2020 Turbo Creo SL Comp Carbon

I love this bike. I'm still fairly strong for 68 years and live in not-so-hilly North Florida. I bought it after I had a pacemaker implanted and found I needed the assist on long climbs or fast sprints, especially on smooth roads when a pacemaker is slow to react to exercise. I don't need this bike's amazing power all the time but it really delivers when I want it. I love the 46T chainring; the added torque makes the Creo very rideable even without motor assist. As I wrote earlier, it isn't very hilly/mountainous where I live, so I swapped the stock 11-42 mtb cassette for a GRX 11-34, and I find it works exceptionally well with the Creo.

I work in the bike industry and have had a chance to see and ride a lot of E-bikes. Specialized took their time and completely knocked it out of the park by designing their own drive system and getting the weight of the bike well below competitors. My Comp Carbon model with pedals, bottle cages, and computer mount comes in under 30 pounds. Thats seriously impressive for an E-bike. The other notable thing about this bike is how natural the assist feels. It's like you just got a really strong tailwind . It's given someone like me who struggles with arthritis and bad knees the ability to get back out there and do longer rides and join group rides. I have a new confidence that if I get a little farther from home than I planned or just not feeling it that day, I can dial up a little more assist and get myself back home. Total game changing bike. If you are on the fence, get off of it and explore these Creo SL models. Each one is well specced and a pure joy to ride.

First, kudos to the awesome staff at the Specialized Bicycles Boulder Experience Center, who on short notice, arranged for a demo ride on their Turbo Creo SL Expert. After test riding many e-bikes from various manufacturers, this demo ride ""sealed the deal,"" on my decision to make the purchase on my own Turbo Creo SL Comp Carbon a week later. Also, kudos to my LBS, Criterium Bicycles in Colorado Springs, for their awesome support and setting up the bike perfectly to match my riding position from my steel frame Serotta Colorado road bike. I am a cyclist in my mid-sixties who raced Cat 4 in my twenties. As with many of you, due to a variety of medical conditions such as AFIB, TII diabetes, artificial left knee joint, and damaged medial meniscus and posterior cruciate ligament in my right knee, professional and family demands, my health and ability to ride my Serotta for extended distances seriously declined to the point riding a bike was no longer enjoyable. Getting dropped on B group rides was especially heart-breaking. Unwise eating habits, and a fifty-pound weight increase over the ensuing decades did not help. I do not use the term ""Life Changer"" lightly. However, I truly believe my new Turbo Creo SL Comp Carbon road bike is! It is as if I have lost fifty pounds and turned back the calendar thirty years to my racing days. With my effort, and electric assist, I can now keep up a decent pace on the flats, punch through withering headwinds, and attack steep climbs with abandon (LoL!). Most importantly, I can ride this way without overstressing both knee joints, and keeping my heart rate within a safe range. My Creo carves turns, descends, handles, and brakes, like you would expect a high-end road bike should. Once you get moving, because the balance and design of the bike is so well engineered, the small increase in additional weight is not at all noticeable and may add a bit of additional stability at higher speed. (Continued, Part 1 of 2)

The smooth response of the bike's motor is almost organic in nature. It does not shout out ""Hey! I am giving you a boost!"" like some e-bike systems. Specialized's Mission Control app is also amazing and essential to customizing the bike's response. While I am still exploring the nuances and customization options, I have adjusted the parameters and bike presets to fit my ride and recovery training needs. After two weeks with the bike, I am back to riding and training regularly – 75 miles per week and increasing, and making changes to my eating habits. I have told my wife I will need a new wardrobe in twelve months. I cannot wait to show my cardiologist my ride and training logs! So far, I have not used up the internal battery on a single ride. My goal is to be able to do so, and need the external battery range extender, or two. Thank you and well-done Specialized, for making a life changing time machine!

As the other reviews have said - this is an awesome machine. You get the same workout but feel like a pro rider. Headwinds are just dealt with via a higher power assist setting. The real issue is justifying the $$ for this to your significant other, yourself, or your accountant... Let me give you a few ways to think about it, especially given the Covid-19 situation. 1. It's your electronic peloton. With Covid-19, you should stay far from a large peloton where a lot of people are packed together breathing hard. This bike has you working harder than hanging inside a peloton and keeps you in germ free fresh air. 2. Save health club or golf club fees. High end health clubs can cost $200/month + class fees. With Covid-19, you really don't want to be exercising in a room with a bunch of other people. Save these fees and pay for the bike in 2-3 years. 3. Health - I'll bet you will be like me and ride this much more often and for longer periods of time. Sure the motor helps but I've found that I ride much longer with the same heart rate profile as my regular road bike. Too bad it does not qualify for the HSA account... Some feedback for the Specialized folks: 1. Come out with some type of leasing program for these. I know the technology will keep improving and I'd love to do a 3 year lease where I can switch to the latest model every three years. Most high end cars are sold this way + builds a used ""certified"" bike market for the bikes coming off lease. 2. Bigger gears - you quickly land into the top gear on this bike - could use a few more bigger ratios. Make the front chain ring bigger? 3. Keep the bike computer on when you turn off the assist.

At 75 I have definitely slowed down. My regular bike is a premium carbon fiber, 15 lbs. bike, but even on it my speeds average 15 MPH during 45 to 50 miles rides that I do three times a week. I have done four rides on the Creo during the last week. My average speed on each of those rides has been between 18 and 20 MPH. When you are cruising along and you look down at your computer and you are doing 4 to 5 MPH than you usually do, you tend to be willing to push even harder, so I get a really good workout on every ride. This is no moped. I have yet to use the highest power level. I generally ride in the Sports mode. It is terrific. Without the Ride Extender battery I get about 50 miles on a full charge usually reaching home running on fumes. With extender I come home with four bars after 50 miles. I am pushing the whole time doing anywhere from 1600' to 2500' of elevation, so the motor is being pushed. It is a great ride. It corners as well or better than any bike I have ever ridden. The best part is that I can now go riding with my 45 year old son on his SWorks Tarmac and stay right with him. I love it. What more can I say.

I own several Specialized bicycles. Everything from a SHIV (Tri bike) to a Diverge (gravel grinder) to a Turbo S (grocery getter) and a few others in between. I am a huge fan of Specialized and I am a brand Ambassador. I also ride a bike most days. I was excited to give the new Creo SL a try thinking that it would be my ""let's go discover new territory"" bike, knowing that if I'm out there a little too long or I get into some really hilly areas, I can get a little help from the bike. It has become so much more than that! After two months and over 1500 miles on this bike...it has become my ""go to"" bike. I have had NO issues with the bike and no repairs. I have had to buy new tires because I wore a set out already. This bike helps me get up those steep hills, makes that 20+ mph head wind tolerable and allows me to ride further than I normally would. It is a very comfortable bike to ride, even with the power off, and is the most stable bike I've ridden when it comes to descending steep hills. Specialized nailed it when they said ""It's you...only faster!"" I dare you to ride one and not smile throughout the ride!

I'm just a weekend warrior that gets in between 20-50 miles on a specific trail on a Sat or Sun. I've used my normal road bike for the last 10 years and really had 0 reason to upgrade because it did the job nicely and with limited miles, still seems fairly new to me. I started reading about E bikes and just wanted to get a simple bike to ride around the neighborhood for fun. Then, I test rode this bike...wow, my whole mindset changed, I enjoyed riding like it was my first time off of training wheels, it was a renewed thrill. I tested many versions of Specialized E bikes before I settled on this one to replace my road bike. It is a major upgrade in every way over my older bike. Full carbon fiber, stem shock, much nicer shifting and geometry. However, the best part is the electric motor, my typical ride is often windy in 1 or both directions for my ride and that is just not fun for me. I'm still rather young at 46 and in great shape (Table Tennis is my main sport) and can live with my current road bike but the pedal assistance makes riding that much more fun. Sometimes, I feel a bit lazy to do my weekend ride. Now, I am excited and know that I can do my ride comfortably and with less effort, if I wanted to. The first half of the ride is the best part, coming back (uphill) is the hard part, with the Creo, I can crank it up to Sport or Turbo mode to get me home. Love, love this bike and will probably not ride a non-e bike again.

I've been riding most of my life and was a successful criterium racer for about 25 years in the Masters category. I had been riding a Serotta titanium frame with SRAM etap red components and carbon fiber everything else. It is a great bike. Because of some serious knee problems that I have, riding that bike has not been pleasurable and after trying a friend's eBike I realized this could be my answer. After trying a number of different ebikes I discovered the Turbo Creo SL and have fallen in love with it. It has been a transformative experience for me and I am become a better version of myself while I'm riding it. I am riding like I did 30 years ago. I love this bike

I considered e-road bikes many months but dismissed them due to the 20mph cutoff; I can routinely do that on my aero road bike. Specialized is the only bike so far with a 27mph cutoff and since I like speed that sealed the deal. I live in Reno-Tahoe at 6000 ft elevation with many steep hills to climb. One website reviewer claimed that the bike does not help much on climbs since it does not have the torque of electric mountain bikes. I found this to be absolutely false. I can now spin pedals going up 14% grades at a speed 30-50% faster. In addition the heavier weight of the bike makes for a more secure feeling on high speed descents compared to my old 14lb climbing bike. Only recently have researchers started to look at long term exercise at high altitude (as opposed to two week bike racer training at altitude) and have found negative cardiac effects (Science, 9/13/19, vol 365, issue6458, p1098). E-bikes should be considered mandatory for those living at high altitude, contrary to the mostly American attitude that they are for the disabled or elderly. I now use the Creo for road biking and Kenevo for mountain biking. Lots of fun in Tahoe!