Belt-driven bikes offer huge advantages. Firstly, they generally require less maintenance, with many belts often lasting twice as long as a typical chain. Secondly, there is no grease to speak of and therefore no black stains on your work pants. Thirdly, in the case of the Soltera 3, the belt comes from the Gates brand, whose transmission belts are of the highest possible quality. Belt-drive bikes are quiet and often smoother than their chain-drive counterparts.
That said, the inclusion of a low-maintenance item such as a belt drive paired with hydraulic disc brakes, which require bleeding every year or so, seemed like an odd choice to me. If Aventon wanted to make the Soltera 3 as simple as possible, cable-operated brakes would have been a more intuitive choice.
The other thing that immediately stands out about the Soltera 3 is its relatively light weight. At 37 pounds, the Soltera 3 is heavy for an analog bike. But it’s certainly not heavy for an e-bike, and it’s almost as stiff, nimble, and rideable as a conventional bike. One problem I’ve always had with e-bikes is their weight. Since they are often designed to replace a car, they are built with the load in mind. Additionally, electric bike batteries are heavy.
Adding to that feeling of “this is just like my other bikes”, the Soltera 3 just looks cool, which is often not the case when it comes to e-bikes. The matte black that my test bike came in looks cool because matte black almost never looks cool. (Also, the Soltera 3 is available in matte dark blue And elegant silver.) But beyond the finish, the geometry of the bike; its wide and almost perfectly flat handlebars; and its narrow (by e-bike standards) 700 x 36 tires make it feel closer in DNA to a road bike than a traditional e-bike.
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Photography: Michael Venutolo-Mantovani
I’m 6’4” and the extra wide Soltera 3 I tested was at maximum saddle height. It suited me, but I couldn’t recommend someone taller than me ride the Soltera 3. That said, with four sizes ranging from small to extra large, the line covers a wide range of riders, from my height up to 5 feet tall.
