I posted my first review upon receipt of my new Aventon Soltera a few weeks ago (DOA battery). Bike arrived within a week of ordering, it looked gorgeous, easily assembled straight out of the box, but– had a DOA battery, that was 2 years old. Customer Service (Alex A.) was very helpful, and approved a new battery and hazmat box for the old battery within 48hrs of my call. But, It took more than 10 days for the battery to ship. When it finally arrived, new battery was fully charged (blue light!) and the bike finally works. I took it on a short 3.5 mile spin last night, and so far, so good, barely used 1% of the battery. On level 1, I didn’t feel it made much of a difference, but on level 2, the bike significantly pushed me up the hill a lot faster than I had anticipated. One has to get used to stopping safely at traffic lights. Attractive features include the on-handle adjust speed/level apparatus, very intuitive to use, and the panel to show how far you’ve gone/pace; and just brilliant addition of built-in battery operated brake lights on the side rims. This is an essential safety feature for city bike commuters where car drivers don’t pay attention. Have to worry less about a car not being aware of me braking. Excellent bike, looks good, rides great, a bit heavy, but can’t wait to take it on a proper long haul ride soon. Special thanks to Merlin at Aventon Customer Service. Having read all the complaints about DOA batteries since April 2023, one wonders if there is something wrong with the factory which assembles the bikes? A thorough QC, esp on the “e” part of the ebike is essential before shipping. Aventon needs to pay attention to this problem if it doesn’t want to lose customer support. Best, YD