Wow! Are you looking for a fast and powerful “muscle e-bike”? If so, then you should check out the Prodeco Outlaw SS electric bike!
The appearance, component spec, and price point ($2,199) of this USA assembled e-bike definitely make it stand out!
Make sure you check out the video, large pictures and specifications of the Prodeco Outlaw SS to get familiar with this fast and powerful e-bike.
What you can expect from this electric bike:
Here is a video that highlights some of the features of the Outlaw SS and shows it in action!
The Prodeco Outlaw SS is a big bike in almost every sense of the word! It has big power, big speed, big size (handlebars, fork, tires, etc.) and big attitude (if a bike can have attitude?)!
This is a bike that gets noticed. In addition to it looking and acting big, it also has the striking candy orange color that will stand out in any crowd.
Electric spec wise, this bike comes with a 750 watt direct drive rear hub motor and a 51.2 volt 9 amp hour lithium iron phosphate battery pack and it can travel up to 28 mph with throttle only. Yeah, the Prodeco Outlaw SS is fast and powerful!
Since the Outlaw SS can travel up to 28 mph with throttle only, it does not fall under the typical electric bike guidelines of being street legal as a conventional bicycle (750 watts of power and 20 mph with throttle only). Therefore Prodeco has classified this as an off road only electric bike.
Since this is an off road only e-bike you should be aware of what it is like to ride off road. Most mountain bike trails will not allow motorized vehicles because those trails are also shared by hikers and equestrians. In general the Outlaw SS should be used on dirt roads and motorcycle/ATV trails.
Another option would be to register this bike as a moped and get the appropriate insurance. My suspicion is that some people will use the Outlaw SS on the streets and not get it licensed/insured as a moped. This may be okay if the rider keeps the bike under 20 mph on the streets but I can see the temptation to go faster. Please understand that you are doing this at your own risk . Car drivers, pedestrians, and other cyclists are not used to seeing a bicycle go so fast.
Prodeco makes 2 other Outlaw models, the SE and EX, that are limited to 20 mph and therefore are street legal.
As I mentioned before, the Outlaw is big and it handles like a big bike. With the tall double crown 140 mm travel suspension fork , laid back frame geometry and wide handle bars it is a bike meant for cruising!
The 2.4″ wide tires combined with the suspension fork definitely soak up the bumps. A suspension seatpost would be a nice addition to smooth out the back end of the bike because the aluminum frame is definitely very rigid!
28 mph is fast! It is a lot of fun but it is also could be dangerous. You really need to respect the speed and make sure you are anticipating what is ahead of you in order to react in time. The Outlaw SS has powerful Avid Elixir 5 hydraulic disc brakes with 200 mm rotors and they do stop well. Let’s just say that this is not your typical bike riding experience!
The Prodeco Outlaw SS has a thumb throttle that Prodeco decided to go with instead of a twist grip because it is a safer to have a full grip to hold on to at high speeds! The thumb throttle worked great for all the riding I was doing.
Overall the Outlaw SS is good for cruising the streets (at 20 mph or less unless you register it as a moped), riding dirt roads, and the occasional moto/ATV trail. Since it has such a laid back geometry and the battery pack on the rear rack it is not the best handling bike on tight/twisty/rough trails; but the Outlaw SS was not designed for that.
The ride test results:
Here is the real world information on how this bike performed on my typical riding circuit that includes hills, flats, traffic, wind (when available) etc.
The results below are based on a paved circuit that I use for testing other electric bikes.
While testing these bikes I like to put them through the toughest conditions to see where their bottom line is in regards to range and speed.
Range: As you can see from the GPS info that I recorded, the bike traveled 15.6 miles and did a total elevation gain/loss of around 1300 ft. Considering that I weigh 190 lbs and I pedaled very lightly this is pretty good range for a 51.2 Volt 9 ah battery pack (460 Watt Hours) with a 750 watt motor that peaks at 1200 watts!
Watt hours are the total energy in a battery pack and it is based on the volts x amp hours of a pack. This is a way to compare the size of the “gas tank” of electric bikes.
Please keep in mind that if you pedal more, weight less than me, ride slower and/or you use the bike in terrain that is not as hilly you will get more range. These results are from tough testing.
Speed: The Prodeco Outlaw SS travels up to 28 mph on throttle only. It also climbs hills pretty well. On the steep hills you will need to give the motor a little pedaling help, but for moderate hills you can pedal lightly or just turn the throttle and sit back as the bike takes you up the hills.
Weight: This bike tips the scales at 62 lbs.
The weight distribution on this bike is pretty back heavy because of the direct drive rear hub motor and the battery pack mounted on top of the rear rack. The battery mounted so high makes the bike a bit “tipsy” at lower speeds or when you are walking the bike up stairs, for instance.
Pros
PRICE! Wow! At $2199 you get a lot of bike for the money. It is amazing to see all of these high quality components (SRAM, AVID, Truvativ, Continential Tires, etc.) on this bike for this price.
Speed & Power: Yes it is fun to go 28 mph on a “bicycle” and 750 watts with 1200 watts of peak power helps you up the hills! If you like speed and power then you should definitely checkout the Outlaw SS. Just be responsible, okay 
Disc brakes: The AVID Elixir 5 hydraulic disc brakes with 200 mm rotors offer some amazing stopping power. And that is a good thing when you are going nearly 30 mph!
The AVID brake levers have a comfortable feel and they were easy to grab when you needed them.
Nice tires: The 2.4″ wide Continental Trail King’s are tough off road tires! They have a very aggressive knobby tread and the sidewalls have a reinforced grid texture. Continental is a well know name in the bicycle world.
Drivetrain: The mostly SRAM drivetrain (shifter, derailleur, cranks) offers solid, crisp shifting that the SRAM brand is known for. Like Continential, SRAM is a well know brand name in bicycle components.
Suspension Fork: The magnesium double crown 140 mm travel suspension fork with 20 mm thru axle is a surprising upgrade on this bike. It definitely makes it look tough and helps soak up the bumps!
Leather Grips & Saddle: The Outlaws come with a Brooks style leather saddle and leather lock on grips. It is a nice touch of class!
Assembled in the USA: All Prodeco bikes are assembled at their Pompano Beach, Florida facility. Here is a report from my visit to the Prodeco headquarters.
Cons
Battery on Rear Rack: For a bike that is intended more for off road riding it would be nice to see the battery placed low and in the center of the bike for better handling.
I definitely put the Outlaw SS to the test on the rough and rocky terrain here in Sedona, AZ and I may have pushed it beyond it’s design intent, but I try to give all bikes a hard time
During my rough off road testing the rear rack bolts came loose and one of the bolts sheared off as one of the rack support struts came off. I contacted Prodeco and they sent out a new strut kit that included an extra strut for each side of the rack, so now the rack is supported by 4 struts total (2 on each side). Prodeco also sent out Locktite to make sure the bolts don’t loosen up again.
Due to my experience, Prodeco is now building all of their Outlaw’s with 4 struts and Locktite on the bolts for the rack. They are able to make this change in production quickly because all of their bikes are assembled in Pompano Beach, Florida.
That will probably help with the overall stability of the rack, but for an off road bike it would bike nice to see the battery mounted low and in the center which would also eliminate the rear rack entirely.
Suspension Fork: The fork suspension seemed to be pretty stiff. I weigh 190 lbs and even at the lowest fork suspension adjustment it seemed pretty stiff (hard to activate). For a high speed bike you wouldn’t want the fork to be too easy to activate but it seems that lighter springs that could be adjusted with the fork spring load dials maybe a good way to go for lighter riders. Prodeco said that there are lighter springs that could be installed.
Motor noise: The motor makes a little noise. It is not stealthy quiet like a Bionx motor but it is not as loud as a typical geared hub motor. I got used to it pretty quick, but if you are noise sensitive it is something to be aware of.
Conclusion
Overall the Prodeco Outlaw SS is a “muscle” e-bike! It is a big bike in many ways (speed, power, appearance, etc.) and it rides like a big bike.
If you are looking for a laid back off road cruiser with a solid component spec for a great price you should definitely consider the Prodeco Outlaw SS.
There are a few items that could be improved (battery location, fork springs) but no e-bike is perfect.
I hope this review has given you a virtual idea of what the Prodeco Outlaw SS is like.
Please keep in mind that this is a relatively short term test. This testing can’t really give you the long term review of durability and reliability. My thoughts on the quality of this bike are from previous experiences with similar bikes. If you own this bike and have some input on the long term durability, please share your comments with the Electric Bike Report community below.
The Prodeco Outlaw SS retails for $2,199. Where to get the Outlaw SS? Check with the Prodeco Technologies for a dealer near you.
If there is not a dealer near you, you can purchase the Outlaw SS online.
Do you have any questions about the Prodeco Outlaw SS? Do you own the Outlaw SS? Please share your thoughts in the comment section below.
Thanks!
-Pete
P.S. Don’t forget to join the Electric Bike Report community for updates from the electric bike world, plus ebike riding and maintenance tips!
Stores I recommend: Amazon, REI, Jenson USA, Bike Trailer Shop, Bike Bag Shop, and Bike Kid Shop.
The Outlaw SS looks to be a very interesting ebike. I cannot understand however that the forks would be so stiff as to be “hard to activate.” This is very strange indeed–I have lots of bikes and lots of ebikes. I don’t see why anyone would want or why any company would install such a hard sprung fork?! Ever heard of a pothole? I also agree with the author that a shock absorber seat post would be essential on a hardtail bike going 28. I challenge Prodeco to make these minor changes and go out for a ride!
Hi Al,
Robert Provost from Prodeco has addressed both of your comments. Please see below. Thanks!
My ebike kit has a Walmart $200. steel frame bike, 500W front direct drive motor, 20ah ping battery, standard V brakes. Total
cost: $1,500. Performance> 31mph, well balanced motor front/battery back, good braking, between 65 and 85 miles/charge. I generally ride 9 to 14 mph on flat to medium size hills. That as a point of comparison, the Outlaw SS: price is very good, disc brakes are not necessary, rear motor/battery is too much rear end weight (battery would be better in the center frame, LiIonPE4 battery is good/9ah is much too small>15 to 20 mile round trip/chg is a joke.
As to bike trail speeds, it is common where I live that most regular bikers (bumblebees) zip around you at over 20 mph; they do not even let you know they are coming! To me an ebike should be built with a minimum performance like the Outlaw SS and allow
riders to be personally responsible for their actions. This responsibility should be to ride based on surroundings and use a bike HORN to alert others around you. ENFORCE reckless behavior laws on the books would be all that is necessary! STOP producing ebikes that are governed for low speeds for your safety, instead
permit INDIVIDUAL responsibility.
Thank you for the review Pete.
I just want to leave a few comments in regard to a few areas Pete brought up and the comments may be beneficial for someone looking at the Outlaw SS as their e-bike of choice for off path riding.
We do have adjustable suspension seatposts available for no charge. Any customer who registered an Outlaw can contact us and request one. It is a good quality seatpost from HL and made of aluminum alloy with a forged aluminum saddle clamp. The post is currently found also on our Mariner 7 model. The reason we do not include the suspension seatpost as a standard component is due to the height of the Outlaw. Some non-traditional bike riders under 5′ 8″ may have a difficult time with a suspension seatpost as it adds 2″ to the saddle height. The Outlaw seatclamp position is high and we find many electric bike riders prefer riding in a low saddle position.
Regarding the forks and firmness, a customer can also trade the HL DH firm fork for a RockShox XC32 with medium coils. The reason a firm spring is utilized is due to too soft of a suspension can lead to loss of energy and rob distance from the battery capacity. However, if a rider path is mainly rocky with multiple holes and bumps, then a softer fork than the firm would be better and the rider should opt for trading to the RockShox XC32. If the path surface is too bumpy, the rider’s attention will become focused on the road versus cranking resulting in a higher battery energy requirement. We have just found through our market research the Outlaw will be mainly ridden on hard dirt trails and asphalt areas that do not require vehicles to be registered.
A few last mentions: 1) as the review stated, we now incorporated a double strut for the battery mount for even the harshest riding surfaces. 2) If someone wants the Outlaw but upset it is not “street legal” (path legal), there are also the EX and SE Outlaws which are legal. 3) For those who believe the Outlaw is not the right e-bike for harsh off road riding due to being a hard tail, we do have a full suspension model later this year.
Thank you,
Robert Provost
CEO
Prodeco Technologies
Rob,
Your double strut mount design is junk. It broke within two months and I don’t ride my bike everyday. Tell your engineers to start looking into desiging a home bread motor controller, throttle and find a dc motor manufacturer in the US. Also look into all cell batteries out of chicago, they might be more expensive but it beats the crap your telling people that’s made in the USA but actually made in China. I may sound harsh, but there are people in this world that would pay extra to have a product produced in non forced labor conditions. Keep growing your product! We need more manufacturers!
Here’s my engineering thoughts to quickly and easily improve your outlaw design. Eliminate the curved tube design which goes from the bottom bracket to steering stem and replace it with straight tubing which will create a larger mid frame surface area. Cnc some bracket mounts to weld on to the frame so you can mount the batteries in the middle. I will personally design the solidworks files and mail them to you if needed.
A mid mount battery design will balance out the bike for better handling on tough terrain and hold up a lot longer whenever accidents happen.
Hi,
I was most likely one of the first people to buy the Outlaw SS whenever I sold my 1971 Camaro to go back to school for Manufacturing. I fell in love with the Outlaw when I found out it was made in the USA because I plan on manufacturing vehicles in the US here shortly. Well here’s my review on the bike and customer support.
Super easy to put together and very beautiful. Runs well but my front brakes are weak and I’m not paying $50 for a bleed kit whenever its 3 months old. I put clip in pedals on it and greatly increased my range. It has great forks and awesome frame design. The paint and decails are beautiful. Tires grip well. Grips are awesome. Stock pedals are good quality.
Now the bad… battery, motor, & all electronics are not made in the USA. I would not have bought it if I would have known. If your going to get business from patriots atleast tell the damn truth. The battery location is horrible. Make one mistake and you’ll need up on your ass and with a broken battery like me. Wait?? Did prodeco respond to my email after this happened? Nope. The bike can be lightened greatly by changing a few things. Motor is ineficient which ill explain in the next few months, but not today.
I plan on machining some custom parts and designs which will make the bike better, also ill be stripping it of the junk from overseas this summer. Finally ill be able to put a made in USA sticker on it, another thing I ekailed prodeco about and got ignored on.
Hi Dennis,
I did just check into you not getting a response and I apologize about that. You can always call and get one of our customer service reps on the phone. We found your email in the dedicated folder for website inbound emails and it was in the spam folder. I had our web guy go through all the spam messages just now which are advertisements usually and you did have 2 messages in there. They will now pay closer attention to that folder.
One message you explained about the 30 mile distance and we are glad to hear you achieved that which is impressive. Your use of the clips is creative for adding distance.
Regarding the bikes being built is the USA, we do build here in the USA unlike any other company. All designs, quality control, engineering is done here in the USA. All wheel building (lacing), pre-assembly and final production is done here. Our double corrugated cardboard boxes are made by hand in Miami, USA. Many small parts including bolts, some stainless plates, ABS wrap, etc. are made here in the USA. There however may be confusion and this includes the battery company you mention “AllCell”. Most products built in the USA today have components from all over the world. AllCell I believe brings in the cells from Asia but their BMS board and assembly is done here. I don’t believe the USA has a Lithium Cell manufacturer yet. Most high quality bike parts come from Taiwan. All the largest bike companies use SRAM or Shimano which are all made in Asia. Avid Elixir 5 brakes that came with your bike are one of the best in the industry and we receive them pre-bleed and ready to install. SRAM (Avid) is based in Chicago but the component is made in Taiwan. There are no bike components I can even think of made in the USA any longer. The big difference with us is the production, design work and quality control being done here. We give multiple USA jobs and besides the 50 we added last year, we are adding 50 more people this year. This allows the majority of the labor dollar to stay here in the USA.
Regarding motors, do you know of an e-bike motor made in the USA of USA materials? I cannot think of one but we would be willing to review. We know of companies in the USA assembling motors from overseas and especially lithium battery companies. There are more and more lithium battery companies opening in the USA but they use cells from overseas and predominately China or Japan. The cells are assembled with BMS boards here in the USA but cells are for example Panasonic or A123 which are made in Asia. Most auto manufacturers have the majority of parts made outside the USA but build the car here.
As far as the battery position over the rear wheel: Commuter bikes for years have had rear racks and for example, college kids going to school placed their books on these racks. The battery weighs about 9 lbs which is comparable to a few books. We are also working on designs this year where the battery is in the diamond and I mention this a few times. For our folding bikes it was impossible to place a battery in the diamond area since there was not a diamond. The Outlaw is a similar design to our Phantom X2 but with a rigid frame. The X2 I believe was the number 1 selling e-bike in the USA last year in the $1000-$1500 price category. Riders loved that bike. It must be realized design is truly in the eye of the beholder. One design may excite one person while another person does not like. We know this better than most since all our designs are based on market research and what the consumer was looking for. We never state our bikes will be loved by all but we do our best to appeal to the masses.
In the future I do not want to use nor do I believe it is fair to the Electric Bike Report’s forum to answer these types of comments but I noticed you now left 3 comments and felt I needed to respond. I tend to write extensively and apologize if this bothers anyone. We prefer if someone would like us to comment, to please call us. This forum we believe is not the appropriate place for some of the statements being made to get a response out of us.
I am glad the CEO of Prodeco responded to accusations that the Outlaw bike is not made in the USA. People like Dennis are not realistic about having everything be “made in the USA or I wouldn’t have bought the ebike” attitude. There are no such thing as electronics parts, battery or motor for ebikes made in the USA for the mass market. Also I challenge Dennis to show the electric motor that he is considering using is made of 100% of USA parts and is not a one off custom made. Go ahead and try to find something as simple as made in the USA tire and tube for your ebike. I am no apologist for Prodeco, but I believe that they have done as much as they can to help US economy. There are always more that one can do to improve, but the reality is that not every component has to be made in the USA as long as it is made with quality.
Dennis, if you feel so inclined to buy only a made in the USA ebike, what foreign made components mix would be acceptable and how much more would you pay? I would like to see how many people would agree with you. Currently, I am sure you are using a quality made computer from China. Would you have not bought it had you known it and the components are made in foreign countries?
enuff said.
In closing, I have to agree with the writer of the article that says that the buyer of the bike is getting alot of bike (quality components) for the money.
I’d like to test ride the Outlaw but what I can tell you is that Prodeco is a superb company for responding to problems and fixing them. I have a PhantomX2 and they have been an absolute dream to work with.
I own an Outlaw and have had no issues at all. The bike has been a positive experience and has done it’s job as intended.
In my personal opinion, this isn’t a dumbed-down bike for idiots. You really need to have some advanced handling skills in place before you operate the Outlaw.
Like Pete said, this isn’t your typical Ebike riding experience. Once you’ve become accustomed to handling the bike(or the loaded touring-bike feeling)it’s a piece of cake. I’m familiar with a mod to remove the Prodeco battery from the rear rack (..as well as eliminating the rear battery rack altogether) and centralize it. However, these mods void the warranty so.. best leave it as-is for a couple years till the warranty expires. However, if needed such alterations can be accomplished.
Lastly, thanks to Pete’s coverage I went ahead and bought the Burley Travoy for additional utility work. Very well designed piece of equipment!
Anyone know a bike rack that will work to carry 2 Outlaw SS?
Hitch Mount
Hi Carl,
Here is a Guide to Car Racks for Electric Bikes.
I hope that helps.
Pete
Thanks Pete, how funny, this morning I bought the Hollywood Racks Sportrider Rack for Electric Bikes
Model No.: HR1450E .. can’t wait to get it.
Carl
Kickstand, it’s a pain without one. Will this work? http://www.crowcycleco.com/bicycle-components/kickstand/double-leg-kickstand-screw-adjust-black-extra-tall.html
Hi Carl,
Please check with your Prodeco dealer to see what they recommend for your bike.