Prodeco Genesis/Storm

[Shelley]

Hello Everyone,

I have been reading all the wonderful reviews on ebikes here. We decided to get the Prodeco ebikes; Genesis and the Storm. These are our 1st ebikes and we have had them 2 weeks now, received them July 26, 2011. (I couldn't find a review on these models, only on the Phantom.)

Last week I made it my personal goal not to drive my car for one week. Well, with my Genesis it was easy to do that. I put 60 miles on the Genesis in one week. This is huge for me, I am a female, age 53, <120 lbs. with a hip problem! I wanted other women to know that they could do this too.

We live in Albuquerque, NM USA and we have mountains. So we upped the battery to 24V 18Ah LiFePO 4.The 24V doesn't drain the battery very quickly at all, but the 18Ah gives us the juice to go the distance. According to the bike computer I rode 60 miles on one charge and there was still power left. My riding style is always pedaling even with the throttle on. The exception to this is crossing busy streets where I use the throttle to get me going and then start to pedal after the throttle gets me started. The battery indicator light still showed it on the middle green, but I think it was near the end of power. The only reason I charged it (rather than letting it run out of power and figure the total range) was we were going to ride our bikes to dinner and we thought I would run out of power on the way home, which is all up hill. The battery took 8 hours to charge, so it must have been really low. My husband thinks I might have been able to get another 10 miles out of the battery! Gosh, that would make the range 70 miles on one charge, holy smokes!

Also, our batteries lock in place to the controller. I think this is a new feature. We find this reassuring that someone just can't take your battery off without taking the bike apart. There is a rear bike light on the battery that you can turn on with a push of a button, nice.

Although I put a pannier over the battery, it says it is not a rack. I think Prodeco needs to figure out a way to make it so you can use panniers. I am only using the panniers to hold light weight stuff. I got a quick release basket for the front to use when I go grocery shopping.

Overall the bike feels in balance with the battery in the back and the motor on the front wheel.

The center stand works great but I don't like the fact that it raises the front tire off the ground. When you go to lock up your bike the handlebars whack you in the head because the front tire wants to turn all around!

Now on to locking these bikes up. You will need 2 locks, one U shaped and a cable. We lock the rear wheels to the U lock and run the cable through the front tires and back to the U lock. (You need to make sure you lock your front tire so no one can steal your motor.)

We have both gotten flat tires. ABQ is in the desert and we have thorns! Both of our bikes had 2 thorn protection liners inserted but we still got flats. Mike (my husband) is looking into replacing the stock tires with a more thorn resistant type.

These bikes are sold in ABQ at Bikes+ on Holly St. and NE Cyclery on Menaul Blvd. The total cost with the motor and battery upgrades was $1485.00. We feel this was a very good price for a quality ebike.

Well, that is all I can think of to report so far. If you have any questions I will try to answer to the best of my ability.

UPDATE

While I am not into going fast, I thought some of you might want to know the speed I was able to achieve while going up a long incline. The bike computer said that I had an 183 foot gain in elevation. This was about a mile long stretch going towards the Sandia Mountains. My speed with full throttle plus pedaling was 13.6 mph. I really don't think this is too bad. We have the 250 watt motor on the front wheel. Now going down I was cruising at 25.7 mph, holy schmolly!

 

[ambroseliao]

Great report Shelley!

It sounds like you're a very happy owner. You're getting tremendous range from the battery!

Can you tell me the difference besides the racks between the Genesis and the Storm?

Were you able to determine what caused your flats? Were they in the front or rear tire?

Ambrose

 

[Shelley]

Hi Ambrose,

The flats were caused by thorns going through the tires! Even with 2 liners in the tires, those suckers are nasty and sharp.

The ONLY difference between the Genesis and the Storm is color. The Genesis is brushed aluminum and the Storm is painted a taupe beige with black spokes and handlebars. The Genesis does have a more upright handlebar position so it is more of a comfort ride. They both have 26" wheels and 7 gears.

 

[kevo]

Nice looking bikes - thanks for the review!

 

[alan]

Thanks for the review.

Don't know if Albuquerque thorns are worse than Phoenix thorns, but I found my puncture flats disappeared after I switched to Michelin City Pilot tires. Note that the Michelin City tires are not good enough (no side puncture protection which is needed for long thorns like we get. Get the City Pilot. I now use light thin tubes with no slime, and only occasionally get a flat, but not from a puncture. Tubes still tear and degrade, but only one box cutter razor blade has been able to penetrate the tire, now with about 10,000 miles in 2.5 years (since I switched to the City Pilots). Note that these are hard tires with very low rolling resistance and that feel very secure over 20 MPH. I ride them at 80-85 psi. The Schwalabe or Hookworms may be better if you are looking for a softer ride.

-- Alan

 

[Shelley]

Hi Alan,

Thanks for the heads up on the Michelin City Pilot tires. We'll check them out.

 

[Racer_X]

Great review and nice bikes, I was looking at the Phantom. It is basically the same thing except it has a Direct Drive type motor vs Geared motor like yours.
Both type of motors are good.
I also might add that you should charge your batteries after every ride even if it is only 1 mile. It is good for the battery and it will definitely last longer.
This is not like the batteries of old that you had to deplete completely before charging because of battery memory issues.
Good luck and keep us informed.

 

[Shelley]

Hello Racer_X,

The Phantom looked like a large bike online. I am 5'6" so I am not short but felt that it would be too much for me to handle. Also, I wasn't crazy about all of the weight being in the back. Did you ever get a Phantom?

I understand that the LiFe PO batteries don't have memory like the old batteries. The reason I didn't charge the battery after riding is because we wanted to see how many miles we could go on a single charge. I think other people would want to know that information as well. Since we have the 24V 18Ah LiFe PO 4 batteries they go further than the stock battery, 24V 9Ah. Plus we have the 250 Watt motor again, not the stock 200 Watt. So if others decide to go with this combination they will get an idea of how far they can go based on their weight and terrain.

Great review and nice bikes, I was looking at the Phantom. It is basically the same thing except it has a Direct Drive type motor vs Geared motor like yours.
Both type of motors are good.
I also might add that you should charge your batteries after every ride even if it is only 1 mile. It is good for the battery and it will definitely last longer.
This is not like the batteries of old that you had to deplete completely before charging because of battery memory issues.
Good luck and keep us informed.

 

[Shelley]

Good to see the Genesis and Storm get the review it deserves. I have been a dealer for Prodeco since February. The Genesis sold out at the factory in late spring, 1000 sold from Sept 2010 to about April. I've sold 12 bikes including 2 Phantom X's. I got my first return last week. A buyer in California bought two custom Storms with the upgraded 250 Watt motor and Genesis handlebars. That allows a more upright riding stance than the Storm. The bike was just to large for his wife so I took it back and shipped them a Mariner to Thousand Oaks, Ca. The box was delivered upside down by Fedex but the bike was perfect. It traveled 6000 miles from Florida and back. I can't get any more custom Storms because the Genesis is back in production. That bike has the extended range battery. I also have a Storm with the 250 Watt motor and standard battery.

The battery system on the Phantom is being redesigned to be more elegant and give the bike better balance. The factory built about 70 bikes with an "off the shelf battery case" that they thought looked awkward.
A custom battery case prototype costs $10,000 and takes time to test and manufacture. They told me last week that this redesign of the batteries could hold up production for" a few more weeks."
I'm told that they plan on showing the new model for the bike show in Vegas in September and that it will be in stock.

Dan Chase
Factory Direct Electric Bikes
http://www.USAebikes.com

Hi Daniel,

IMHO any woman under 5'2" is too short to ride a Genesis/Storm. I agree with you that the Mariner was probably a better fit. I meet a lady the other day who asked me about my bike. She wants an electric bike but felt that mine was too big for her. I told her that they make the Mariner and it would fit her, she was probably 5'.

From what I can tell in the photos online the Phantom looks huge and I saw that long battery on the back. I wouldn't feel comfortable riding one of those. And I am no whimp to riding 2 wheels, (I just sold my Bajaj Chetak scooter 150cc which I had for 8 years!) I like the balance of weight on the Genesis/Storm vs the Phantom. However, I can see that there would be a need for the Phantom when someone wants to get to work quickly. The bigger motor would certainly be needed for that task or when time is more important than distance.

 

[howiealan]

I'm 5'5" and have had the phantom x for a month. I use it to commute. I've put over. 1000 miles on the bike. It fits me great. Has plenty of torque to pull my z165 lbs up any hill around here. I will see how far into the cold weather I'll continue to commute. I love this bike and have a few friends on the waiting list for the bike

Howie

 

[tony102]

Shelley thanks for the great review. I am wondering if you can provide another update?
How have the bikes been holding up reliability wise? How far can you go on TAG(no pedaling, just battery) mode only?
I have been looking around for reviews on the Prodeco products but they are sparse. Curious to see this since the cost performance seems pretty good. I imagine that as Prodeco works on filling backlog that there should be a lot more satisfied owners gushing about their experience online. Or perhaps they are having some supply chain fulfillment issues, anybody hear whats going on?

 

[nyctimd]

I heard it is a supply issue, but I think the larger issue is whether Prodeco will produce any more "2011" models at the existing price points because they are now rolling out the "2012" models at higher prices. I am led to believe that there is not enough 2011 Phantom X's in the pipeline for fill all of the current orders (perhaps mine too), - so what happens to the customers who contracted to buy over the past several months and are patiently waiting? I don't know, and I have not been able to get any answers. The new "2012" Prodeco bikes cost more, but they are essentially the same bike as was produced in 2011. I hope production is not being held back to "bait and switch" customers into paying more, or face not getting their orders filled.

 

[anthony_prodeco]

I heard it is a supply issue, but I think the larger issue is whether Prodeco will produce any more "2011" models at the existing price points because they are now rolling out the "2012" models at higher prices. I am led to believe that there is not enough 2011 Phantom X's in the pipeline for fill all of the current orders (perhaps mine too), - so what happens to the customers who contracted to buy over the past several months and are patiently waiting? I don't know, and I have not been able to get any answers. The new "2012" Prodeco bikes cost more, but they are essentially the same bike as was produced in 2011. I hope production is not being held back to "bait and switch" customers into paying more, or face not getting their orders filled.

I am a representative of Prodeco technologies. Let me assure you as well as all other customers who ordered a Phantom X 2011, there will be no "bait and switch" as you call it. If you placed your order for a Phantom X in 2011 you will get that bike. Should we not be able to give you the Phantom X 2011 as described in the specifications, we will notify the customer and offer to build a 2012 model for the inconvenience at no additional charge. We are not taking any new orders for 2011 Phantom X bikes as described in their specifications. The increase in cost for the 2012 Phantom X is to accommodate for the upgraded battery, rack design, disc brakes, as well as an upgraded suspension fork.

In regards to the upgraded disc brake system, we have worked out a special agreement with Promax for over-sized 203mm disc brakes. As some of you may already know, large disc brakes disperse heat more evenly, adding life to your brake pads. Other upgrades in the 2012 line-up include a complete over-hall of the electronics systems (upgraded from 24v to 36v configuration), introduction of step-through frame model (Stride series), introduction of new Mariner 7, Phantom Lite, Phantom X2, Storm 500, and Genesis 500. For more information on our bikes please feel free to contact me at info@prodecotech.com


In regards to your comment on "not being able to get an answer", how did you try to contact us? By phone? By email? What email did you send messages to? Which number did you call? Was their any errors in trying to contact us? (I.E. unanswered phone calls, disconnected calls, error messages in emails, etc.) I would greatly appreciate your feedback as one of our founding principles is to ensure superior customer service and any constructive criticism you may be able to provide would help us to improve on our business practices. If you contacted someone and they did not provide you with adequate information, please notify me so I can follow-up on this. We want all of our customers (and potential customers) to know that we strive to satisfy.

 

[nyctimd]

Good Post. Thanks for the insight & information. Sorry if I put you on the defensive, - I was merely conversing with others who, like myself, are interested in purchasing Prodeco's products.

 

[JimBiker]

Reading these posts helps me to maintain my enthusiasm for the Prodeco Storm I ordered two months ago today. I've managed to maintain patience because of the positive reports on the Genesis/Storm I've read on sites like this one. However, it would be good for the dealers to be a bit more proactive and provide their customers with some feedback as to the status of their orders. I still don't have any idea when I will receive my bike.

 

[JimBiker]

I ordered a Prodeco Storm through a dealer nearly three months ago and I'm still uncertain as to the status of my order. The dealer I bought the bike through is unable to tell me and attempts to email or contact Prodeco have gone unanswered.

Comments, posted online by owners, regarding the quality of the bicycles have been good and the bikes have been well received. Delivery performance leaves a lot to be desired, however.

This leaves me concerned about customer support for parts or warranty work when required.

 

[JimBiker]

I cancelled the order today. After three months it was time to move on.

 

[Jason27]

You could probably build a better electric bike than prodeco anyway.

 

[mousumi76]

Hello Everyone,

I have been reading all the wonderful reviews on ebikes here. We decided to get the Prodeco ebikes; Genesis and the Storm. These are our 1st ebikes and we have had them 2 weeks now, received them July 26, 2011. (I couldn't find a review on these models, only on the Phantom.)

Last week I made it my personal goal not to drive my car for one week. Well, with my Genesis it was easy to do that. I put 60 miles on the Genesis in one week. This is huge for me, I am a female, age 53, <120 lbs. with a hip problem! I wanted other women to know that they could do this too.

We live in Albuquerque, NM USA and we have mountains. So we upped the battery to 24V 18Ah LiFePO 4.The 24V doesn't drain the battery very quickly at all, but the 18Ah gives us the juice to go the distance. According to the bike computer I rode 60 miles on one charge and there was still power left. My riding style is always pedaling even with the throttle on. The exception to this is crossing busy streets where I use the throttle to get me going and then start to pedal after the throttle gets me started. The battery indicator light still showed it on the middle green, but I think it was near the end of power. The only reason I charged it (rather than letting it run out of power and figure the total range) was we were going to ride our bikes to dinner and we thought I would run out of power on the way home, which is all up hill. The battery took 8 hours to charge, so it must have been really low. My husband thinks I might have been able to get another 10 miles out of the battery! Gosh, that would make the range 70 miles on one charge, holy smokes!

Also, our batteries lock in place to the controller. I think this is a new feature. We find this reassuring that someone just can't take your battery off without taking the bike apart. There is a rear bike light on the battery that you can turn on with a push of a button, nice.

Although I put a pannier over the battery, it says it is not a rack. I think Prodeco needs to figure out a way to make it so you can use panniers. I am only using the panniers to hold light weight stuff. I got a quick release basket for the front to use when I go grocery shopping.

Overall the bike feels in balance with the battery in the back and the motor on the front wheel.

The center stand works great but I don't like the fact that it raises the front tire off the ground. When you go to lock up your bike the handlebars whack you in the head because the front tire wants to turn all around!

Now on to locking these bikes up. You will need 2 locks, one U shaped and a cable. We lock the rear wheels to the U lock and run the cable through the front tires and back to the U lock. (You need to make sure you lock your front tire so no one can steal your motor.)

We have both gotten flat tires. ABQ is in the desert and we have thorns! Both of our bikes had 2 thorn protection liners inserted but we still got flats. Mike (my husband) is looking into replacing the stock tires with a more thorn resistant type.

These bikes are sold in ABQ at Bikes+ on Holly St. and NE Cyclery on Menaul Blvd. The total cost with the motor and battery upgrades was $1485.00. We feel this was a very good price for a quality ebike.

Well, that is all I can think of to report so far. If you have any questions I will try to answer to the best of my ability.

UPDATE

While I am not into going fast, I thought some of you might want to know the speed I was able to achieve while going up a long incline. The bike computer said that I had an 183 foot gain in elevation. This was about a mile long stretch going towards the Sandia Mountains. My speed with full throttle plus pedaling was 13.6 mph. I really don't think this is too bad. We have the 250 watt motor on the front wheel. Now going down I was cruising at 25.7 mph, holy schmolly!

Great share.Thanks for the sharing.Really a great report.