our experiences getting a 2013 Prodeco Black Stride 500

[slartibartfast]

I do not think that this tale is typical (I sure hope not!) but I want to share it here. I will cut this long tale down to the bare bones.

We wanted to buy a 2013 Prodeco Black Stride 500. There is no local dealer in Victoria, so we ordered one from Seattle EBike. It arrived in May 2013 via the ferry, but it quickly became clear they had sent us the wrong bike - a 2012 model. It took them four weeks to acknowledge their error, after some arguing, and get the 2013 model to us. Since they wanted the 2012 model back unridden, we were four weeks with a bike we could not use!

Within a week of getting the 2013 model, the motor failed. Seattle EBike claimed this was no longer their problem, and directed us to deal with Prodeco in Florida. Prodeco tried to solve the issue initially with a new motor controller, which took another four weeks to reach us - it did not solve the problem. Finally they sent us a new rear wheel/motor via their Canadian distributor, with another three weeks of waiting before the problem was finally fixed.

In total we had a Prodeco bike for 11 weeks which we could not use! Granted, some of this time is due to our being far from their dealer and factory, but we are in a large city and mail and couriers do function in Canada as well!

That said, we are quite happy with the bike now. It serves well on daily commutes of about 22km, needing a recharge only every three days (the motor is used only for hills etc.). We did put fenders on the bike, as it rains here often, and cover the battery with a plastic bag - the battery tray and electronics are not as well protected from water as they could be! We also modified a seat-post-mounted carrier tray to handle panniers wide enough to get around the battery tray.

Prodeco has since informed us that due to our complaints and those of others, they have revamped their customer service system, and instituted a review of dealers. I believe they are certainly trying to make improvements!

 

[mattrb]

Since it's a summer bike and your in Canada and probably won't use it till April, Tell prodeco that you want 4 month extension on warranty. You don't deserve this.

 

[slartibartfast]

mattrb, this is a year round bike! We hardly get any snow in this part of Canada (none at all last winter) thus only have to contend with some rain.

 

[RoadWrinkle]

You should probably post this under "ebike reviews and testing" section.

 

[lbz5mc12]

Anytime you're not using your bike, you need to have it plugged into the charger. Don't wait one time every three days to pug it in. You need to keep the battery topped off or you're going to damage it over time. If it's a smart charger just leave it plugged in when It's not in use.

 

[slartibartfast]

lbz5mc12, is that true (that it should always be charged up) for the lithium iron phosphate battery that comes with the Prodeco bike? It's all new to me!

RoadWrinkle, I felt that our main experience happened before we got the (working) bike, thus I did not post under "reviews and testing".

Thanks to both of you!

 

[mattrb]

Lbz5mc12, All production ebikes should be kept at 50 percent when stored for over a week. Charge it for 30 minutes every week subsequent to that first week.

 

[dogman dan]

Recharge at every convenient opportunity. Leave it on the charger overnight if you have discharged it deeply, so it has time to balance. The bms takes a long time to balance the pack if you unbalance it with a deep cycle.

Storage is another story, A bms can ruin a battery that is stored too long. If you can't unplug the bms, then you must keep it recharged periodically. If you can unplug the bms, then cool storage less than fully charged is good.

Either way, avoid storing in a hot place as much as possible. Of course, when it's summer who has a cool place?

 

[RoadWrinkle]

If you are running in rain a lot, make sure the motor's wire outlet has a rain loop to allow drips to fall off the wiring as opposed to leading water into your motor housing. Also, might look into ways to add silicone at various locations to make it more waterproof.

 

[mattrb]

I sent in my PhantomX2 battery before my year warranty+small extension warranty ends.


I told them about my full suspension bike and how the whole plastic battery rack and hard tail bumpiness needs improvement. The maintenance guy said that in 2015 they will have a full suspension bike. I told them to make sure the battery is center mounted, that probably will not happen though.

The whole frame is the same on all the prodeco bikes and they need to change everything to make it work with FS and center battery.

I hope that they make this improvement but the price will skyrocket based upon the price increases of upper prodeco models.