Changing gears/chainring on Swagtron EB7+

[nj1266]

I purchased a cheap ($700) Swagtron EB7+ about a month or so ago. I got it because it was the only folding bike that would easily fit in the trunk of a Tesla Model 3. The Tesla design language makes the trunk opening small. Any bike thicker than 18 inches will be hard to pass through the trunk opening. For a cheap bike, it had good components: Shimano 7-speed gears, 3 electric modes, disk brakes, 350 W motor, 16 inch mag wheels, rear suspension.

The problem with the bike was the gearing was all messed up. The bike had a 7 cog rear gear cassette. The top gear (7th) had 14 teeth and the 1st gear had 28 teeth. 7th gear is for top speed and 1st gear is for climbing steep hills. The chainring had 44 teeth. The bike should have had a bigger chainring and a smaller rear cassette.

This set-up is extremely poor for an electric bike on 16 inch wheels. When in top gear (7th), I was limited to using mode 1 only. If I put the bike in mode 2 and 3, I couldn’t pedal fast enough to keep up with the speed of the electric motor. Pedaling in Mode 2 and 3 was useless in 7th gear. Top speed suffered and average speed when pedaling was 10-12 mph in mode 1 and 7th gear.

After asking around on this forum, a person suggested swapping the rear cassette and possibly the chainring. My brother and I replaced the rear cassette that had a 14 tooth 7th gear with an 11 tooth one for the same gear. 3rd through 6th gear also had cogs with fewer teeth, but the most important one was 7th gear. We also replaced the chainring with a 48 tooth larger one. This gave the bike a gear ratio of 4.36:1. So in 7th gear every time the crank/pedal had a full rotation, the rear 16 inch wheel turned 4.36 times. The stock 7th gear had a ratio of 3.14:1. Every full crank rotation turned the rear wheel 3.14 times. So every full rotation of the pedals the bike moved further than before.

The impact was amazing. Below are two before and after screenshots from rides on the same stretch of bike paths. For that 3 mile section the stock gearing allowed me an average speed of 12 mph which I covered in 15 minutes.

With the modified gearing, I was able to cover the same 3 mile stretch in 11 minutes at an average speed of 17.3 mph. That is a stunning 5.3 miles faster and 4 minutes quicker than stock. Moreover, i can now use mode 2 and 3 while pedaling, something I couldn’t do with the stock gearing. Finally, 5th and 6th gear are now usable when I encounter the occasional hill to climb.

Lastly, we added a driveline chainring protector to complete the new look. The look is so much better than stock.

 

[goldconch]

 

[alexrh]

Great post! I got the same crank and chain ring combo as posted by you to upgrade my wife's swagtron. The only thing I am having trouble with is finding the right size of chainring guard. Where did you get yours?

 

[Misterjuco23]

I purchased a cheap ($700) Swagtron EB7+ about a month or so ago. I got it because it was the only folding bike that would easily fit in the trunk of a Tesla Model 3. The Tesla design language makes the trunk opening small. Any bike thicker than 18 inches will be hard to pass through the trunk opening. For a cheap bike, it had good components: Shimano 7-speed gears, 3 electric modes, disk brakes, 350 W motor, 16 inch mag wheels, rear suspension.

The problem with the bike was the gearing was all messed up. The bike had a 7 cog rear gear cassette. The top gear (7th) had 14 teeth and the 1st gear had 28 teeth. 7th gear is for top speed and 1st gear is for climbing steep hills. The chainring had 44 teeth. The bike should have had a bigger chainring and a smaller rear cassette.

This set-up is extremely poor for an electric bike on 16 inch wheels. When in top gear (7th), I was limited to using mode 1 only. If I put the bike in mode 2 and 3, I couldn’t pedal fast enough to keep up with the speed of the electric motor. Pedaling in Mode 2 and 3 was useless in 7th gear. Top speed suffered and average speed when pedaling was 10-12 mph in mode 1 and 7th gear.

After asking around on this forum, a person suggested swapping the rear cassette and possibly the chainring. My brother and I replaced the rear cassette that had a 14 tooth 7th gear with an 11 tooth one for the same gear. 3rd through 6th gear also had cogs with fewer teeth, but the most important one was 7th gear. We also replaced the chainring with a 48 tooth larger one. This gave the bike a gear ratio of 4.36:1. So in 7th gear every time the crank/pedal had a full rotation, the rear 16 inch wheel turned 4.36 times. The stock 7th gear had a ratio of 3.14:1. Every full crank rotation turned the rear wheel 3.14 times. So every full rotation of the pedals the bike moved further than before.

The impact was amazing. Below are two before and after screenshots from rides on the same stretch of bike paths. For that 3 mile section the stock gearing allowed me an average speed of 12 mph which I covered in 15 minutes.

With the modified gearing, I was able to cover the same 3 mile stretch in 11 minutes at an average speed of 17.3 mph. That is a stunning 5.3 miles faster and 4 minutes quicker than stock. Moreover, i can now use mode 2 and 3 while pedaling, something I couldn’t do with the stock gearing. Finally, 5th and 6th gear are now usable when I encounter the occasional hill to climb.

Lastly, we added a driveline chainring protector to complete the new look. The look is so much better than stock.

Sweet guide...wish I knew how to read good cuz I bought the 48 tooth chainring and realized I needed to purchase the crank set. I did swap the rear freewheel assembly and definitely enjoy pedaling past 12 miles an hour. In appreciation of your post, I did come across a method to configure all 20 P settings for this swagtron eb7 Plus ebike. When entering the settings menu by holding down plus and minus then hitting the power or select button to navigate to the screen after P2, hold down plus and minus again and enter 6666. The settings don't necessarily follow the display guides for the en06 display. I'm attaching a guide that I found from the manufacturer. However, it is the one specific to the one with a USB charging port. The en06 manual only goes up to 16 p settings. I also attached to the manual for the S866. You'll see that the swagtron en06 matches the total number of configurable settings as the s866. I have tinkered around to the point where it only goes 3 miles an hour but somehow I was able to get it back. Some of the fields don't allow the same parameters listed in the manual. Please share if you've mastered these settings to get past 18.6 mph. I thought the last two controllers would fit, but it is a very cramped space but the correct controller that should fit is the kt15 with the single nine pin julet motor connector and the remaining SM plugs. I did pick up a flip sky 7550 controller that should fit once I figure out how in the world to wire everything. Hope this helps some of you guys as swagtron seems to have a special task force that scours the web and erases any mentions of hacks to their devices. Enjoy well this is still posted

 

[mredward]

I purchased a cheap ($700) Swagtron EB7+ about a month or so ago. I got it because it was the only folding bike that would easily fit in the trunk of a Tesla Model 3. The Tesla design language makes the trunk opening small. Any bike thicker than 18 inches will be hard to pass through the trunk opening. For a cheap bike, it had good components: Shimano 7-speed gears, 3 electric modes, disk brakes, 350 W motor, 16 inch mag wheels, rear suspension.

The problem with the bike was the gearing was all messed up. The bike had a 7 cog rear gear cassette. The top gear (7th) had 14 teeth and the 1st gear had 28 teeth. 7th gear is for top speed and 1st gear is for climbing steep hills. The chainring had 44 teeth. The bike should have had a bigger chainring and a smaller rear cassette.

This set-up is extremely poor for an electric bike on 16 inch wheels. When in top gear (7th), I was limited to using mode 1 only. If I put the bike in mode 2 and 3, I couldn’t pedal fast enough to keep up with the speed of the electric motor. Pedaling in Mode 2 and 3 was useless in 7th gear. Top speed suffered and average speed when pedaling was 10-12 mph in mode 1 and 7th gear.

After asking around on this forum, a person suggested swapping the rear cassette and possibly the chainring. My brother and I replaced the rear cassette that had a 14 tooth 7th gear with an 11 tooth one for the same gear. 3rd through 6th gear also had cogs with fewer teeth, but the most important one was 7th gear. We also replaced the chainring with a 48 tooth larger one. This gave the bike a gear ratio of 4.36:1. So in 7th gear every time the crank/pedal had a full rotation, the rear 16 inch wheel turned 4.36 times. The stock 7th gear had a ratio of 3.14:1. Every full crank rotation turned the rear wheel 3.14 times. So every full rotation of the pedals the bike moved further than before.

The impact was amazing. Below are two before and after screenshots from rides on the same stretch of bike paths. For that 3 mile section the stock gearing allowed me an average speed of 12 mph which I covered in 15 minutes.

With the modified gearing, I was able to cover the same 3 mile stretch in 11 minutes at an average speed of 17.3 mph. That is a stunning 5.3 miles faster and 4 minutes quicker than stock. Moreover, i can now use mode 2 and 3 while pedaling, something I couldn’t do with the stock gearing. Finally, 5th and 6th gear are now usable when I encounter the occasional hill to climb.

Lastly, we added a driveline chainring protector to complete the new look. The look is so much better than stock.

I am a bit confuse about your changing the chainring from 44 to 48 teeth. In the photos I see a Zoagear crankset with a 48 chainring and also a seperate photo of another 48 chainring. So, it looks like you switched the 48 chaInring on the crankset to a same size 48 chainring? Why did you do that? If the answer is obvious to the expert class, please my excuse my unenlightened state. Thanks!

 

[mredward]

Sweet guide...wish I knew how to read good cuz I bought the 48 tooth chainring and realized I needed to purchase the crank set. I did swap the rear freewheel assembly and definitely enjoy pedaling past 12 miles an hour. In appreciation of your post, I did come across a method to configure all 20 P settings for this swagtron eb7 Plus ebike. When entering the settings menu by holding down plus and minus then hitting the power or select button to navigate to the screen after P2, hold down plus and minus again and enter 6666. The settings don't necessarily follow the display guides for the en06 display. I'm attaching a guide that I found from the manufacturer. However, it is the one specific to the one with a USB charging port. The en06 manual only goes up to 16 p settings. I also attached to the manual for the S866. You'll see that the swagtron en06 matches the total number of configurable settings as the s866. I have tinkered around to the point where it only goes 3 miles an hour but somehow I was able to get it back. Some of the fields don't allow the same parameters listed in the manual. Please share if you've mastered these settings to get past 18.6 mph. I thought the last two controllers would fit, but it is a very cramped space but the correct controller that should fit is the kt15 with the single nine pin julet motor connector and the remaining SM plugs. I did pick up a flip sky 7550 controller that should fit once I figure out how in the world to wire everything. Hope this helps some of you guys as swagtron seems to have a special task force that scours the web and erases any mentions of hacks to their devices. Enjoy well this is still posted

Are you saying that you were able to change one of the 3 selected speed levels in the controller to 3 mph? If you can change the top speed for each level you could tailor the bike peddal assist to your comfort without changing the chainring or freewheel. Is that a possibility? Tell me more, please!

 

[Dkershner]

I purchased a cheap ($700) Swagtron EB7+ about a month or so ago. I got it because it was the only folding bike that would easily fit in the trunk of a Tesla Model 3. The Tesla design language makes the trunk opening small. Any bike thicker than 18 inches will be hard to pass through the trunk opening. For a cheap bike, it had good components: Shimano 7-speed gears, 3 electric modes, disk brakes, 350 W motor, 16 inch mag wheels, rear suspension.

The problem with the bike was the gearing was all messed up. The bike had a 7 cog rear gear cassette. The top gear (7th) had 14 teeth and the 1st gear had 28 teeth. 7th gear is for top speed and 1st gear is for climbing steep hills. The chainring had 44 teeth. The bike should have had a bigger chainring and a smaller rear cassette.

This set-up is extremely poor for an electric bike on 16 inch wheels. When in top gear (7th), I was limited to using mode 1 only. If I put the bike in mode 2 and 3, I couldn’t pedal fast enough to keep up with the speed of the electric motor. Pedaling in Mode 2 and 3 was useless in 7th gear. Top speed suffered and average speed when pedaling was 10-12 mph in mode 1 and 7th gear.

After asking around on this forum, a person suggested swapping the rear cassette and possibly the chainring. My brother and I replaced the rear cassette that had a 14 tooth 7th gear with an 11 tooth one for the same gear. 3rd through 6th gear also had cogs with fewer teeth, but the most important one was 7th gear. We also replaced the chainring with a 48 tooth larger one. This gave the bike a gear ratio of 4.36:1. So in 7th gear every time the crank/pedal had a full rotation, the rear 16 inch wheel turned 4.36 times. The stock 7th gear had a ratio of 3.14:1. Every full crank rotation turned the rear wheel 3.14 times. So every full rotation of the pedals the bike moved further than before.

The impact was amazing. Below are two before and after screenshots from rides on the same stretch of bike paths. For that 3 mile section the stock gearing allowed me an average speed of 12 mph which I covered in 15 minutes.

With the modified gearing, I was able to cover the same 3 mile stretch in 11 minutes at an average speed of 17.3 mph. That is a stunning 5.3 miles faster and 4 minutes quicker than stock. Moreover, i can now use mode 2 and 3 while pedaling, something I couldn’t do with the stock gearing. Finally, 5th and 6th gear are now usable when I encounter the occasional hill to climb.

Lastly, we added a driveline chainring protector to complete the new look. The look is so much better than stock.

Can you please send me the part numbers and information on the cassette and chain ring you installed on your EB7. I just purchased the same bike and am having the same problem. Thanks Dwayne

 

[Dkershner]

Great post! I got the same crank and chain ring combo as posted by you to upgrade my wife's swagtron. The only thing I am having trouble with is finding the right size of chainring guard. Where did you get yours?

Can you please provide me with the information on what crank and chain ring combo you purchased. I purchased the EB7 and don't know where or what to buy. Much appreciated. Dwayne

 

[Dkershner]

I just purchased the EB7 Elite Plus. And need to buy the bigger chain ring and cassette and don't know what the specs or brand is. Can anyone please guide me to where and exactly what I need to get for my bike??? Thanks, Dwayne