Adding a passenger to a Prodeco Phantom X2

[simpleascouldbe]

Hello!

After a long time looking at ebikes, I bought my first, a Prodeco Phantom X2.

I've taken it around a lot in the first week. I love it. Not sure how much is ebike love and how much is model specific. It's pretty sturdy though. I love the throttle/shifter arrangement. One handle each, very intuitive. Brakes are great.

I was looking for common/easy mods folks here have done to this model, do any come to mind?

I did find a thread that said the speed limiter isn't easy to remove, sounds like the speed limiter is in the motor.

My main objective now is to support a passenger.

Options under consideration:

* Ski tow rope and skateboard. Downside, only talented skateboarders can be passengers.
* Pegs. Awesome old school style. Can the bike support this? It has threads back there but I'm not sure how much force the fork can take.
* Seat on the main cross bar. Does someone make a seat that screws into the water bottle slot?

Anyone put pegs or an extra seat on a Prodeco?

 

[cwah]

good ulck

 

[Chalo]

That bike has a folding frame (weaker than normal), a suspension fork whose function is highly dependent upon load, and overall build quality that is good by e-bike standards but only mediocre by normal bicycle standards. I don't think it's a good idea to ask it to do more than it was designed for.

The best way to get a normal bike to carry a passenger is to add an Xtracycle Free Radical frame extender. You could probably add one to a Prodeco bike, but it would require lengthening parts of the wiring harness.

 

[Punx0r]

She looks terrified...

 

[Joseph C.]

She looks terrified...

Probably doesn't want to be kicked in the shins again. His knees are nearly hitting the handlebars.

 

[meanunclebob]

Sidecar? Trailer?

 

[simpleascouldbe]

The xtracycle is a good tip, but it looks like more than I need. This is a longer chain, longer shifting cable, longer electrical, and actually shifts the back wheel position. I think this would dramatically affect frame stability. This video showed me how it's set up in enough detail: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LI0xd54QnCM

Couldn't I just weld an extra support to the battery platform and have the gal sit there?
Adding pegs seems the easiest, but you guys think the amount of spread the forks have been put through to support the hub motor doesn't leave enough for pegs to grab?

 

[Chalo]

That bike has already been fitted with too long a fork, resulting in a rear weight bias. If you park a passenger on the back, her weight will be centered behind the rear axle, creating a lifting force on the front. Handling will suffer, and inadvertent wheelies might occur at inopportune times. If you think an Xtracycle would have a detrimental effect on stability, putting a passenger on the rear rack would be quite a bit more dramatic than that.

You could put axle pegs on there, provided the motor's wires don't emerge from the axle end. It would probably be best to have pegs machined with a thread in the end corresponding to the axle thread, and replace the axle nuts with them.

 

[dogman dan]

How much does this gal weigh? Sure, we rode double all the time back in the day. We each weighed 90 pounds then. so the two of us weighed about what many of us weigh now.

One thing you do need to consider, is that the motor is not designed to carry 400 pounds up hills. Many hubmotors have been killed towing a skateboarder up hills. So that brings us back to the weight. If both of you weigh 250 together, it might work. Or if the routes you plan to take are flat, or very slight grades such as 2-3%. Bottom line, if that particular hubmotor is going up a hill slower than 13-15 mph, it's suffering badly. If the slope and load do allow you to ride at 15mph or more, then you can carry her.

As for the frame and such, yeah, far from ideal in design to carry two people. So it might be very hard for you to even handle 15 mph. You'll definitely see that frame a flexing and bending from side to side when you ride with a load that big.

Bottom line, if the trip is short, and flat, and you ride slow, it could be done.

Done well? Never, not without a longtail. The longer wheelbase really helps when packing a heavy load. You said it your self, it does dramatically affect stability, but for the better. The tail may still wag, but at a lower frequency and the frame whip is not concentrated on such a short space. This results in an easier to control wobble. Just the other day I found out what my longtails maximum safe speed is. At 38 mph descending a huge mountain. I went into the tank slapper, and it was the slowest most easy to control high speed wobble I've ever experienced. Long and slow, and easy to get back in control.


See all those little scooters with two people on them? Go measure the wheelbase on them. Longer than your bike by at least 6" to a foot. And the frames are much stiffer than a bike.

 

[linberl]

At one point I was thinking about adding a seat to my Prodeco. These guys are out of the kickstarter phase and in production now. One of the developers lives about 20 minutes from me, so he was going to let me try and see if it would mount on my Stride, but I decided to go another direction (no passenger seat). You might want to talk to them and see if it would work. The idea is the seat is above the battery (you might want one without the seat drawer) if you can get the frame long enough. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hg4hxwYU-io Something to consider, anyway. It's a cool idea.

 

[dogman dan]

I like the seat, it's a good idea for young strong riders, presumably someplace fairly flat. Perfect for getting from car park to the spot along the beach multi use trail for example. Or a last mile ride, go pick up the wife from the train station nearby.


But put it on a prodeco, and then ride double up a long 10% grade, and you will melt a motor if the ride is long enough. These direct drive motors are pretty tough though, if it's just 5% grade and only a mile or less, it will work. It would work for many miles of mild grades like 2-3%.

But if you were to be doing double riding all the time, either an extracycle or a tandem would work better.