I've just ordered an e-bike. It's this one here: Urban Cruzer Ladies 7-speed Electric Bicycle

It's pretty cool because the company is Canadian and local on the mainland so all they have to do is take a ferry over to come do repairs on it. They seem to have great customer service so far. I've also bought a bunch of bike accessories and safety gear to be prepared when it gets here. I never wear a helmet on my normal bike (a Giant Cypress R), so I've had to order a helmet for this one and I decided to choose a bright orange skateboarding style helmet that is also certified for cycling.

I normally just ride my bike, longboard, skateboard, walk or take the bus or get a ride to get around (I don't drive and have no desire to drive for many reasons).
But the bus systems don't run late, and I want complete independence and my normal bike is great but it isn't the solution for my extremely active lifestyle.

After heavy weight lifting, I sometimes get DOMS for a few days. As an athlete I need rest days but still want to get around town while resting. I'm currently attempting something really difficult, which is mastering my endurance sports while having really huge muscle mass and let me tell you, when I was skinny and did nothing but cardio, I never suffered from DOMS or recovery issues and I could just overtrain non-stop and never have to rest, but doing HIIT, cardio AND intense heavy weight lifting is brutal to maintain. And I do really crazy things like extreme temperature training and after that, the e-bike would be my savior.

My job is also extremely physically demanding so I can't waste my energy riding my bike there and I don't think I would have enough energy to ride up hills afterward (I play badminton for a job.)
And my job is up a big hill on the other side of town at night.

I thought long and hard about buying one, it seemed like the best option for my personal needs. I can easily ride across flat terrain when I'm super tired, just not hills and this is quite a hilly town.

The only thing I worry about is I live in a freaking rainforest. The company said the e-bike is water resistant. You can ride it in the dampness and in rain, just not in heavy rain. Well, I'm not sure what the difference is, and I think all we ever get here is heavy rain LOL.

He said the only thing that shouldn't get wet is the battery and after riding it in the rain, I need to dry it off.

Well, I bought it anyway because he said many of his customers waterproof the bike so that they can ride it in the rain, but he didn't give any instructions on how to do that other than saying some of them put a plastic bag over the battery. And I'm pretty sure there are better ways on how to do that. I mean, a plastic bag isn't the sturdiest thing in the world.

If I can put a waterproof case on my phone and take it swimming with me, there' got to be a superior way of really waterproofing this e-bike so that I can ride it in heavy rain storms. I'm even thinking duck tape to create a seal if I need to. Because I use duck tape to hold the pipes together in my pool and it works great to create a waterproof seal.
But I thought maybe some of you have waterproofed your bikes already and can give me some ideas.

Also, he said the tires are made of aluminum and will rust from salt on the roads in winter... Is there anything I can do to winterproof or saltproof them? Also, do e bike motors work okay in freezing temperatures? Any other things you've done to weatherproof yours?

I still have my Cypress R bike to ride in bad weather, but it would be really cool if I could use this new e bike to get up hills even in rainstorms and torrential downpours.

Hi, thunderseed. The only thing I could find in the manual for your bike was this:

"Do not ride your bike in heavy rain storms, thunder showers, or extreme conditions"

So if I were you, I'd do just that. Ride the ebike on days of good weather, then use your conventional bike when the weather turns bad. Probably not what you want to hear, but better safe than sorry. Water resistant is not water proof, and the controller on that bike definitely does not look water proof. My 2015 IZip E3 Path+ is fairly weather proof. Even the controller on the handlebar is completely sealed. I once rode for a half hour in a torrential downpour two weeks after buying my ebike. Everything got soaked, but the bike components were just fine. 600 miles later I've still had no issue with it.

If there really is a way to water proof it, then go for it. As for "saltproof"-ing the wheels, I can only imagine that you'll need to be pro-active in cleaning them after your rides. I don't have experience with this because in my area we apply sand to the roads, not salt. I'm also not sure yet how the ebike motors perform in cold weather. The manual for yours states: "The battery can be used in any weather between 1°C to 38°C." I can't help but wonder, though, if the motor will drink down the battery faster in the cold.

Well, sorry I wasn't really able to answer your question(s) but good luck to you and please keep us updated.

Thanks for the advice! I wish they would switch to sand instead of salt around here.

I would still be interested in trying to waterproof it somehow, I guess I'd have to waterproof the controller and everything. I could figure out a way.... I wonder if anyone here has figured out a way.

And if I want to take it out below freezing, I'd have to figure out how to keep the battery warm... I could even use one of those mini hand warmers and just insulate it with something.

I will have to rig up a neat DIY system for waterproofing and winterproofing.

But I suppose if it's super icy and snowy out I wouldn't even be riding my bike out there.

In the last few years we've had very mild warm winters so that may not even be an issue for me this year, although I really, really miss the snow and I really love doing polar bear swims in ice so I hope it does get super cold this year!

Hmm... a lot of crazy stuff in that post.

"Tires made of aluminum." All my tires are some type of rubber compound. I've never seen rubber or aluminum rust.

I think you're crazy if you believe a bike shop is going to take a ferry to make a house call to work on your bike.

"Thought long and hard about buying one..." Based on what I read, you didn't think about it, research it, or ask questions beforehand at all. You live in a rainforest... but you bought an ebike that you shouldn't ride in the rain - you bought the wrong bike.

I ride my bike in the rain 8-10 months out of the year. No problems.

"I never wear a helmet on my normal bike..." have you had an accident? Based on that erratic post, it seems like maybe you hit your head.

Good luck.

Um... that's one of the dumbest things I've read in awhile.

Everyone knows salts used in the winter can corrode aluminum and other metals used on wheels. I'll probably just get some Protectaclear coating that is used to protect the metal on car wheels in the winter.

And of course, they don't come directly to your house. They are local and have quite a few customers around so they come over on the ferry to collect bikes to do repairs and maintenance. Even if I don't go that route I still know a guy in my neighborhood that does repairs on them.

The bike is water resistant: Support « Urban Ryder - Green Light Cycle Ltd.Urban Ryder ? Green Light Cycle Ltd.. And there are many people who completely waterproof their e-bikes that aren't made to be entirely waterproof. Just google it. I was hoping some people here might have done the same so that I could have a discussion with them about it.

I'm also going to assume you're ignorant towards the huge debate about whether or not helmets are in fact safer, but I'm not going to get into that debate with you here. FYI the only reason I'm going to be wearing a helmet on the e-bike is because I will most likely get questioned by police.
We had issues in town a few years back when the homeless crowd started building DIY motorized bikes that weren't considered street legal.

So, now that you two have insulted one another what has been accomplished. don't waste everyone's time being sarcastic. and please do proofread your messages.
Now, what do you use to waterproof electrical connections for your rain forest bike riding. I wonder about hauling bikes long distance in mixed weather and thought of using a bubble wrap simlar to a bag over the empty battery slot and then possibly plastic wrap with 4 mil plastic the motor and other bare metals. this would be for a 4 or 5 day drive from Vermont to Florida. any ideas appreciated. snide remarks can be left at the door,please.

Thank you for your insults.

The Sondors bikes have the battery and controller in a box in the frame triangle. The hub motor seems to be weatherproof but I havent tried to drown it to test it yet. I did do a long ride in mixed weather and suffered no problems.

-SP