In case you didn't know, the inaugural ebiketips LIVE event happened on Sunday, and there were lots of very shiny e-bikes to have a go on. Including this one: the Specialized Turbo Vado. It was the first time it had been seen in the wild and there was a constant queue of people wanting a go. We showed our staff badges and pushed to the front: consider this an exclusive first ride!

We told you about the Turbo Vado back in July last year - we couldn't show you any detail pics back then because the prototypes were a way off being finalised. But everything's finalised now: the bikes at ebiketips LIVE were full production models, the first in the UK. They were complete, with the exception of the bar-mounted computer; that's still in production.

The last incarnation of the Turbo for the road used a hub motor but this new bike gets the same mid-motor configuration as the Turbo Levo mountain bikes. The motor itself is a Brose unit but it's custom tuned, and the management system is Specialized's own. The motors are tuned differently to the e-MTB motors.

Specialized are very keen on the Brose motor. "We feel that it's the best motor right now", Specialized's Dominik Geyer told us at the launch last year. "The internal belt drive makes it really smooth and quiet, disengages above the speed limit completely and is much more efficient than the hub motor in the previous bike".

This is where the display will go when it arrives

The removable display, which is powered from the battery, is still on its way and we haven't seen one in the flesh yet. There will be two levels, an LCD one and a touch-senstitive TFT. They'll be able to talk to Specialized's Mission Control app and will offer routing and mapping as well as the usual computer functions. They sound good. We'll wait and see.

The bikes on test at ebiketips LIVE were the £3,600 Vado 4.0 build; there's a cheaper £3,200 Vado 3.0 version that has a lower spec transmission but keeps the motor, computer, mudguards and rack. The mudguard is actually very interesting, in as much as a mudguard can be. "We found that water coming from the wheel would work its way up the front mudguard and be released from the front, ending up on the rider", Dominik explained to us at the launch. "We've added two channels at the top of the front mudguard to move the water to the sides so that it falls back down to the ground." It wasn't raining when we rode the bike so we don't yet know whether it works. It's a clever design though.

The battery comes out sideways so a low-step frame is possible

Ride thoughts: smooth, powerful, a real looker

We put several guinea pigs from ebiketips and sister site road.cc aboard the Turbo Vado, and everyone was pretty impressed. We didn't have too much time on board because there were plenty of paying punters wanting a go, but we snuck a few laps in on the day.

"The power was instant with very little lag between pedalling and the power kicking in, the lower weight helping with quick acceleration", said Liam. "The position was nicely balanced and not too sit-up-and-beg. The bike felt solid and tracked really well through the corners"

"It was generally smooth and powerful, more so than other ebikes I’ve tried recently", said Oli. "The motor responded sharply, there's very little delay between the pedal stroke and response from the motor. I smashed it through the headwind on the bottom of the test track with relative ease. The rear light integrated into the rack was slick, as was the battery/frame integration. It's a definite game changer in terms of looks/style, several people I chatted to commented on that."

"The motor was smooth compared to other e-bikes I've ridden", said Matt. "It was especially noticeable when starting, as they tend to jolt, but this bike eased in nicely. I thought it was an really good ride but I only did one lap, it was certainly comfortable for the short amount of time I was on it"

Mostly good news, then: obviously we'll be getting hold of one the the bikes for a full review soon, so stay tuned for that.

Specialized Turbo Vado 4.0 £3,600 - full spec

Specialized Turbo Vado 3.0 £3,200 - full spec