How to Winterproof and Waterproof?

[thunderseed]

I just bought a ladies Urban Cruzer from Green Light Cycles, and the website and manual were both pretty misleading, saying it could be used in winter, but that extreme cold can shorten the battery range. And I live somewhere where we don't get extreme cold temperatures (they are local), never anything below minus 10. Well I contacted their customer service because I wanted to know what "extreme cold" was classified as, and apparently it's anything below 10c. That's not considered extreme. And the thing is I've heard of people riding e -bikes in toronto, where it gets much colder than here, so what do they do, is it just that I bought a crappy bike or am I just being too anal? Because so far during the day I am very pleased with this bike, it gets me up even the steepest hills and never even loses a bar after hours of constant riding, and I'm pretty heavy and it has no problem carrying me. I took it out around 10c one night when the temperature dropped and it performed fine, but I noticed the battery drained faster than usual...

It's already at 10 - 13 c here and it's just the beginning of fall, so not very cold yet.

They say in optimal conditions the battery could last me 4 years, but since I plan on riding this in winter I suspect it will not last that long since cold decreases the lifespan, right? I guess that's fine, even if I have to spend another 800 dollars to get another battery even in two years, at least it's still worth it, but I really do want to make the battery last for the whole 4 years if I can!

So, right now I'm making an insulated, waterproof case for the battery. I figure if my phone stays warm in my pocket during freezing temperatures, the battery will stay warm in an insulated fabric too. I'm not worried about it overheating because I've rode this thing for hours straight and the battery has never once got warm. It's usually quite cold to the touch.

As far as rain goes, I've already put silicone on the exposed electrical parts. The bike is apparently water resistant and they say it can handle light rain, but I'm very anal and want to make sure it'll last me a long time. And I want it to be prepared in case I get caught in worse rain.

Is there anything else I can do? Any tips and recommendations would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Ann M.]

Sounds like you've got a good start on the weatherizing; just use common sense with that- no need to go overboard. Better to lube, clean and pay regular attention to basic bike maintenance for longer life of the bike overall. As for the battery, keep it indoors at room temp to get a better charge when it's cold or to have better range when riding in chilly weather. If you start with a normal temp battery (no heating pads, please!) then the flow of current through the electronics will help to maintain the battery's operation. If you're riding in below freezing temps for a while or when the wind chill factor is below freezing then there will be some drop in the range; it's the nature of the Li Ion battery chemistry. The cases of the batteries are waterproof, not to the point that I'd recommend riding into a lake; so you don't need that insulated cover during the spring and summer when heat and high humidity can be an issue but it will help during the winter.

Please load some pics of your ebike and the cold weather additions, it would be great to see what work you've done. Besides, some of us are still suffering from 95F + temps and only dream of cold weather!

 

[thunderseed]

Thanks! I store my bike inside my house to keep it warm and dry, and thankfully I also bring it inside at work, so it'll be warm in between uses. It only takes me about an hour to get to work, much less time to get home at night when the streets are awesomely deserted.

Yeah... in the winter I probably won't exceed 3 hours in the cold each time.

Though I still really hope the customer service made a typo, because 10 degrees celsius is not what I thought of when I was planning on riding this thing in the cold.

I'm really impressed with the design we came up with for the insulated cover. I'll share some pictures of it soon. I have to give all the credit to my mom who is an amazing sewer. She found actual insulation that is used to insulate boats and water heaters, it also has a completely waterproof surface and velcro's together to make it super easy to take on and off. It has a top flap for easy access to the ignition.
I'm pretty sure it's going to work to keep the battery warm, if it doesn't I'd be surprised, but I'll keep everyone posted about that. There might be some trial and error involved.

95 + at this time of year I couldn't imagine. I think that's around 35c, we didn't even get that hot in midsummer this year. We had a very mild summer, which was actually very nice because the summer prior, it got so hot that there were literally hundreds of forest fires around here, which was scary. That was out of the norm though because usually we have mild weather and mild temps.

Yep, even though I'm Canadian I haven't seen the snow in years. Have to go up into the mountains for that now.

 

[Wright]

How much water can the drive train take?