‘It’s you, just faster’
Specialized slogan for the Tero Turbo range
Specialized’s innovative 2023 Tero Turbo X range of SUV e-bikes seems to have been a one-year flash in the pan, at least in the UK. Coming two years after the hardtail Turbo Teros, soon the full-sus Xs were heavily discounted, though you’ll struggle to find a bad review online, even by impartial pros. Maybe the two are connected. Owners love their X-bikes’ racked up, full-sus do-it-all utility and display integration.
The geef bought an e-MTB in 2025 and loves it. I feel the same about my 2022 Merida Big Trail 500 hardtail and figured I had another couple of years before I’d have to resort to e-assist. But the revelation in NZ was that you don’t have to use e-assist to get around. On the flat e-bikes can be perfectly pedalable on Standby/Off, so you can still work up some effort and extend the battery range to all day or more. That, and the delay on my Kamingo ‘rub’ motor, was all the excuse I needed.
‘Tero‘ is the range, ‘Turbo‘ means electric (‘It’s you, just faster’), ‘X‘ designated full suspension, and the X 5.0 (£5000 rrp) sat between the base-spec £4k Turbo 4.0, and the top spec £6k 6.0. As is often said, the middle of the range X5 hits the sweet spot of price and spec. I was lucky to pick up a little used Burned Onyx X5 in XL for a great price, and trained it home.
In the UK you can still buy new non-X Tero Turbo 4.0 and 5.0 hardtails (below right), but the top spec non-X 6.0, and all the full-sus X Teros have gone. There are still a few new, odd-sized discounted Xs in Europe or North America (where e-assist goes to 20mph/32kph).
In 2026 the Specialized Vado got the Tero X treatment; here is the Turbo Vado 3X 5.0 compared to my Tero X5. It’s the sort of bike they love in enlightened Europe – an all-terrain commuter with loads of city- and travel friendly equipment.
After 1100km and three months here are my updated impressions of my X5:
- Usual, clean design and quality from Specialized. The ‘Apple Mac’ of bikes
- Every box ticked in the SUV category
- Pedals fine on Standby (Off)
- Brakes are great – secure, one-finger descents
- Intuitive remote and display – not much need to RTFM
- Range can be 100km+
- Cut-off beyond 25kph barely perceptible
- Not had to use Turbo yet
- USB charge point
- Can fine tune e-assist power levels on the move (never bothered)
- Clever Mission Control App does many clever things (never looked)
- Mode control switch packed up in the rain at 900km. £250 part
- Meddled, but suspension not as plush as the Sinch F4 I rode in NZ
- For my 95kg + load, 70nm motor is a minimum
- Front lamp mount weak (relocated)
- Saddle unsuited to my anatomy (replaced)
- Rear light a bit small
- Would have preferred Oak Green colour
- Would have preferred a conventional top rack platform
- My old Ergon grips are much better
- Can only do one gear at a click, not sweep through 3 speeds
- Battery hard to remove. Long fingernails needed
- Sandpaper pedals (replaced)
- Cramped bottle cage will only take 700ml
More impressions in my Tero posts.
