rickshawrecords
1 µW
- Joined
- Aug 5, 2012
- Messages
- 2
Newbie to this forum (today) but I wanted to put my 2-cents in on my own Phantom X2 (August 1, 2012):
(See a few photos at http://www.RickshawRecords.com/phantomx2)
I paid full list price ($1399) in July, 2012 for a Prodeco Phantom X2 through an eBay dealer, so I wouldn't have to wait the notoriously long time for a Prodeco delivery.
It took 10 days to arrive in CA, but it finally arrived. I chose to have it held for pickup at the local FedEx Office store, so I wouldn't have to worry about being home to sign for it when it arrived. Good choice.
It's advertised as nearly ready to ride - just install the handlebars and seat, but my front wheel was individually packed, and I had to install it too.
Before I get to the details, the bike didn't work when I turned it on.
I did some troubleshooting (and lots of swearing) for about an hour, and finally figured-out that the battery unit itself had the polarity flipped on its output plug. Positive was negative, and vice-versa. I sent emails to the eBay dealer, who simply responded "Oh no... I'll have a Prodeco tech call you." (No other response.) I called Prodedco in the morning, and they had never heard of this problem happening. Luckily for them, I am handy with a soldering iron, so I asked if I could just open the battery and swap the terminals. They agreed under warranty, I did it, and the bike runs fine now. They're supposedly sending me some "free stuff" for fixing it myself.
Now, if this same problem had happened to someone unfamiliar with electronics, they would have had to return the entire bike to Prodeco. Without a meter, there's no way a Prodeco technician could have known if it was a bad bike circuit or battery. I saved them $$Hundreds in shipping, I'll see what they send me.
Inside the battery case is an integrated controller, a fuse, integrated red-LED tail light, and battery status button on the top. All packed-in with foam.
Now, the bike:
Mine weighs 62 lb, fully assembled, with the battery - twice as heavy as my 1990's Trek 800. It has typical Chinese-quality paint and welding... Beefy joints, but not the beautiful, smooth fillets of a typical high-quality weld, and not an awesome paint job. It visually reminds me of budget Home Depot patio furniture, but beefier. I'll keep mine out of the wet weather. It also has an (old?) Phantom X sticker - not the Phantom X2 sticker in the promo photos.
The rims and uni-directional Continental "Traffic" tires seem really light. My rear spokes have a peculiar bend on them, like the motor was rotated in the wheel when installed in the rim. (Cause for concern?? Please see the photos at the link above.) On the brakes, I had to manually true (gently bend) the front disc to keep it from intermittent contact, and adjust the rear calipers per the instructions. It would have helped me if there were photos of the parts they were telling me to adjust. These are my first set of disc brakes, and I wasn't familiar with the terminology.
After adjustment, the bike runs great. I bought it because I have a 7-mile commute with 300+ foot, steep elevation changes on both ends (hill, valley, hill), Even though the motor claims 500W I still have to pedal my 175-lb body in low gear with full-throttle up the steepest sections. I was hoping it would carry me without pedaling, but it doesn't. However, my hills are steep (12-15% grade).
On the flat, level straightaways I'm doing ~23MPH pedaling, (clocked by time/distance) and even a radar speed limit sign outside my neighborhood got me at 22MPH.
Speed Wobbles: I almost learned the hard way that this bike is laterally unstable riding no-hands. I'm coming from the world of fixed, non-adjustable front forks, and I can ride for days without hands. At about 10MPH with no hands, my bike developed a gigantic speed wobble, and I caught it just in time. I've been carefully "testing" it, and I've come to the conclusion that the bike has a peculiar feel - like a fish swimming - something that I've never felt in a bike before. Maybe it's the aft center-of-gravity, maybe its the shocks on the front forks, I don't know. I'm un-comfortable at speed without BOTH hands on the bars.
I thought the Prodeco was a pedal assist option. It is not. (My mistake.) It is a variable power thumb throttle, which you have to manually kept pressed down for power to flow. Thumb gets tired (Waaah!) but the biggest issue is that you can't take your right hand off the handlebars if you are throttling. My hands need the occasional shake to get the blood flowing. (Again, Waaah!)
The water bottle mounting points on the top of the frame are offset slightly. The front one is right on top of the frame, and the rear one is about 12:30, making it kinda crooked in relation to the frame. (Attention to detail.)
Finally, the rubber grips are not well-mounted. On a long ride, the glue(?) softens-up, and the grips "migrate" on the handlebars, to the point of them starting to move several mm towards the ends of the handlebars. Not falling off, but loose, and "migratory." I have to press them back towards the center several times on each ride.
It came with the Phantom X manual because the X2 manual is not finished yet, and not yet available online. It also has a nifty, yet Chinese-cheap "Swiss army" style bike-specific tool kit, and a 3-way hex wrench for the basic adjustments.
I bought it to get past the crazy 150' tall, 15% grade hill immediately outbound from my house, so I could start riding again on the flatter areas nearby. That seems to be working. I love the speed.
Overall, this bike is going to get me out riding again. I had thought about selling my TREK, but maybe I'll keep it for the future... Once I'm back in shape!
- Rickshaw
San Diego, CA USA
(moderator edit: moved this separate review out of someone else's review)
(See a few photos at http://www.RickshawRecords.com/phantomx2)
I paid full list price ($1399) in July, 2012 for a Prodeco Phantom X2 through an eBay dealer, so I wouldn't have to wait the notoriously long time for a Prodeco delivery.
It took 10 days to arrive in CA, but it finally arrived. I chose to have it held for pickup at the local FedEx Office store, so I wouldn't have to worry about being home to sign for it when it arrived. Good choice.
It's advertised as nearly ready to ride - just install the handlebars and seat, but my front wheel was individually packed, and I had to install it too.
Before I get to the details, the bike didn't work when I turned it on.
I did some troubleshooting (and lots of swearing) for about an hour, and finally figured-out that the battery unit itself had the polarity flipped on its output plug. Positive was negative, and vice-versa. I sent emails to the eBay dealer, who simply responded "Oh no... I'll have a Prodeco tech call you." (No other response.) I called Prodedco in the morning, and they had never heard of this problem happening. Luckily for them, I am handy with a soldering iron, so I asked if I could just open the battery and swap the terminals. They agreed under warranty, I did it, and the bike runs fine now. They're supposedly sending me some "free stuff" for fixing it myself.
Now, if this same problem had happened to someone unfamiliar with electronics, they would have had to return the entire bike to Prodeco. Without a meter, there's no way a Prodeco technician could have known if it was a bad bike circuit or battery. I saved them $$Hundreds in shipping, I'll see what they send me.
Inside the battery case is an integrated controller, a fuse, integrated red-LED tail light, and battery status button on the top. All packed-in with foam.
Now, the bike:
Mine weighs 62 lb, fully assembled, with the battery - twice as heavy as my 1990's Trek 800. It has typical Chinese-quality paint and welding... Beefy joints, but not the beautiful, smooth fillets of a typical high-quality weld, and not an awesome paint job. It visually reminds me of budget Home Depot patio furniture, but beefier. I'll keep mine out of the wet weather. It also has an (old?) Phantom X sticker - not the Phantom X2 sticker in the promo photos.
The rims and uni-directional Continental "Traffic" tires seem really light. My rear spokes have a peculiar bend on them, like the motor was rotated in the wheel when installed in the rim. (Cause for concern?? Please see the photos at the link above.) On the brakes, I had to manually true (gently bend) the front disc to keep it from intermittent contact, and adjust the rear calipers per the instructions. It would have helped me if there were photos of the parts they were telling me to adjust. These are my first set of disc brakes, and I wasn't familiar with the terminology.
After adjustment, the bike runs great. I bought it because I have a 7-mile commute with 300+ foot, steep elevation changes on both ends (hill, valley, hill), Even though the motor claims 500W I still have to pedal my 175-lb body in low gear with full-throttle up the steepest sections. I was hoping it would carry me without pedaling, but it doesn't. However, my hills are steep (12-15% grade).
On the flat, level straightaways I'm doing ~23MPH pedaling, (clocked by time/distance) and even a radar speed limit sign outside my neighborhood got me at 22MPH.
Speed Wobbles: I almost learned the hard way that this bike is laterally unstable riding no-hands. I'm coming from the world of fixed, non-adjustable front forks, and I can ride for days without hands. At about 10MPH with no hands, my bike developed a gigantic speed wobble, and I caught it just in time. I've been carefully "testing" it, and I've come to the conclusion that the bike has a peculiar feel - like a fish swimming - something that I've never felt in a bike before. Maybe it's the aft center-of-gravity, maybe its the shocks on the front forks, I don't know. I'm un-comfortable at speed without BOTH hands on the bars.
I thought the Prodeco was a pedal assist option. It is not. (My mistake.) It is a variable power thumb throttle, which you have to manually kept pressed down for power to flow. Thumb gets tired (Waaah!) but the biggest issue is that you can't take your right hand off the handlebars if you are throttling. My hands need the occasional shake to get the blood flowing. (Again, Waaah!)
The water bottle mounting points on the top of the frame are offset slightly. The front one is right on top of the frame, and the rear one is about 12:30, making it kinda crooked in relation to the frame. (Attention to detail.)
Finally, the rubber grips are not well-mounted. On a long ride, the glue(?) softens-up, and the grips "migrate" on the handlebars, to the point of them starting to move several mm towards the ends of the handlebars. Not falling off, but loose, and "migratory." I have to press them back towards the center several times on each ride.
It came with the Phantom X manual because the X2 manual is not finished yet, and not yet available online. It also has a nifty, yet Chinese-cheap "Swiss army" style bike-specific tool kit, and a 3-way hex wrench for the basic adjustments.
I bought it to get past the crazy 150' tall, 15% grade hill immediately outbound from my house, so I could start riding again on the flatter areas nearby. That seems to be working. I love the speed.
Overall, this bike is going to get me out riding again. I had thought about selling my TREK, but maybe I'll keep it for the future... Once I'm back in shape!
- Rickshaw
San Diego, CA USA
(moderator edit: moved this separate review out of someone else's review)
