Swagtron EB 5 2000 Mile Review

Why I Needed An Electric Bike

I got my E bike in the middle of June 2019. My job is 13 miles round trip round from my house and I was tired of riding a regular bike. Actually, I was just lazy. I wanted something that would take the edge off climbing hills and the distance in general. It made me so tired. I’m just not conditioned for that kind of riding. However, I really do enjoy riding bikes. So I decided on getting an E bike. There’s a lot to choose from on Amazon and there are options other than buying an E bike. You could even get a conversion kit. But I decided on getting an E bike in the end. 

Initially I wanted to get a conversion kit. I figure I have two bikes. I could just slap a conversion kits on one of them and I’d be good to go. However, I could see that the conversion kit actually costs as much or even more than some of the E bikes. That being the case, I decided to just go ahead and buy an eBike.  There are so many choices out there, so how would I decide? Well, at the time I was on a budget. I figured that $500 would be the maximum amount that I could spend. So the name of the game for me was value. The next question was, what was I going to be using it for? I was going to need a bike for commuting.

How To Choose An Electric Bike

So that was my criteria. I needed something under $500. I needed it to be reliable and with a minimum of 15 miles of range per charge. So I went on Amazon and started shopping around. When I finally decided on was the Swagtron EB 5. At the time, it was on sale for $419. It had about 90 reviews and an average of four out of five stars. So that was good for reliability as far as I could see. Now for the specs, range was 15 miles a charge and the speed was about 15.5 MPH. I bought it and it didn’t take very long to arrive, maybe only two-three days. 

My Review After 2000 Miles | Pros

When it arrived, I charged it up and took it for test drive.  It was awesome! It has pedal assist and throttle. This is exactly what I needed for my commute. After commuting to work for a couple of weeks I can honestly say that the claim of 15 miles per charge was definitely true. My commute is mostly flat and I used the throttle only, for about 90% of that commute. I only use the pedal assist for one or two hills. Can it actually go 15 1/2 mph? Yes, I can go 15 1/2 mph if you’re on flat ground and with a full charge. 

Is this bike reliable? Yes, this bike is very reliable. There are no frills with this bike. It only has one gear and no suspension. But it does what I needed to do.  I rode this bike to work four days a week for seven months. That is a grand total of 1456 miles and that is only my commute to work. I rode this bike to get groceries and run errands. It’s likely that this bike has well over 2000 miles on it.  The only thing that I have to complain about is the seat which was uncomfortable so I changed it and also the fact that the battery is not removable for this model. The models that are currently available now, do have a removable battery.

My Review After 2000 Miles | Cons

Now there is some battery degradation it’s been through quite a few charge cycles so I’d have to say anywhere from 20 to 30% of the bike’s capacity has been lost. Also I’d like to note that during the winter season, the cold will reduce the battery’s daily capacity and perhaps some of the long term capacity as well . When the day warmed up above freezing, I noticed marked return of energy. In order to protect my battery I would keep my bike indoors. But all in all, I’d have to say, that this bike is indestructible. I’ve ridden this thing through the heat, the cold and even some light rain. As long as you clean it and oil the chain, this thing will continue to run forever. If you’re interested, there are links to the EB5 , EB6, EB7 below. Thanks for visiting.

EB5: https://amzn.to/2VenlRp