Too cold for electric bike

[mattheus]

Would a small fairing to keep the direct blast of icy air off hands and chest be of any use to ebikers, I wonder? Do they even exist for bicycles anymore?

I'm not aware of anyone manufacturing those anymore; but Pogies have been long-established for bikes . Already mentioned on this thread.

Just for hands of course, but I imagine one of these "coat" things mentioned earlier will help keep your chest warm?

;- )

[Cowsham]

Didn't occur to me I'd be too cold to use it in winter.

Put a coat on!

As PH says, the effort on an e-bike is within a much smaller range than on an unassisted bike where you'd get hot and sweaty going uphill then cold on the descent.

I've been riding throughout winter on mine, no issues at all. If you get cold hands try something like the Pogies insulated bar grips:
https://www.hotpog.co.uk/collections/cycling

I had a good coat and gloves on but must look into heated ( maybe from bike battery ) clothing.

[Cugel]

It's still too cold to commute by electric bike cos I can't get enough heat built up in my body when I use it so I've left it in the garage and sticking with my normal mtb for commuting the 30 miles round trip till the weather gets a little warmer.

...

Didn't occur to me I'd be too cold to use it in winter.

You just need to find more hills

True, true - but the thing about the right sort of hilly landscape is that, on a bicycle, they take you N minutes to go up one side and N/4 to go down t'other side. If the hills are not too long, you won't take long to go down them, which is the period when you cool off rather than heating up from producing 200 watts of pedal thrust as you go up for four times as long.

Unfortunately there will be different ideal hilly landscapes that suit the perm of different cyclists and different air temperatures. It may be necessary to ride one day in NE Scotland and the next in The Bowland Fells of North Lancashire. Who will pay the train fares, eh, eh?

Cugel, just putting up with reality as best I can (with the help of lots of woolly things).

[pwa]

Didn't occur to me I'd be too cold to use it in winter.

Put a coat on!

As PH says, the effort on an e-bike is within a much smaller range than on an unassisted bike where you'd get hot and sweaty going uphill then cold on the descent.

I've been riding throughout winter on mine, no issues at all. If you get cold hands try something like the Pogies insulated bar grips:
https://www.hotpog.co.uk/collections/cycling

I had a good coat and gloves on but must look into heated ( maybe from bike battery ) clothing.

I think Sealskinz do USB recharge heated gloves.

[Richard Fairhurst]

Didn't occur to me I'd be too cold to use it in winter.

Put a coat on!

As PH says, the effort on an e-bike is within a much smaller range than on an unassisted bike where you'd get hot and sweaty going uphill then cold on the descent.

My experience agrees with this - the school run on the GSD is fine in this weather. I just put on a woolly hat, decent gloves and a pair of Howies fleecy trousers (I’m so stylish). On a normal bike the trousers would be good on the descents but horribly sweaty on the climbs.

The little ones in the back do get a hot water bottle though!

[Biospace]

Would a small fairing to keep the direct blast of icy air off hands and chest be of any use to ebikers, I wonder? Do they even exist for bicycles anymore?

I'm not aware of anyone manufacturing those anymore; but Pogies have been long-established for bikes . Already mentioned on this thread.

Just for hands of course, but I imagine one of these "coat" things mentioned earlier will help keep your chest warm?

;- )

Coat??! Hands are my problem when it's damp and cold, even in good gloves - it can take up to half an hour for the increase in warmer blood to bring them up to temp. It would be easy enough to add a couple of plastic (old container) sections to deflect the airflow away off the hands using a couple of clips/clamps I suppose.

[roubaixtuesday]

Put a coat on!

As PH says, the effort on an e-bike is within a much smaller range than on an unassisted bike where you'd get hot and sweaty going uphill then cold on the descent.

I've been riding throughout winter on mine, no issues at all. If you get cold hands try something like the Pogies insulated bar grips:
https://www.hotpog.co.uk/collections/cycling

I had a good coat and gloves on but must look into heated ( maybe from bike battery ) clothing.

I think Sealskinz do USB recharge heated gloves.

I've a pair of rechargeable heated liner gloves from blazewear. Very good but pricey.

[Cowsham]

Coat??! Hands are my problem when it's damp and cold, even in good gloves - it can take up to half an hour for the increase in warmer blood to bring them up to temp. It would be easy enough to add a couple of plastic (old container) sections to deflect the airflow away off the hands using a couple of clips/clamps I suppose.

Yes hands and feet especially with me but this morning it was because I had light trainers on -- stouter shoes are usually OK with good heavy socks.

At least coming home this evening I had that stiff wind on my back so not on the bike for so long and just the right level of effort to keep warm - sort of . About an hour home mostly in the dark.

[Cowsham]

It's weighing up how dirty the bike gets with how sweaty I want to get ? Thankfully in my work roll I can take a bit of time to change get a coffee ( usually unless I'm coming in to some horicks that has transpired then it's all hands to the pump )

[Audax67]

Would a small fairing to keep the direct blast of icy air off hands and chest be of any use to ebikers, I wonder? Do they even exist for bicycles anymore?

I tuck my hands in behind my HB bag.

BTW for all cyclists, some Chinese 30€ plastic hats on Amazon are not very comfy (OK with thickish balaclava) but come with very nice magnetic visors (not those wretched MTB sticky-out peaks but real visors) that will clip in place over a rain cover, so that you can build a nice wee microclimate over the top of your head and well as economising on tears and snot rockets.

[rareposter]

Would a small fairing to keep the direct blast of icy air off hands and chest be of any use to ebikers, I wonder? Do they even exist for bicycles anymore?

Not sure they're made any more (thankfully!). I know you used to be able to get those sort of things, it wasn't uncommon for touring riders to come into the shop festooned with all manner of utter junk all over the bike - some "genius" idea advertised in the back of a magazine, send off your cheque for 14.99 kind of thing.
They tend to catch crosswinds very awkwardly - they're generally the last thing you want attached to bars as it risks whipping the steering out from underneath you. They're also a significant obstacle if you crash.

Mopeds etc which do have them have more mass, wider tyres etc and are usually less affected although it's still something to watch out for.

You're far better off with thicker gloves or Pogies.
Did a bunch of deliveries on my e-cargo bike last night in near zero - woolly hat and my normal bike gloves, all good.

[Biospace]

They tend to catch crosswinds very awkwardly - they're generally the last thing you want attached to bars as it risks whipping the steering out from underneath you. They're also a significant obstacle if you crash.

Mopeds etc which do have them have more mass, wider tyres etc and are usually less affected although it's still something to watch out for.

You're far better off with thicker gloves or Pogies.
Did a bunch of deliveries on my e-cargo bike last night in near zero - woolly hat and my normal bike gloves, all good.

Yes, ISWYM

[CyberKnight]

with regards hands poggies are the way to go if you suffer like me with reynauds .Something else that helps is keeping your core warm as it helps a little . The days i havent used them when i should even with winter gloves sometimes i have needed 7-8 miles to i get past the cold, then warming up, then painful stage ,
Feet are my biggest bugbear atm as i went out last week and even though i had toe covers and thick overshoes and the temp was around 6 c i still got chillblains on one toe on each foot .
Keeping your back/ hip warm is an issue too for me as i found out to my cost as well as i had bib shorts and roubaix bib tights , base layer, jersey , armwarmers and a windproof and still managed to put my back out so i have been off work for a week with no cycling on naproxen and painkillers hardly able to move
windchill at 20 mph is about 5-6 c on top of the ambient temp so if your riding around in frosty conditions you can easily be giving yourself sub zero effectively when riding .

[Cowsham]

with regards hands poggies are the way to go if you suffer like me with reynauds .

Sorry to hear about the Reynauds -- it's a very debilitating condition.

[Bmblbzzz]

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Urban-iki-Wind ... 0949CZ1JR/


As commonly used in northern Europe in conjunction with a child seat, but no reason you can't use it without. It won't do much for your hands, but should keep wind off your chest (and thus by keeping your torso warmer, help a little with the extremities).