Contents:
Final Thoughts / Grand Summary
Batteries, Charging and Pedal Assist
lluminating notes on lights
Basket-life or basketcase?
Design features to love
Out of the box adjustability
Initial Observations
First Ride!

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Grand Summary

Slice Lite Utility bike : https://vvolt.com/products/slice-lite
Price with Basket : $2248

VVolt loaned me the bike to test and at the end of 3 weeks I really didn’t want to give it back. I tested this bike riding every day around town, running errands, carrying cargo, and just doing simple things like going to the shops because the Slice Lite was there and convenient. City Utility realized. The Slice Lite hits the nail on the head as far as urban utility is concerned.

The Slice Lite electric bike is a practical urban utility with real bike feel, convenient design, and impressive components. While it excels in ride quality and practicality, there are minor issues with the charging port, tie-down points, and lack of a clock on the computer screen. Overall, it’s a compelling option for urban and small town riding, offering efficiency and fun.

Top Things I loved

• Real bike feel – the ride feel in Eco, Tour and Sport mode felt like a real bike with great electronics and pedal assist. (Not a lot of e bikes can say that)
• Convenience – very practical and easy, the step through design and the basket ruled.
• Small turning circle, easy to turn and responsive feel in steering
• Small size, easy to lock up and storage like a normal bike.
• Good looks , don’t laugh, it counts. I think this bike looks great and I want to ride it more because of that.
• Integrated front light and great design of tailight, kept me safe with no fussing.
• Minimal Maintenance – gates belt drive, single speed
• Nice components – a tell tale aspect of cheapy e bikes is the components… the parts here are all mid level quality, the Gates belt drive is top shelf and all the other points were well made. It’s not a “cheap e bike” and it’s going to last.

Impressive items that are worth mentioning

• Great fenders included.
• Thick, wide, fast tires, that seem very durable
• No chain grease to deal with on clothes

Top things I didn’t like

I ordered these in my interpretation of how they were important to me:

• Lack of clock, this was really big deal for me. I look at the time a lot to keep me on track, and it seemed a shame not to have it on the screen. I found I needed to drive into a bike or pocket to find my iPhone, not the best situation. I could potentially fix this by somehow rigging a small clock alongside the computer but that would look pretty bodgy.
• Poor charge port design – covered in the battery review, getting this thing open is a mini nightmare ,this problem I couldn’t aftermarket fix myself unless I just cut the flap off which would then expose the electrical to potentially water. An alternative part selection or design modification could easily address this.
• Basket Issues, Rattly and undersized tiedown holes, the rattle comes from the sheet metal vibrating against the tubular frame, it can be easily fixed with a few patches of rubber, (VVolt told me they have a fix in works for this) however the undersized tie-down holes in the sheet metal make getting clips for stretch nets and bags difficult and sometimes impossible.
• Under-geared only in certain modes – The bike is a single speed so feels a touch under-geared when Sport Mode and above, when on the absolute flats. This wasn’t a huge concern because I loved Eco and Tour mode to be honest and I don’t feel the need to use this like a motorcycle.
• Rough handlebar grips., this is a fussy one for sure.. rough texture that becomes a grind on ungloved hands is an easy fix for $20 at local bike shop for some better mtb grips. Or using gloves is an option :)

Note: If you have stairs… This bike is 60lbs. I carried it up 3 flights of stairs because an elevator was out of service, its not good and I wouldn’t do it again. This is something to seriously consider (as with all brands of e bikes) if you have stairs to contend with when storing your bike.

Other stuff…

Initial concerns that turned out to be false

Upon a quick glance I had some thoughts

• Initially I thought, the computer is attractive and will get stolen when locked up – that did not happen, I locked it up a lot in some sketchy places, people definitely eyeballed the bike, but also with the great Abus Bordo lock that probably thwarted a few would be attempts.
• I also thought the bike would be clumsy to steer and maybe not that fun to ride. Perhaps just a “get it done bike”. Turns out this is highly manoeuvrable and fun to ride with a shortish wheelbase generating that feeling, its fun to ride.
• A pain to position to lock up or place in storage. – because of the visual size I thought it might be a bit of a pain on a public rack, not true. Many lock points and easy to position.

Worries that developed or were reinforced

The electric distance anxiety is real, but to be fair this only came into play near the end of battery life, where I questioned wether I trusted the computers predicted range estimate or not. The computer is not super accurate at predicting life, but it does a good enough job that you can make an easy judgement if you need to charge or not. I’m also not of the type that wants to plug their bike in everynight regardless, so the range estimate is important to me.

Can it replace a car?

Now for the tricky question… Can this bike replace a car?
In the US, 60% of all car trips are less than 6miles (according to DOT), the avg daily trip is 31miles. 6miles is not far on a Slice Lite and in cities with good bike infrastructure that can be a quick 6miles.

If you live in a city or small town and often run errands or carry small to medium loads, and have a bike that is fun to ride then the answer is YES, and the benefit is Slice can probably save you time also, as it’s often much quicker to travel short distances by bike. If you need to commute 20 miles each way to work each day, move larger stuff, transport kids then the Slice Lite is not for you, but I’m sure that VVolt has another bike solution for your needs.

The Slice Lite is great for riding even without carrying anything. It’s easy to store, park, and hop on, so you don’t need to use it just for dedicated hauling cargo trips. It’s not just a utility bike; it’s more like a city/small town bike with cargo space. Even if I had a commute of less than 6 miles, I’d seriously consider this bike. It’s perfect for running errands after work or during lunchtime. Hello, Slice!

What it won’t do is carry a dresser or a small table like some of the long wheelbase utility bikes, but i’d rather have a smaller, more fun utility bike that im going to use 90% of the time.

If you feel like your lifestyle fits with the parameters I describe, you will be impressed by the Slice Lite

Scroll Down for the previous reports:

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Part 7: The scoop on battery life, charging & pedal assist modes

If you have been shopping e bikes, it’s easy to start comparing things like you do a laptop purchase, battery size, time to charge, hub power… well what does that all mean in reality? I set out with a fresh mind to ride and see what happens with the Slice Lite utility bike.

Focusing in on battery, charging and pedal assist, the Slice Lite has different pedal assist modes that affect the battery life and the distance you can go between charges. I don’t want to charge my bike every day, so I started with the modes that give me the longest distance per battery charge, and I can use the boost throttle when I really need it.

First up, does it last as long as they say?

The Slice has a 500Wh (42v system x 12A) battery, which is pretty standard nowadays. Generally a larger battery means more range or distance, but bike designers face the tricky balance of an overly large heavy batteries that makes the bike overall less efficient or under-specifying a battery for a heavy bike in which it simply doesn’t have enough power. The 500Wh battery on a utility based 57lb bike makes sense here.
VVolt generally say you will get “20-55 miles for the average rider on average terrain” I understand why they say this generalized term, because usage patterns, terrain and temperatures can dramatically affect battery output. I decided to do a couple of my own test around Portland, Oregon and to get a feel for the power assist modes. Typically, I was riding flat in 40- 49 degree temps, with small ups and downs unless otherwise stated.

Eco Mode

The first time I tried it, I used Eco mode with about 20% assistance. When fully charged, it shows a range of 60 miles on the computer screen. The computer doesn’t display the remaining battery as a percentage like an iPhone does. Instead, it shows the range, which took a few seconds to adjust to after being used to iphone and laptops etc.

I juiced up fresh and tracked my rides with RWGPS and found I got 45.4 miles from a full charge down to a predicted 8miles remaining. That’s an around town pretty flat area, half the time I had the lights switched on, but that shouldn’t be a big current draw. Also worth noting, temps were rarely above 48 and I keep my bike in a concrete garage. 

My ride notes had me thinking that I was riding a 60lb bike with a 20% assist. that’s pretty minimal, but it also produces a really good ride feel. Given that I rode 45miles like this, it cannot be that bad.

Tour Mode

My second test was exclusivley using Tour Mode, which is roughly a 40% assist. At full battery charge the computer will show a predicted 52miles, I managed to get 39miles which included going up a few of the gentle slopes of Mount Tabor yesterday. So not too bad. A few quirky things did happen, the computer would flash red that the battery was empty and say 0miles remaining, but it still worked, then it might flick back to one bar of battery, then back to empty. In fact I managed to squeeze out another 5miles even when the range said Zero and the display flashed a red empty battery.

Sport Mode

I’m currently completed my third test which is Sport mode. In Sport mode you are getting roughly a 60% assist, which feels like a lot. Fully juiced the screen showed 42miles range. A riding sensation to note here This mode highlighted that this e bike has a single gear, if you are riding on flat and you are pedalling fast (70 rpm cadence) approx 22mph, you feel like you need a taller / harder gear to move faster.

Beyond Sport there are two more modes… Turbo that adds 80% and Boost which gives 100% additional assist. Given that I found Sport mode on flats to be a touch under geared, I certainly think Turbo and Boost would feel this way. Although my personal opinion would be unless you are carrying a 30lb load uphill, im not sure you would need these Turbo or Boost modes.

Given most battery technologies, your life will vary dramatically with temperature. So summer usage you will see higher millage. And also riding in freezing conditions is going to dramatically shorten your battery life.

Alongside all the pedal assist modes on the right hand side of the handlebar is Throttle. This is the variable kind and can add up to 80%. I found this useful if I was a little thoughtless / got stuck and hadn’t planned correctly pulling through and intersection or I needed a little boost up a hill.

Battery Extended life and End of life

New ish science has told us charging batteries to 80% extends the overall service life of Li Ion batteries by up to 4x. If you haven’t already check out the new settings in your phone or laptop for optimization. Currently there isn’t an option for selecting Optimization on VVolt, but I have been told its being investigated as there is a tricky balance between range and optimization and VVolt want to make sure they are offering the correct features.
End of Life – VVolt kindly include the cost for Li Battery recycling in your purchase of the bike. PrePaid -They don’t make a point of advertising this, but what a great aspect to encourage. They hook you up with a service called Call2Reycle

Charging

Charging – the bike comes with a large brick of a charger, (42V 2A) think Dell laptop supply from 20years ago :-) , one status LED and a plug in cable.

While charging the LED light on the power brick changes from green to red and back to green upon completion – there is no indication on the computer screen or info about how long it’s going to take. A full (100%) charge takes 6hr 45min not bad at all.

The charging port on the bike is located on the main tube of the frame and it needs improvement. To make the connection, each time I have to pry the cover open with a key or sharp object. It’s certainly not easy and given the marring on the plastic it’s also not something I see as durable. Part of the reason for this difficulty is the waterproofing nature of a tight seal, but there could be design to achieve ease of use and proper seal.
This is a bit of a disappointment because I’m at least going to be interacting with this once a week to charge the bike. I expect some folks will need to charge it more frequently. And there’s no consumer fix for this, – I’m hoping vvolt will specify a better designed port and take care of this.

Alternatively I can remove the locked battery from the frame and charge it that way, it’s not hard to do, just an extra step, an extra key to find.  Giving the benefit of doubt, maybe the charging has been primarily designed to remove the battery, I find that to be a short sighted move, plugging the connector into the frame should be an easier experience and pretty logical.

The computer (display) design

The specific relevant content for this request, if necessary, delimited with characters: Computer / screen is pretty nice on many fronts, with high contrast color, simple design that shows the basics. You toggle through the power assist modes with an up and down at the handlebar. There is also a central button that changes the info displayed on the screen. 1) Total time ridden 2) Machine Watts 3) Human Watts 4) Range 5) Avg Speed 6) Max Speed 7) Cadence. I’m a roadie so of course I was always looking at Cadence :-) jk aside I left it on Range as I like to know when to charge the battery. One of my pet peeves with the display is it doesn’t show the time. I rely on looking at the time a lot when on the bike, so it was a little bit of an inconvenience to always be pulling out my phone.

The computer automatically turns off, but you power it up with the Screen Mode button. (the middle button on the control) There is also a separate switch for the lights, which you can either have in Auto sense, On or Off.

Pros

• The modes are easy to select and colour coded for easy viewing
• The ride feel on Eco and Tour are really nice, pedal assist is well balanced and feels like a “bike”.
• The Range prediction is useful and usable, even though not 100% accurate it provides you with enough info to plan when to charge.
• The delivery of power is natural, the electronic controllers do an great job at smoothing out power bumps and delivering power when you need it.

Cons

• The charging port is difficult to use. The lack of design around the plug in makes it hard and frustrating to use.
• Computer doesn’t remember your last mode used, and defaults back to Eco between uses.
• Lack of clock
• The ride feel on Sport Mode or above can feel a touch under geared.

Summary

The power assist modes are fantastic, seriously the hardware sensors and software do a great job balancing ride feel with assist to deliver the right power at the wheels – the Slice Lite uses a torque, cadence and speed sensor along with software algorithms. It’s not a lesser expensive cadence only system.
The charging could be more intelligent, indicating charge time, maybe allowing for Li optimisation. The real downside is the design of the chargeport.
Battery Life is working well, my go to would be Tour mode and with that I can have 39Miles between charges, which is a lot of around town trips.

The future: With all the advancements in intelligence and machine learning, we would hope the computer could learn your ride style, optimize power and adjust Range predictions and battery charging cycles within user selected parameter.

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Part 6: Illuminating Lights

Details matter when buying a bike, especially ones that are hard to change or upgrade later. The good thing about e-bikes is that they always have lights. The bad thing is, if the lights are of bad design, then you will always have bad lights, because they are inegral to the design of the bike and wiring system. Fortunately the Slice has pretty awesome lights.

Rear Light

As mentioned before, the rear / side light on the Slice Lite is great. It’s bright and consistent, and it wraps 270 degrees, meaning you will be seen from the side. There are no modes, it’s solid on all the time – no flashing. It’s also intelligently positioned so your legs don’t interfere.

Front Light

The front light is really good. The pattern, brightness, beam width, and height are great. Here are a couple of pictures taken about one car length away from a wall. At that distance, the main focal point is similar in height to a car’s headlights. I haven’t measured the light output, but based on my experience, it’s probably around 550-650 lumens. This power output seems very appropriate for city riding. If you were in a rural area with no street lighting, a power of 800-1200 would be better. The current light could easily be augmented with a handlebar light.

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Part 5: Basket-life or Basketcase?

Basket-life on the Slice is mega helpful in many situations. For spontaneous or unplanned trips, you can easily toss your jacket, backpack, or anything else in there and off you go as the lower part is fairly contained, no hassle. Additionally, in the summer, it prevents your back from getting sweaty, always a good thing. The basket is tall (13″) and keeps your belongings secure even on bumpy surfaces. On more deliberate trips, the basket can organize a large amount of items, is easy to pack, and handles the weight well.

One of the large benefits of “truck” bike design with a smaller front wheel is the rack weight is close to the ground, lower center of gravity means steering feels great with no “tippy” sensation and better overall steering dynamics.

The basket / rack is durably constructed from alloy metal tubes with sheet wrap on the outside and sized 15″x12″x13″h. It can hold up to 30lbs (or another way to think is about it is 7 bricks) and has a horizontal sliding adjustable top rail for snugging down taller bags, for example if you add paper tall grocery bags. The slide feature is a bit gimmicky but the high rail in itself acts as higher sides to the basket, so it does have some use as an extra retainer. 

There isn’t a specific spot to put a lock, but you could create a holder for it. You come up with something to attach it to the outside metal sheet with some effort, or use the space under the seat with two bolts, usually for a water bottle. There are possibilities, but it’s not as simple as some other basket / rack designs.

Since I knew I would be using the bike a lot and needing to take stuff in and out of the basket, I got hold of a specific bag to fit the basket. The large PDW Loot bag fits perfectly, is easy to remove and grab. It’s almost waterproof (isn’t seam taped) and acts like a custom-sized bag, maximizing capacity and neatness. The advantage is that it’s easy to pick up and take into the shops with you. The Loot is almost perfect for using the Slice every day. I found that a hand-carry plastic basket in the supermarket was a good size guide as to what fits in the Loot bag. Oh Loot bag also comes with a detachable shoulder strap, pretty useful.

Now onto the thorny subject of tie down points. The Slice’s basket looks very nice but the function of the tie down points need some work. All the tie down points are generally too slim in width, thus a large variety of clips and bungees won’t work as they are thicker than the slots. You might be fine with inexpensive common or garden elastic bungees like the ones you find in the automotive shop. But anything with a buckle or latch say trying to secure a bag or accessory then you are probably going to have issues with. I tried a few cargo nets and just couldn’t get them to clip.

Because the bike looks incredibly nice and one of last thing I really want to do is bodge the job with cheap bungees, but a PDW cargo mesh wont work well with the clips either. This could be a restriction because anytime you carry something tall or above the height of the basket it’s going to be a pain to secure unless you have the specific bungees.  For most stuff this in’t a huge deal breaker for me, especially with a bag, but for carrying awkward or loose items it would be nicer to have better accommodating design. Modifying the laser cut pattern on the outer wrap is probably a pretty small job for the manufacturer, so I can see this aspect improving in the future.

Generally, the basket life on the Slice Lite is good, really good. The size and depth allow you to carry many different items, and the low center of gravity makes it very easy to ride.

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Part 4: Design features to love

The design gems / features of the VVolt Slice Lite that really stand out.

To Love

1) Drip. Truck like aesthetics. The small front wheel (20”) and large basket is something you either love or despise. I love it. I also love is how the low basket makes a great ride and steering. Note rear wheel is 24” and both have 3” wide tyres with minimal tread.

2) 270 degree Wrap around rear light – super cool design and promotes safety. the light shines on the sides and it’s bright and clear, while being unobstructed by your legs. Thrown there some smooth design over the saddle height adjustment bolt and that’s a solid winner.

3) Split top tube, low slung semi step through design, I really like this. The split top tube is unique and the low slung design that flows with the frame is really practical jumping on and off the bike at many stops.

4) Don’t forget the integrated front light on the 30lb rated basket. Easy to overlook but so blazingly useful.

5) Getting technical. The gates belt drive is superb. It’s a belt vs a chain, it lasts up to 19,000 miles (chains typically last 3-4000) no oil (your pant legs will thank you) , no noise. Low maintenance, a great choice over a regular chain.

6) Overall aesthetic, I think Vvolt nailed the style, proportions and even paint colour. A light periwinkle (called twilight) and a dusty concrete (called Overcast) are available options. The graphics are refined and subtle. no massive logos.

8) Well designed vertical rear dropouts meaning, you can access the rear wheel easily should you get a puncture. Not that you will with those beefcake tyres.

9) As mentioned in prior post. The easily adjustable handlebar / stem is a win for direct to consumer setups.

10) Less of a designed feature but still something I love is the Boost button, well in fact it’s a lever – throttle assist. It can get you over hums or out of situations where you need an extra kick at the press of a button.

Now being critical – What I don’t love as much

The front basket is a $200 option and it is removable. I’m not sure why you would have this bike without the basket , but i’m guessing the decision to make it extra sweetened the base price-point. The metal work near the rear of the basket is a bit cobbled together. You see gaps, quite large ones and compared with the rest of the bike it’s not as dialed. Gaps and misalignments tend to stand out when the rest looks so great. Fortunately this is hidden in the basket, so it didn’t myth me as much as I thought. I expect this is an early model thing and things will get tidier in subsequent models.

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Part 3: Out of the box adjustability

Quick update. 

When I first saw this, I wasn’t sure how I felt about this or what to say. A quick adjust reach and height for the handlebars (no tools needed) . I’m used to more permanent and belaboured bolts and clamps, so I had a little skepticism.

Was this too weak? would it slip when riding?

I can gladly say after two weeks of riding, no issues. and that’s even with standing and cranking on the bars. 

How it works – A quick slide unlock on the top of the stem and it unlocks the mechanism allowing it to rotates up or down through an arc. Adjusting fore and aft along with height.  The handle bar grip also loosens in the same mechanism so that the bars can remain in the correct orientation (or adjusted  if you want) 

Why this even matters? – get the bike shipped to you, get a perfect fit within seconds. no swapping stems or special tools needed. 

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Part 2: Initial Observations

Four days of riding on the Slice started the practical observations start flowing.

The large frame and heavy duty rack on this bike makes it appear like an unwieldy cargo bike, which could be off putting. To the contrary this bike is very manoeuvrable and easy to turn, great in the city and getting it in your shed. The design has a wheel base of 48” which is close what we think of as a regular bike. approx ~42”

One full charge gets you get 60miles on Eco mode. I’m at about 45miles now so let’s see how true this is. Also worth noting, im not sure if this includes powering the lights. I have them going most of the time, for daytime safety.

I’m also noticing, I’m not really getting anywhere much faster than my none e bike. ha. I have been using it on eco mode mainly and enjoying the ride feel with the added “around town” capability of hauling stuff, the efficiency of one trip with many more errand stops. Maybe this will change in the weeks coming and I will crank up the assist level. we will see.

The motor system has a top speed of 20mph then it turns off / stops assisting. The bike weighs close to 60lbs, so the fastest I have been on the flats is about 25mph for a brief second. I’m definitely not one of those people whizzing past you at 35mph on the bike path. I’m normally going 15/16
I like this sensibility, it’s more urban utility and a bit less a “get to work as fast as I can” machine. Some of this is obviously mandated by the fact that this is a single gear bike.

Different assist modes are available and Eco mode give approximately a 20% added boost. (take your input and add 20% via the motor) It’s really good and it still feels like a bike vs motorbike.

The power comes from the center of rear wheel vs the center of the bike. Which ride wise doesn’t feel much different but the benefit of power / assist at the wheel means there is less mechanical wear as the power isn’t transferred down a chain, instead it’s direct, where it’s needed.

Downsides

My only real downside at the moment are two things.
One theres no clock on the computer screen, seems trivial but Garmins and Wahoos have it and would have been very useful for making sure you are getting to appointments on time. (Duct tape and an old digital watch?)
Two : the rack is a little rattly. The thin metal external sheet (img below) seems to vibrate against the round tubes of the main rack frame. I will fix this over the next few days with some strategically placed inner tube to buffer vibration.

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Part 1: The First Ziiiiiiip

Exciting update from VVolt🚴 The new Slice Lite, or as I prefer to call it – the Slice of … 🍰 🍕 ☮️ 
I Just snagged it, and I’m embarking on a 30-day city bomb with this electric trucker beaut. I reckon as figure out its features I’ll be sharing (so expect to see more posts on this) 

First impressions:

* Seriously rad design for a compact trucker bike. Bloody loving the frame shape and raised chainstay with the beefy esthetic of the cargo rack. 

* This thing goes… 🧈 💨with mega smooth power delivery on pedal assist mode.  Hub driven motor in rear wheel, obviously great electronics 

Stay tuned for more posts to come (see below):
also on Instagram @jbucky1