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NEWS
Bultaco to return with e-bikes
Historic Spanish marque to stage electrifying comeback with range of battery-powered models; Rapitan prototypes unveiled in LondonThe latest in a long line of historic motorcycle marques to stage a modern comeback is Bultaco, the Spanish firm recently raising the covers on two electric prototypes at a media event in London, UK.
The Rapitan and Rapitan Sport feature Bultaco’s own in-house electrical propulsion system featuring lithium-ion batteries and ultra-condensers. The development of the drive system has been conducted with the help of Viesca Engineering, a company known for its efforts in the field of high-speed rail, while the basic powerplant was produced by LGN TECH Design S.L. – a engineering firm specialising in mechanical and engineering technology founded in 2010 by Jose German Perez, Rual Perez, Juan Manuel Vinos, Gerald Pollmann and Jorge Bonilla.
LGN Tech Design produced an electric race back that finished fourth outright in the inaugural FIM World Electric Motorcycle Championship in 2011, and from there the company’s efforts have seen it transform into Bultaco Motors, which is now readying itself for a 2015 launch of a range of production e-bike models.
With an ‘Innovation Centre’ in Madrid and a manufacturing facility in Barcelona, Bultaco Motors says its coming products will appeal to pure motorcyclists and technology buffs alike. The in-house Bultaco Drive Train System will feature regenerative braking while a ‘Bike Manager’ app will allow the user to access a range of data from their mobile device, including battery charge status and the bike’s location.
The fledgling company says that in 2015 a projected staff of 150 people will produce an initial production volume of 2000 bikes, with staffing numbers to rise to 500 soon after.
Bultaco says the bikes will initially be sold in Spain, the USA, the UK, Germany and France, with the firm handling every aspect of the bike from design to production to marketing and distribution.
According to co-founder Juan Manuel Vinos, the Bultaco name was a strong fit for the start-up’s overall guiding principles.
“We were not looking for a prestigious name for a promising project; it was something different,” he says.
“Bultaco’s hallmarks from the start, namely its spirit of constant striving, its technological innovation and its passion for motorcycles, are the same hallmarks we have today. They are timeless values.”
Founded by Don ‘Paco’ Bulto in 1958 after he left Montesa, Bultaco produced two-stroke motorcycles until it closed its doors in 1983. While it also produced road bikes it was famed for its off-road models, especially its Sherpa T trials bikes. It won no fewer than eight World Trials Championships through the 1970s but then fell on hard times, with production ceasing in 1979. The factory reopened in 1980 but production closed for good three years later.
The motorcycle landscape has seen many an historic comeback launch amid much fanfare only to founder as the economic realities of launching a new bike and bringing it to market hit home. The reborn Bultaco Motors certainly seems to have the engineering credentials, but we’ll have to wait and see if it can successfully take that winning design – and that winning name – from the track to the showroom.
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Written byBikesales Staff
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