Specialized Turbo Tero X
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Specialized Turbo Tero X
Specialized just launched this full suspension e-bike. They give it a familiar SUV sort of pitch. Here is your do it all bike for MTB and commuting and "adventures." But it's a pretty weird bike.
It's a full suspension e-mtb with fenders and racks. That's weird enough to begin with. The rack and fender form a unit so the fender forms a rack stay. That puts the payload on the unsprung side. That's weird - you usually want to minimize sprung weight and also keep the payload suspended. This is on a single pivot swingarm, which is a primitive approach compared to the four-link designs that have dominated MTB for twenty+ years (and especially for a Specialized whose trademark FSR has been on all their bikes for so long). It looks like they did it this way to have the fender-rack attach to the swingarm and stay concentric with the wheel, which would not be possible with their usual Horst link / FSR setup. And to cap off the weirdness it's got no shock linkage, so it's not even a "faux bar". The seat angle and head tube angle and stupidly mismatched wheel sizes would be familiar to anyone recently buying a MTB but pretty shocking to anyone riding a road bike or hybrid.
130 mm fork / 120 mm rear travel, aluminum frame, 250W (1/3 hp) motor, lights and fenders and a rack and a bell and a kickstand. Three trim levels $4500-$6500, the biggest difference is torque from the motor
It's a full suspension e-mtb with fenders and racks. That's weird enough to begin with. The rack and fender form a unit so the fender forms a rack stay. That puts the payload on the unsprung side. That's weird - you usually want to minimize sprung weight and also keep the payload suspended. This is on a single pivot swingarm, which is a primitive approach compared to the four-link designs that have dominated MTB for twenty+ years (and especially for a Specialized whose trademark FSR has been on all their bikes for so long). It looks like they did it this way to have the fender-rack attach to the swingarm and stay concentric with the wheel, which would not be possible with their usual Horst link / FSR setup. And to cap off the weirdness it's got no shock linkage, so it's not even a "faux bar". The seat angle and head tube angle and stupidly mismatched wheel sizes would be familiar to anyone recently buying a MTB but pretty shocking to anyone riding a road bike or hybrid.
130 mm fork / 120 mm rear travel, aluminum frame, 250W (1/3 hp) motor, lights and fenders and a rack and a bell and a kickstand. Three trim levels $4500-$6500, the biggest difference is torque from the motor
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Last edited by Darth Lefty; 03-01-23 at 12:23 AM. Reason: not a "unified rear triangle"
#2
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Apparently there’s still some room even at a big, soulless company like Specialized to be really, really weird. This will either be a complete flop or shockingly successful.
Edit: pretty sure this isn’t a URT, though. The pivot is just above and behind the bottom bracket, so the rear axle will move around the BB. A URT would have the BB and rear axle locked together, with the pivot in front of the BB.
Edit: pretty sure this isn’t a URT, though. The pivot is just above and behind the bottom bracket, so the rear axle will move around the BB. A URT would have the BB and rear axle locked together, with the pivot in front of the BB.
Last edited by grolby; 02-28-23 at 08:40 PM.
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Francis called it a URT in his MTBR review but you're right, it's normal olde fashioned single pivot
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Genesis 49:16-17
Last edited by Darth Lefty; 03-01-23 at 12:23 AM.