Thinking About buying A Prodeco Phantom X2

There is a good post-anchored rack on Amazon, and it has its own panniers and top bag available. I'm just surprised that having a rear rack makes a bicycle a 'cargo bike' these days. I assume the pack has a connector built into its mount, so I'd just put a rack above it and use a bag with at least short panniers to cover it. Because here in NY e-bikes are illegal for both street and sidewalk use. No one has ever bothered me in my town, though, so as long as I'm discreet I'm not all that worried.

I've just bought the Phantom X2, with Genesis bars and half-twist throttle instead of thumb throttle, and with a free rear pannier bag, from Bike-Smiths on Ebay, for $1449.00. I *really* hope this goes better than the ZEV or LA Free did...

Despite having 513 "points" my reply to another topic never appeared, and I apparently don't have permission to post in the anti-spam topic. Anyone else experiencing this, or just me?

The bike came today! It is early as many other people have reported from this seller, and the box has only minor scrapes on it. It doesn't seem to have been open and resealed, so if the dealer is honest, the factory does the custom build that I was told they don't do - at least not for private customers. We'll see when I can get some help to get the box moved into another room and opened. I really hope there isn't any damage (bent battery holder racks are not uncommon) or defects. I also hope I got the configuration I ordered. I was just finishing ordering Winter gloves and long underwear when it arrived. ;-)

I'm going to pretend that the CA remark was a good-natured joke. ;-)

While I still think that good lead-silicone battery systems are the most reliable for most applications, I owned a SLA bicycle once and it was a disaster. Too heavy, some faulty sensor (that NYCEWheels ignored) kept shutting the motor off when I needed it most, and the battery charger ended up cooking two battery packs. The most expensive mistake I've made. Plus it was a steel frame and the bike weighed about 75lbs, IIRC. I'm hoping that the 52lb Phantom will be a good match for me. I'm diabetic, and I need to keep exercising to keep my blood glucose down, but unfortunately I have problems with my legs and feet. I have an indoor exercise bike, but rarely do more than a mile or two on it. I think I can go 5-10 miles riding outdoors, as long as the temp (including wind chill) isn't below 50F. Before my health went South, I used to take regular middle of the night 15 mile rides that included some looong uphills and downhills. I hope to tackle that route again next Summer.

I should have known. Another F*CKING vehicle damaged in transit. I don't have much time now, but here is an exerpt from what i just sent the Ebay seller:

"I would have spotted this immediately if I had any experience with
rack-mounted batteries, but I don't. The area where the rear support
struts attach to the battery mount is badly damaged. It is partially
crushed and will not accept the battery. The tops of the struts are
bent slightly over, and the case is cracked. (I didn't see the cracks
in the mediocre lighting of the room in which I assembled the bike.)
Also, bizarrely, at least one of the three keys is broken inside the
rubber handle. Finally, the forks seem to be seized. I turned the
preload knobs twice in both directions, and it made no difference.
Either the bike was dropped at the factory and then shipped anyway,
or it was shipped upside down and dropped from a considerable
height."

Aside from having a rigid front end, the bike rides well enough without the battery. I'm so discouraged, though, that I could cry. Or break something, but that's been taken care of already... Ironically, the rack (and all the other damaged ones I read about) would have been spared if they shipped these things with the seats installed. The seat was better protected than the rest of the bike.

This morning I checked out one last possible problem. The front suspension forks didn't move up or down when I assembled the bike. It has adjustable preload, so this morning I turned both adjustment knobs (simultaneously) from full minimum to full maximum, hoping that it had been set to some sort of shipping setting. In none of the positions did the forks move - they might as well be welded inside. The seller emailed me yesterday, saying he wants to call me this evening to send me parts. Clearly the bike has to go back. I'm not making the same mistake I made with the ZEV and trying to get it fixed. Hell, I don't even know if the motor was damaged! It pedals, the derailleur works, the brakes - ironically - seem to be one of the good sets that don't make noise or rub. But I can't mount the battery to test the motor, the battery holder is badly cracked, the holder rack struts bent, and the front suspension seized. I also, as mentioned earlier I think, can't loosen the handlebar clamp to adjust the bar angle...

Anyway, I just registered the bike with the manufacturer (they give several serial numbers for each bike) and I'm going to Ebay to read the Buyer Protection Coverage. Damn.

The good news is that the dealer I bought the bike from on Ebay is factory authorized, and the factory will replace the bike (at first they just wanted to send me a pile of parts to install myself). The bad news is that I'd have to not just repack it, but also pay return shipping. Now I have to choose between spending about $100 (plus loan fees) just to extricate myself from this deal, or spend the same amount, get a new bike, and hope the same thing doesn't happen a second time. It isn't right that a bike sent from the factory with defective forks should cost me return shipping. The factory Rep defended that by saying 'The forks are sent to us very stiff.'

Sometimes I think that people here feel I'm stupid. ("Hapless" has an unpleasant ring to it as well, even if it's technically correct.) Before I ordered a bike I did look for local dealers. There are none where I live. There are none an hour or two away from me, either. The closest is at least a three hour drive, and that one is probably flooded now. Upstate New York is not a good area in which to find dealers of electric vehicles, except for the Nissan Leaf.

Please, please post that photo! I can find no mention of a fork lockout in the manual, and the bike is in a sub-freezing garage at the moment. I can see references to a lockout fork when I view search results, but so far none of them seem to show a lockout on the actual page. The manual I got with the bike is a mix-mash of manuals from several models, and to make things more confusing I had a Genesis bar and 2013 twist throttle installed on mine. I wonder if there is a lockout engaged with no control lever on the bar....? I guess I have to change clothes and go brave the cold...

I'm glad I didn't go out to the cold garage, then. I stayed in and looked online. The Prodeco forks are similar but do *not* have that feature. They have knob type adjusters on both legs. I apparently have seized forks.

I had been planning on packing the bike this evening, but a one-line email from the dealer (not the manufacturer) today made me decide to take it for a 6-8 block ride to see if, as he claimed, the forks just needed to be broken in. The verdict is "yes, and no." They did get a little more supple, but still only come into play when doing things like climbing a curb. We have a mix of smooth new roads and broken-up old ones here, and on the rough pavement the bike rides like an empty pickup truck. Which is to say that with the high tire pressure and forks that stay rigid, the bike gives a teeth-rattling ride. It also lacks directional stability - you have to keep your hands on the bars at all times, and at low speeds it can require an alarming number of steering corrections per second. Finally, the gearing (it's a 7 or 8 speed, depending on which specs you read - I didn't count sprockets) is too high in 1st, making the bike a bit hard to pedal up hills without power even with the heavy battery pack left at home. 1st on the Phantom X2 is about the same as 2nd Mid-range on my old Gemini 18 speed mountain bike, or 1st in the High range.

So, the good: a light frame for what it is, with the front wheel being especially light. Good solid welds, good to very good overall quality. A seat that's much more comfortable than it looks.

The bad: Geared too high on the low end, and from reviews I've read, too low on the high end. Shocks that are there only for potholes and curbs, so an overall rough ride on rough pavement - rougher than a mountain bike with 40psi tires and no suspension. And pre-2013 models have too-weak battery rack supports and too-thin battery case mounting tabs. I can't comment on the electric drive at all, because I wasn't able to attach the battery to use it. All in all the Phantom seems to be a bike with contradictory design features that would be best for larger people riding on smooth roads for long distances.