e-biking over winter

[moon]

I've been winter commuting on my wisper 905se and have found the experience quite painful in the cold.

The battery is dying really quickly, with the green light flickering on and off after just a few miles, the sport mudguards leave my back covered in ice cold water and grit from the roads and my muscles don't seem to want to work as hard in the cold.

Also the dark nights make cycling in london rather scary as I cant see as clearly, plus when it rains I cant see at all because of my glasses.

Does anyone have any good advice re the above, should I have the city mudguards fitted? Will my battery 'recover' once it gets warmer?? how can i get my legs to work properly in the cold..


brrrrrr

 

[tenderbehind]

Hi Moon, Some more technical people than I will be able to answer your questions more fully and accurately, but, as far as I know most types of battery, perhaps all sorts and types do not perform so well in the cold, ie they don't keep their charge as long and are a bit more sluggish to start engines and motors depending on the temperatures they are exposed to, after all that, I don't really have an answer, except how about wrapping the batt with some sort of thick cloth, always taking care of course that no loose bits come into contact with any moving parts of the bike.
I've got the same bike as you and so far have not had too much problem with the sports guards, but I suggest you fit the full ones if only for the winter months.
I wear glasses too, I can only suggest here you carry some soft tissue with you and wipe them when you need to, or there is available on the market anti rain spray, where when sprayed on glass, typically car windscreens, the rain water drops away rather like water off a ducks back, I think someone like Holts products market this, don,t know the name of it though, (could be Rain X)
Cycling in the dark - get really bright lights, I was shown a front light yesterday that has it's own recharble battery pack, I didn't see it lit, but I would presume it would have been very bright therefore giving you more confidence when riding in the dark.
Can't suggest much for your legs not working though! Regards, tender behind - tony.

 

[johnl]

Cat Crap

I've been winter commuting on my wisper 905se and have found the experience quite painful in the cold.

The battery is dying really quickly, with the green light flickering on and off after just a few miles, the sport mudguards leave my back covered in ice cold water and grit from the roads and my muscles don't seem to want to work as hard in the cold.

Also the dark nights make cycling in london rather scary as I cant see as clearly, plus when it rains I cant see at all because of my glasses.

Does anyone have any good advice re the above, should I have the city mudguards fitted? Will my battery 'recover' once it gets warmer?? how can i get my legs to work properly in the cold..


brrrrrr

I will commute on the bike when the road conditions and temperature permit in the winter. Last winter I managed to ride four or five days in both December and January. I keep my battery in the house overnight and bring it inside at work to keep it warm. I keep myself warm by wearing polar fleece socks and three finger gloves and something to keep my head warm. I wear sweat pants underneath windbreaker pants. If the temperature is above 20 degrees Farenheit in the morning, then I can ride comfortably. Below 20 degrees, I take the car.
For lighting I have a 15 watt halogen helmet light and several LED taillights.

I find it is important to keep your legs and head warm. For me, the old fashioned sweat pants (long gym suit) combined with nylon windbreaker pants keep my legs warm--that is also what I used to wear for skiing. A thin polar fleece balaclava keeps my head warm.

Here in Denver, Colorado, we don't get rain in the winter. I think the anti-fog stuff that people use on their ski googles and motorcycle visors might work for your glasses. Here in the states we have a product found in motorcycle stores called Cat Crap. It works pretty well.

John

 

[Beanie101]

It's minus 5C and snowing hard this morning in my part of the Alps, so I think I'll pass today!

 

[Wisper Bikes]

In the deep mid winter

Hi Moon, sorry to hear your winter cycling experiences are not as fun as in the summer!

I agree whole heartedly with tenderbehind, keep the batteries in the warm and they will give you more range. The cold will reduce range but not by a massive amount, has the actual range dropped or is it just the indicators and if it has dropped do you know by how much?

Certainly go for the full city style mudguards if you are getting splattered they are much better at keeping the mud and rain off then the sports variety.

If you have any problems drop me a line david@wisperbike.com.

Best regards David

 

[moon]

Hi David
I'm not sure whether the range has dropped or not as the indicators seem to be behaving weirdly in the cold, dropping to red then flickering on green (I travel 25 miles per day), my journey home seems much harder, but its also colder and I have had to change my route to include a much steeper hill which I half walk and half ride, the red light is on quite consistently after the first 7 miles of my return journey but I still manage my usual throttle only last 1/2 mile

My main concern is that the battery could be dying in the cold and it will be less efficient in the spring. I've done over 1500 miles on the bike now so was also wondering when I should have the battery checked (and reconditioned...if there is such a thing)

I'm going to invest in a pair of tracksuit bottoms to go over my Lusso Max repel tights, not sure if I can use any sprays on my glasses though as they have special coatings on, but I will investigate.

 

[Mussels]

I ride a 905se into London most days and have come up against most of these problems, my solutions were:

I've been winter commuting on my wisper 905se and have found the experience quite painful in the cold.

The battery is dying really quickly, with the green light flickering on and off after just a few miles, the sport mudguards leave my back covered in ice cold water and grit from the roads and my muscles don't seem to want to work as hard in the cold.

The green light flickering is still far from empty, in summer the green light goes after about 18 miles and now it goes after about 15 miles so there's not a huge difference.
Full mudguards will help a lot, I fitted SKS mudguards and whilst they don't stop everything they do a good job, I intend to fit longer muflaps when I get time. I fitted the 60mm version which gives me room for balloon tyres. It won't stop your feet getting wet and I recommend overboots to stop most of the water.
To keep my legs warm I use cycling tights with Endura knee warmers, they still get wet of course but are nice and warm and my legs work well.

Also the dark nights make cycling in london rather scary as I cant see as clearly, plus when it rains I cant see at all because of my glasses.

I have 5 lights which is overkill but they provide redundancy as they can fail. I have a rack mounted cheap red one that is steady, I also have a flashing red cateye on my helmet so people can see me. On the front I have a flashing white cateye so people know a pushbike is coming, I have a headlight for high level vis and to see my computer and I have a bright light to see where I'm going. The bright light is a hot topic of debate with different opinions, personally I find this one very good and yesterday another rider commented on what a great beam it has. If I was riding a lot of unlit roads then I'd probably want more but it is just enough for me to see well through Greenwich park* at 30mph and then show up all the potholes through London. Do a search on here for recent lighting debates.

Does anyone have any good advice re the above, should I have the city mudguards fitted? Will my battery 'recover' once it gets warmer?? how can i get my legs to work properly in the cold..


brrrrrr

* Nasty accident there yesterday morning when a car decided to do a U turn without looking and cyclist ran into him, the car and police were still there yesterday evening so the outcome probably wasn't good.

 

[moon]

Ahh you ride through the park too..have you also been diverting to Crooms hill now that the park shuts early? And can you ride all the way up it...hehe
I heard about the accident too, its quite a dangerous hill for cyclist, the cycle path is useless, but I find riding at a steady medium pace down the centre of the car lane ok.

 

[Mussels]

Ahh you ride through the park too..have you also been diverting to Crooms hill now that the park shuts early? And can you ride all the way up it...hehe
I heard about the accident too, its quite a dangerous hill for cyclist, the cycle path is useless, but I find riding at a steady medium pace down the centre of the car lane ok.

I can ride up Crooms hill but that's because I've dropped the gearing to suit the big hills better, I don't like riding along the A2 so usually I use Maze hill on the other side of the park. If it's warm I'll often take the Woolwich ferry and skip that part of London altogether.
I'll keep pace with cars down the hill but I've been over the bonnets of cars before now so slow down to filter.

 

[Wisper Bikes]

Battery recovery

Hi Moon

Don't worry as soon as the weather warms up the battery will be fine again, our Lithium Polymer batteries can handle the cold very well.

There should not be any need to look at the battery, unless there is an obvious problem no servicing is required.

Best regards David