Comment by jacquesm
4 years ago
I never even knew about the brand. The three that I looked at were Stromer, Bosch based systems and Klever. The Bosch based system won out because it doesn't use fancy one-off stuff, there is a fairly good source for spares (batteries, motors, controllers) and it seems to be the most reliable system on the market. The Stromers are a bit faster (higher powered motors), the Klever looks clunky and I've read a ton of stories about their reliability issues.
Will look at the Vado, thanks for the pointer.
Specialized is one of the most well-known bike brands among enthusiasts. Unfortunately also one most expensive ones.
But they have some interesting innovation going on, e.g. with the FutureShock system on rigid bikes, integration of storage in downtubes, their various suspension designs on mountainbikes, first dual-crown fork on an enduro bike, and their own e-bike system.
You can think of them as the Apple of the bike market.
I've looked a lot more at their bikes now, if 'Apple of the bike market' means overpriced fashion statement then I am inclined to agree. Those prices are absolutely ridiculous.