We've had our Turbo Como SL 5.0 for just under a year now. We have found the bike to be pretty much flawless and a joy to ride. I use the bike for commuting to work (~4 miles--faster than driving) and the occasional ride to the pub. Best part about pedal assist is that it makes me turn my legs, albeit minimally and with very little effort. As someone quickly approaching their 50's, this bike has helped me 1) be outside more, and 2) maintain my balance and 3) spatial awareness. For the aging sect out there, an e-bike is a truly great thing from a health point of view. Easy to go about 24-25mph on this bike without much of a sweat but hard to get much faster without seriously turning the legs. My only complaint: pedal strikes can be an issue. Crank arms should be shorter. That said, I am more of an aggressive rider who is not scared to lean the bike. I suspect this isn't a problem at all for this bike's target demographic. In sum, best big $ purchase I've made in many years.

I bought this bike because I like the natural feel of peddling a bike without that e bike feel. I upgraded to the belt drive. My problem is; I get the natural feel of a peddle bike but when changing gears you have to stop peddling and do this pause (almost a back peddle) in order for the bike to go up or down in gear. I would understand if this were on hills but it’s on flat terrain making it very unnatural. It has gone into the shop to ascertain if this is just my bike but apparently everything is working as it should. This being the case don’t waste you money. I have 2 e-bikes with regular chains and I am the buyer of high end bikes and this just isn’t it. The design is beautiful. I have lots of joy riding it, handles well but every gear change makes me feel a bit ripped off. I think Specialized could do better, if indeed my bike is in working order, bikes should not change gears like this one.

I love my new E bike. It gets me outdoors everyday.

Basket: annoying but doable. Like step thru. Torque-couldn't find it here. BUT 350KWh is more than enough for city riding w/hills. Generally speaking, for the ave. person an efficiently designed e-bike provides more than enough power at 500w or less. In fact, increasing the watts on your e-bike comes with disadvantages. Before we dig into the downside of high-powered motors, it's important to keep in mind that standard by-laws usually cap motor power at 500w. These regulations came into play based on engineering principles and safety. Why your motor should be 500w or less: In Canadian provinces, most e-bikes are limited to 500W output and cannot travel faster than 32 km/h (20 mph) on motor power alone. However, limiting the wattage of ebike motors doesn't necessarily limit how powerful they can be. Even though a motor is marked as 250 watts anyone could connect it to a 48V battery and run 20 amps through the motor to achieve 1,000 watts of power. Using a bigger motor means using a bigger battery to travel the same distance. With the battery being the most cost heavy part of an e-bike, this translates into additional savings. Overheating issues can arise when the motor exceeds 1000W. This is seen mostly on long uphill rides, which is one of the reasons people opt for higher watt motors. Motors under 500w have been extensively tested and mass produced. These motors have not only proven to be efficacious but due to the research, they are extremely reliable. The excess power provided by motors exceeding 1000W has negative consequences in the event of a crash. Severity and risk of injury increases linearly with motor power and speed. 750W, 1000W, 3000W and 6000W motor are too heavy for the average street bike, and can cause downstream problems yielding in unnecessary repairs. Conclusion Motor power over 750W provides too much power for a street bike and probably should be considered an electrical scooter or some other type of motorized vehicle.

This bike has some terrible design components. The rear fender is mounted with a proprietary rack that does not support any kind of trunk bag. There is only one water bottle mount, which will be used by the range boost battery, which costs $1000 and is absolutely necessary for this bike to have any reasonable distance/time capability. No trunk bag and no water bottle mount means no where to carry water. Proprietary odd shaped handlebars that will not allow mounting of accessories like lights, computers, etc... The basket is bolted to the head tube instead of the fork legs, which means the basket DOES NOT TURN when you turn the wheel. This is very disconcerting when riding, as it obscures the riders view of the front wheel. The front basket is a complete disaster. It's hard plastic, which means anything you put in it will bounce around. The included net will keep large things from bouncing out, but anything in this basket will bounce around and make a horrible racket while you are riding. Well Jim, if you hate the basket, just remove it ? WELL? NO! You can't remove it because the integrated front light is mounted to it with a proprietary mount that is apparently made from unobtanium, as neither specialized, nor any other online retailer seems to carry alternatives. And since the handlebars are oddly shaped proprietary contraptions, you can't mount it there anyway. Removing the basket leaves four very large, ugly holes in the head tube where it mounts, and no way to mount, or remove (it's hardwired) the front light. The in person finish on this bike (I have the silver one) is ugly. It's supposed to be a brushed aluminum look (which I am generally a fan of), but this stuff looks like someone wrapped it with fake shelf paper. I'm saving the battery life and torque for last, as I think Specialized considers this a feature of the SL, but if you are considering this bike, pay CLOSE attention to the battery and torque numbers. They are feeble.