Riding After Five: The Winter Commute Checklist
The clocks went back on Sunday. Your morning is fine and your evening commute just moved into the dark, which is the single biggest change to riding conditions in the whole year.
Here is what actually matters, in the order it matters.
1. Being seen beats seeing
Most riders think about lights as illumination. In a city, that is the secondary job. Street lighting usually shows you the road well enough; what street lighting does not do is make you visible to a driver turning across your path.
Linky 2.0 ships with LED lighting as standard — front and rear, on every board, not as an accessory you have to remember to buy and charge separately. The rear light is the one that earns its keep, because the most common dangerous interaction is a vehicle approaching from behind at a junction.
If you ride anywhere unlit, add a second light. Redundancy on a rear light is cheap insurance.
2. Wear something reflective at ankle height
Counter-intuitive but well established: a driver recognises a moving human far faster than a bright dot. Reflective material on your ankles or shoes moves in a pattern that headlights make unmistakable, and it works at a distance where a torso-mounted light is still ambiguous.
On a board, your feet are also the lowest and most forward part of you. Use them.
3. Re-learn the surface
Wet autumn roads change three things at once: grip falls, painted lines and metal covers become genuinely slippery, and fallen leaves hide everything underneath them.
Brake earlier and more gently. Most winter incidents are a hard brake on a surface that could not take it.
Take manhole covers and road markings straight, never mid-turn.
Treat leaves like ice, because a wet leaf on a smooth surface behaves like one.
The 110 mm all-terrain wheels help here more than any other component — a larger, softer contact patch is more forgiving of both texture and water than the small hard wheels most commuting vehicles use — but no wheel repeals physics.
4. Plan for a cold battery
Lithium cells lose usable capacity in the cold. This is chemistry, not a defect, and it is temporary: the range comes back when the pack warms up.
Practically: in winter, assume less range than the rated 22 km (13 miles) and plan the return leg accordingly. Keep the board indoors rather than in an unheated garage or a car boot overnight. And charge it at room temperature — a very cold pack should be allowed to warm before it goes on the charger.
Linky charges to 80% in about 40 minutes, so a top-up while you have a coffee covers most of what winter takes away.
5. Weather is not the same as water
Linky 2.0 is sealed to IP65, which means dust-tight and protected against water jets from any direction. That is a real, tested rating and it covers riding in rain and through puddles.
It is not an invitation to submerge the board, to leave it standing in water, or to pressure-wash it. After a wet ride: wipe it down, and let it dry somewhere warm before folding it into a backpack for the night.
6. Adjust the route, not just the gear
The fastest winter route is often not the fastest summer route. A slightly longer road with continuous lighting, fewer junctions and better surface beats a shortcut through an unlit park every time.
Ride it once in daylight first, looking for the things you will not see at night.
The one-minute pre-ride check, winter edition
Lights on and charged. Wheels spun and quiet. Belts glanced at. Something reflective low on your body. Route chosen for lighting, not distance.
Then go. Winter riding is genuinely good — quieter streets, cleaner air, and a commute that ends with you warm instead of waiting.
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