Any recommendations or advice on lightweight (compact) bike covers?

I keep my bike under a roof at home but I’m thinking about getting a cover that I can take with me to protect the bike when it’s parked up while I’m out.

Something compact would be ideal, so it doesn’t take up too much space in my pannier but weight is less of a concern since I put an electric motor on the bike. It won’t be getting used every day either, so it wouldn’t need to be bomb-proof. I’d like to keep the whole bike dry ideally but the biggest concern is keeping the battery and controller on my frame dry as I’m not sure how water-resistant they are.

  • muelltonne@feddit.org
    11·
    5 days ago

    Your biggest problem will be that every cover will trap moisture inside. So if your bicycle is wet, the moisture will stay in your cover, which is not great. Otherwise, you can use nearly everything, even a big trash bag

  • evasive_chimpanzee@lemmy.world
    2·
    7 days ago

    Velosock is a brand I’ve seen. It’s more meant for sheltering bikes on a car carrier, so they are more conformal to deal with wind. They are really expensive, and the normal versions aren’t even water resistant. The mid-level version is water resistant (but not water proof). The most expensive version is allegedly waterproof, but it’s hard to make a stretchy fabric waterproof, and it needs to be stretchy to fit a variety of bikes and be able to withstand wind loads.

    I think it wouldnt be too hard to DIY a cover that would be good for a parked bike. Something like a silnylon fabric is very lightweight/packable and plenty waterproof. For example, I have a poncho I made from 1.2 osy (42 gsm) silnylon that I think would work well for a bike tarp. You could just do a single seam to make a square tarp and put some grommets on the corners for ~$50. Should weigh ~300 g.

    Part of the problem, though, is that rain means 100% humidity, and even if you’ve covered the bike, there will likely be condensation on the metal.