emergency kit for rain

[vincent]

had a bad experience yesterday, had 3 of my ebikes out with friends

we got 1.5 miles from the truck and got caught in a unreal downpour, rain might have been bad but ok
except there was major hail
this went on for 45 min with us trying to stand under trees and protect the bikes as much as possible...


as soon as they were getting wet i shut them all off
when it finally stopped hailing and raining so bad we rode back unpowered

came home and plan to keep the bikes in a hot room until monday and see how they are

prodeco batt connection was dry..
easy motion street batt connection dry
radrover had moisture at batt connection- supposedly have different controller coming for it this week so took the controller box off and everything was completely dry
same with the plug holder for the batt..

not sure about anything else...

anyway i had hauled a long way to ride and was mad
decided each bike was getting a cover, poncho and emergency blanket in the pack
big amazon order and i plan to never get caught out like that again

thing is, if we had this stuff yesterday we might have been a little wet but when it cleared we could have gone back to riding
not to mention my bikes would not have possibly been damaged

so for 35 each bike i think it is a good idea
luckily all the bikes have decent sized bags and the only purpose of those is bike tools, phone etc
should be plenty of room

 

[J.R.]

I think you could've ridden when it cleared. I've ridden in torrential rain and snow and never once had any problems. It's great if you have a place to wait out the worst of it, but I don't think you would have had any problems. One suggestion, don't keep the batteries in that hot room. You probably know that...

 

[vincent]

good point jr
i debated on whether the batteries should be warmed up a little too to dry out.... wasnt sure

will move them to the other room with the ac going now


really awesome to know about being able to ride in the rain, since this rarely happens here in southern az i have zero experience with the bikes getting wet, especially that wet!
it was a crazy storm, i was up north in a national forest at 7000-8000 ft

thanks for the advice

 

[EddieJ]

I must admit that I don't give second thought to riding in adverse weather conditions. Over here in the UK if I did, I'd never get out for a ride.

With obvious caution and care, I'd imagine that most modern, factory built and supplied ebikes can handle bad weather.


If you haven't already seen it, Court has written a superb article about the subject. https://electricbikereview.com/guides/ebikes-in-rain-washing/



If you skip to the 4.30 min of this clip, you can see the sort of water that my bikes have to endure. Annoyingly mud on the lens, has blocked seeing the guy falling into the water. I felt a bit bad about him falling as it was an organised mtb event, and I had told him to get a move on and to get out of the way. I was also very pushy towards the lad that had the bike up on one wheel, which wasn't good either. The trouble is that when you want to get moving, people stopping to gawp, don't help speed things along.

 

[vincent]

Lol eddie, should have remembered your pictures and not been so worried
They are always stunning vistas or the bike/trail is crazy muddy

I need to read that write up by court

Even though the bikes were probably fine we were all sopping wet and the temp dropped 30 degrees fast, so nobody wanted to ride

Taught me a big lesson though, got all the bike covers, ponchos etc and from now on even for 1 night away riding will take an extra set of clothes just in case

Hope i might get to head back up north this week and ride a day, it is 110 in tucson right now

 

[EddieJ]

One little addition that I do carry, but wouldn't recommend trying to cycle with it, is a fold up disposable poncho.

As an emergency way of keeping yourself or the bike covered, they are very good. Don't try to cycle in one though, as they get caught in the rear wheel within seconds. Not that I'd know anything about that!

 

[vincent]

Lol lol
I just ordered 5 ponchos with the 5 bike covers, and 5 of those silver emergency blankets

But am glad you pointed that out, could totally see myself trying to ride with the poncho!

 

[Donny]

I had been looking into this with my bike. The day that I rode the bike home from the store, it was raining and there was a fair amount of water on the roads. I checked the bike over when I got home and while I noticed some moisture in the battery compartment, there were no problems. I have an iZip Zuma and the funny thing is that the manual says that the bikes are manufactured to be water resistant - but it then goes on to say not to ride in the rain (or the dark or any other "abnormal" type conditions) In my case, I think I figured out where the moisture got in at (if you care to read about it, you can check out the thread here https://electricbikereview.com/forums/threads/izip-e3-zuma-video-review.3681/). I haven't gotten around to trying to correct the problem, but will be doing so within the next few weeks once I get some money and can finish getting my bike tricked out for the daily commuting I will be doing.

 

[vincent]

was surprised mine did not seem wetter anywhere, but it could be somewhere i cannot see

keep up up to date on what you do to try and seal yours up

 

[Madbadger]

I would have thought the manufactures would have built in some sort of weather protection. I would assume if you rode or fell into a pond or something that could completely submerge the bike, then water would probably get into the electrics and damage it that way. Looking at the Yamaha system, it seems to be gasket sealed and let's face it, water or moisture is going to settle on the bottom crank where the motor is, even if you had mudguards. Not so sure about the led display on the bars, but a plastic bag and a elastic band around it would cure that, it works on my car only satnav when I stick it on my motorcycle. I don't think power washing would be a good idea either, just a slow running hose pipe and a brush, but having said that, I've not got mud on my bike yet!!

 

[vincent]

lol, have fun getting that haibike muddy

i would think the mtn bikes- especially the more expensive ones like yours would be set up to handle water etc better


i put all the batteries in last nite and displays all seem fine on mine and all of them moved forward in throttle
full test will be seeing how they do when i can get somewhere out of the 110 degree heat and can ride for several miles, but i am thinking they are fine

 

[Madbadger]

A friend of mine ran his bike for 4 years and 32,000 miles! Through rain, shine and snow here in the UK. He never had a problem but the motor gave up and the battery was on its last legs. He changed the motor but instead of a 200w they gave him a 250w, it blew the speed controller. He messed about with wiring and melted it. I think he had his money out of it. He is now thinking of getting a Haibike like mine but the hybrid version. I don't think his old bike is worth bothering with.

 

[vincent]

lol, i would be very happy to get that kind of mileage out of mine
especially with that kind of hard use

what brand bike was that?