Specialized Turbo Vado 4.0 - bike outside in rain without a battery - will it cause damage?

[silverghost123]

Hi All,

Possibly a silly question, but I am thinking about touring with my Vado 4.0 and am trying to work out the best way to charge the battery in a hotel room without damaging the bike if rain water gets in the battery compartment while it is locked up outside.

I can of course purchase a waterproof cover, but still wonder whether water getting in the compartment will cause issues and potentially invalidate the warranty.

Any help would be much appreciated.

Chris

 

[KirstinS]

That's a nice and pricey bike. I'm not sure I'd want to leave that chained up outside hotels full stop. But that's a different question

Ebikes don't like standing in rain . I'd get a decent quality rain cover for sure

And some massive locks !

 

[KirstinS]

Warranty wise I don't know. I'd have thought if you get a failure through water ingress and you have used the bike reasonably it would be covered

Just don't leave it uncovered in a monsoon or cycle through a river

 

[MarcusT]

A waterproof cover would not hurt and they are inexpensive and light.
At the same time, I rode 28 km in monsoon like conditions with my Bosch CX and everything seems fine (fingers crossed)

 

[georgehenry]

I went on a boys off road motorcycle weekend to the Wye valley earlier in the year and stayed in a Premier Inn and noticed three lads with expensive mountain bikes carefully wheeling them through the lobby to the lifts and onward to their rooms.

 

[Benjahmin]

That's premier Inn isn't it? I've seen it advertised but somehow couldn't believe they actually did it.

 

[silverghost123]

Thanks for the replies, I always call any hotels to ensure that there is somewhere to store the bikes as I wouldn't want to simply chain them up out on the street , I had a chat with Specialized UK and asked the same question yesterday and they said that they always spray the connectors where the battery attaches with an anti-corrosion material before it leaves the factory and it should last a year or so but it is worth spraying every year, apparently Specialized sell it, he did say it may be worth trying to cover the metal connections if the bike is left outside in the rain, but also said that the bike has been designed in a way that if any water gets in the compartment it should drain out (I have had a look and can see the hole). Hopefully it will never happen, but it was just something that went through my mind a couple of days ago and wanted to check it.
I had an amazing 50 mile ride today along the seafront, what a brilliant bike, I was smiling most of the way.