Mobility Mod

Swagtron Swagger Is a Surprisingly Great Mobility Assistive Device

Been a while since I have posted, but here’s a good one for you. The Swagtron Swagger. I added a foldable seat mount, extra long seat post, and a Schwinn seat. Small, light, inexpensive seated scooter for stores, sidewalks and general riding. After more than 6 months of riding this thing everywhere, I can say I LOVE IT!

So you don’t have to read to the end…

CONCLUSION: The Swagtron Swagger with a seat makes for a simple, lightweight, inexpensive, reliable mobility assistive device for stores, smooth roads and fun. I definitely recommend the Swagtron Swagger for people with balance looking for a slick, easy, inexpensive mobility solution.

THE SET-UP

I have been riding this setup for 7 months now and it is a winner. I bought the Swagger refurbished during a holiday sale. Here’s the link to the current Swagtron listing: https://swagtron.com/product/swagtron-electric-scooter-swagger-v1/ about $239 when I am writing this. (I paid much less). The big advantage of this carbon fiber scooter is it is lightweight, only about 17 lbs, and 22 lbs with the seat. I can easily pick it up and carry it onto a train or put it in a trunk.

The Lixada seat is a bolt-on solution (-$65): https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B076RYCVVM/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Review of the seat: Meh. It works fine, it just looks clunky. If anyone or manufacturer has a better solution, I would love to hear about it.

You need an extended post (~$23): https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B076RYCVVM/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Review of the seat post: Great. Love the markings on the back which allow me to quickly adjust centering and height every time.

And I used a Schwinn No Pressure Bicycle Seat (~$19): https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000DZGLVY/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Review: Great. I put these on every seated scooter I can.

At those prices the full set-up runs ~$346.

THE SCOOTER: SWAGTRON SWAGGER

First of all, this is not a powerful scooter, but if you accept that, what it can do is kind of amazing!

The Swagger has 5 speeds on the LCD display, 3 is perfect for stores.

It has an LED light on the front that is BRIGHT. No horn. The LED is easy to read and simple to use. You hold the main button for 5 seconds and it turns on. When I am done I just put it away and the auto shut-off shuts it down in a few minutes. I put my handicap sticker right below it and covered the front logo with black gaffer’s tape.

It folds quickly and easily, and the folding mechanism seems strong. The battery lasts long enough for a full day of shopping, and a bit more. I keep it in my trunk and charge it every week or so, or after a long ride. There is a battery level indicator on the LCD and it gives a general idea of the state of the battery.

This scooter has small, very flat, wheels. They are great on smooth surfaces, but the flatness of the wheels makes turning somewhat exciting because the edge of the tire is not curved, so when you lean into the wheels while turning at speed… well, I would be very careful. It can slip quickly. I would not recommend going very fast on this scooter if you are inexperienced.

I have ridden this scooter on all sorts of terrain and it has surprised me how useful it has been. It can’t handle too many bumps in the road, but it is light so it is easy to pick up and carry between rough spots.

The brake is an electric brake and it is not very strong. But this scooter is so much like a kick scooter that dragging a foot is an effective enough way to slow down, I hardly ever use the brake. I would like it to be stronger if I went faster more. There is a stomp brake using the back fender, but with the seat added it is not very practical to use.

Speed? I would say 10-12 mph with my 200 lbs. Range? 2 – 4 miles in the real world, but I usually ride it in stores and I can use it several times before I recharge. I do occasionally ride it down to the train, about 1.5 miles. The scooter has a low voltage cutoff, so when it is drained it suddenly stops. You can feel the performance degrade slight right before it shuts down, so there is some warning. The good news is the scooter is so lightweight and small that you can kick it and use it like a kickscooter. There is some drag from the motor, to not enough to make it impractical.

I have done almost no maintenance. My grandkids rode it till it was dead several days in a row. They rode it down the dirt road at our family campout at the KOA. Sprayed it off and wiped it down, oiled the back wheel a little and that has been it.

BTW, my grandkids ride all my scooters and they love this one. It really is a lot more peppy with a youngster on it. Being able to set the speed of the scooter really helps with young kids that want to go too fast.

SEAT MOUNT

I knew I needed a folding mount that stuck up less than the folded height of the scooter. This Lixada one met that requirement, but it is mounted to the scooter with what essentially are two giant hose clamps. It works fine, it doesn’t look good. I didn’t want to drill holes if I could avoid it. Perhaps someone has a better solution, but I think any seat that mounts to common scooters will work for this application. I did not use the seat or the post that came with the mount because they would not go high enough.

The seat mount works well enough, but it is clunky looking. It is held in place with two giant hose clamps.

They give you a piece of clear plastic to put between the mount and your scooter deck and I cut it to size with tin snips

I drilled two holes were I needed to make a cut for the clamp band and then sliced between them.

I believe the holes have the added benefit of stopping the slice from continuing to crack.

Tighten up the clamps and you are ready to add the extended seat post. Here is a picture of the provided seat and seat post in the mount

This mount has held up fine and is relatively simple to operate. It would operate better if the manufacture quality were higher, the pin doesn’t move as smoothly as it could.

EXTENDED SEAT POST

To get the seat up high enough I needed a longer seat post. The UPANBIKE 450mm (17.7 in) one I bought works great, and the markings on the back make it super easily to line up perfectly every time.

SEAT

I put the Schwinn No Pressure Seat on all my seat scooters. Enough said.

BATTERY

The battery is a 24v 3800 mAh Lithium, which gives you 91.2Wh, well within the FAA limit of 100 Wh. I haven’t tried flying with this scooter, but theoretically I might be able to. It recharges pretty quickly, under 2 hours. This is nice is I ever do run it all the way down, I can be back up and running in a short amount of time.

HOW I CAME TO THIS SET-UP

I was looking for a lightweight solution for an electric scooter that I could easily transport and use in public areas like stores. I came upon the Glion Snap ‘N Go : https://www.amazon.com/GLION-SNAPnGO-Travel-Mobility-Scooter/dp/B07CPD2HQ4. Looked great, but it is $1650 and though I contacted the company and tried to make arrangements, I could not find one to ride to evaluate. They did offer to sell me one and let me send it back if I didn’t like it, but I didn’t want to lay out $1650 to find out about a product. I started looking for other solutions.

CONCLUSION: SWAGTRON SWAGGER

The Swagtron Swagger with a seat makes for a simple, lightweight, inexpensive, reliable electric scooter for stores, smooth roads and fun.

Pros:

1. Lightweight
2. Relatively Inexpensive
3. People react favorably to it in the real world
4. Easy to maneuver
5. Easy to fold
6. Recharges in under two hours
7. Cool carbon fiber pattern
8. Airline compatible

Cons:

1. Flat wheels
2. Ineffective brake
3. Obnoxious branding (I covered it with Gaffer’s tape)
4. Seat mount is not the best (not Swagtron’s problem)