Questions regarding e-biking (Giant)

[Kondekka]

Hello!
So I ordered an Giant FastRoad E+ EX PRO 2021 model bike and began to wonder how the harsh winter weathers might treat e-bikes in general?
I personally wouldn't feel very confident riding an electric bike in a pouring icy rain or slush, I couldn't find much information from Giant regarding their IP-xx classifications.
And I'm too lazy to disassemble the bike to weatherproof it completely myself..

I'm also on the market for winter tyres for that specific model, any recommendations are warmly welcome!

 

[JRA]

One thing I would recommend is to extend the rear of your fenders as much as possible as that will alleviate spray, especially the front which will keep your feet dryer.

Not aware of their IP ratings but they are designed for outdoor use so probably as good as any. If you keep the bike as warm, clean and dry between uses as possible that would certainly be a benefit.

The best winter tires are studded ones. Not sure what is available in 27.5 but I'm sure there are some if you look. Although they are expensive generally they will last many seasons as winter use is not as hard on tire wear I have found and you can just swap them out for the stock tires for summer use. Wider is not necessarily better for road use as a narrower tire will slice through slop just fine. Rallye cars use narrower tires for winter use for this reason.

 

[Kondekka]

One thing I would recommend is to extend the rear of your fenders as much as possible as that will alleviate spray, especially the front which will keep your feet dryer.

Not aware of their IP ratings but they are designed for outdoor use so probably as good as any. If you keep the bike as warm, clean and dry between uses as possible that would certainly be a benefit.

The best winter tires are studded ones. Not sure what is available in 27.5 but I'm sure there are some if you look. Although they are expensive generally they will last many seasons as winter use is not as hard on tire wear I have found and you can just swap them out for the stock tires for summer use. Wider is not necessarily better for road use as a narrower tire will slice through slop just fine. Rallye cars use narrower tires for winter use for this reason.

Extending the fender is an good recommendation, I thought the stock ones might be good enough but I'll see, luckily I have 7 days a week to test it, rains pouring down everyday here..
As for the tyres I think I'll visit a local shop once I get the bike and ask them for a recommendation.

I'm also quite interested in knowing if the motor on the 2021 model is from 2020 bikes, It has an Giant SyncDrive Pro motor on it but no info on what year model it is, so I think it's the same.
Some of the tuning chips are a bit on the expensive side, I wouldn't want to throw in 150 euros only to find it incompatible.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Hi Kondekka,

Premium e-bikes are fairly weatherproof. I used to ride my Giant and Specialized e-bikes even through puddles so deep the motor was getting immersed with no adverse effects. I could also watch these motors uncovered: they are made waterproof. Also don't worry about the MY of the SyncDrive Pro motor: The same motor model is used over several years, and the Yamaha PW-X2 used on Giant Pro e-bikes is the latest. I agree with JRA to invest in good fenders.

What country are you actually from?

Don't worry. Just ride on!

 

[Kondekka]

Hi Kondekka,

Premium e-bikes are fairly weatherproof. I used to ride my Giant and Specialized e-bikes even through puddles so deep the motor was getting immersed with no adverse effects. I could also watch these motors uncovered: they are made waterproof. Also don't worry about the MY of the SyncDrive Pro motor: The same motor model is used over several years, and the Yamaha PW-X2 used on Giant Pro e-bikes is the latest. I agree with JRA to invest in good fenders.

What country are you actually from?

Don't worry. Just ride on!

Thank you so much for the relieving answer, I was pretty concerned regarding the bike.
It is really nice to get this kind of support from the community!

* I live in Finland

 

[Stefan Mikes]

* I live in Finland

I thought so Be careful with riding during severe frost!

 

[Kondekka]

I thought so Be careful with riding during severe frost!

I will, thank you! Happy holidays!

 

[Kondekka]

I did some biking today for a test, I wanted to see how the bike manages in a really harsh condition and cold. As I stated some of my concerns previosuly for getting the bike wet, but after riding it in a pouring rain and icy roads I'm confident enough to say that the bike holds up really well, even handling with these summer tyres are pretty good in these conditons.

I'll attach some photos here from earlier today like the weather, bike and so on.

The weather has been like this all december, probably it stays more below zero in the coming weeks.

On this photo it looks a bit bearable but on the roads it's 5 cm of pure icy slush and water...

So it was about -1 degrees celcius outside, not that cold really. It can get to -15 to -25c further on in the winter.
I should have taken a video of the display once I got inside but my toes were numb and I just wanted to get a warm shower!
Once I got in I noticed that the bike's display was actually flickering, I got a little worried about it.
But as I got in and after ~5 minutes the flickering stopped. The display seems to be a bit sensitive to cold.

The motor covered in icy slush and I drove through deep puddles and it pushed on, no problems at all!

I noticed an interesting thing while riding, the shifter was adjusting itself up and down at the last stretch of my trip.

Back home I checked the battery slot and it was dry! This is the bottom part where logically water would accumulate.
There are rubber housings around the battery in which the battery gets pushed down to with it's own weight.

The post might look a bit messy, but I wanted to share my experience to anyone who might look into this, or might be worried about their e-bike.
I'm now very confident with my bike, and a happy customer.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

As I said before

 

[jabberwocky]

My wife once charged a stream crossing on my RevoltE that turned out to be waist deep. Totally submerged the bike. It shut down and refused to turn on until it dried out, but after drying it worked fine and has run for a lot of miles since then. Not sure if they have some sort of short fail safe or I just got lucky, but thats about as bad a water stress test as you can give a bike and hey, it still works fine!

 

[almikel]

so glad I live in Brisbane (Australia), where it's "starting" to cool off...although Feb is likely to kick in a few more hot days before the end of summer here in the southern hemisphere...
...I asked a LBS that was in the process of building a new e-bike which connectors they put dielectric grease on - their approach was the battery connectors and the bike connectors the battery connects to - that was sufficient in their opinion.

cheers
Mike

PS - no snow here (Brisbane, Australia), but occasional torrential rain...in which case I typically just take the bus instead of riding the bike.