Prodeco Phantom X3 2015 Electric Mountain Bike from Shocking Rides

First off, let me say I knew before I bought the bike I knew I was essentially going to be a paying beta tester. The technology is still too new for there not to be problems. Also, let me say I'm not that into biking; I bought the bike for environmental reasons. For those of you who enjoy sports/activities where a pole rides up your backside, I salute you. I'm not there yet. All these things said, I was initially very happy with the purchase. While the bike was heavy, the ride was smooth and it seemed solidly built. It was shipped in a smart box that protected it from most damage, the only potential problem being that the battery rack was a bit askew when it arrived. A few turns with a hex wrench fixed that. The battery, while awkward to get on and off, had plenty of power for hill climbs etc. Other reviewers have covered the problems with battery power readout, so I won't go into that save to say I can confirm the readout is unreliable. The major problem with the bike is the battery rack that supports the weight in the rear. I have ridden my bike exclusively on streets and bike paths so my riding can hardly be described as "hard", yet six weeks after my purchase one of the four supporting struts is already broken and I can tell the other three are in danger.After going through the annoying registration process (requiring four different serial numbers), I sent an email asking how I could go about ordering replacement parts or fixing the problem and I have yet to receive a response either by email or phone. That was ten days ago. This is the one thing I can't really forgive. I understand new products will have design flaws, but to make up for that the company behind it needs to be on the job helping customers who run into these problems. For this reason, I can't really recommend the bike to any but the most hardcore folks who are willing to troubleshoot their own problems. I'm working right now to try to build a replacement strut and possibly custom designing my own battery frame, but for folks who are less handy or nervous to experiment, I would wait a year or two until Prodecotech has ironed out a few more of its problems. I will be rooting for the company to succeed. Will update as things change.Update: 6/18/15 Unfortunately, the bike continues to degrade with spectacular alacrity. The entire battery frame support snapped off today and I narrowly avoided being crushed by traffic as a result. Again, this was from riding on paved street roads, so no hard riding was the cause. So now I have the broken battery frame and a battery that was also damaged from the impact. So the question is whether it's worth spending more time/money to try to salvage a very flawed design for a bike that is only two months old. I may have to give the company a pass on not contacting me as my housemate may have erased their message, but the major problems with the bikes' design make it impossible to recommend.

Love it. My knees ave out, I'm 66 years old. This bike has kept me on the trail !

Great bike. Comfortable to ride. Amazing range. Fast enough for pretty much any trail.

this bike is very well built,fast, it rides almost like a mini motorcycle.I like every thing bout the bike besides the seat it needs to be wider.And the $ 1899 price tag is worth it and you get the added peace of mind of a lifetime frame warranty and 2 year maintenance warranty.

Great bike!! I ride it in the Rocky Mountains and can go 50 plus miles on bike paths and roads before charging. However; because of the bike's weight, I do not recommend it for heavy off road mountain trail riding.

After a lot of research I decided on this bike as my first electric bike. A few small out of the box issues:- some spokes on the front wheel had to be tightened up- both front a rear brakes where rubbing a little and had to be adjusted- fuse was smashed in the package - they are sending me a new one- after my first trail ride front wheel and headset had to be tightened- charger gets very hot - so make sure you don't place it on something soft - that will trap the heat and make it even worse- it takes getting used to so much more weight in the back, when I get off the bike it's not enough to just hold it by the handlebars, the bike likes to twist and slowly fall down with me pulling it the other way and slowly falling over (battery pack has a couple of small scratches now)- coming from riding a 700 hybrid bike handlebars on this one are too low, If I raise my seat to the proper height for my legs it ends up being above the handlebars which is uncomfortable and gives me a pain in the neck - no biggie I am installing a stem raiser today- It comes with spikes on the pedals which give you awesome traction, but if you are not used to them they will mess up your calves pretty bad - mostly when you get off and just try to walk the bike, so get some calf guards!Now the good:- amazing battery, I rode about 6 miles on a mountain trail this weekend (about 1300 feet of elevation) - than rode about 25 miles in mostly flat areas - battery showed as about half full - awesome!- the bike looks great and a definite step up from my $220 hybrid from target- seat is softer than expected (but don't trust your rear to it too much when going over bumps)- quality components- battery in the back is bad and good, bad for the balance, good for the long run when it goes dead after 5 years or so and prodeco may not sell them any more - just get another 36-40v battery and put it on the back, problem solved (I saw a review by a guy with a 4 year old $6k optibike who had a dead battery and optibike telling him they cannot help him)- you can pedal to go faster than 20mph - I can get up to about 25mph, going downhill about 29. If you are not sure about what 20mph feels like on a bike - I'd compare it to going fast but feeling like you can go a little faster if you really push yourself- there is no better deal for the moneyThis is my first weekend with the bike and a first ever electric bike - got totally sunburned like a little kid this weekend, but I love it! I am 6'1" about 215, way out of shape and now I can go on 30-50 mile rides and can go on mild(ish) mountain trails. I really enjoy riding bikes and this basically made me enjoy the rides 3X more. I actually enjoyed riding into the wind for the first time in my life today. It really changed my view on what I can do with a bike. I test rode several other bikes - 2014 Neo jumper 650b - the 350w geared motor felt inadequate, pedego cruisers with 48v batteries and 500w geared motors felt strong but felt big and heavy - didn't feel good for taking them on occasional mountain trails; however, they felt more comfortable for city commutes. I wish my Phantom had a stronger motor but it is good enough. I really enjoy the fact that it is not considered a motorized vehicle - especially when I passed half a dozen of "No motorized vehicles" signs yesterday. Stem riser, softer seat, suspension seat post and some slime in the tires should take care of all the imperfections that I care about. I consider this bike the cheapest of the good quality bikes and definitely on top of the list for being best for the money.09/19/2014 updateI put on about 1100 miles on the bike so far. It held up great considering I took on some mountain bike trails. The battery lasts about 20 miles in the mountains. I would say battery's capacity diminished by about 20%. Today it cut out at about 30 mile mark on a mostly flat paved trail (I paddled all but 4-5 miles). 2 common problems to report:- if you are taking a new road the battery indicator is a bit inaccurate and battery can just cut out when you think it should still give you another 5-10 miles- I believe the point where the battery attaches to the controller is broken because I can pull it up a little and it rattles when I hit bumps, just needed some tape to keep it downStill love the bike, it is still the best value for the money and makes my rides way more fun.