Ducati's new e-bike is feather-light, Garmin-equipped, and frankly gorgeous

Date:
Tue, 08 Mar 2022 17:32:11 +0000

Description:
The Ducati Futa is the motorcycle company's first road e-bike, and it's a
real looker if your budget will stretch far enough.

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Veteran motorcycle builder Ducati has revealed its first road e-bike , and it's seriously impressive. At first glance, the Ducati Futa looks like a conventional high-end carbon road bike, but tear your eyes off its sleek carbon monocoque frame and you'll notice a 250W rear hub motor the maximum permitted for a road-legal e-bike in the company's native Italy.

That motor has five power assistance levels (most e-bikes only offer three) and is controlled by a Garmin computer operated from the handlebar. You get a 250Wh integrated battery, with an optional 250Wh range extender, though
Ducati hasn't given an estimate for its maximum range.

As you'd expect from a premium e-bike, the Ducati Futa is extremely light, with the medium frame size tipping the scales at 12.2kg. It's not as featherweight as the HPS Domestique , but you're getting more power here,
plus top-end components. These include a K Force WE groupset with 2x12 speed wireless electronic shifting, Vision AGX30 wheels with carbon rims, sturdy Pirelli Cinturato Velo 'tubeless ready' tires, and a tough, aerodynamic
Trimax Carbon Aero handlebar. Style and substance

Many premium brands are now building pedal-assisted e-bikes that are fast, sleek and powerful, turning a machine that was once considered frumpy and uncool into a real status symbol. Porsche , Lamborghini , and Bugatti are
just some of the luxury carmakers adding e-bikes to their lineup.

Moving into e-bikes is a particularly natural step for motorcycle builders. Yamaha is one of the oldest e-bike builders, and Harley Davidson is taking them seriously, too; in 2020 it launched Serial 1 , a whole spin-off company dedicated to electric bikes, together with a line of bikes that take design cues from the first-ever Harley motorcycle.

It's therefore little surprise that Ducati is expanding its own lineup and bringing its luxury e-bikes onto the road. As Road.cc reports, the new bike sits alongside Ducati's existing line of e-MTBs, all of which were built in collaboration with Italian e-bike builder Thok . (Image credit: Ducati)

The standard Ducati Futa certainly isn't cheap, but at 7,690 (about $10,000 / AU$14,000) it's far from the most expensive e-bike we've seen. The Porsche eBike Sport , which launched alongside the Taycan Cross Turismo in 2021, was priced at 9,600 (about $13,000 / AU$17,000).

If you've got some more serious cash weighing you down, however, there's also a Futa Limited Edition. This will lighten your wallet by 11,990 (about
$16,000 / AU$22,000), and gives you the range extender battery, a Garmin Edge Explore GPS bike computer, and the glow of knowing you own one of only 50 numbered bikes in existence. Your complete guide to e-bike maintenance



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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/news/ducatis-new-e-bike-is-feather-light-garmin-equi pped-and-frankly-gorgeous/


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