Last Updated on 05/08/2019 by TDH Publishing (A)
Specialized officially entered the e-road and e-gravel segments recently, with a single new bike offering. Called the Turbo Creo SL, the new bike has wide tire clearance to tackle different terrains, along with the Future Shock 2.0 suspension system. The motor and battery system has been designed from the ground up for an ultra-compact design and lightweight, and surprisingly long range. The new frame also uses Boost spacing for road, a new standard that may take hold for future e-road and e-gravel bikes.
Specialized is no stranger to e-bikes and teased us just a few days ago about a potential new e-road offering. Now it became official with the declaration of the all-new Turbo Creo SL. The new bike is manufactured for both road and gravel riding, using a motor and battery system that was completely developed in-house at the Specialized e-bike facility in Switzerland.
At first glance, it’s hard to tell that you’re even looking at an e-bike. The downtube is about the same diameter as an old fat-tubed aluminum Cannondale, which houses the 320Wh internal battery pack.
Images of the internal battery can be viewed by users, which also has a great new option that Specialized just introduced – a 160Wh Range Extender battery that mounts into any standard bottle cage and weighs 1kg. The obvious advantage is that this increases battery life by 50%, and lets you swap out Range Extenders for effectively unlimited ride distance. The Mission Control App lets you control multiple battery modes, so you can pull from both batteries simultaneously, or one at a time.
The range extender plugs into a port in the seat tube, allowing for battery swapping in less than 30 seconds. The bonus is that the Range Extender battery solves a major issue for e-bikes – the fact that one can’t fly with them due to battery size limitations. The Range Extender is tiny enough to comply with the flight regulations, so all that one needs to do is remove the downtube battery (at a Specialized dealer) and pack a couple of Extenders for your trip.
Note: Users can carry two extenders on the bike at one time, but only one may be plugged in at a time. Also, the new motor system is 48-volt vs 36-volt for previous Specialized e-bikes, which means that the Range Extender is not backward-compatible.
