This E-Bike Is Perfect for Commuters and Joyriders Alike
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The Good
- Lightweight
- Perfect handling
- Sleek look
- App integration is top-notch
The Bad- No throttle
- Battery can't be removed
Table of Contents
I'm a man of the people, so I'd love to tell you that there isn't much difference between Specialized's new $5,000 Turbo Vado SL 2 5.0 e-bike and a less expensive bike like the CGO 600. Unfortunately, I cannot. Sometimes you really do get what you pay for.
Either bike will get you from here to there, but the Turbo Vado SL is about how you get there. While it doesn't have that one incredible feature that blows everything else out of the water, everything about the Vado is just a little better—the geometry, the smoothness of the ride, the styling—and it all adds up to a best-in-class commuter e-bike that's about more than just transportation.
First Impressions and design: Sleek, subtle, and serious
Looks wise, the Turbo Vado definitely makes an impression. It's refined, not flashy, with none of the clunkiness that bedevils too many e-bikes. That’s partly thanks to the relatively small battery hidden in the downtube, but it also some seriously smart design—Specialized has been making bikes since 1974, and it shows.
The Turbo Vado SL 2 5.0 just looks right. And yes, it looks expensive: Some of what you're paying for are the little things, done correctly. That means neatly wrapped and routed cables, a tasteful and compact display, nice, clean welds—think the e-bike equivalent of a luxury watch. If you're into subtlety, the Vado nails the fit and finish.
Ride experience: This bike wants to fly
The first thing I noticed on my initial ride was how the Turbo Vado sounds. The motor is whisper quiet and the freehub’s rhythmic clicking is practically melodious—precise and sexy, like the growl of a finely tuned performance car.
The second thing I noticed was how bike-y it feels. The extra weight from the battery and motor is low and centered so the Vado remains nimble and responsive, like a high-end analog bike. The "SL" in the name stands for "Super Light," and at 44 pounds (depending on accessories), this is a featherweight when it comes to e-bikes, especially for one with an aluminum alloy frame instead of carbon fiber. (There is a carbon-frame version, but I didn't test it out.)
The Vado's geometry puts riders in a more aggressive posture than the bolt-upright position a lot of e-bikes favor. It’s not full race mode, but definitely a bit forward-leaning. For me, this is the sweet spot; it makes me feel more stable, balanced, and in control. Sitting this way feels faster, and this bike is fast.
There’s no throttle to lean on, but you won’t miss it. Spin the pedals with the assist set to "Turbo," and the motor responds with immediate power, but not the torquey jolt you might get from less refined e-bikes. It's more like encouragement—like the bike wants you to go fast. Instead of feeling mechanical, the acceleration is smooth and organic, like you've suddenly morphed into Lance Armstrong on half a bottle of pharmaceutical-grade steroids. Because it's electric, you can maintain an assisted speed of up to 28mph without having trained like Lance Armstrong.
To put the Vado SL 5.0 through its paces and to check the comfort level, I rode this bike like I stole it—over cracked asphalt, through potholes, and off curbs that would crack the fork on an "Amazon Special" e-bike. It handled all of it without complaint. The aluminum frame has enough flex to smooth out rough patches, and the spring-based "Future Shock" fork up front gives you 20mm of travel for larger bumps. That’s not enough to go mountain biking, but it’s enough to smooth out any paved surface you're likely to encounter on your way to the office. The suspension isn't instantly adjustable, but the bike comes with different tension springs and spacers one could install to fine tune the suspension on the front fork. I went with the out-of-the-box set-up and found no reason to change it, but it's nice to know I could if I felt the need to.
Motor and battery: Dialed-in assistance
The Vado SL 5.0 runs on Specialized’s 1.2 SL motor, which puts out 320W of power. That’s less than half of what you get from a high-power bike like the Lectric's XPeak 2 (750W), but don't let the spec sheet fool you: This motor delivers its power right to the cranks instead of a wheel and the bike is light, so the response doesn't feel sluggish or underpowered. It’s not about brute force, it’s about finesse. The result is a bike that rides lively, without feeling twitchy or overly torqued. I seriously can't say enough good things about the interplay between user input and motor output on this e-bike. No matter what speed you want, it will get you there and keep you there.
The 520Wh battery is fully integrated into the frame, so it's not removable. While that’s a bummer for some, it keeps the lines clean. You can get a 160Wh range extender that slots into the bottle cage if you need more juice, but unless you have a super long commute, you won't need it: Specialized claims a riding time of up to five hours with the stock battery, and based on my testing, that's not hype.
That said, range varies wildly on any e-bike, depending on how heavy you are, how steep your route is, and how much you rely on assist. I took the Vado up a couple of fairly brutal climbs with around 2,000 feet of ascent—the kind of elevations where you only see whippet-skinny members of the spandex gang spinning—and I still had more than half of my battery left at the top. Impressive. The Turbo Vado SL 2 5.0 can be reasonably ridden with no assist anyway, so running out of power isn't a nightmare, it’ll just mean a slower ride home.
Pedal assist levels and controls: Control-freak friendly
If you're the kind of person who finesses the EQ on your stereo and messes with the FOV slider on your video games, you'll love Specialized's unique take on pedal assist levels. Most e-bikes gives you five pre-set levels of pedal assist. The Vado works differently. There are only three "speeds"—Eco, Sport, and Turbo—but each level of pedal assist is customizable via Specialized’s Mission Control app. You can fine-tune both the sensitivity (how hard you need to pedal before the assist kicks in) and the power output for each of the three modes through an easy-to-use slider on the app, then save your settings in a profile:
The result: any power level you want, right away. If you need to stretch your range, dial in a low-output, power-sipping profile. Want to blow some doors off? Set the Turbo all the way up to 100. You can also adjust pedal assist by 10% increments, or use "smart control." a mode that adjust power usage automatically based on trip distance or time preset by the rider.
Useful app infrastructure and a tasteful display
Changing assist levels isn't all you can do with the Specialized app. I usually click e-bike apps once (if they're even available), roll my eyes, and forget them, but this one is actually good. Essential even. It syncs with Apple Health, Strava, heart rate monitors, and radar systems, tracks your rides and your metrics, and lets you go back and check out any aspect of a past ride in great detail. I particularly liked the real-time cadence trainer. If you're trying to keep your RPMs consistent, it's a killer feature.
The Vado’s display is small, clean, and tastefully integrated into the cockpit. Out of the box, it shows the basics—speed, battery life, time of day—but if you want to go deeper, you can switch to different screens with real-time readouts of a ton of data like heart rate, power output, elevation gain, calorie burn. All of these are easily customizable via the app. The result is like having a mini cycling lab attached to your handlebars. Overall, this i the best app ecosystem I've seen on an e-bike.
Security: Please don’t steal my bike
If you take this bike anywhere, people are going to want to steal it, so a variety of theft deterrent features are built into the Turbo Vado SL 2 5.0, including integration with Apple's "Find My" infrastructure, a PIN based system lock, and an alarm. I debated a real-world test where I left it unlocked in front of a supermarket to really test out the alarm and the tracking, but I chickened out. The gentle alarm tone isn't going to scare off anyone, and whether the police would actually chase your bike down depends on the resources and inclination of your local police department, so you're still going to need a good lock.
Drivetrain and brakes: All good
As you'd probably expect from a bike at this level, the drivetrain )Shimano cassette and SRAM FC S699) and brakes (160mm Tektro HD-R510, hydraulic disc) are excellent, and provide smooth shifting and responsive speed control and stopping power. Since they're standard parts, any bike shop could handle mechanical repairs, but there are authorized Specialized stores all over the country, which is a huge advantage that comes with a well-known bike brand.
Oh, yeah, it's a commuter bike
The Turbo Vado SL 2 5.0 provides such a high performance ride, it's easy to forget that it's "officially" a commuter bike, built for getting to the office and back. To that end, it comes with a flat rear rack with a built-in brake light, and you can add the optional, storage system—a couple of panniers on the sides to hold your laptop or your files or whatever. These are as carefully made and finished as the rest of the bike. I rode around with some stuff in the side bags and pretended I was late for an appointment, and experienced no rattles and no drama. I don't love the way they look, but functionally, they get the job done.
The vibe
As much as I like this bike, my first question was "who is this for?" If you just need to get from work to home, it's a lot of bike. If you're a serious road-biker training for a triathlon, what do you need a motor for? But the answer became clear after riding it for a while: It's perfect for either a commuter or a joyrider (or both). It's for the cubicle farmer and the lycra-clad road-dog that lives inside of us all.
Why not have an excellent experience riding to work? Why not ride a bike that lets you blow up hills without blowing out your knees? It's for anyone what wants a high-end e-bike that can do anything and everything on pavement, so it's kind of for everyone—everyone who has five grand to spend on an e-bike, anyway.
A high-end, high performance commuter bike for people who are at least semi-serious about their e-bike, the Specialized Turbo Vado SL 2 5.0 is the definition of versatile. It could make your commute the best part of your weekday, and make you look forward to riding through the countryside on the weekend. While it's a pricey choice, if you're keeping to pavement, it's the only bike you'll ever need.
