Momentum Review: The adorable and urban-ready Blix Vika+ e-bike

The Blix Vika+ is slender and powder blue. The saddle is leather-brown, as are the handlebar grips. I slid it out of the box, assembled the whole thing in about 15 minutes, and stepped back to admire my work.

“That is so cute,” I said aloud in my empty garage. “Ohmagersh! It’s adorable!”

I exclaimed all this in a voice I usually reserve for kittens, because the Blix Vika is, truly, the cutest ebike I’ve ever seen firsthand. The pastel color scheme and earnest geometry conjured so many images: The Vika+ parked in front of a corner bakery in the fall. The Vika riding a narrow brick street festooned with flowers. If the Blix Vika+ had existed in 2001, Audrey Tautou would have ridden one in the film Amélie, yet the movie would have had no plot, because she’d be having too much fun riding her Blix around Paris to do anything else. The Vika+ is that cute.

Blix is based in California and boasts a diverse fleet of e-bikes, from the Packa Genie Cargo Bike to the Ultra All-Terrain, whose green version looks like a two-wheeled Sherman tank. Blix has engineered a different ebike for almost every category of rider, from easygoing tourists on the boardwalk to mud-spattered bikepackers in the wilderness – and somewhere in between is the Vika, an attractive, sensible ebike designed for dallying about the neighborhood.

But all this cuteness belies the Vika’s impressive performance as an ebike: The design is comfortable, the motor has verve, and it folds easily in half, one of the handiest assets an electric model can have.

Blix Vika+

Tell Your Friends About the Vika+

In photographs, the Vika+ looks small, mostly because of its spare geometry and 50 cm rims. The Vika+ also folds efficiently, with dimensions of about 92 cm by 54 cm by 71 cm, which means it can fit into the trunk of even the most compact car. The adjustable frame will fit riders as petit as 147 cm tall.

But the Vika+ is sturdier than it appears, and the 23 kg body grants you a lot of stability on the road. The tires are six centimeters wide, a girth that rivals most mountain bikes. The 500w motor feels surprisingly powerful, so you can accelerate easily through intersections. The upright sitting position is extremely cozy, and while the long seatpost may look precarious from a distance, you won’t notice much difference.

The Vika+ is a delight to pedal, and the five levels of assist cooperate beautifully with the seven-gear cassette. For maximum distance, a lower level of assist will serve you well, and it’s even possible to ride without the motor at all. Yet the Vika+ also has a throttle, and I find this option difficult to resist. Some ebikes are like that: They are best enjoyed without pedaling, more like a traditional moped than a bicycle, and the Vika+ reminds me of nothing so much as a Vespa, the colorful kind you see whizzing around European cities. The throttle will deplete your power faster, but my word, is it fun, especially in a city with narrow streets.

Blix also makes it easy to customize its bikes, and you can readily add bags, racks, platforms, and more to the Vika+ frame. There are numerous mounting points designed to maximize its carrying capacity, whether you plan to carry a basket full of groceries or panniers packed with touring equipment. The step-through design does slightly limit your real estate, but the pre-installed rear-rack and space for front mounts should accommodate a good amount of stuff, especially for a folding model.

You could also – in theory – carry a small passenger, most likely a toddler. Blix has much bigger models built for this purpose, and the Vika+ isn’t suited for two grown humans, but I’m confident you could install a padded seat or chair in the back and carry a child. Whatever cargo you carry, this machine can bear up to 122 kg.

Blix Vika+

Finally, there is the simple folding mechanism, which cuts its size in half and makes it easy to transport in an emergency. This little superpower will always score points with me, and the Vika+ is particularly easy to manipulate, right down to the collapsible handlebar post. The pedals also flip upward, so you don’t risk bending or scraping.

Wish List

The Vika+ was so easy to assemble that I was startled to encounter any problem at all: The motor didn’t turn on. The solution was simple, requiring only a quick call to Vika’s (excellent) customer support hotline. The main cable that channels power from the battery to the digital panel wasn’t connected near the top; the tiny pins and sockets weren’t fastened together.

As the rep informed me, this is a common problem with the Vika+: A protective casing is wrapped around cord, like a plastic version of handlebar tape. The casing is extremely taut and hard to dig into. To give myself some slack, I had to snip off the zip-ties that connect the cable to the bike’s frame. One by one, I removed the ties, and the power cable detached from the bike. I rooted around inside the loosened casing, found the small wires, and connected them. Done.

This cost me nothing except a phone call and a few bucks for new zip ties, for reattaching the cable. It’s a small fluke in an otherwise flawless design, but new owners may be alarmed for a few minutes.

The only other hitch about the Vika+ is purely superficial: Many riders may balk at its appearance. Like beach cruisers and attached woven baskets, the Vika+ could potentially threaten – how to put it? – the self-consciously masculine. This is a silly reason to reject such a wonderful bike, but in an era of gender-reveal parties and camo-patterned baby strollers, some riders may feel obligated to invest in, say, the Ultra All-Terrain instead.

Easy fit for the trunk of the car

Ideal User

There is no question that the Vika+ is an urban bike, and the ideal user is someone who commutes to work or rides around the neighborhood running errands. You could easily explore any metropolitan neighborhood on the Vika+; aesthetically, it looks most at home on a well-paved city street.

But the Vika’s quality construction has far more potential, and it’s equipped for all kinds of roads. The folding mechanism makes it possible to throw this bike in a trunk and drive it anywhere, including small towns and rural roads. The luggage rack is ready to carry a good load, so you could easily travel some distance or use it for overnighters. The range of a single charge is average, at 72 km, but the disc brakes and the puncture-resistant tires can handle decently rugged terrain, including most dirt paths and gravel roads.

In the end, the Blix Vika+ is a perfect balance of form and function. It’ll get you almost anywhere, and when you arrive, odds are good that someone will exclaim, “Ooh, cute bike!”