E Bike Start up Guides

Posted on 8 December 2025
By Seth

Congrats on your new e bike! We are so excited for you to experience even more fun on your rides!

We probably went over a ton of info with you when you initially took the bike home, and it may have been a bit too much to retain at once, but fear not! We have the handy start up guide for charging, pairing your phone, and some other odds and ends that may apply to your bike.

We will have all information on different brands, and specific bike models from that brand, so some information may no apply to your bike. Feel free to call us, email, or come in for any questions you may have. We are here to help, and keep you riding!

Specialized E Bikes

Specialized has the broadest model range of e-bikes that we offer. We will break them down into a few different categories. "Full Power" will apply to the heaver e bikes, like Levo, Vado, Como, etc. "SL" will apply to the lighter weight category like the Vado SL, Levo SL, etc. Some information will apply to all bikes across the board, and some will be specific to that bike. Let's dive in!

Specialized Vado and Como (Full Power)

The Specialized Vado and Como have 3 different versions, a 3.0, 4.0, and 5.0. Each has a different battery and motor configuration, but the user interface and assist works the same.

Remote functions

-Turning the bike on is done by pressing the power button below the raised display on the stem/middle of the handlebars. Hold the button for a few seconds, and let go once the Specialized "S" logo appears. The headlight and taillight will come on also. Changing the assist is done with the remote by your left thumb. Pressing the plus goes higher in the assist, minus takes you to a lower level of assist.

-Pressing and holding the button on the top of the remote, the "F1" button, will allow you to turn the lights on and off. The lights will always come on when the bike is turned on. Pressing that button once allows you to cycle through the data screens on the display, which come with basic presets but can be changed from the Specialized app when you have your phone paired to your bike.

-Pressing and holding the plus button allows you to activate the walk assist, which will help drive the rear wheel to aid you walking the bike up a steep incline. It does not have enough power to aid in moving the bike while riding, and will stop assisting once your hand comes off the button.

-Pressing the F2 (the button on the bottom of the remote) will take you into another way to use the assist called "Microtune". Instead of 3 levels of assist, microtune gives you 10% increases or decreases of the overall motor and battery power, allowing you to fine tune how much assist you would like.

Charging and Battery Removal

-With all Como and Vado models, charging and battery removal is the same. Charging takes about 4-5 hours from fully dead to fully charged. There is a small cover in the way, flip that out of the way, and the charger is magnetic, so it will draw itself into the battery when inserted. You are able to charge the battery on or off the bike. Removing the battery requires the keys that come with the bike. Be careful, if you lose the keys the lock itself would have to be replaced. But the keys do come with a code on them, they are able to be ordered.

-To remove the battery, you will insert the key into the lock near the charge port. Turn the key parallel with the frame, and the rotate the black cam/lever rearward. This should allow the battery to come out of the downtube of the bike. The seal around the battery can be very tight, so putting your left hand on the bottom of the battery, and thumb into the charge port to push on the battery can help get it moving. Use your right hand to actuate the lever if you do this. The battery is heavy, with just on a catch on the top, so be ready to catch it if it swings forward very fast.

Wheel Removal

Wheel removal on the Como and Vado bikes are fairly straight forward (except for IGH/belt drive models)

For removal of the wheels on the standard models, it will be a 6mm hex/allen key on the left side of the frame for removal of the rear wheel, and a 6mm hex/allen on the right side of the fork for the front wheel (may sometimes be on the left depending on what year the bike is or the fork it comes with).

On the IGH models, front wheel removal is the same, but rear wheel is a bit different. On the rear wheel, you will have to disconnect the cables at the rear hub drive, with are attached to two silver heads that pop out of place on the hub. Once those are disconnected, you will then take a 15mm socket or wrench to the nuts on either side of the wheel. The wheel should then slide out of the frame. Once the wheel is loose, it can help to remove the belt from the chainring to give the belt more ability to move out of the way. The axle of the wheel (where the nuts sit on) is slotted, so keep that in mind that it has to be in a certain position as you re-install the wheel. Once the wheel is in place, tighten the nuts, and the place the ends of the cables into the spot it rotates on the IGH assembly of the rear wheel.

Levo SL, Vado SL (Gen 1), Kenevo SL

There are a few iterations and now models of Levo SL, Vado SL, and Kenevo SL. The newest Vado SL (Gen 2, 2025 onwards), this does not apply to. Turning the bike on and off, charging, are the same. There are two different "head units" called TCU (turbo connect units) that will change how many features your bike has. If your display on the top tube of your bike has a screen, congrats! You have more features to tap into. If your bike does not, no worries! You can still tune the bike from your phone, and can upgrade to the display screen and access those features if you choose ($270 upgrade to the mastermind TCU).

Remote Functions

-On all bikes, turning on the bike is done by pressing the power button the the TCU on the top tube. The older style (without display) will show the battery charge by illuminated vertical lines (10 lines, with all ten illuminated as fully charged), and will have a third of a line around the "S" on the top of the TCU to indicate the assist level. The newer style with the display will show you your battery as a percentage on the screen, along with speed, time of day, and the assist level and "Eco, Sport/Trail, Turbo".

-On the older gen display, to go into a higher level of assist, press the plus button, lower levels is the minus button. On the more basic TCU (without the display screen) the top F1 button will take you from whatever assist level you are in into the highest level. If you are in the highest level, it will just remain in that mode. The F2 button will activate the walk assist.

-On the newer display with the screen, the plus and minus work the same, the F2 button actives walk assist, but we have some additional options. Pressing the F1 button will change the data screens to show different information. You are able to change the screens, delete or create new ones from the Specialized app. By pressing and holding the plus button for a few seconds, you are able to change the assist to Microtune mode, where there are 10% changes in assist instead of the standard 3 modes. The two types of assist are separate, each its own way to utilize the power of the bike. If you want simplicity, then the standard 3 modes, if you want to get the most of the range, and get a more unique motor feel, then microtune.

Charging, and additional battery options

-On all the SL bikes, there is no way to remove the battery at home, as the motor and some other components need to be removed.

-Charging the battery is done via the black port on left side of the bike, above the motor. The charger is a plug style, and takes a small amount of force to get fully seated. The head of the charger is black where is actually plugs in, and the rest of the head of the charger is red. The trick is plugging in the charger until the black part of the charger head no longer visible, and the red part of the charger head is touching the body of the charge port on the bike.

-From fully dead to fully charged, we are looking about 3-4 hours. On bikes with lights (Vado SL), the headlight and taillight will come on and stay on to indicate it is charging. On the older gen TCU, there will be a line on the display as to what it is charged too. On the TCU with the display, it will show a percentage.

-All SL e bikes from Specialized are compatible with the SL range extender. The extender is about half the size of the main battery, and it will give you another half the usual distance you get out of the main battery on the bike. The extender uses the same charger, and will sit in the water bottle holder spot and plug into the charge port while riding. There is a specific size connecting cord needed that depends on your specific e bike, and potentially the size e bike you have. Specialized has the required size on the page for your bicycle, and we can help figure out what size you need too. There is also a "Y" dual charger, that plugs into your normal charger, and allows you to charge the range extender and bike simultaneously.

Wheel removal

Removing the wheels (both front and rear) is pretty straight forward since they are all thru axles. On the Vado SL, we are looking for the bolt on the lefthand side on the fork and rear of the frame. It will be a 6mm hex/allen key. Insert your tool, and unthread the bolt counterclock wise. It should come right out! To install the wheel, the wheel will go into the frame/fork, and the thru axle will go back through to secure it.

On the Kenevo SL and Levo SL, the bolt on the rear of frame will be a 6mm on the left hand side. There looks like a bolt head on the right hand/driveside, DO NOT REMOVE. That is for the derailleur hanger, and is reverse threaded, and can cause a headache for you (and your mechanic) if it gets over tightened, or loosened, and ridden. When in doubt, left side where the thru axle removal is on most bikes.

The fork on the Levo SL and Kenevo SL could be a few different variation. There could be a lever built into the axle for quicker removal (some of the base rockshox and performance fox forks). The higher end rockshox forks have a 6mm axle on the right side of the fork. On Fox forks, the 6mm axle is on the right hand side also, but if the fork is a Fox 36 or Fox 38, there could be something called a "pinch bolt", which is an additional bolt below the main axle that will need to be loosened, not removed, before removing or installing the fork thru axle.

Vado SL Gen 2 (2025-forward)

The newest Vado SL has a redesigned headunit, with more features and integration, along with the ability to track the location of the bike through the apple "find my" feature (this only works with apple devices).

Remote features

The new remote is a bit more streamlined, with less buttons to mess with, but more than certain button combos can do. To turn the bike on, pressing and holding the power button (top button on the remote) will turn the bike on and off. You will have to hold the button for a few seconds to turn it on and off, as it is easy hit the button while adjusting the assist with the toggle, hence the longer hold required. Pressing and holding the bottom button on the remote will activate the walk assist, driving the rear wheel to help move the bike. It will stop once you take your finger off the button. To change your assist level, pressing the toggle in the middle of the remote up will go up in assist, while pressing down will reduce your assist. If you hold up on the toggle, it will take you into the microtune assist mode, which offers 10 levels of assist (as 10% increases or decreases in assist). This mode could help you get a bit more range out of the system, as you can go "in between" what amount of assist the standard assist levels offer. By pairing your phone to the bike, there is even more tuning and range control you can set with the system too.

Charging, and additional battery options

-On all the SL bikes, there is no way to remove the battery at home, as the motor and some other components need to be removed.

-From fully dead to fully charged, we are looking about 3-4 hours. On the display, it will show a percentage that the bike is charged up to.

Activating "Find My" tracking on bike

To activate the "find my" feature, you will turn the bike off, but plug it into the charger, and press "up" on the toggle for a few seconds. This will activate the pairing. You will then need to go onto your iphone (again, the "find my" built into the bike only works with apple brand phones), and into the "find my" app. You will toggle to the items on the bottom of the page, and press the + button to add an item. You will choose add other item, and the bike should pull up. Press pair and add, and the bike will be good to go!

Wheel removal

Levo Gen 4 (2025-)

The newest full power Levo launched in early 2025, and brought a whole host of charging, remote, and battery changes. The geometry and overall ride feel is similar, but the electronics got a impressive upgrade.

Remote Functions

The remote has few buttons, but lots of features packed in (so much, that it would take far too long to go into on just this guide). Turning the bike on is done by pressing the power button, the top button on the remote. You will have to hold it for a few seconds while turning the bike on and off, this is delayed due to the ability to accidently hit it when changing the assist. The bottom button is the walk assist, and by pressing and holding the button you can drive the rear wheel to walk the bike up whatever is needed. Once you let go of the button, the walk mode will turn off. To change the assist, you will move the toggle up for higher levels, or down for lower levels. Specialized now has 4 levels of assist, with Eco, Auto (the new assist mode that we really like), Trail and Turbo. Auto mode will start you in the eco amount of assist output, and as you put more of your own effort/power into the motor, the bike will then increase the amount of output it gives (ie, going up a really steep hill, then it leveling out), and once you start putting in less output, the motor will automatically back off its power output. There is another way to use the assist, called microtune mode. By holding the assist toggle up, that will turn mode from the standard 4 to "microtune", giving you 10 levels of assist displayed as a percentage. This is separate assist from the others, and is a percentage of the output from the motor/battery.

Charging and additional charger/battery options (along with battery removal)

The charger is revised for this new bike, the charger will need to pushed into the charge port on the left side of the bike, requiring the opening of the small charge cover before being plugged in. You are able to charge the battery off the bike, from fully dead to fully charged, you are looking around 5.5 hours. There is also a "Fast Charger" option that comes with the highest end "S-Works" version. The fast charger allows you to choose between different charging modes of normal, fast charge, and trickle charge. Depending on how you use the fast charger, or how often you charge your bike in general, you can wear down the long term battery health, so if you do pick up the fast charger, use the "fast charge" mode as sparingly as you can to prolong the long term health of the battery.

There is also the option to get a 600wh battery (seperate purchase). You will lose a bit of range of course, but since the battery is smaller, it will give a lighter handling bike, as you lose a few pounds of weight from that swap. All models are compatible with the 260wh range extender (seperate purchase), giving you another hour or more of riding. You are able to run the bike with just the extender also, but do not expect much range, and it will reduce power a small percentage. The extender will sit in the water bottle holder that comes on the bike, and does require a cable to connect it to the charge port to get the additional battery power. Charging the range extender is the same charger as the main bike.

Removing the battery is done by using a 5mm allen/hex key to loosen the bolt at the top of the battery cover on the left side of the bike. Once the cover is removed, the battery will come out very easily, so make sure you have a hand on it before removing. On top of the battery is a small waterproof bag called the "wattage cottage" (no, we did not come up with that name; yes, it is a bit cheesy; yes, we could have come up with something better;) ). The bag is held with a magnet, so will require a good pull to remove. You are able to put whatever you would like (ideally something that fits) into the bag as a storage space, then placing it back in and re-installing the battery.

Activating the Apple "Find My" feature

Wheel Removal

Removing the wheel is straight forward, there is a 6mm allen/hex key on the left side of the bike near the brake. Undo the bolt, and it should pull out, and allow the wheel to drop out. The fork could be a few different variations. There could be a lever built into the axle for quicker removal (some of the base rockshox and performance fox forks). The higher end rockshox forks have a 6mm axle on the right side of the fork. On Fox forks, the 6mm axle is on the right hand side also, but if the fork is a Fox 36 or Fox 38, there could be something called a "pinch bolt", which is an additional bolt below the main axle that will need to be loosened, not removed, before removing or installing the fork thru axle.

Santa Cruz E Bikes

Santa Cruz has 4 different ebike models, but only uses 2 motor brands across the models, so we will have a category for each motor system.

Salsa E Bikes

We only carry one of the Salsa E bikes, but some of their full power/heavier bikes use the same Bosch motor as the Santa Cruz Vala/Bullit in the Santa Cruz info, so feel free to use those as your guides!

The Salsa Confluence is built around a Mahle X35+ hub drive motor, paired to a 250wh battery. The motor puts out 40nm of torque, and the bike is a class 1, so it is limited to 20mph before the assist cuts out.

Remote functions

There is no integrated display, the power button on the top tube of the bike will illuminate different colors to indicate what level of assist your are in, along with how much battery you have.

When you change assist level, the bike will flash either green, orange, or red.

White- Bike is on, but no assist (Level Zero)

Green- 1st level of assist

Orange- 2nd level of assist

Red- 3rd level of assist

Once you are in your desired level, and have not changed the assist, the small button display will stop flashing and display a solid color. The solid color displayed will be the same as the assist levels, so it may be a bit confusing.

White means over 75%, green means 50-75%, orange means 25-50%, and red means less than 25%. A slow flashing red light indicates less than 15% charge, and a fast flashing red light means less than 10%.

There is also a potential blue light that can flash. That is an indicator that the bike is ready to pair to your smartphone. There is an app from Mahle called MySmartBike, that allows you to pair to the bike, track your rides, and a few other features!

Charging

From fully dead to fully charged, you are looking about 3-4 hours, with an expected ride time/range of 40 miles. There is an option for a range extender.

The charger will plug into the middle of the bike above the cranks/bottom bracket. You will need to orient the charger to align with the prongs of the charge port. Once plugged in, you will need to twist the rotating piece on the charger to lock the charger into the charge port. When fully charged, twist the piece on the charger head and unplug, and go ride!

Wheel removal

Taking the front wheel off is straightforward, there is a 6mm hex/allen key needed to undo the through axle on the left side of the fork. The rear wheel is a bit more complicated, but isn't too difficult. You will need an 8mm hex/allen, and a 3mm. First use the 3mm to undo the motor cable holder underneath the brake on the left hand side of the bike, then unplug the motor connection just ahead of that. There are nuts on either side of the wheel that will need to be loosened, then the wheel should come out.