
Alright, it’s “that” time of the year we put our Pipegun #1 away for longer periods and daydream about riding it in the summer breeze, more than rest of the year. Mostly because of the cold weather, rain, snow and dirt creates harsh conditions for us and the electric kick-bike itself. We need to admit, even most of the community members find riding PG1 actively during the winter “joyful” but the frequence is reduced. It’s the best time to properly maintenance your e-scooter.
Let’s jump to find out what exactly should you do to keep your e-scooter or e-bike healthy during the winter. If you asked yourself “What? Are there something I need to do to keep it healthy?” after reading the first sentence, you are the best target audience of this text.
1. Mechanical Cleaning and Preventive Maintenance
Whether you are going to store your Pipegun#1 electric kick bike, your e-scooter or e-bike, cleaning before storage is almost a must. PG1 has a stainless steel body that is highly durable against weather conditions, it’s not likely for corrosion to occur on the body. Aluminum bottom cover is also weather protected. Chrome and Nickel in stainless steel, creates a very though and air-tight protective oxide layer when they exposed to Oxygen in the air. So basically the oxidation of the metal protects itself from more oxidation. Same chemical reaction happens in Aluminum too.
However if you keep PG1 covered with dirt that can soak with humidity, this humid dirt may cause thicker oxide layers on the body. You’ll see this effect as a pale finish on the e-scooter. It can be removable from the surface with physical abbrasion but the best is to prevent. Rubber and plastic materials too needs the same extra caution.
Before putting your PG1, e-scooter or e-bike to storage through the winter, the best thing you can do is to clean it with a brush, alcoholic surface cleaner, damp and dry cloth. Make sure you do not use much fluid. Clean all the surface, rims, narrow part connection surfaces. Dry the surface very well and now you are ready for the preventive maintenance.
Check the torque of all the bolts, cable connections and health, brake disc and friction plates, wheels, rim adjustment, as a summary all mechanical parts. Most probably you’ll check everything again in spring before riding it but no harm done by extra caution.
You may find special cleaning kit here in TOZZ bike apparel & gear store…
2. Electrical System Care : Take The Battery to Your Bed
Extreme temperatures go rough over two things: your skin and PG1’s battery!
Li-Ion batteries are really good energy storage devices, capable of store really dense energy with their chemical compound. Even these 18650 Li-Ion cells have at least one Achilles heel against the nature. They can’t keep their health under extreme temperatures. Cold winter temperatures below 7°C distorts the physical specs of the cells, causing them to lose performance. If you store your batteries in cold weather, without disturbing more than a month, there will be permanent capacity loss.
To prevent this capacity loss:
- Keep your electric kick-bike, e-bike or electric scooter inside, away from the cold weather. If this is not the case, remove the battery and keep the battery in room temperature.
- If you are going to use your PG1 in winter conditions, charge the battery at room temperature. Just like draining the energy from the battery, charging the battery with fresh electricity will be hard too in low temperatures.
- Charge your battery periodically. You should keep the battery level between 40%-75% if you are going to store it for a month or longer. Don’t store the battery long time while it’s fully charged or drained. Check your battery level at least once in a month and balance the charge level for the above-mentioned percentage.
3. Humidity Kills the Cat
Humidity is the archenemy for most of the manmade goods. It is too for PG1. Both mechanical and electrical components don’t like humidity and condensation. Please be aware of that, if there are high temperature cycles during the day combined with humidity, it can penetrate into the e-scooter and may cause damage in long term. If you are going to keep the PG1 under these circumstances, please be cautious and remove the battery.
These 3 main steps are the root of winter care for PG1. As you can see, e-Scooter winter storage and maintenance tips are not a long list. All actions are easy to take. Consistency is the key as it is for every part of your life. Take the first steps, follow it consistently and winter will pass faster and you’ll ride your TOZZ bike with your shirts, in cool summer evening in the blink of an eye.
Please contact with us via e-mail, online form, instagram… We’ll gladly help and answer the questions you might have. Wish you a great winter, see you soon!
