Our New eBikes Have Arrived: e-Joe EPIK Swan Folding Electric Bikes

We posted that we were searching for new eBikes back in October 2020.

The e-Joe EPIK SEs we acquired in 2015 had reached the end of their useful life – and we were itching for something that would get us back out riding.

We shared what we were looking for in new eBikes – and the short list of contenders.

But as we dove into researching our options – the list of bikes under consideration just kept getting longer! Rather than help us narrow things down, we had so many good suggestions of additional models to consider that it began to feel like a potentially endless research project.

So we just bit the bullet one night a clicked “buy” on our safest bet – a pair of eJoe EPIK Swans.

So how have they worked out for us?

Pretty awesome, so far!

Our Criteria

The prime criteria for our original eBikes was that we needed them to fit into a tight storage bay in our bus, and that hard requirement ruled out all but a handful of eBikes on the market.

A lot has changed since then in how we travel – our new bikes would primarily live in the cockpit of our boat or on the back of our van.

Despite all the changes – in the end a lot of our criteria for replacement bikes remained surprisingly similar.

A quick recap of our basic requirements:

• Under 60lbs – to fit within the limits of our RockyMounts Backstage swing out bike rack on the van.
• Able to handle at least 250 lbs of rider weight.
• 20″ wheels, to comfortably fit in the cockpit of our boat. (Full size bikes would be awkward!)
• All the modern features of newer e-Bikes: powerful motor, large battery, acceptable range, both peddle assist and throttle…
• Available fairly soon, since a lot of bikes on the market seemed to be perpetually out of stock!

There were a LOT of bikes that seemed like they would fit our criteria – including eJoe’s new EPIK Swan, which had replaced the EPIK SE in the eJoe product line. But test rides during the middle of a pandemic wasn’t overly feasible.

Check out the original post for all of the models we considered!

Our New e-Joes

With so many options – we got into “analysis paralysis” trying to research them all.

So when e-Joe sent out a Halloween coupon to save $150 off each bike (bringing the price to $1549/each), we made a snap decision to order – with anticipated shipping in early December.

After many pandemic related shipping delays, they actually arrived in late February.

And we’re thrilled to have eBikes again!

We’ve been taking our van and eBikes out to a whole range of amazing Florida State Parks these past couple of months, focused on finding places with great bike trails.

We have logged nearly 300 miles on our new bikes already!

Here’s a video we filmed sharing about the bikes, adventures, and accessories:

Favorite Features

Watch the video for more – but here’s a quick re-cap of some of our favorite features on the new e-Joe EPIK Swans compared to the older model:

• 

  Step-thru frame: At first we didn’t think this would matter, but wow – it’s awesome. It makes getting on and off the bikes so effortless, which is important when you’re hitting trails that might have small obstacles. It also means I regularly find myself biking in a dress, a common wardrobe item for me.

• Programmable Peddle Assist: While not an advertised feature, it turns out the control module that shipped with our Swans is programmable! We can set how much power each level provides, which is fantastic. We always felt Level 1 on our last bikes was too much power. So we’ve dialed it back, and have set the other levels uniquely for each of us so that Chris’ Level 3 matches mine in speed.
• Ample Power: The motor has been upgraded to 500w, and the battery is 48v with 528 Wh – providing a claimed 40 miles of range with electric assist. We’ve taken a single charge well past 30 miles, and we have yet to run out of juice. The Swans are also advertised to have speeds up to 25 mph, but we’ve only seen 20 mph in our rides.
• Integrated Battery: The battery is nicely integrated into the frame providing a sleek look, and it is relatively easily removable (with key).

Disappointments

Hey, nothing is perfect, right?

And yup, as much as we love our new bikes – we also have some things we’re not so happy with.

• 

  Heavier: The bikes were advertised as being 45-50 lbs WITH the battery. In actuality, they’re 56 lbs with the battery. This still fits our needs, but the lighter weight would have been nice for moving the bikes on & off the boat, into the dinghy, on & off the rack and just for peddling without assist.

• White Fork: We were disheartened after such a long shipping wait to have the bikes arrive with white front forks, instead of the blue pictured on their website. Turns out, the factory ran out of blue, and had the choice of black or white. They went white – which to us, just stands out and looks unfinished. At least black would have blended in. e-Joe has told us they’ve ordered a batch of black forks and should be sending to anyone who didn’t like the white one. If e-Joe doesn’t find a prettier fork, we might attempt painting them.
• Non-Integrated Tail Light: The bike was advertised as having the front and tail lights integrated in with the battery and controller. However, only the front light actually is – the rear taillight uses AA batteries and must be switched on (and off – don’t forget!) separately. Just like the white fork, this seems to have been a factory mix-up or substitution. We do love how the front light is nicely integrated into the bike.

Accessories

Any new bike of course necessitates accessories!

Here’s what we’ve acquired so far (Amazon links are affiliate links):

• 

  Sena Smart Communications Helmets – R1 – We’ve been camping with our friends Ron & Steve a few times this winter, and they loved showing off their helmets with built in intercoms. Based on their endorsement, we ordered up a pair – and wow, so worth the $125 price tag! These things completely change the way we bike! We can stay in easy communication, and each keep our own pace without worry of missing a turn. They’re great for sharing the joy of the ride with each other, and warning each other of upcoming obstacles or oncoming traffic. We love these things – with such great practicality built right in, we’re never tempted to leave the helmets behind, which is great for their intended purpose of safety. 

• 

  DaBrim Classic – I had to extra-dork out my helmet with a visor brim from DaBrim. I’m averse to the sun, so this helps me get out there with out melting or risking sun damage.

• Bike Multi-Tool – Essential for any bike bag, we purchased a small tool set to carry with us.
• Rechargeable Inflator – Carrying an inflator with you is very important to help fix a flat. And we needed something for our Flat-Jack air levelers for our van – so we picked up this cordless inflator to fill the roll of both tasks.

  

  We make sure it’s always charged before leaving off on the bikes.

  • August 2022 Update: Our original inflator died and would no longer hold a charge. We are now trying out a different model that we’re happy with so far.
• Bike Bag – We picked one of these basic bike bags to carry tools and maybe a light snack.
• Sunlite Cloud-9 Seat – The seats that come with the e-Joes have a micro layer of memory foam, and they’re decently comfortable. But I wanted really comfortable, so I went with this popular seat choice. Chris is still riding the default seat, and says its not so bad.

• 

  Quick Release Phone Mount – This phone holder is super cool – just press your phone on the plate, and it grabs the edges. Click a button, and it releases. I’ve been impressed. My only complaint is that the holder blocks part of the camera on my iPhone.

• Bike Cover for 2 – We’re going to do what we can to better protect our bikes this time, so we purchased this heavy duty bike cover for use both while transporting the bikes on the back of the van, and while stored on the boat. We like it because it has lots of tightening points to really get the shape just right so it doesn’t billow or blow off.

To Many Enjoyable Miles Ahead!

Suffice it to say, ever since our bikes came in – we’ve been loving getting back into the joy of riding and exploring.

Here in Sanford, they just completed a beautiful new paved lakefront trail – which has opened up access to dozens of miles of trail right from our marina.

And we’ve been getting out in the van exploring lots of state parks with trails – even recently completing all of the campgrounds along the Marjorie Harris Carr Cross Florida Greenway.

We look forward to many more miles ahead!

August 2022 Update: 1500 miles now on our e-Joes and we still LOVE them!  We have taken them all over the country on the back of our van, and route towards trails regularly doing 10-30 mile rides at a time. The bikes are holding up great, with the normal wear and tear and maintenance you might expect (tune ups, new tubes, a new tire, etc.)

February 2024 Update: After 3 years and 2500 miles – we have sold our e-Joe’s. They have served us so well with so many adventures. We pushed them far beyond their purpose, and they held up well. We’ve really gotten into biking and we’re just ready for something new – full size bikes less dependent on electric more suitable for longer rides.

Disclaimer: We are in no way affiliated with e-Joe, we paid full market price for our bikes and we have not dealt with them in any way other than normal customer relations.