updates (at a Specialized LBS) for critical/non critical updates. And even then that is only £20 and 30mins work near me.

Summary – Recommended.

Cheers for the replies, I doubt range anxiety would be a worry as a max of 30 miles would be perfectly fine for here in Galloway and the range extender is always something I could buy her for xmas, good point regarding the additional display so id have to make sure to get one fitted. Her current bike has a standard top tube but I thought the women’s version would perhaps give her more confidence – I looked at the version with the internal head shock but there’s none available in a small, and as there’s only one small turbo Vado sl eq available I guess I’d better call them morn and buy it, I’ll get the dedicated kickstand as well, perhaps a couple of lightweight panniers as well so she no longer swings her bags of shopping from the handlebars.

Cheers peeps, a new bike day is always a good day.

What a lovely thread, good on you somafunk 👍👌

Don’t need to get it fitted. Just buy it and set to the bike

https://www.tredz.co.uk/.Specialized-Turbo-Connect-Display_237043.htm?sku=788714&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Parts%20And%20Components%20%3E%20E%20Bike%20Upgrades%20%3E%20Head%20Units&utm_content=Specialized&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI-7WA0ondgAMVx9_tCh3kHgecEAQYAiABEgJI_fD_BwE

What a lovely thread, good on you somafunk

Fully agree, top guy

Ordered and on its way but a bit of a faff. I had a deposit of £2k that ive saved up out of my disability benefits over the previous year and thought I could pay the rest on 12 months interest free but they refused my application – bummer!. I’ve never had a credit card nor took out a loan in my life as I was brought up to only spend what’s in my pocket or bank account and lived in a council/housing association house for the previous 30 years so I guess that’s why i’m in a bit of a blacklisted hole with zero chance of obtaining credit despite having an in pocket income of £15k/year – there wasn’t an option for selecting “disability income” on the application form, so much for non discrimination policy regarding folk with disabilities and to top it off the refusal has been recorded on my credit file (never looked at my so called credit file in my life) and no further correspondence is possible. So I reverted to Paypal to use their 4 months interest free option, I’ll pay PayPal £2k towards the loan t’morn then £250/month over the next 4 months.

She’s going to be be fuming with me as she hates me spending £ on her but there’s absolutely buggerall I need for myself that would make my life any better, perhaps a new myelin sheath and uncorrupted brain and spinal cord but despite many hours searching online I can’t find anything suitable, perhaps someone could list an unused complete nervous system on the classifieds for me – ta muchly.

I’ll post pics when it arrives.

great you got it sorted and I’m sure she will be delighted.  Top effort and such a wonderful way to say thank you to your Mum.

The best thing about the SL motors is the lack of drag / resistance so you can just ride them as a normal (albiet heavier) bike if needed. I’ve done a 2000m climb on a Kenevo SL with a 320w battery by riding it unassisteed on the flat or really mellow climbs, saving the battery life for the steeps.