Riding an e-bike is a fun and exciting way to get around town. They’re stylish, high-tech, eco-friendly, and inexpensive in terms of fuel.
But riding in the rain is a bit more risky and comes with a set of challenges that you don’t necessarily have during the daytime.
In this article, we're going to go through all of the best ways to be prepared for riding your e-bike in the rain. Then, you’ll be able to have a safer ride in the event of showers on the way home.
Contents
- 1.Bring a Poncho
- 2.Bring Protective Eyewear
- 3.Use Lights While Riding
- 4.Wear Brighter Colors When Possible
- 5.Wear Riding Gloves
- 6.Make Sure Your E-bike has Great Tires
- 7.Be Able to Keep Your Stuff Dry
- 8.Ride More Carefully
- 9.Use Fenders on Your e-bike
- 10.Lower Tire Pressure Before Leaving
- 11.Maybe it will be helpful for you
1. Bring a Poncho
Bringing an umbrella with you on your journey is a good start, but it would be much better if you had a poncho. Ponchos are ideal for riding because they cover almost your entire body, allowing you to keep yourself relatively dry, even when riding in the rain.
Not only that, but with an umbrella, you would need to stabilize it with your hand, while riding, which is not safe. That's not to mention the fact that much of the rain would still hit parts of your body making you wet during the trip.
You can fold up a plastic poncho and store it in the storage compartment of your e-bike if you have one, or keep it in your backpack. That way, if it starts raining, you can simply pull over, take out your poncho, put it on, and continue riding.
2. Bring Protective Eyewear
If you normally wear any sort of riding glasses, then it's a good idea to have some just in case it rains. These eyeglasses will protect your eyes from raindrops while you're riding. This is important, because raindrops hitting your eyes while riding can impair your vision, which can be dangerous.
Needless to say, you wouldn't want anything hitting your eyes while you're trying to ride your e-bike safely. Even a pair of sunglasses would be better than nothing, so be sure to bring some sort of eyewear with you every time you ride.
3. Use Lights While Riding
One of the biggest risks of riding your E bike in the rain is of course, other drivers. Cars, trucks, and SUVs are driven by normal people. Normal people can make mistakes, so it's important to do your part to make sure that you’re as visible as possible for them.
You should use bright enough headlights and tail lights so that you can be seen even through the rain. Adding a blinking light to the back of your bike and to your helmet is a good idea.
An excellent brand of e-bikes that has lights on both the front and back is MacFox. MacFox electric fat tire bike will provide all of the lighting you need on your bike, evening in a downpour.
4. Wear Brighter Colors When Possible
You should also consider the colors you’re wearing. For example, if your riding jacket is black, you might be harder to see than if your riding jacket were orange, or a bright shade of green. The same goes for your helmet and even your riding gloves, which brings us to our next tip.
5. Wear Riding Gloves
You should, of course, wear riding gloves anytime you're riding to improve your grip on the handlebars. However, the most important time to be wearing riding gloves is during the rain because when your handlebars are wet, they will be more slippery than usual.
6. Make Sure Your E-bike has Great Tires
The tires are one of the most important parts of your e-bike. Especially in the rain, it will be important to have great quality tires. This will decide how much grip your e-bike has on slippery roads.
MacFox e-bikes have some of the best quality tires in the industry. They come in three different sizes, each for a different type of e-bike.
The M20X (20” x 4”), the C100 (26” x 1.95”), and the C300 (27.5” x 2.1”) each have tires that perform extremely well on wet surfaces. MacFox is an ideal choice if riding on wet roads is a concern for you.
7. Be Able to Keep Your Stuff Dry
If you’re riding with a simple backpack, that probably won’t offer much in terms of protection from the rain. Especially for your laptop, phone, wallet, or anything else that you prefer to keep dry in the event of precipitation, having some waterproof bags at hand will be a good idea.
This could be as simple as some large trash bags that you could tie around your things, or maybe some smaller plastic bags that you could put your things in and then put them inside your backpack, or maybe even a fully waterproof diver’s bag, if you really want to be safe.
8. Ride More Carefully
Just like driving a car in the rain, you ought to ride your e-bike slower when it's raining. You should brake sooner, try to avoid abrupt braking, and avoid taking sharp turns quickly.
Related Reading: Attention guide for night riding
Don't lean into your turns like you normally might when the roads are dry, and watch out for puddles or surfaces that might be particularly more slippery, such as railroad tracks in the road or anything that could potentially be dangerously slippery.
9. Use Fenders on Your e-bike
If your e-bike doesn't already come with fenders around the wheels, you might consider modifying it to add fenders so that you can ride over wet roads without water splashing up all over you or all over the rest of the e-bike.
If you need to add fenders to your e-bike, you could simply buy the fenders that fit your e-bike on the internet and install them yourself in a matter of minutes. With a few tools, installing a fender on your e-bike should be a very easy and quick task.
10. Lower Tire Pressure Before Leaving
Last but not least, if you have time to prepare before heading out in the rain, it's a good idea to reduce the tire pressure of your E bike by around 10 psi. This will give a little more flexibility, and potentially provide a bit better traction than if the tires were fully inflated. This is an old trick used by cyclists that also works with e-bikes.
In conclusion, follow the tips above and you will have a safer journey on your e-bike anytime it rains no matter where you are!
FAQs
Why should you wear protective eyewear while riding your e-bike in the rain?
Answer: Wearing protective eyewear prevents raindrops from impairing your vision.
Why is it important to use lights while riding an e-bike in the rain?
Answer: Using bright headlights, tail lights, and blinking lights increases your visibility to other drivers, reducing the risk of accidents.
What is a recommended step to take before riding an e-bike in the rain?
Answer: Lowering the tire pressure by approximately 10 psi can provide better traction and flexibility on wet roads.
