My e-bike has been banished to the garage

[mrgold35]

My daughter made "parking spots" inside our garage for our ebikes. The bikes and their batteries are in there. The garage isn't heated, but doesn't get much below 50 degrees, I don't think. Should we bring the batteries inside?

My 3 car garage isn't heated; but, insulated on the sides with 2nd story on top. Temp never seem to get below 50 degree even with outside temps in teens. Keep all three ebikes in the garage. We have dry weather with extremely low humidity nearly all year and I can still ride in winter 90% of the time in the New Mexico. I keep the batteries not in use in the garage at around 50%-75% charge (whatever the level from the last ride). That hasn't change the battery range/power in the last +2 years and +6000 miles I have between both ebikes I ride the most.

Any way to remove the wheels and cover/store the ebike in a closet or under a bed in a spare room inside?

 

[6zfshdb]

The "danger" may be condensation (not really a problem for higher quality bikes).

I had a 2015 Radrover that sat in my unheated New England garage its first Winter, and dew from repeated temperature swings caused rust to form on wheel bolts/spindles, the cassette and chain... anything made with cheap or untreated steel.

Corrosion is definitely a possibility. I'm more concerned about electronics like the display, motor controller and sensors being affected by freezing temperatures. In my case, I have a weather tight garage which "buffers" the rapid temperature changes that can cause corrosion. I've been storing my MTB's, and a lot of other equipment in there for over 30 years without a corrosion problem.

Thanks for your reply.

 

[Mike TowpathTraveler]

Only 4 months until riding season. It's going to be a long wait as we only had our bikes for a few short weeks before the snow came.

Pfft...... Riding season is 12 months of the year. You just have to work your way around the storms and deicing operations on the roadways. And sometimes, you get caught in a storm anways.

 

[AHicks]

I agree that it depends on the garage.

I had an airplane in a hangar, and I always left the doors open when not in use. One spring day I walked into the hangar and was shocked to see condensation forming/running down on my instrument panel full of VERY expensive instruments, both mechanical and electronic! Plane doors were stored closed from then on, with the thought this would would help insulate this equipment from the wide temp swings that cause that cause that to happen....

Learned a lesson on unheated winter garages too. I had a place in northern Mi for many years (very near where DDBB now lives). This place had an insulated drive through garage we used for snowmobiles. Often 6 to 8 of them were packed in there. Oh boy did we have an ice accumulation issue!! The sleds would come in warm, right off the nearby trails, the garage was well insulated which held the warmth of the sleds long enough for them to melt off - onto a FREEZING cold floor - which then froze anything melted off almost immediately. This led to a need to scrape the floor regularly. Lesson learned, a garage used this way needs a heated floor. That, or leave the sleds outside.....

 

[mmwada]

Anyone else keep their e-bike inside the house?

 

[john peck]

[QUOTE=" Only 4 months until riding season. It's going to be a long wait as we only had our bikes for a few short weeks before the snow came. Anyone else keep their e-bike inside the house?[/QUOTE]

It´s always riding season! dress warm & cowboy up!

 

[DDBB]

LOL, right now it's damn near impossible to even WALK on our street. Rain stopped, temps dropped below freezing, water froze, then 1" of snow. Plow scraped the snow away leaving a skating rink, fun for the whole family.. Heck the dog is afraid to go out again on it.

 

[Lenny]

I would recommend just removing your battery and keeping it inside. A great place would be a closet, as those are typically dry places. Avoid moist areas by an entry door or laundry room.

 

[Lenny]

What is the danger in storing an e-bike, without the battery, in an unheated garage? Aside from battery freeze warnings, there is nothing in my bike manual advising against it.

Your E-Bike will be fine left out in the cold as long as the battery is removed. The motor and electronics can handle the cold. If you have a removable LCD screen I would take that off too. LCD's typically do not freeze, but better be safe than sorry.

 

[AHicks]

LOL, right now it's damn near impossible to even WALK on our street. Rain stopped, temps dropped below freezing, water froze, then 1" of snow. Plow scraped the snow away leaving a skating rink, fun for the whole family.. Heck the dog is afraid to go out again on it.

So typical of that area. Wait until you get 12" of wet heavy system snow, then it gets cold, firing off the lake effect engines, which then drop another 12"+ of fluffy lake effect snow on top of the wet stuff - then it gets windy, pushing up 3' drifts. You have to like snow to get along well in that area!

 

[john peck]

LOL, right now it's damn near impossible to even WALK on our street. Rain stopped, temps dropped below freezing, water froze, then 1" of snow. Plow scraped the snow away leaving a skating rink, fun for the whole family.. Heck the dog is afraid to go out again on it.

Eh, if you can afford an ebike; you can afford studded tires Bin sum time since time we got 12¨ of snow here, but I´m workin´ on a
pontoon set-up for my bike. Rains sum here.

 

[harryS]

It's 41F inside the LCD displays on my ebikes, which are in the garage, I took two of them out for a short spin. Yikes the 52V battery in the fatbike sagged down 8 volts under throttle, and the little 36V folder acted like it didn't even have a throttle. Cold batteries. After that, my toes was too cold to hang my xmas lites. Maybe tomorrow.

 

[john peck]

It's 41F inside the LCD displays on my ebikes, which are in the garage, I took two of them out for a short spin. Yikes the 52V battery in the fatbike sagged down 8 volts under throttle, and the little 36V folder acted like it didn't even have a throttle. Cold batteries. After that, my toes was too cold to hang my xmas lites. Maybe tomorrow.

Thai´s kinda interesting, how many Ah is the pack? Mine is 21Ah/52 & was out in the carport last night. It got below freezing. Rode 7 mi. this morning
with the chill factor keeping me at 10 mph. It used 1.6 volt, but I left it on the 2 amp charger all night.

 

[DDBB]

I'll leave the studded tires and icy roads to you hard core riders. I just got the skis shined up and grabbed a stick of juicy fruit.

 

[john peck]

I'll leave the studded tires and icy roads to you hard core riders. I just got the skis shined up and grabbed a stick of juicy fruit.

That´ll work. P.S. At least the bike works: my van wouldn´t start today

 

[bob armani]

I got away with having my new Haibike in the living room for an entire MONTH but now with the holiday season upon us and with company visiting on and off though New Years, my bike had to be moved out to the cold garage. I argued that having the Haibike in the living room was a great conversation piece and might encourage friends and family to consider buying e-bikes but that fell on deaf ears. I removed the battery and sprayed some anti corrosive spray on the terminals. Only 4 months until riding season. It's going to be a long wait as we only had our bikes for a few short weeks before the snow came. Anyone else keep their e-bike inside the house?

Oh yeah, I love this idea, but the hard part is getting the wifey to agree with this being a great conversation piece and put under lights. I always wanted a second E-bike that would be the trophy bike that is 'always' kept inside and ridden on sunny clear days only. Otherwise, they either are stored in the basement or the unheated detached garage.

 

[Over50]

What is the danger in storing an e-bike, without the battery, in an unheated garage? Aside from battery freeze warnings, there is nothing in my bike manual advising against it.

I was advised against it by the LBS. Brake lines, oil in the IGHs, seals and oil in the suspension forks to be concerned with. The Rohloff manual talks about issues that can occur when operating at temps below freezing however I couldn't find anything about extended storage in below freezing temps. While we've had some more mild winters since I've lived in Michigan, we also had a couple of winters recently with the "polar vortices" where we had consecutive days below 0 F. I'm going with the better safe than sorry approach ...

 

[Deleted member 18083]

If we keep our ebikes in the main part of the house, they'll have to be kept in showroom condition. Reason enough?

 

[Mr. Coffee]

What is the danger in storing an e-bike, without the battery, in an unheated garage? Aside from battery freeze warnings, there is nothing in my bike manual advising against it.

That depends very much on how cold it gets and how long anything will be exposed to that cold. If you are talking only -5C or so than you probably have a little less to worry about. If you are talking -25C for extended periods than you probably ought to take some precautions.

Any lubricant or hydraulic fluid is going to have a minimum operating temperature below which it will no longer lubricate very well (or flow well enough to properly lubricate). At very low temperatures (and what "very low" means very much depends on the compounds in question) some lubricants and hydraulic fluids can separate, and additives (like teflon or graphite) can precipitate out of the oil. While in an automobile or heavy equipment usually there is quite a bit of volume that can act as a safety factor (although usually leaving your rig out in the bitter cold all winter without properly winterizing it means at least one shop visit in the spring) I suspect that the tiny hydraulic lines in bicycle hydraulic brakes and the tiny amounts of oil in wheel bearings or internally geared hubs won't react well if the lubricants or fluids separate.

Again, this is a "better safe than sorry" kind of situation. And given that I doubt many in the bicycle industry give much consideration to extremely cold conditions you are kind of on your own.

 

[harryS]

Thai´s kinda interesting, how many Ah is the pack? Mine is 21Ah/52 & was out in the carport last night. It got below freezing. Rode 7 mi. this morning
with the chill factor keeping me at 10 mph. It used 1.6 volt, but I left it on the 2 amp charger all night.

It's a Lunacyles Dolphin. 30Q cells. 25A controller. It's only a 4P, so maybe 12-13AH. Rode out with the LCD saying 57V and that dropped to 54 after a few minutes. Moved along OK, but display sagged down to 47V under throttle. Never seen it that bad before.