Hello from Finland

[Zds]

Hello,

this is my ride. The base is Haibike Sduro Hardseven 2.5, based on Yamaha PW series e-bike system.

Winter conditions hereabouts can be challenging, so I opted to get an ebike especially to tackle winter commutes. The winter tires are Suomi Tyres 57-584, and I had to install wider fenders to make them fit. Racks and pogies obviously are installed by myself, too.

On the kind of weather we'd had in the past week it's so-and-so usable; you'd really need a 1000W fatbike to not be annoyed by the conditions on the bike paths. But for most part of the winter it has worked very well. I got it in May and now have cycled some 1400 km with it this far. I have another, unassisted, bike that I use, too, when the ground is clear, so my own total kilometers are higher.

 

[J.R.]

Welcome!

Best set of winter bike tires I've ever owned are Nokian Suomi Hakkapeliitta, designed, engineered (and made?) In Finland. Amazingly sure footed tire on ice. Almost the same as riding on dry pavement. By spring I am tired of the noise on dry pavement though and ready to shed them.

 

[Zds]

On bicycle tires Suomi Tyres continues the legacy of Nokian Hakkapeliitta. Nokian stopped doing bicycle tires, and Suomi Tyres bought both the business and the factory from them.

So these are as close as you can get.

And they work wonderfully as long as the studs can reach a solid surface.

 

[J.R.]

Thanks, nice to know. Some of the shops here use both names, I guess to keep the old reputation going.

 

[JRA]

Welcome to the forum Zds. Looks like a nicely put together commuter. I like how it illustrates the spray pattern from the front wheel via the build up of snow on the bottom of the down tube and onto the front of the back fender. This also occurs with liquid moisture it is just not as visible. That is why some make extensions for their fenders but not as necessary with snow it would seem.

When I lived where there was a long winter Hakkapeliita's were very popular also. I found that a fixed gear I made out of an old road frame worked the best with them though as town itself was fairly flat. This bike belonged to a friend.

 

[Ebiker01]

That is one snowed e bike.
Q- how do you clean it ? Do you just let it defrost, snow melt ? I imagine that there must be salt in the roads also and it needs lots of cleaning. That is a really good free advertsing ?and speaks volumes about the quality of this brand. To ride this many km in your country's cold weather and have the bike in great cond. is amazing.
I don’t ride mine is snow like that yet, was afraid for electronics notbto get wet, but maybe with the tires you said i will try it !
Welcome to this nice, friendly and informative forum !

 

[Zds]

That spray worries me a bit. When we're close to the 0C there's quite a lot of salt on the roads and thus on the snow. Haibike opted to cover the motor unit with their own skid plate which is great for protecting from mechanical stress, but leaves some cavities that at worst can fill with salty slush. The skid plate has been tightened to 20kN so I can't remove it easily to check if there's corrosion on the unit.

There are holes that let water out, but salty slush is a lot more sticky.

 

[Zds]

Cleaning: I live in the South, so we don't nowadays have long periods below the freezing point. After two to three weeks it will melt, and at that point I can inspect the bike and bring it indoors to be cleaned if need be.

With this climate I'm considering chain and cassette expendable - I clean and oil it occasionally, but the sticky slush and salt will eventually wear them out, and I'll just replace them when that happens. I don't have warm garage, and my bathroom is small, so cleaning after every ride would be too much hassle. I just kick and scrape out the salty-looking slush that's on the frame and let clean snow be there. Clean snow is quite benign as long as we stay below zero after all.

I keep it locked in storage, but the storage itself is not heated which is actually useful - the worst situation would be a half-warm storage that allows the slush to melt but not dry.

 

[christob]

Welcome to the forum!
So many panniers! I'm envious of those Ortliebs! (Though I make do with 1 "grocery" sized pannier, so I suppose I have nothing to really envy -- but 4 panniers on the bike just gets me thinking "what else could I take along??")
I'm not ready or prepared (equipment-wise) to ride in snow here. We usually get a few moderate snow days throughout winter here in D.C. I'm also not quite prepared (proper attire) for super-cold weather... this morning was 7f / -13c when I woke up and I decided to drive the car. Then I felt guilty (but warm) as I passed 3 cyclists along my standard bike route, during my car commute.

 

[Zds]

I do pretty much all my daily chores with this, so there's sometimes quite a lot of stuff to carry; in this case front panniers contain the climbing equipment and back panniers have the running equipment and groceries.

On days with colder weather I have ridiculous amounts of layers, as riding e-bike is even colder than riding a unassisted bike; you go faster and muscles produce less heat. The picture here is from -20. I'd possibly need a mask for longer stretches, if nothing else, to prevent the glasses from fogging.

But we have only a handful of days per winter that cold, so it might not be worth it. Usually we stay between +5C and -10C during the winter, but being close to the seashore wind and moisture add to the effect.

 

[Ebiker01]

How popular is ebiking in Finland and what brands are well known or in the e bike stores ? I actially rode today , we’ve had -10/15Celsius, it was acyually really enjoyable @25mph, i had face mask, all gear. I ‘ve seen a lot of regular toders suffering on the bike path. It seems to me that form of riding(no motor) is from another century.
With the panniers , i need to get some for myself; i have a Q - over there where you are, is it a concern to just leave them on the bike or how do people do it ? I try to carry less so that i don’t have to carry all the stuff with me when i get to where i need to be. I imagine if i would leave an Ortlieb unattended hanging on the bike it will be gone in a Ny minute here in Ny..,,

 

[Dewey]

Helkama and Tunturi are Finnish brands. Zds do you find local distribution from brands from Eastern European countries like Baltik Vairas (Lithuania), Velomastera (Russia), Kross (Poland), etc?

 

[Zds]

Ortlieb bags are indeed easy to detach which is a mixed blessing. I always take them with me, because they are equally easy to steal.

But they are also practical - they attach nicely to the shopping cart and I can pack them while still inside and not subject to elements.

But I've been thinking of some permanently attached bags to the rear rack.

 

[Zds]

When it comes to ebike availability, it's frankly all over the place, but I guess the situation is the same everywhere; pretty much every shop that sells ebikes has different brands than others, and then there's the often taken option of ordering them from Germany..

However, what's a bit sad is that while there are tons of models, it seems they are quite similar to each other: you have cheap Chinese ebikes that are flimsy and compact, very expensive mountain bikes (usually without racks and fenders) and then old school bikes with racks and fenders but narrow tires.

Especially in Finnish winter the commuter needs to have wide tires, but there are ultimately not very many options where you'd get a both very wide tires (2.5-3") and rack and fenders. And those that are available are prohibitively expensive. I guess this is the downside of being a small market. And when cycling in the weather we have today, plenty of snow that's turning to slush and water, you really need both wide tires and fenders for it to make sense at all. Otherwise you could just take a bus.

 

[Zds]

When I got mine, Helkama cycles were priced above my budget, but they seem to have come down since that. I trust they are of high quality, but I could not justify paying more than 2500€ for my first ebike; before getting one you could not be 100% sure if you really end up using it much more than the unassisted vehicle and thus I wanted to limit the monetary risk.

 

[Ebiker01]

I like this Bikxtrix ? brand , is in Canada. Is with the new Bafang mid drive ultra 1k watts, peak 1.5kw. , big 48x21ah bat. , fat or reg. Tires. Is 3.5k I already have my ebikes, but i can certainly justify getting another one in a few months...
That amount of torque -160mn max. , no reg. Ebikes have it yet, the Haybike flyon will have “only@ 120mn max.
I think all brands should go this way- big battery., 100-160nm.
I was riding with traffic today and my speed pedelec was at it’s limit 26-29mph , with a 32-35mph it would have felt safer. There was a bmw x5 upset that i go that fast... many drivers are slowly getting it, the ebike thing. But is a alien world for them so it will take time to change.

 

[Dewey]

Especially in Finnish winter the commuter needs to have wide tires, but there are ultimately not very many options where you'd get a both very wide tires (2.5-3") and rack and fenders

Yeah, I see that looking at the Helkama e-fat, clip on fenders might help in really muddy conditions eg https://www.sks-germany.com/en/products/fatboard-set/ but there are nicer integrated rack/fender sets for commuting eg https://www.juicedbikes.com/products/fat-tire-rear-rack-fender-set