First commute on my ezip

[Jay64]

Technically I rode to the place of my work and went shopping for a bit and then rode home on the ezip once before on my day off so that I could make sure that it would handle the distance ect. But today I rode the ezip when I left for work. I had to run around and buy a headlight and tail light earlier in the day because it was going to be about 10 pm when I got off. I wanted to leave for work about 30 min early to make sure I got there in time, but by the time I got out of the house I only had 23 min. Just as I start leaving there starts a slight sprinkle that got me a little worried, but never really did anything after that. I got there in about 17 min, so I was good on that. I had a bunch of people at my work show tons of interest in the bike. I parked it in the break room since we don't have anyplace to park outside, and there is no places that are out of the elements.
Turns out, sometime when I was at work, it poured rain, so when I was leaving the roads were soaking wet. That is when I realized how unpreppared I was for bad weather. The bike has no fenders what so ever, so I was having dirty water flinging up all over my work clothes, and the throttle and electronics box are not water proofed. Neither are the new lights that I got. When I was about halfway home it actually started to rain a little again. I was really worried about the throttle, so I tried to cover the whole thing with my hand as I rode to keep the water off it. As I got home the power really seemed to be dropping off. When I got back home I quickly wiped the whole bike down and sprayed the chains with some chain clean. I took off the battery pack to clean it good, and I got a v reading of 24.5. All in all it was pretty cool, I just wish I had waterproofed it better and I gotta get some rain riding gear to have in my back pack.

 

[diver]

aw the Florida liquid sun got you.lol I did sort of the same thing, out riding and then it rained hard. got soaked and all. Now i carry a poncho and have fenders. My electronics did not act up, thankfully.
Butch

 

[kbarrett]

Fenders are not optional on a commuter bike.

 

[Jay64]

diver, yeah it wasn't really that bad of weather, its just that I was TOTALLY unprepared for it. Hey, what part of Florida are you from anyways?

kbarrett, yeah, I'm looking into ordering some right now and working to get the rest of the bike (and myself) weather proof.

When I was leaving for work today the weather was looking even worse then it did yesterday when I left, so I decided to skip the bike and take the truck. It took me 1 minute longer to get into my building with the ebike then it did driving the truck, and today was light traffic. 8) I was very suprised that the ebike got me there so quickly compared to driving the truck. Turns out it didn't rain one bit today, and the weather was a lot warmer tonight then it was last night. man, I should have taken the bike!

 

[Mathurin]

Fenders are good but don't forget the rest of your rainwear. I carry around a hunter camo rain jacket and pants when the weather is threatening, works awesome though a little baggy, catches in the wind. Also gotta be careful not to work up a sweat or it's worse then being wet with rain, also I could use booties. If I had to do it again I'd get fluorescent yellow or orange rain gear, I feel almost invisible when it rains, but then I was next to an army surplus store when I got caught in the rain and got that kit so it'll have to do.

 

[Jay64]

Yeah, there are still a few other things that need to be weatherproofed including myself. I need to waterproof the throttle and figure out a way to seal up the box that holds the controller and other electronics. As for myself, I am thinking about getting some riding rain gear. I used to have some when I rode my motorcycle all the time in Hawaii, where it would rain on almost a daily basis for at least a brief period of time. I'm thinking about just using my messed up shoes for riding in, and then switching to nicer ones when I get to work. That way I don't have to worry about getting my nicer shoes all messed up, I think I would feel a little weird wearing booties.
But I figure fenders are a good start, because they will eliminate a lot of the problem if I am not riding in the rain, but just riding in the aftermath of rain, which usually seems to be the case.

 

[Ypedal]

I prefer riding in rain , than after rain...

At least when it 's pouring , the grit gets washed off... :lol:

 

[Jay64]

Man, I got to learn how to check the weather report. I decided to take the bike again today since it hasn't rained for the last two days. I was making great time on the way to work. I started working the traffic lights more. I was on schedule to get to work about 5 minutes quicker then it took me in my truck and then I turned a corner and the sprinklers were shooting over the sidewalk instead of the grass. It was about half a block of water raining down on the sidewalk. So I decided to wait for the light and cross the street before heading up that road. That took 4 minutes of just sitting. I still ended up getting to work a minute quicker then with my truck. That still amazes me. But I have found that I really don't save time because I get all my co-workers asking me about my bike for 10 minutes when I get there. :lol: I'm really suprised at how many of my co-workers are genuinely interested in the bike and asking me how much it cost and where they can get one.
Then during the middle of my shift, it starts pouring...and pouring...and pouring. I couldn't believe how much rain was coming down. I was all bummed out, thinking that even if it eventually stopped raining, it still would be wet on the sidewalks for the rest of the day. I also had a customer tell me that there was a huge band of rain heading down and didn't look like it was going to stop. But it eventually did stop, and by the time I got off work, everything was mostly dry with the occasional puddle that I could avoid and one or two little streams of water that I couldn't. I ended up getting home perfectly dry though, so it all worked out good. It is stating to seem like it is bogging pretty bad when I finally get home.

I gotta look into getting more ah I guess.

 

[Eric G]

Being caught in the rain is definately not fun,I've been caught in a few torential rain storms and got absolutely soaked to the bone.Luckily the ebike has survived every time.One of those large green garbage bags makes for an emergency rain coat.Cut three holes in the bottom,one for your head and two for your arms pop it on and you're all set.Not too actractive but it works.Your legs and arms will still get wet though.

Eric

 

[mvadventure]

When I still had the SLA's I put wire panniers on from NYC bikes as the SLA's were tearing the fabric panniers. Now with the LiPO4's I have all this extra room and put a inexpensive golfers rain suit in one of them. I bought a big enough size to fit over my clothing and even a jacket and find it works great. Problem is feet, feet get wet, get cold, get really, really wet, squishy wet and very uncomfortable when you don't have socks on. I thought about small trash bags and duct tape and while I don't mind looking a little silly do believe I would object to having to carry all that stuff.

The other problem is, and this is a lot of the time, I think it's going to rain and put the stuff on and it doesn't. Then I don't think it will rain and all of a sudden it comes so fast you couldn't put anything on in time. Mostly I take the chance but right now we're in a drought here in N FL and it's not raining all that much.

Mike

 

[Eric G]

The other problem is, and this is a lot of the time, I think it's going to rain and put the stuff on and it doesn't. Then I don't think it will rain and all of a sudden it comes so fast you couldn't put anything on in time.
Mike

Ain't that the truth!

Eric