Features
SWAGTRON Swagcycle EB5 Lightweight Aluminum features is:
- Pre-assembled; the electric bike already comes pre-assembled so you won't have to waste time with complicated assembly and foreign bike parts
- Height adjustable for adults and teens; easily adjust the bicycle seat and handlebar to find the perfect position for a comfortable ride
- 14 inch wheels; a pair of air-filled rubber tires with quick-disconnect power lines ensure better traction and easy tire maintenance
- 15.5 mile range; ride your hybrid bike on full throttle to cruise up to 15.5 miles on a single charge by toggling between power assist and pedaling
- The EB-5’s foldable bike frame can accommodate riders up to 264 pounds and folds three times so it fits inside compact vehicles, under desks, on subways and in other small spaces. Charging Time - 4-5 hrs
Reviews
Below are some critical reviews about SWAGTRON Swagcycle EB5 Lightweight AluminumUpdate Sept 2020:I used to rate Swagtron as 5 stars. But they have quality issues- particularly battery quality issues. I know because I have purchased 6 swagtrons and every single one has had issues. One battery died after 6 months but since we were headed into winter I did not claim the warranty (my fault) and had to pay for it the next summer. The other battery died after 2 years of VERY LIGHT use. and a 3rd battery dead or its power controller dead after 1.5 years. And when I say dead, I don’t mean from my negligence. They would go from fully functional to glitching, like having to turn off & on battery with the key to work in the middle of a ride, to then completely dead despite a functional fuse and contacts. Purchasing a new battery fixed the issue each time. But Swagtron charges $170 for a battery! What a rip off! More than most companies charge. They themselves used to charge under $100. I contacted them and stated the battery price is extreme, that they should drop it for all or at least give me a coupon code since I purchased so many bikes. But after weeks of waiting for a reply they said no because the price of building the battery went up. Really? The price of batteries has nearly doubled in the USA? That’s funny because every other battery I buy has not changed in price or has gotten cheaper thanks to competition on Amazon. Its more likely that Swagtron’s greed has doubled the price of batteries since they know you own the bike already and you have no choice but to cough up the money. But that is only an educated guess. But one thing is certain- I for one won’t purchase another swagtron & will no longer tell family, friends, or people on Amazon that they should purchase one. There are cheaper options out there with just as good a quality & with cheaper replacement parts. By the way, I have purchased & own other electric bikes and NONE have had the quality issues I have had with swagtron. I know what I am talking about.Read my original review before I knew of quality issues:I own 5 different electric bikes for different height people in my family:1) the Addmotor Hithot H1- for me, I am 5'11'' and this is perfect size for taller people.2) the Genze Series 200 16-inch frame step through- for my 5'5'' wife.3) the Swagcycle EB-6- for my 11 yo son. Perfect electric mountain bike for kids and about the only electric pedal bike I could find specifically designed for kids.4) And finally the Swagcycle EB-5- which is this bike you are looking at for purchase.5) the Swagtron EB7Of all the bikes mentioned above the most versatile in fitting all the different size bodies in my family is this EB-5. It is amazing in that I can easily adjust the seat & handle bar up to fit my 5'11' long legged body type and it still looks like I can adjust the seat even higher. I can ride it very comfortably without feeling awkward at all. As if it was a bike designed for someone my height.And it is the only electric bike that I can adjust all the way down in height so that it fits my 9 yo daughter (she is 45th percentile for height and weight for her age). The seat and handle bar goes down far enough where she can stand comfortably. I must say that at first I noticed her pedaling seemed awkward, like if she had to bend her knees way too much and I thought perhaps its because the pedals have a bigger adult diameter. But I simply put the seat height up a little so that she has to stand on her tip toes now while on the seat and now her knees look pretty normal while peddling. Not to mention her knees looked super bent on her normal bike too, I guess I had not noticed that before and the bike shop says that is normal for little kids.So basically this bike fits my 4ft 7in and 60 pound daughter and my 5ft 11in 180 pound body, and anywhere in between. It felt like a normal bike to me, no compromise in how it feels geometrically as a bike for me. I asked my little daughter the same question and she said the same, “no it does not feel funny, it just feels like a normal bike, just like my other bike.” I have no idea how Swagtron accomplished this versatility but they did.This EB-5 is powerful. I live on a hill and it easily brings by 180 pound body up the hill. I also saw a youtube review where it easily handled a 260 pound guy, which is the upper limit of recommended weight for this bike. It is so powerful that my little 9 yo daughter & 11 yo son have to be careful while on it. I think my daughters little 60 pound body does not put enough weight stress on the bike so that it takes off like a damn rocket. It explodes when she hits the throttle or uses the pedal assist. You just have to supervise them the first few times so that they are aware of its power and get used to it. If not, I can easily see how an accident might happen. This is especially true with the pedal assist. When they pedal even a little to go slowly, if the pedal assist it is on then it explodes them forward like a rocket. What I have done to solve this is that she can never have the power on when they first start on the bike. I first have her ride a little to gain speed and then she is allowed to turn on the power. If you do it this way then there should be no accident.It is reasonably quick. About 10 to 15 mph depending if its riding my heavier body or my super light children. It is also an extremely light electric bike. My other electric bikes are 50 to 70 pounds. Yet this weighs no more than a regular 20 wheel inch bmx bike.The one and only downfall of the bike is that it does not have an adjustable pedal assist. It is either on or it is off. There is no in between. For example, my Addmotor bike has 5 different levels of assist, from helping just a little at level 1, to going full throttle at level 5. But in fairness my Addmotor bike costs $1500 dollars, three times more than this EB-5 with only 1 level assist. The swagcycle seems to go at about 80 to 90% power with the pedal assist on and there is no turning it down. So it helps a little too much when going up hills. I wanted it to just help a little. The only other negative is that without the pedal assist the pedaling is tougher than a regular bmx bike. Tougher as in aggressive workout tougher. As if they do not have the perfect chain length to pedal ring ratio, which should be easy for them to fix and to have thought about before producing this bike. Another negative is if you turn off the pedal assist then you turn off the ability to just use the throttle. Since it does not have a multilevel pedal assist, at a minimum I wish the pedal assist could be turned off but then we could just use the throttle when we needed it. But it does not do that, either the pedal assist and throttle are both on, or they are both off. Swagtron should at least fix this, which would be easy without having to provide the more expensive multilevel pedal assist. Simple have the pedal assist on or off separate from the throttle would be my advice.But in the end, for the $499 price I paid for it then it is easily a 5 out of 5 star. Especially since it seems to be one of the only quality electric bikes that could fit my 9 yo daughter. I bought another 2 of them as gifts off the Swagtron website cheaper by $20 with a coupon code.The entire family enjoys biking now on the bike routes with tons of hills, we are exercising more and getting healthier. Where as before they refused to go biking due to the difficult of the hills. So get this bike, it helps defeating family TV watching, helps getting entire family outside to exercise.
In the 10 days I had it, and a couple of enjoying rides in, the rear tire went flat. The front air receptor (pic no pump) is different from the back by the way it's angled, the ease to access with air pump and the lack of a base to the receptor so there is a gap to the side of it (pic with pump). I even let out the air to see if base dug deeper in tire but no go. I will be returning b/c this just shouldn't happen so quickly and based on other negative reviews stating what a hassle it is to get rear tire replaced. Please note back tire's rim and wire connections is vastly different from the front tire. You will need a special pro pump and a pro for replacement.Update: I decided to contact Swagtron directly because I was hoping that they would have local trusted service repair providers based on something stated on their website for another product. However, when I mentioned that I just had a defective tire they said I would still have to ship across country. I did a online estimate on ground shipping cost which would be $138. This would have to be paid every time there is a issue as well as weeks of turn time. They said based on warranty, they could ship out the part but can't provide directions on repair. But again, the rear tire is part of the motor hub and really does need professional tools. I thought I would luck out but no. This was perfect before this and now I wish I never tried it out so it wouldn't be such a disappointed.
This bike is not as advertised. In the first place it's not aluminum. A few of the parts are but a large percentage of them are steel. It's advertised as lightweight, and it's rather heavy. Second, the description says you can either use the electric power or pedal. In fact if you try to pedal, the electric power kicks in. Maybe I just got a lemon, but for $500 I expect all of them to work properly. I don't have an alternate to suggest, but if you choose this one be sure it's on Prime. BTW, folding it is very challenging.
Below are some positive reviews about SWAGTRON Swagcycle EB5 Lightweight Aluminum
Be warned - if the battery dies, you are screwed! This thing might look like a bicycle, but it's a scooter. The pedals are primarily for hill assistance. It's almost impossible to pedal unless you're on a flat surface, and even then it takes quite a bit of effort to get it going.It has a fixed chain, so no changing gears.It's great for what it is. It rides well and I'm very happy with it overall, but not being able to use it if the battery dies is a big design flaw.
I paid 499 dollars for this and when I got it, the back tire was flat and ruptured. I tried to get in contact with Swagtron people but they were like "oh, well, the item is out of stock... Just send it back to us and we'll see what we can do."Eh.. I instead took it to my local bike shop and the guy fixed the tire for 14 bucks. Got it back in 30 minutes.When I finally had the ability drive this thing in my city, it feels fantastic, you're cruising easily. But the minute it starts going up a hill, you also gotta peddle to help it go up. Which is okay because the little engine helps a lot so you're not straining yourself. But, being that the wheels are so small, after a while, you feel your legs get swore. I guess the size of the wheel has a lot to do with how hard you peddle.I've driven it up to 7 miles on a single charge and it still works but you start noticing the lack of power and acceleration. But once you charge it right back up, the bike works pretty good.Folding it is rather easy, it's surprising how it fits perfectly well in my car's trunk. But make sure you find something that holds it in there because it just flops and bounces around in your car's trunk if you don't tie it down.Overall, the bike is nice but after that punctured tire dilemma it made me realize how fragile this bike is. The brakes on the steering wheel also started getting loose after a while, so I feel like you gotta keep up in checking it, maintaining it and see if everything is good. Plus, buy some zip ties, all those lose wires sometimes they get in the way when you're peddling.Would I buy it again? I don't know. I'll let you know after 6 months. Let's see how fragile this bike really is after months of usage.
I bought this bike directly from Swagtron because Amazon was out of stock. I got it to haul a Tipke marine cart down the dock to my boat slip. When I bought the trailer I didn't know if it would fit the EB-5. It can be made to fit and work well.See my reviews of the cart and hitch for details of how to attach them to the EB-5.I'm over 70 years old and haven't been on a bike for about 10 years. I’m grey on top, disabled, and have some balance problems. I'm no light-weight at 245 pounds. It is 850' from my parking space to the boat slip at my marina, all floating dock that is flat. I don't want to make this walk in 100° weather, while pulling a cart by hand.Riding the EB-5 the first time yesterday was a challenge for me, though I used to be quite athletic. The difference between the EB-5 and larger (non-electric) cycles is the very sensitive steering on the EB-5. Like the difference in flying a fighter plane and cargo plane. The EB-5 took off and ran up to speeds faster than I want to travel. I throttled back quickly.After a loop around my neighborhood (1/3 mile) I headed off to a couple roads with almost no cars. About 1/2 way through my excursion there is about a 10° to 15° grade for about a block. The EB-5 negotiated this easily with all my weight, but slowed noticeably near the top. I coasted down this incline on the way back.In all I did 6.5 miles, and had enough batter life for a few turns around the neighborhood later . . . with the cart attached. The only difficulty I had was negotiating two large rubber speed bumps which I had to thread between. Despite my balance issues, I made it smoothly. On the last couple blocks of the trip I did NOT notice any slowing of the motor. But, those streets were flat. I would not have wanted to attempt climbing another hill at the end.Some have complained that you're sunk if the battery runs out. I personally found the bike very easy to walk if I couldn't pedal. For my purposes, I'll never run the battery down. I could make more than 20 trips to and from my boat slip without recharging, based on today's first ride.PROBLEMS: 1) With my 245#, the seat clamp slipped all the way to the bottom. That was dangerous, and I bought a hose clamp and clamped off the seat post where I wanted it. The hose clamp held the seat in the correct position perfectly. ADDENDUM 7 Sept 2018: A call to the very helpful customer service office verified that the bike's seat post clamp is made of metal, not plastic. They advised not to worry about torquing it down some to hold the seat post firmly. I did so, and the clamp holds the post with no problem now.2) The box was missing the Allen key and multi sized wrench. My email to customer service fixed that and they’re sending one of each out to me. They responded in less than 24 hours :-) Didn’t much matter. The manual lists the Allen key and wrench as parts contained in the box but never makes a reference to them in the instructions.Very Good Customer Service: They were FAST. An email to Swagtron Customer Service and I had an important answer to the seat . . . the clamp LEVER is aluminum and shouldn’t break if the adjustment screw is tightened to hold the seat post in position. The clamp should hold my 245#. I tightened the adjustment screw and snapped the clamp lever closed. It worked perfectly . . . no slippage. (I kept the hose clamp on, just in case).The manufacturer advised against hauling a trailer (like a baby cart) with this bike. Tipke, the manufacturer of the trailer and hitch I bought DO NOT make a hitch that will fit the very fat seat post on the EB-5. I believed this issue could be remedied, but not until I had the hitch and the bike in my possession.The fix for the hitch was very easy in the end. See the photos. The hitch is designed for a normal size seat post. When open, it goes around the EB-5 post, but does not close and doesn’t allow the cotter key to be inserted. After scratching my head for a bit, I grabbed a stainless steel key ring, pried it open, and threaded it into the two holes on one side of the hitch. It fit perfectly, and the opposite side fit exactly over the tube through which the cotter key must pass to lock down the hitch. A couple of turns on the set screw and everything was tight.FOLDED SIZE AND WEIGHT: I’m not supposed to lift more than 25# with my handicap. That said, I think the pictures say it all. The EB-5 amazingly fit in my C-6 Corvette Stingray. Both the Tipke aluminum marine cart AND the EB-5 fit inside my Jeep Cherokee Limited.Hitch Fix: The first photo shows the Tipke hitch with the addition of the key ring. The ring slips over the tube to the left and the pin secures the two together on the seat post. The 2nd photo shows the clamp with the key ring extension on the seat post. The 3rd photo shows the completed adaptation with hose clamp to elevate the seat post, and key ring extension for the trailer tongue. Photo 4 is the whole rig. Photo 5 shows the EB-5 fitting in the back of my Corvette. The final shot shows the EB-5 and Tipke trailer and hitch inside my Jeep.I give the EB-5 a full 5 stars. It easily pulled the trailer. I wasn't sure it was there until I looked back. I'm confident it would pull it with 100 pounds of stuff packed inside. That is largely due to the large wheels and bearings on the Tipke trailer. Riding on day two was much easier, now that I can elevate the seat to the right height and not have it slip. The bike actually fits inside a Corvette . . . simply amazing.
