ADVENTURE ON WHEELS
SPECIALIZED TURBO CREO SL COMP CARBON EVO
The name’s a mouthful, but the bike isn’t – it’s a minimalist, all-road adventure machine that looks as good as it rides.
The EVO is the Hawaiian-shirt-wearing cousin of the standard suit-and-tie Creo SL Comp Carbon. At 12 kg, the latter is the lightest road e-bike in its class. As Bicycling US wrote: “It’s such a light and well-integrated package, you almost forget you’re on an e-bike. You feel like you’re riding a great road bike: an extra (extra) fast one that makes the climbs less steep and the distances shorter, and makes it easier to keep up with the fast riders. It’s only the low hum of the motor and the fact that you’re climbing twice as fast as usual that remind you that, no, you didn’t become as fast as →ulian Alaphilippe overnight.”
Now take that kind of performance and add 38mm gravel tyres, a 50mm dropper post, flared bars and a sage-green paintjob. The result is a superbly capable all-road bike perfectly suited to South Africa’s mix of bad tar, worse tar and dirt.
A dropper on a road bike? Don’t knock it until you’ve tried it – it makes descending so much more comfortable, especially on loose terrain when you’re in the drops.
Both the standard Turbo Creo and the EVO version have Future Shock 2.0 suspension, offering 20mm of hydraulically damped travel above the head tube to smooth out road buzz and reduce fatigue. Both bikes also have a 1x11 Shimano GRX Ultegra groupset, which features excellent hydraulic disc brakes, and a clutch derailleur for clean shifting under all conditions, even when the drivetrain is under strain and you’re making a total hash of the gear changes. (Speaking from experience here…)
The motor and battery combo is the same lightweight pairing that you’ll find in the Turbo Levo SL; and Specialized claims a range of 130km on one charge, or further with the optional range-extender battery that fits into the bottle cage on the seat tube (another feature shared with the Turbo Levo SL).
The Mission Control app is the best in the business – it’s like an extension of the bike, not an afterthought or an add-on, as is sometimes the case when a brand uses a third-party drive unit.
To be fair, a gravel bike is already the epitome of n+1, which puts a gravel e-bike into hyperniche territory. But the more you ride a dropbar bike with wide tyres, the more you realise that a gravel bike is actually a great road bike, for anyone who isn’t chasing KOMs or trying to compete at the highest level.
If you’re more into meandering Sunday rides than scary downhill singletrack, the Creo EVO is a better bet than an electric mountain bike. It’s an expensive investment, but it’s a versatile machine that’s future-proofed for at least the next five years.
R90 000 specialized.com