There are two things that annoy me on the Creo, one a lot more than the other. First is noise from the motor, nothing you can do about it and you get accustomed to it. The second is the the flow of the level of power on the top tube controller. This has bugged me from day one as I ride another two E bikes with Bosch motors where you go up and down the power levels one at a time. The Specialized system you can go up one at a time but cannot come back down so you have to keep going full circle. Say if you are going up a steep hill and you are on level 3 and near the top it eases off you want to go down to Level 2 you have to double press the button so goes from 3 back 1 then back up to 2. Well since Specialized released their range of 2021 Creo last year there are a few models that come with the remote power shifter buttons on the handlebars. It has took a few months from them to become available as an after market purchase in the UK. Now there are two main advantages of the remote buttons, one is you can now go down one level at a time as well as go up one level at a time. The second is you don't have to take your hand / hands off the handlebars to press the button on the top tube now. You still have to use the top tube button for turning the power on and off but I never do this during a ride so happy days. You don't get much in the box for your money but if they were another twenty quid I would still buy them. Firstly I removed the main controller from the top tube and plugged in the new control box into the second spare cable that had the plug end on. Then I plugged in the two remotes and turned on the system. The buttons worked straight away, first time! So it was time to feed the cables through the frame etc. My left port has the rear mech cable and the second hole in the port was not big enough to get the plug ends through so I went to the right side. On this side I had the dropper post cable and rear brake hose. There was not enough room to run these two and the two remote cables so I unwrapped the bar tape on the left side of the handlebars to remove the dropper outer cable and inline cable adjuster as I am using a fixed seatpost. The outer cable that was inside the frame I manged to push back and up the down tube and out of the way. This then left enough room to pull the two remote cables through to the top tube area. The control box sticks to the back of the top tube box with a self adhesive pad, make sure you fit it the right away around, see photos below. There is loads of spare cable length on the remotes to position them anywhere on your handlebars. I have fitted them in a temporary position to either side of the stem facing towards me. The one on the left down shifts and the right up shifts the power. You can swap them the opposite way. I have tapped the cables to the rear brake hose and it does not look to bad. Others have used heat shrink wrap which is tidier. I have only done a couple of rides with them fitted. I am not 100% sure if I want to move them to around the shifter areas. I will make my mind up over the coming months after more miles using them. So far so good and would highly recommend them to any Creo owners who don't have them fitted as standard.
Manufacturers Blurb -
- Adjust your power mode with the ease of the touch of a button.
- Place buttons anywhere on your handlebar for best personalized location.
- Compatible to Specialized SL 1.1 System.
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| TX 10 key to remove bolt |
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| 2.5mm allen key to remove bolt |
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| Park Tool fishing wire to make pulling the cables through the frame easier, could used an old inner cable |
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| Remove bar tape to remove dropper post cable. |
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| Front half of the dropper post outer cable removed |
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| Wrong direction, will not fit back in hole |
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| Correct direction, fits back in hole |
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| Bar tape re wrapped |
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| and all finished |
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| ready for a few trial rides |
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