How Do You Dress to Ride an E-Bike in Winter?

If we want to revolutionize the e-bike, then people have to feel comfortable doing it all year round. After I had to travel four miles recently, I tweeted a photo of me dressed for 5 degrees Fahrenheit and windy weather, and noted: “Anyone who says ‘there’s no such thing as bad weather, only inappropriate clothes’ is working, up at -15 C and fine.” This started the discussion and led to a tweet:

My long Twitter response was short to say that dressing for e-biking is different from what you would do for a regular bike: you don’t get hot and you don’t have to follow the old rule of dressing in layers that you can peel off as you warm up. In fact, depending on your pace and drive, you can be as hot as you want to be. I’ve previously suggested you should dress the way you would for a walk and not mind it. I learned this when I used a regular bicycle, learned from Michael Colville-Andersen from Copenhagenize:

“How do you cycle in the winter?” is a question that both confuses us and entertains us. The answer is simple: we wear our winter clothes. No scary GI Joe outfits, no flashy vests, nothing too elaborate. Only winter clothes make sense. There’s no need to go out and buy all the most technical and specialized weatherproof gear. In Copenhagen, we dress for our cause, not our journey. Bike tracks, even in winter, are the rolling catwalks of Nordic design. In winter we prepare with scarves, gloves and hats. Sleek boots, pea coat, and wool beanies. And never underestimate a scarf, perfect for layering, wiping your glasses dry, and drying your wet saddle.”

And he doesn’t even like e-bikes.

Treehugger senior editor Katherine Martinko, who cycles all winter, took a different view in her post entitled “Yes, You Can Ride an E-Bike All Winter.”

He wrote:

“Electric bicycles are similar to conventional bicycles in that you don’t have to dress as warmly as if you are out for a walk. Stay calm, even if it’s a little uncomfortable at first, following the classic advice, “Never dress for the first mile.” However, with the help of electricity, you won’t get as hot and sweaty as you would on a regular bike, so keep that in mind.”

Looking at all the things I’ve worn on a recent trip, it’s clear that I didn’t follow my own advice. The shoes may be basic Blundstones with a sheepskin insole, but this is not how I dress for a city walk. I have the MEC waterproof pants I use for cross-country skiing, long underwear, a merino wool sweater, a light puffer jacket, and then the cycling-specific 45NRTH cycling shell that I was given a few years ago. It shouldn’t be black—Martinko opted for a bright orange—but covered in a reflective material. I have a Gore Windstopper cycling balaclava with my helmet and clear ski goggles. My hands were prevented from freezing by the Dakine ski gloves which made it very difficult to change gears.

I don’t overheat because I go really slow when it’s snowing and it’s probably cold, even with my studded tires. But this is clearly an exaggeration. It took me 10 minutes to get out of it all when I got to my destination. But the only bike-specific gear I bought was that balaclava, a few years ago when my nose froze during a ride—everything else came out of a ski bag.

Matt Herndon at Profit Greenly say a lot of the same thing: Use what you have.

“Most of the posts you find online about cold weather cycling gear are about expensive stuff for bicycle racing. That’s all well and good for some, but I mainly use my bike to take my kids to school, go to the store, drive to work, etc. My cold weather cycling clothes are the same at home wear both indoors and outdoors. bicycles, and generally less expensive than specialized cycling equipment.”

He makes a really good point that if you have a healthy outdoor lifestyle, this piece of equipment is versatile.

“Beyond a helmet cover and ski goggles I wear all of this just walking outside on a normal cold day. This kind of clothing isn’t a bike-specific investment, it’s the kind of thing anyone who lives in a cold environment should have. One of the great positives of cycling is that it ensures that you spend more time in the real world learning how your amazing body can actually handle it. .”

And when I look back at what I was wearing, I did wear a lot of these things as my regular outfit, just not all at once, and minus the stuff in my head. I always wear this “athleisure” outfit, including the 45NRTH cycling jacket, whether I’m cycling or not.

So in the end, there’s some sort of consensus: There’s no need to go out and buy bike-specific gear; Many people have closets full of sporty winter items. But you won’t be as hot as when you ride a regular bike. Generally, you do as much work as you want. And as Yvonne Bambrick noted in herself Urban Cycling Survival Guide, whether you’re on a bike or an e-bike, the best thing about winter cycling is that it “makes you feel like a fool knowing the cold can’t beat you.”

I’m not alone out there in the cold. Engineer Shoshana Saxe, who has been at Treehugger a few times, also gets out in the cold and makes a really good point about long undergarments.