Originally Posted by
BEC111
I’ve been trying to ride almost every day, weather and other activities (like grocery shopping) allowing. Saturday, my neighbor and cycling buddy and I took a 22 mile ride that ended up being the longest of the year so far and very expensive. We rode from Ashburn, VA to Leesburg, VA and stopping at Spokes Etc shop. And sprang for a new Specialized Vado 4 SL.
Sweet! Be sure to let us know what you think of it. However, you've now triggered "Buyer's Remorse x 2" for me. I bought a Vado 4 and took delivery in early March, which seemed like a lucky stroke since two weeks later we were locked down and the shops were closed for 6 weeks,. Well, the first round of pangs came a few weeks later when Specialized started offering a discounted price plus rebate on that specific model that would have saved me almost $1K! I can live with that if I don't think about it too much, but then I recently read about the new Vado SL series and was really sorry I jumped the gun (how could I have known?) since the SL is what I have really been looking for all along: I'm only looking for a moderate assistance boost, and I would really like the lighter weight. At my age, and with some chronic back fragility, the Vado is tough for me to manage if I have to lift it myself, such as putting on my bike rack. I can do it as far as strength goes, but my back is sometimes sore afterwards.
Not much that I can do about it now and overall I'm satisfied with the Vado, but I might be trading up a bit sooner than I expected to. The whole market and availability of e-bikes is growing and changing so much that there's no telling what will catch my eye when I'm ready. The only thing I can guarantee is that I'll no sooner buy it than they'll come out with something better...