Prodeco Phantom X first 40 miles

[jackrussellny]

I placed an order about 1 month ago to use this as a commuter bike. The distance to the train is about 2 miles downhill all the way. SO after a long day 2 miles uphill to home.

I hope Prodeco gets their act together with the battery redesign and starts to ship these soon. I'm looking forward to some fun on my commute.

If anyone has heard anything about shipping the new Phantom please post it here.

Jack

[adobian]

I think the PhantomX is nice in that Prodeco is willing to provide a two year warranty on it.

[jackrussellny]

The dealer called and the Phantom will begin shipping 1st week of September. Once these are gone the next production run will be in October. According to the dealer the rumored battery rack/redesign did not happen yet.

[adobian]

Any chance to increase the voltage level to 48V without seriously modifying much to avoid the warranty?

[howiealan]

Thanks for posting this review.
I'm curious what the unassisted top speed is?
And how many miles can it go at that average speed on the flat?

(& How much do you weigh?)

Unassisted top speed on flat ground seems to be 18 mph. I weigh 165. Haven't run for any length of time without peddling so icant really tell you how long the battery will last. I really love this bike!

Howie

[howiealan]

Hello, I have also been looking at the Prodeco products. Does anyone know if the Phantom, Storm, Genesis, or hopefully - Mariner, can take a back bicycle rack? And also fenders?

-Sasha

I've had the Phantom X for about 3 weeks now, (I will post a full review after I put a few more miles on it) but the bike rack is something I've just completed.
My main reason to install a rack is there is no place for a water bottle mount on the bike, and obviously a small bag is needed for a tube and tools anyway, so I went with a trunk bag that is about 8" wide and 13" long. big enough to carry the necessitates without looking like a huge pannier, its large enough that in the future I'll be able to carry the charger with me for overnight trips too

It took me 3 tries to find a seat post mounted rack that fit properly without hitting the battery and not having the seat way too high.
Avinir makes a fairly straight rack with just a slight angle on the piece that attaches to the post, anything too steep and there's no room because the angle causes the rack to hit the top of the battery, or you need to raise the seat to a ridiculous height. I found the rack at Dick's sports and it cost about $30

Just curious why you added cargo carrying capacity to the back of the bike. With the rear motor and battery it's pretty rear heavy as is. I've been afraid to add more weight to the back. Perhaps something small on the front frame?

Howie

[nyctimd]

I am waiting for delivery on the Phantom X. Can any of the early purchaser's comment on their roughly half year of use. Still satisfied, or not? Thanks.

[jackrussellny]

Prodeco has a preview of their new line-up for 2012. You can see they changed the battery design. all their bikes now sport the 36 V battery.

I hope they ship these soon. I am getting tired of the wait.

http://prodecotech.com/Catalog%20PDF%20Presentation.pdf

[Racer_X]

jackrussellny, Thanks for that link. Alot of prodeco models now have the big Direct Drive motors for super reliability and power.
Even the step-thru model has a Direct Drive version Wow, and those batteries look pretty small.

[nyctimd]

Saw the new 2012 bike line-up on Prodeco's web page. Seems to be the same Phantom X bike with slight modifications to the appearance ( and price ). But, the battery displayed on the photo's are clearly smaller than recent Phantom X productions. It would be nice if Prodeco could shrink the current 19" battery for the last deliveries of the Phantom X without shrinking the ah's as well. I still want the bike, but the 19" battery looks weird and out of place sticking out that far aft.

[Frog]

Thanks for the reviews I'm REALLY hoping to get the Phantom X before they change the battery to the 9ah instead of the 12ah. Can someone please try to answer a question. If I buy from Bikemania will my warranty be valid I don't see anything on the site that says they are an authorized dealer. Also Industrialbicycles sells Prodeco bikes but I don't see anything about authorized dealer. Thanks again I hope to be riding this bike soon.

[Levy]

Hello, I am a representative of Prodeco Technologies. If you have any specific questions on our bikes you can email me at josh@prodecotech.com I will gladly help yu find the answers you are looking for. Also, yes bikemania.biz is one of our authorized dealers and yes your warranty is valid if you purchase through them.

[miker100]

The people at Prodeco have really been terrible to deal with. I ordered two Phantom X's 7/1/11 and was promissed a ship date of 7/15/11. It's almost October and I still don't have the bike. First it was 7/15 then 8/1 then 8/15 then 9/1 then 9/15 and now 10/1. These people are LIARS. Don't believe anything they say. You can not trust them. I've already cancelled one of the bikes that I ordered and am considering cancelling the second. I would rather pay more for a bike from someone who you can count on then these people who have lied over and over and over. One of the few review of the bike had it break shortly after he got it. Some kind of a controller problem. He was sent a replacement part but still had to fix the problem. I'm thoroughly disgusted with these people and wish I hadn't ordered the bike now - three months later and still with no bike.

[Frog]

I have seen a few reviews from people saying it took awhile to get the bike. I have also seen sellers giving $150-200 in upgrades to help make up for the wait. many say that Prodeco is willing to do whatever it takes to ensure you have a good experience once you have the bike. I think for me considering the price it's going to be worth the wait and I know what I'm getting into. Good luck Hope you get your bike soon

[nyctimd]

Hey miker100, sorry to hear you're having trouble getting delivery. I ordered the Phantom X also, and I'm also awaiting delivery, since August. Can you share whether you ordered from a dealer, (which one?), or did you deal with Prodeco directly? I am beginning to have some communication and delivery issues also, so your blog caught my attention. However, it's too soon for me to say if I put my trust with the wrong companies. I hope the delays are merely unexpected production related matters & Prodeco and my dealer ultimately deliver my bikes as promised under the terms of our agreement. Time will tell I suppose.

[miker100]

@nyctimd
I ordered two bikes on the same day (7/1/11), one from bikemania and one from champion electric. I guess I thought with two companies working on my order I'd at least get one bike and have a chance to see which one would deliver fastest. Both offered the same price $1,099 with free shipping. bikemania charged my cc back in July. At the time no big deal since the bike was "on the way". Two months later I started to wonder what would happen if I had a problem with my bike and had to dispute the charge or something. I think you only have so long from the date of the charge to dispute something. Anyway, I just wasn't happy with the ever extending shipping date and cancelled this one. The one from champion is still on order. I've communicated with bikemania, champion and prodeco directly. Most recently champion told me the bike would ship 9/19. I called champion on 9/20 to verify it had shipped and they told me sometime that week. Wrong again. Today is 9/28 and it has not shipped and have no idea when it will. At this point I don't know if I'd be satisfied if they gave me the bike for free. Save yourself a lot of frustration and buy a different bike.

[nyctimd]

You did the correct thing in cancelling the order with bikemania since they should not have charged your credit account until the bike was shipped and you were provided with a tracking number. IMO.
My order is through Champion Electric Bicycles also. This is my first order through them, and although I am still waiting, I believe that reason for the wait is beyond their control. I did hear from Champion today & I was given information that seemed reasonable, and consistent with information I received from Prodeco's last week. I was told at the time I placed my order, that it could be a long wait, so they were certainly honest about the circumstances of the sale at that juncture. I don't think any dealer at this point can satisfy 100% of their orders with the next batch of Phantom X's from Prodeco, since there will only be about 30 going out. However, I do believe Champion and Prodeco's representatives are being straight with me when they say that the orders will be filled eventually. It's hard to judge reputability in an internet sale and through e-mails and phone calls, but I think I'm dealing with honest folks who are trying to satisfy customers. The monkey wrench seem to be late parts shipments and design changes that are slowing Prodeco's ability to get the work out the door. Ultimately, I think we will be satisfied customers, - if we can wait.

[miker100]

@nyctimd
Champion actually charged my card back on 8/18 on one of the many times they told me the bike was shipping any day. It's 9/29 and still nothing has shipped. I agree with you the problem lies with Prodeco and I understand an occasional snafu. Every company has them, especially a start-up if you can still consider Prodeco a start-up. It's not easy to understand pushing the date back 5 or 6 times - unless they are so messed up that it's just their normal which really looks bad. I was told they were out at a bike show in Vegas drumming up more business when they can't even fill the orders they have. Why would any company want to encourage people to buy from them when they know they can't satisfy the orders in a timely fashion. Just creates more bad will with their customers. They need to get the ship in order FIRST, then look for more business. Anyway, someone said the distributors and/or Prodeco are including free accessories to help make up for all the poor customer service so I'll let you know what shows up. Better be good to make up for all this bs.

[nyctimd]

You made good points. No doubt about it, - Prodeco is slow on the switch when it comes to delivery on orders, and their dealers are lightning fast to take them. That's the disconnect that gives rise to frustrated customers and bad "word of mouth" publicity for those business persons involved. From my perspective, a company making products such as these, should put the lion's share of their resources toward consistent productivity that enables it to keep up with demand. But it seems that Prodeco's upper management puts too much effort into product development, sales, and marketing, relative to their ability to timely service customers who place orders, - at least as far as the Phantom X is concerned. Prodeco is a young company, but it wasn't born yesterday either.

All that being said, it certainly seems odd, that with so many customers backordered for the Phantom X, that Prodeco would choose the present time to initiate a price increase and reduce the battery capacity on future orders of the Phantom X (the standard 12 ah battery will be reduced to 9 ah's). It kind of makes me feel that Prodeco is so interested in company growth, that current orders for the Phantom X are not as important to Prodeco as they should be. One would think Prodeco would be more attentive to development of customer loyalty as a way to increase future sales and higher prices.

Let's face it though, until now, the Phantom X seemed to be a good product for the money relative to other options available to us, whether we bought stock built or DIY. But a guy can only take so much before he walks. I hope when all is said and done, I will still have good things to say about Prodeco, my dealer, and the product, notwithstanding the long wait we have had to endure in order to patronize these companies. Let's see how it all turns out. I'm trying to remain positive.

[nyctimd]

Hey miker100, - New development. I pulled the plug on the Phantom X purchase due to the backlog and other purchase related issues with Champion Electric Bicycles and Prodeco in general. Hang in there, if you can, & good luck with the Phantom X if you get it. I will probably upgrade our current bikes when it gets too cold to ride here in NY. Nothing wrong with a winter project, anyway.

[Levy]

To our dissatisfied & inconvenienced customers,

I am a representative of Prodeco Technologies. I would like the opportunity to explain our predicament to customers who were disappointed with the production delay and to those currently on the 2011 Phantom X waiting list. We are doing everything in our power to produce these bikes as quickly as we can while at the same time trying to satisfy customers to the best of our abilities. Our scope of control is very limited which is why production delays have gone on so long without resolution. For one, we constantly deal with international shipping companies and US customs over the delays of our components being supplied in a timely fashion. Many of these people (freight companies and US customs) simply do not care that we are trying to supply American consumers with a high quality product and rock bottom prices in an expedited manner. Their interests lie elsewhere and we are powerless to influence them otherwise. As for being charged prior to receiving the product, it is regretful that we do not have the ability to dictate how our dealers operate their business practices in this manner because we realize this is creating a great point of tension for consumers. We do not charge the dealers for the product until they receive the tracking information and we would like to expect them to behave in a similar manner however we do not have control over them if they do not comply with this procedure. Our assembly workers are building bikes as quickly as they can. The Phantom X is just 1 of our products and is the only bike from 2011 to experience this dramatic production delay (again, for reasons beyond our control). The redesign of the battery system did hold up production for a while and we had issues with other components which were to be supplied from overseas. We always strive to leave every customer satisfied and if you would like to speak with us on this issue please contact Steven Bukowi, one of our sales & customer service technicians at 800.943.6190.

If you are currently on the waiting list, Steve can help you get the answers you seek. If you cancelled your order and just want to speak with us in regards to your cancellation, Steve can help you. If for any reason you have doubts as to the reliability of our reputation, please contact us either by phone or email. 800.943.6190 is our office number and our emails are info@prodecotech.com or service@prodecotech.com

We will be happy to help answer your questions and welcome your constructive criticism to enhance our business practices.

[miker100]

@Levy

Today is 10/19. Still no shipment but I have been told it will be soon. I've been told that before soooo many times that I have very little faith. My spirit is broken. I was initially promissed shipment in mid-July. Guess I'll get it just in time to put it away for winter. Yea !

Prodeco needs to do something to make up for the terrible experience they have given customers who put their faith in the company and were massively let down. When I was initially told my two new bikes were coming in mid-July I sold the two road bikes I had ( mine and my wife's ) in anticipation. We have always done a lot of biking together. We've spent a whole summer with no bikes due to Prodeco's broken promisses. Missed out on a lot.

My wife made me cancel her order ( bikemania ) but I kept mine ( champion )

Once I receive the bike ( if I ever do ) I'll report back on what Prodeco has done to make up for this and I'll report about the bike.

I'm still hoping prodeco will do the right thing and make this right for their customers.

[emerald_phoenix]

@miker100

I've been following these threads for a while and this is the reason I haven't ordered one of these bikes yet. I still plan to pick one up next spring so I am keeping my fingers crossed that Prodeco can catch up with their inventory over the winter time. As far as your order goes, if I were you I would accept nothing less than the upgraded Phantom X2 model with the slightly higher capacity battery for having to wait and lose out on an entire couple seasons of biking. Maybe have them throw in a nice bike light or something also. Back orders are one thing and can be understood but broken promises over and over again to me are completely unacceptable.

Best of luck and definitely post if/when you get the bike and perhaps your own little quick review.

[miker100]

@emerald_phoenix

I will be getting the Phantom X2 which is basically equal to the original Phantom X - same motor and the same 12 amp battery. I don't think of it as an upgrade but with all the new models it's the same bike with a different name.

They also have the 18amp model that has greater distance for the same price but with a smaller motor. I could get this one and I understand they are shipping these now but I live in Western PA, which is full of hills, and I am a solid 200 lbs so I don't know that the 250 watt motor on the Phantom 18 would work for me.

Accessories, a quick charger, a discount or some other acknowledgement of the pain they've inflicted on their customers is in order but lets see how they handle it. As I said, I'll be sure to let you know, good or bad.

[Frog]

The original had triple walled rims the the new Phantom and the X2 have double walled rims but I'm not sure how big of a deal that is.