Swagtron Swagcycle EB-7 Elite Folding Electric Bike with Removable Battery and Rear Suspension

This is best value ebike on the market. I did a full in depth review and road test (including San Francisco hill climb). As compared to the already well-reviewed EB-5, this $100 upgrade is a no brainer. See detailed review:EB-7 Pros:350W vs 250W motor18.6mph top speed vs 15.5mph top speed on battery power onlyDisc brakes vs standard brakes16 inch wheels vs 14 inch wheelsRear suspension vs no suspensionSwappable battery vs fixed batteryTrip computer and digital display vs battery meter onlyKey to lock/unlock battery vs no keyHeadlight vs no lightsEB-7 Cons:43lbs vs 37lbs$600 vs $500Same:15.5 mile range vs 15.5 mile range (TIE)Aluminum frameASSEMBLY AND UNBOXING:It comes 100% fully assembled (no need to pay for the bike assembly service). Just unfold. Remove some cardboard, foam, and zip-ties. Since it comes folded, the box is much smaller than most bike boxes.SPEED AND POWER:Pretty strong. Gets to a top speed of 18.6pmh on flat ground. Definitely take a bit of time to get there with a heavier rider. I’m able to tackle 15+ degree inclines with light pedaling and without breaking a sweat. As a commuter in a hilly city that’s the most important thing for me and it does it well. Most ebikes are 250W. This one is 350W. Does it feel stronger and faster, yes, doe it feel 40% stronger and faster, hard to say. The EB-5 has a 250W motor and tops out at 15.5mph for comparison.MOTOR CONTROLLER:Very just ok. Strong but not that smooth. With pedal assist there's a slight lag and it noticeably kicks in when the motor starts. Like all e-bikes under about $1500, the motor controller seems to be using a speed sensor rather than a torque sensor to regulate power. I.e. the faster you pedal the more power it gives. Works fine on flat ground but not for hill climbing when you want full power but are moving at a lower speed. Basically you're better off just manually using the twist grip throttle which overrides the automatic pedal assist. The other benefit of the throttle is you don't have to pedal at all.There are power 4 modes (0-3). Mode 0 is pedal assist only. No throttle. Not really worth using unless you are trying to get some exercise. Modes 1,2,3 all seem to supply the same amount of power, but limit the top speed for battery assistance to about 11mph, 14mph, and full 18.6mph. If you are comfortable riding this, just leave it on mode 3. If you have kids, leave it on 0 or 1 and lie to them about what 2 and 3 do…There’s also cruise control, which basically keeps providing power as long as you are at constant speed for about 7 seconds. It’s fine but unnecessary, and sometimes confuses me as to why the bike isn’t slowing down. The brakes deactivate it automatically.BRAKING:Surprisingly good. Check out my video for braking tests and going down steep hills. It can stop in a couple meters from top battery-only speed. The rear brake whined a little when I first got the bike but seems to have cleaned itself off now. But basically they’re good enough that you don’t want to use full braking power because its too hard and you might go over the handlebars if you’re not prepped for it. Personally this is the #1 reason to get this vs the EB-5. Braking ability is crucial for safety, and being comfortable riding fast/aggressivly.BATTERY AND RANGE:Rated at 15.5 miles range. I’m big (6’2”) and I ride mine very aggressively - up steep hills, lots of stops and starts. I’ve never killed it but I try to recharge after 7-8 miles. Similar to other ebikes, the power level reading seems to be based on voltage. When the battery is pushing hard (like while going up a hill) the voltage drops and the trip computer display a low battery level. Then it bounces back on flat ground.The removable battery is convenient. You can leave the bike in a garage and charge the battery indoors, or the bike itself has a charging port if you want to use that. It takes about 3 hours to charge. The power brick itself, not the bike, has an LED indicator that changes from green to red when fully charged.WEIGHT AND SIZE:It’s about 43lbs. Fine for me. Easy to move around. Not so much for my girlfriend or a child. As with other folding bikes I’ve had, its easier to move around while things are rigid and its not-folded. The handle is pretty well positioned relative to the center of gravity so its really quite maneuverable. I carry it up and down a flight of stairs regularly without issue. It easily fits in a car and can go around tight hallway corners. It does have an aluminum frame and small wheels which is about the best they can do for this price.SUSPENSION AND RIDE COMFORT:Pretty damn comfy for a bike of this size. Might have more to do with the comfort seat than the rear suspension. I usually notice front suspension more, which this bike doesn’t have. I’ve had folding bikes in the past with 20” wheels (this is 16”) and honestly I don’t notice a difference.FOLDING MECHANISM:Legit. Folds and unfolds in about 15 seconds each. Just the pedals, handle bars, and frame (and seat post if you want). Easiest folding mechanism, and the best quality latches components i’ve seen on a bike anywhere near this price. Handlebars and frame are particularly impressive with little safety latches and no wobble or rattling whatsoever.SECURITY:The key is a little disappointing. Rather than locking the bike itself, it locks the battery in or out. The key hole itself is only accessible when the bike is folded in half. You can’t just park and lock the bike. If you want to disable it, you basically have to fold the bike, unlock the battery, remove the battery, and then take it with you…Personally I just take the whole bike with me when I go in places so I dont have to risk it getting stolen. It’s small enough that it looks like you’re trying not to be rude, so coffee shops (and maybe restaurants) won’t complain.RIDER HEIGHT AND WEIGHT:I’m 6’2” 170lbs and comfortable but close to the upper limit for the seat post. The handlebars are not adjustable but they are perfectly fine for me, and my friend who is 5”3.TRIP COMPUTER:Shows current speed, power mode, and battery power. Has a cool white backlight. It also has a trip timer and odomoter which is pretty neat. Also controls the headlight by holding it in for 2 seconds. Some basic setting are available like backlight brightness and miles vs km.VALUE:Unbeatable. Just how good value is this bike? I paid $570 after the $30 amazon coupon. It’s the exact same bike as the $850 Jetson Metro, just a different body kit, and this one has the stronger 350W instead of 250W motor. In fact the original Swagtron EB-7 announcement at CES showed it with the same body kit as the Jetson.

It's been now a year since I moved to the city and one thing that the city life really requires you to get is your own personal bike. At first, I thought "living two miles away from everything like work, supermarket, mall...etc. it's not bad, it's walking distance." Nah. So, I got my EB-5, a tiny 14inch wheel e-bike made by swagtron.The bike itself is fantastic but because the wheels are so small, it becomes an issue. Especially the back wheel, the little motor takes so much room on the wheel that it makes it very hard to pump air in it. Then when I eventually got a flat tire, that was basically the end of it. Why?Well, to change the wheel you have to temper with the electrical wires, then brake wires, then take the whole wheel off. No one in my area wants to deal with that and the company swagtron is utterly useless and horrible. I emailed them, contacted with them about fixing it but they where like "yeah, the bike itself is under warranty so send it back... Just pay for the shipping and any additional replacement parts..." scratch that, I'll just buy the tools and fix it myself. At the meantime I need to get a new bike because walking to work is not an easy task..So, I bought the EB-7. Horrible customer service but their bikes are solid, I love my EB-5 so I still went with their bikes.This is a 16 inch wheel base bike. The aesthetics to it is much better than the eb-5. It's a sharp looking bike with a nice red and black color. It's absolutely eye candy when you see it in person. The eb-5 is way too blocky and boring.The biggest thing that I appreciate about this bike is the fact that you can finally remove the battery from the bike, when you couldn't from the eb-5. So you can charge one extra battery on the side and carry it for emergency purposes. But, I noticed that this battery drains faster than my EB-5, two miles from the same distance and my eb-7 is about to die while my eb-5 had around half of a charge left.Which is the next thing, the eb-7 battery is utterly useless if you're planning to travel far with it. Go for more than 4 miles, (even that's stretching it), the battery is dead. Sure, you can say it's because I live in a hilly area but seriously... That whole "15 mile range" is a lie. Even with these hills, I should still get around 6-8 mile range. Nope. 2 miles one way and it's already at 45%...and that's going downhill.I love how the bike has its own headlight, but they're pretty much useless because they aren't that bright to illuminate what's infront of you in the streets or sidewalks. They serve more for people in cars to notice you and that's it. I had to install an attachable flashlight to really illuminate the road.I love the speedometer, the eb-5 had nothing of such sort. it tells you how fast you're going, how much distance you've already travels (97miles already traveled!), Time, and etc. Nifty little thing.It also gives you this three stage speed option. Stage one let's you go from 8-10 mph, stage 2 goes from 11 to 14 mph, while stage 3 you can go from 15 to 18ish mph. But those speeds vary from how much the battery is charged. Your battery last a bit, just a bit, longer when you keep it at stage 1 speeds.The accelerator is a bit more easier to control the speed of the bike. The eb-5 had only one speed and the minute you turned that accelerator, you were flying. Sometimes it takes you by surprise and you were falling off your bike if you weren't ready because the eb-5 had that "kick", that noticeable torque, while the eb-7 moderates that kick by always starting off soft and easy even when you're at stage 3. Kinda sucks because when I want to quickly cross the road, that sluggish start frustrates me and so you have to peddle harder so you get that quick start.The horn is silly. No one pays attention to it, especially the pedestrians, cars don't hear it and people just think it's a kids toy or something that's making that silly noise.The charging port was under the "middle bar" on the eb-5 so it was incredibly annoying to plug in. But the eb-7 has it conveniently on the side, so you don't have to struggle in trying to connect it to charge it.The folding is disappointing on the eb-7. The eb-5's, steering wheel "shrunk" and the seat also helped the bike "stand" when it was folded. The eb-7 doesn't do any of that. Once it's folded, the bike basically plops down and falls to the side unless you get creative to find a way for it stay up.I love how the eb-7 has this "handle" or grip thing under the seat, in the middle part of the bike, so when you need to pick it up it's just so much easier. But, granted, the eb-5 was like 20lbs, so it was easier to move around. The eb-7 is around 45-50lbs. It's heavier and bulkier. As a guy, I struggle at times walking into my apartment building with it because of how much bigger, heavier and bulkier this bike is.Overall, I love the eb-7, it's a great update from the eb-5. I love what swagtron is doing with their bikes but their customer service still sucks and when I asked them to send me an instruction guide how to change my back tire for my eb-5, they were like "nope, figure it out on your own. It's easy." Yeah, easy my ass.I didn't give it a 5/5 because of the battery's charge doesn't last that long and lack of torque. Do I recommend it to someone? Maybe, if you're not traveling more that 4 miles one way. Just make sure you carry the small charger with you and leave it charging for around 4-5 hours.Yeah~

This unit will only go 17mph and since you cant peddle after 5 miles an hour because of the gearing and there is no changing gears. I tested the unit on flat ground as i live in florida the fist time I got 2 miles before the battery died then full charge that took all day I then got 3.6 miles throttle only. It is fun to ride but the thin small tires make it a bit unstable. The last time I charged the bike again it got 3.7 miles the only possible way to get 15.miles on a charge would be to do it at 5mph wile peddling total disappointment and i will be returning the unit...

Amazed to see the buid quality. My kids are really excited and they are stars in the neighborhood now. I too have commuted to my office couple of times. I'm unable to stand sudden public attention... :)