Specialized Turbo Vado SL 4.0
https://www.specialized.com/us/en/tu...=263668-154894
BMC Alpenchallenge AMP Sport One
https://www.bmc-switzerland.com/fr/a...sport-one.html
The Specialized costs about 3.5k, and the BMC can be found at similar prices.
The only thing I can understand is that the BMC uses an off-the-shelf Shimano motor, so, hopefully, in the long long run, the availability of repair know-how and spare parts should be good.
However, I have no idea how the other components of the bikes compare, except that their weight is similar. Any advice?
I am a Specialized fanboi but depending on your fitness and hills you ride the Specialized at 30nm is not powerful enough. The BMC Shimano is an old technology motor. There is a Shimano EP8 motor which IMHO is the best light weight motor at present. Orbea use this with outstanding results in a MTB. Control and integration of software for the motor is as important as the motor to get a natural feeling, Specialized leads the way with this. Research and test rides ARE the only way to find the correct bike.
Key question - what do you want it for?
Without that any suggestions could be completely off the mark.
A lightweight commuter bike.
These are two different bikes when you are talking E-bikes! In general terms weight doesn't have as much effect on an E-bike as a normal bike as the motor compensated for the extra weight and less effect on a commuter bike than a MTB. With commuter bikes you have the option of up 45 or 25Kph, there are advantages for both depending on your needs but it would be worth considering a 25Kph hardtail mountain bike as you can not ride a 45Kph bike on some forest trails. And there is no better way to explore Switzerland IMHO a comfortable 40/50Km ride!
Biggest drawback of Specialized wrt to the BMC seems to be the integrated battery.
Can it be removed (easily)? Can it be charged when removed from the bike?
Otherwise you will be in trouble if you need to charge it on the go (i.e. in the office, or during a short overnight trip ... battery charger are nowadays quite small, more or less like a laptop power source).
I would suggest you to test ride a couple of similar ebikes from shops around you, since you have no idea about what you are buying. Even renting one for month would be a good idea, so you get a feeling about what you and an ebike can and cannot do. Try with them:
https://www.rentabike.ch/en/long-term-rental
I understand the issue of a non removable battery and that's ok for me.
I want a bike that doesn't turn into an excercise fat bike if it runs out of battery.
So, is the Specialized motor+battery solution a mature product, or do I risk ending up with a proverbial door step once the warranty runs out?
I lean towards the step-through (lady's) version of Specialized. Otherwise I would not consider it as Shimano seems to me a much larger player to abandon its customers without spare parts in the let's 10-15 year life span.
Keep in mind: if you have a long commute you will probably want a 45km/h bike, 25kh/h just feels too slow (as soon as you get any type of speed, the support of the motor just cuts off). So as suggested before go and test some different types of bikes and sees what is most convenient.
Seems academic as the Vado is sold out ?
The Vado 6.0 is the only model available right now, it is much more expensive, but runs 45 km/h, it will cost 5900 sfr
In 10-15 years you have 500-750 weeks. Batteries claims to have a life of 500-1000 charging cycles.
The last bike fair I attended (2019) I asked some people at the Bosch stand how many cycles you can get out of a battery, in real life, they claimed that after 250 charging cycles or about 5 years, batteries are usually holding 1/3 of the charge (when stored properly in garage, not charged when below zero and not exposed to extreme sun/hot).
A new battery costs around 6/800 francs.
Depending on your commute, you may be facing 2-3 or more battery changes over a life of 10-15 years.
External batteries seems to be easier to be found (they are rather standard in their shape/attachment) ... internal proprietiary batteries can be rebuilt, but you need to know an experienced persons (I am sure it can be done, they are structurally similar to the complex batteries used for R/C models). Or you a buy one from Specialized (they still sell batteries for their Turbo models from 2015 ... disclaimer: past performance is not indicative of future behavior).
However, the numbers of motor power, torque, battery capacity and range unfortunately are almost meaningless, because how one feels the assistance is extremely subjective ===> on paper they are both nice bikes.