Motorcycles

Bultaco rides again with all-electric motorcycles: The Rapitan and Rapitan Sport

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Bultaco's all-electric Rapitan, featuring a Hossack-inspired front suspension setup
The all-electric Bultaco Rapitan Sport
The all-electric Bultaco Rapitan Sport
The all-electric Bultaco Rapitan Sport
Bultaco Rapitan Sport's Hossack-inspired front end
Bultaco Rapitan Sport's Hossack-inspired front end
A Hossack-style front end helps control brake dive and maintains constant geometry braking into turns
Bultaco Rapitan - "tank" area can store a full-face helmet
Bultaco's all-electric Rapitan, featuring a Hossack-inspired front suspension setup
Bultaco's Rapitan prototype
A sales poster for the Bultaco Mercurio 155 GT Poster, circa 1974
Bultaco's motorcycle distribution network was once immense - perhaps it may one day be that large again?
Ángel Nieto's total of 90 Grand Prix victories is third only to the 122 by Giacomo Agostini, and the 106 of Valentino Rossi.
Spaniard Ángel Nieto took 90 Grand Prix victories and 13 World Championships, many on a Bultaco.
Bultaco Advertising circa 1978, celebrating the company's racing successes.
In 1973, Jim Pomeroy became the first American rider to win a world championship motocross race when he rode a Bultaco Pursang to victory in the 1973 250cc Spanish motocross Grand Prix
Barry Sheene, who went on to become twice world 500cc champion in 500cc class, began his career on Bultaco 125 and 250 singles
Salvador Cañellas at Montjuïc Park (Barcelona) during the 1968 125cc Spanish Grand Prix in which he became the first Spanish rider to win a World Grand Prix race and Bultaco became the first Spanish marque to win a World Grand Prix race.
Motorcycling legend Sammy Miller won the Six Scottish Days on a Bultaco Sherpa
Bultaco's factory output during the sixties was immense - here, a line-up of Metralla and Saturno models await delivery
Bultaco became the pride of Spain for its international success. Here Prince Juan Carlos I of Spain visits the Bultaco factory.
In the October 1960, Bultaco set 5 world speed records
Bultaco was launched on March 24th, 1959 with the company's first bike, the Tralla 101
Francisco Bultó, the founder of Bultaco
Bultaco's new executive team
Bultaco's new executive team
Bultaco's new executive team
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It’s been 13 years since a bike came out with the famous Bultaco thumbs-up logo on its side. By 2001 the once-glorious road racing days of this Spanish motorcycle company had ground to a halt, and only retro off-road two stroke enthusiasts and trials riders really heard the name. But that’s set to change, as the brand is about to resurrect itself as an electric motorcycle manufacturer, starting in 2015. Bultaco today revealed two prototypes that point the way forward – the Rapitan and Rapitan Sport. Both feature 53 horsepower, 92 lb.ft electric motors, Hossack-style front end suspension and enough battery storage to get over 200 km (125 miles) in town.

Founded by MotoGP star Sete Gibernau’s grandfather back in 1958, Bultaco built a series of successful road and road race bikes through the 60s and 70s, peaking in the late 70s when Spanish rider Angel Nieto rode the brand to two 50cc world Grand Prix championships, and multiple wins in the 125cc Grand Prix class.

Between the 1970s and when the brand name was last used in 2001, Bultaco was best known for its two-stroke off road and trials bikes.

But Paco Bultó, Bultaco’s founder, wasn’t himself a fan of the peaky two-stroke powerband. His son Paco Bultó junior remembers that his father "always said that the ideal scenario would be a constant torque engine with the same response as any system for a motorcycle without gear shifts… And at the end he said: as if we had an electrical engine."

The all-electric Bultaco Rapitan Sport

Bultó senior might not be around to see it, but it seems the brand is ready to go in just that direction. The electric motorcycle segment feels like it’s right on the edge of a tipping point, ready to relegate petrol-powered motorcycles to long-range touring duties, and the Bultaco brand is being resurrected with some very sexy looking new prototypes.

The Rapitan and Rapitan Sport are the first glimpses we’ll get of the 2015 launch, an extremely handsome roadster and a retro-electric flat tracker. At the heart of both bikes is a custom-developed powerplant, the Bultaco Powercore eMK1, which makes some 40 kW (53 hp) and 125 Nm (92 lb.ft) of torque.

Apart from the bikes’ unique and funky looks, they aim to differentiate themselves in two key ways. Firstly, with a Norm Hossack-style front end suspension similar to the Telelever system BMW uses on many of its road bikes. This kind of suspension system does an outstanding job of controlling brake dive, and separating braking from turning forces, keeping the bike’s geometry much more constant as you’re braking into corners than a traditional telescopic fork.

Bultaco's Rapitan prototype

Secondly, Bultaco believes it has found a more efficient way to use regenerative braking to put energy back into the bikes’ batteries. "The Bultaco Drive Train System (DTS), unlike other electrical two-wheeled vehicles, enables the maximum energy performance to be yielded from regenerative braking. This is possible because the technology applied to the chassis maximizes the rear wheels’ adherence during braking, which enables a considerable electrical braking torque to be applied.”

Certainly, our recent test of the Zero SR found that even with regenerative braking turned up to maximum levels, motor braking was extremely weak, so it’ll be interesting to see how much difference the Bultaco system can make, both in terms of usable regen braking and battery range extension.

The bulk of the 189 kg (416 lb) weight is kept low, which should make these two very quick-steering bikes. It also opens up enough free space where the Rapitan's tank would normally be to store a full-face helmet. Anyone who ever owned a Suzuki Across will know exactly how handy that chunk of storage can be.

By the time the new Bultaco bikes launch in 2015, they’ll be well behind the curve if they don’t beef up the power and torque output, but they’ll sure have a heck of a presence on the roads. We look forward to riding the next chapter in the Bultaco story, and wish the new owners a big thumbs-up!

Source: Bultaco (Spanish)

View gallery - 28 images
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6 comments
Daishi
Bultaco is 53 Hp, 92 lb.ft torque, the 2014 Zero was 70 HP, 106 ft-lbs torque.
Bultaco is lower out the gate but still a lot better than the 2011 Zero.
Purple-Stater
These electric bikes all look very cool, but I'm really looking forward to seeing them hit a more affordable price-point for the average consumer, rather than the teen sportsbike enthusiast.
The Skud
I know everybody says it, BUT! "As battery tech keeps improving" range will get better and better. The old lead-acid batteries have been well and truly surpassed for uses like these, and thank God for that! With the time to spend on development until release, these bikes will also get better and better. Perhaps the Zero makers could talk to them about better regenerative braking systems.
Nelson Hyde Chick
The power may be behind the Zero, but the look is a lot better. The Zero is just too damn ugly!
eScooter
this is cool, but too heavy
gizmowiz
At least the seat height is a little lower than Zero. Still not low enough!