Key Takeaways
- Switch to the fastest riding mode to bypass speed limitations.
- Flash the firmware to remove internal speed regulation.
- Upgrade scooter components for enhanced performance.
- Manufacturer-recommended method ensures safety and compliance.
3 Easy Bird Scooter Speed Limiter Removal Tips
Unlike most electric scooters that come with a speed limiting wire, unlocking a Bird Scooter doesn’t involve cutting any speed limiting wire from the controller. Instead, follow the tips below.
1. Switch to the fastest riding mode
Bird Scooters’ speed limitations work depending on the riding mode you have engaged your scooter to go on.
The Take off is the slowest one and engaging it means you ride at anywhere between 0 and 9 miles per hour.
Riding in this mode means you are going at a speed limitation of 9 mph, but then your scooter will provide you with the longest range.
The next speed range is the Glide mode.
With this mode, your Bird electric scooter will ride at anywhere between 9 mph to 12mph.
This will provide you with a relatively higher speed than the take off mode, but with a lower range.
The speed limiter kicks in at 12 mph while riding in this mode.
The fastest mode in a bird scooter is Fly.
When you engage the Fly mode, it means you have removed any speed limitation on your bird scooter and you will be able to hit a maximum speed of 16 miles per hour.
It’s important to note that riding at the Fly mode will make you register the least range and the battery will drain faster.
To remove the speed limiter on a bird scooter by switching to the fastest gear (Fly Mode), double-tap the power button twice.
Double-tapping this power button twice will show a “Red S” on the Display, which is an indicator that you are in the Fly mode and thus no speed limitation whatsoever.
When you double-tap the power button, you will first see “an Orange S” appearing on the Display, which means riding in the “Glide Mode”.
You have to double-tap the power button once more to engage the Fly Mode, which is why we have told you above to double-tap the power button twice.
2. Flash the firmware
Flashing your bird scooter’s firmware is a sure path towards you voiding your warranty.
However, if you would like to proceed and remove the speed limitation by bypassing the internal speed regulation, then erasing the data in the firmware and using your own is your ideal choice.
This method works perfectly for the Bird ES4-800 model and especially now that there are several videos showing how to do just that.
- Get an Android phone and download the XiaoFlasher and ES-DownG Apps from your Google Play Store
- Switch on your Bird Scooter
- Open the XiaoFlasher and connect your scooter to the App
- Under the Official Firmware prompt of that App, select the BLE version of your Bird scooter
- Click “Flash Selected Zip File”
- Reboot your Bird Scooter
- Head over to your browser and search https://esx.cfw.sh/
- Scroll down to “Presets” and then click your Bird Scooter model. In our case, it is the ES4
- Unselect “Version Spoofing”
- Select Maximum Speed as 40km/h
- Unselect “No Kers”
- Go to Advanced and Turn Off “Stay on When Scooter is Locked”
- Click “Finished”
- Click ES DownG
- Click Download Legacy Zip
- Go to your ES DownG APP and connect your scooter
- Select the name of your Bird Scooter
- Click “Open Bin” and head over to the Downloads folder
- Select the first Zip file
- Click “Flash Bin”
- Turn off the scooter and turn it on
- You have successfully flashed the firmware from your Bird scooter
Flashing the firmware from your Bird scooter means you will unlock the speed from the stock 16 mph to more than 20 miles per hour.
Again, this may be an irreversible upgrade, which means you may need to rethink the action.
3. Upgrade the components
Bird scooters come with custom controllers, which is why they have internal speed regulations that can cautiously be circumvented by switching through the different modes.
If you feel that you need to go faster than the provided top speed of 16 miles per hour and without flashing the firmware, one of the reliable ways on how to make a bird scooter faster is by buying higher-powered components such as another controller.
However, doing this modification will make you void your warranty. If you would like to proceed regardless, then this is how to go about it.
- Buy another controller which is higher-powered (Make sure it’s small in size so that it can fit beneath the deck but big in capacity to control more power)
- Get a bigger battery or buy another stock battery and connect it to the scooter in parallel
- Get a bigger motor (capacity-wise), while ensuring it will fit into its right compartment
- We also recommend that you buy another throttle and display to make it easier for you
- Switch off the scooter
- Open the deck/panel (depending on your Bird scooter model), and identify all the wires and the cables in the old controller so that connecting the new one is easier for you
- Carefully do all the connections and connect the motor. This ensures voltage flows into the motor
- Now switch on the scooter. If you had properly connected the upgraded components, you will notice that the scooter works perfectly. Place it on a raised platform such as a bucket with the rear wheel floating and test the top speed.
What you have just done is that you have removed the internal speed limitation that was used by Bird, while using their skeleton as your frame.
Other than voiding the warranty, the other reason you may consider avoiding this process is that it’s damn expensive, especially with another battery to be purchased.
Again, you may actually get a lawsuit depending on your state or country when you ride an unlocked electric scooter.
If the laws allow riding an electric scooter that goes faster, we actually recommend that you sell your Bird scooter and buy a fast model direct from the factory.
Doing these modifications is risky, and in the worst-case-scenario, improper connections can cause a fire in say inside your house while charging your scooter.
In Summary: How to remove speed limiter on Bird Scooter
There are three ways you can use to solve the how to make a bird scooter faster puzzle.
Firstly, switch to the fastest mode, secondly, flash the firmware, and lastly upgrade the components.
Switching to the fastest mode is the safest bird scooter speed limiter removal feature that is recommended by the manufacturer.
If you would like to throw caution to the wind, though, you can follow the other two.
