Great for Commuters on Smooth Roads – Review Geek

Typically, the assembly required for an ebike is minimal. You may have to affix and tighten handlebars, put the seat post in place, or even attach the front and/or back tire. With Vanpowers’ City Vanture ebike, all of the assembly is in your hands—if you want it to be.

The City Vanture has a sleek, minimalistic design that doesn’t look much like an ebike. It’s very inconspicuous because many of the cables are hidden and the battery is thin and stored in the downtube.

It also doesn’t sound like an ebike, thanks to the Gates Carbon Drive belt. Unlike a metal chain, the drive belt makes your ride incredibly quiet, prevents rust, and reduces maintenance. The motor is whisper-quiet, too, despite it packing a 350W punch.

The 700C x 28C Kenda Tires are thin and made for the roads, but they handle flat grass pretty well too. When I came across holes or cracks in the concrete, the tires seemed to struggle slightly, so I wish they were just a little bit fatter. If you live in an area with great roads, this won’t be a concern, but if you have a lot of cracked sidewalks or potholes you can’t avoid on your way to work, this might not be the commuter bike for you.

As an ebike, the City Vanture isn’t lightweight at just under 35 pounds, but it’s lighter than many other ebikes on the market. That said, this ebike’s lighter weight isn’t surprising with its thin tires, thin frame, and lack of a suspension or gearing system.

One of the design elements I don’t like in the City Vanture is with how close the front tire can get to the pedal. When you start pedaling, you have to be aware of where your shoes are in relation to the front tire. There were a few times I tried to start pedaling with the front tire tilted in the direction I wanted to go, and I’d feel my shoe preventing the tire from moving.

I’d have to straighten the front tire out and roll the bike to face whichever direction I wanted to take off in. I didn’t experience this much at higher speeds because turns were more gentle, requiring the front wheel to turn only slightly.

I’m not a huge fan of the ideal rider height for the City Vanture either because it seems like too small of a range. The recommended height range for this ebike is between 5’8″ and 6’3″, though without being able to adjust the handlebars to a higher position, I don’t think the City Vanture would be as comfortable for those above 6-foot.

You can adjust the seat up and down, but that’s the only adjustment that can be made on Vanpowers’ City Vanture. There’s a rear reflector positioned under the saddle that can be removed to accommodate a slightly lower rider height, but it wasn’t recommended in the instructions. I’m 5’5″ and I was able to ride the bike relatively comfortably with the seat lowered all the way down and some hiking boots that gave me an extra inch-or-two boost in height.

The average height of a woman in the United States is 5’4″, and there are plenty of people who fall below this average. It’d be nice to see Vanpowers add a step-through frame or a smaller step-over frame to accommodate lower heights.

Lastly, if you order the Infinite Silver color, it comes with a Brown Justek Urban saddle, but any of the other four colors come with the Black Selle Royal saddle. The black saddle isn’t as uncomfortable as other ebikes, but I wish you could choose which saddle you received when you make your order because the brown saddle looks a lot wider and comfier, ideal for a long commute.

For the most part, the City Vanture ebike provides a pleasant riding experience. It’s definitely commuter-focused, which is how it’s advertised. It’s great on smooth roads, and even decent on flat grass, but when you add in cracked sidewalks, bumpy roads, or steep inclines, things get a bit tougher.

I took the ebike offroad on a few small hills just to see how it would handle rougher terrain. I didn’t fall off the bike at all and I never felt too unstable to stop, but it wasn’t the smoothest ride. With no suspension system, this didn’t surprise me.

Even though the City Vanture isn’t meant to be an offroad bike, a suspension system would still have been a nice addition because roads aren’t always completely flat and free of potholes or cracks. With this ebike’s sturdy, slightly uncomfortable seat, a suspension system would have made the riding experience much smoother. Buying a plush seat cushion can help relieve some of the discomfort, though Vanpowers doesn’t offer any specifically for the City Vanture yet.

This ebike uses a cadence sensor, which responds as soon as you start pedaling and only increases motor power when you adjust the pedal-assist level. The alternative would be a torque sensor, which measures how much force you apply to the pedals and tells the motor to deliver more power the harder you pedal. Torque sensors are the better technology, but they are more expensive, so the City Vanture ebike keeps costs down by opting for a cadence sensor.

Because it’s equipped with a cadence sensor rather than a torque sensor, the City Vanture requires a bit more effort to get started. I didn’t find this to be an issue because I’d always make sure one pedal was all the way at the top so I could push off with max force. By riding this way, the bike’s motor always kicked in within a few seconds.

Although the City Vanture has a max speed of 25 mph, it doesn’t feel comfortable to ride that fast. The bike doesn’t have a gearing system, which by itself is a con, but this means that when you’re going above 20 mph, your feet are spinning wildly fast to make the bike go faster. If there was a gearing system, even something with only three gears, it’d be easier to pedal against resistance to reach a higher speed. On average, I stuck around 15 mph in pedal-assist level three while pedaling at a normal speed.

There are six pedal-assist levels to switch between. There’s a pedal-assist level zero, which means you won’t be getting any help from the motor. Then, switching between pedal-assist levels one through five affects how fast you’re going without changing the level of pedaling you’re already doing.

I think this is why it felt so weird to be in pedal-assist level five. Pedaling at a natural rate, at least for me, resulted in a max speed of about 18 mph. To try and reach the max of 25 mph, I had to pedal faster with no resistance, which felt like it could potentially be dangerous at such high speeds if my foot slipped off the pedal or I otherwise got tripped up.

With such a light frame, pedaling the City Vanture without any motor assistance felt pretty great. Because it’s heavier than a traditional bike, it feels a bit heavier to ride manually, especially right after you’ve experienced pedal-assist, but it’s doable and it’ll give you a good workout.

The Tektro Hydraulic Disc brakes feel great, and I felt comfortable stopping from any speed. There was one instance where I was going roughly 20 mph and my back wheel got caught in a crack in the middle of a residential street, and my back tire spun out a bit. Even in this panicked situation, I was able to regain control of the bike and come to a complete stop while I composed myself. With a commuter ebike like this, it’s great that Vanpowers opted for the more expensive hydraulic brake choice rather than mechanical brakes.

Another aspect of my riding experience I enjoyed was the display. I love that it’s waterproof, just in case you spill something or accidentally get caught in a bit of rain before you reach your destination. It looks quite stylish, and it’s a larger display, so everything you need to see at a glance while riding is right there.