Ultraviolette F77 Road Test Review: A Unique Ride

India’s tryst with performance electric motorcycles has begun with the Ultraviolette F77. It is unlike anything currently on the Indian market. And here’s why we are quite pleased with the start of this genre of electric motorcycles.

A Giant Leap For Electrics

For context, here’s how far ahead the F77 has raised the bar for Indian electric two-wheelers.

However, that wasn’t surprising at all. That massive battery is providing so much juice to the large motor that it was bound to smoke the Ola S1 Pro and the Ather 450X. But it is actually not as quick as you would think. In ICE terms, the F77 would still be able to outstrip a 250cc motorcycle, and keep pace with certain China-sourced 300s. But it is nowhere near as quick as the TVS Apache RR310. 

And that is partly down to how this bike launches. It doesn’t quite shoot off the line. Ultraviolette engineers have purposely tuned down the initial power supply so as to not scare riders or cause massive amounts of wheelspin. And while that is okay for riding modes like Glide and Combat, for Ballistic, I feel it should’ve had some added drama.

You don’t need to be in Ballistic mode always, though. With so much energy on tap, Combat mode felt sufficient for almost every possible scenario. Ride to work, no fuss. Cruise at respectable highway speeds, cool. Weekend apex hunting, sure, will work. It never felt boring to ride in Combat and even at full chat, never did it get seriously hot, which happens if you keep the throttle pinned to the max in Ballistic for a few minutes.

I am not that big a fan of Glide mode. Yes, the F77 can be comfortably ridden in the city in this mode. However, it doesn’t quite live up to the sporty persona of the bike. And you are obviously looking for a zippy ride from the F77. Hence, this mode sort of feels like you are riding a KTM RC 125, not something truly exciting like a Yamaha R15 V4 or a KTM RC 200.

Going Further

Not only has the F77 taken a leap in performance terms but also that humongous battery pack is good to go for around 227km. And that is extremely commendable as the figure includes nearly 100km of highway riding with the motorcycle sitting at 80-85kmph in Combat mode with medium level of regen. 

I guess that if you were going to be using this bike on a daily basis, it would easily be able to go for a full week’s worth of commuting plus evening ride outs to meet your mates comfortably before needing a full charge for weekend thrills.

Ultraviolette says a full charge of the F77 Recon’s 10.3kWh battery is roughly four and a half hours. But in our experience, it took a little over five hours. So an overnight charge for a week’s worth of riding seems justified until you factor in the additional charger cost. You have to either pay Rs 42,500 to have both the standard and boost chargers, or just pay Rs 26,650 extra for only the Boost charger. 

Big Aggression

Just look at the F77, does it look like it was made for comfort? Hence, wishing the posture could be a bit more relaxed or less aggressive is futile. However, it isn’t too painful. It requires you grip the mid-section firmly so that your upper body and arms don’t take too much of your body’s load. It is a challenging task though as the glossy plastics make it quite hard to straddle the bike if you are wearing riding denims or pants. That’s where a pair of tank grips would be extremely useful. Hopefully, UV adds them to the F77’s limited accessories catalogue.

Adding to the discomfort is its incredible heft. Hustling 207 kilos is not easy, especially in bumper to bumper traffic. Since it is heavily front biased, you end up loading the USD fork a lot more. This makes the steering heavier than normal, making it slightly taxing to filter through traffic. Even when you’re out on the highway, changing lanes does require some effort.

The harsh ride forces you to keep your eagerness in check. The front end feels very sorted once you get your preload setting right for your weight. However, the rear end doesn’t compress, and doesn't soak up the bumps at all. I understand that UV are concerned with protecting the battery from impacts and given the bikes sporty intentions a firm setup was understandable, but this is taking things a bit too far. Heck, the first gen KTM RCs also didn’t feel as jarring. It does feel a bit better with a pillion rider but it still isn’t ideal.

Ultraviolette has made sure its sporty machine has the right set of tools to come to grinding halt. The bite is fierce and the lever feedback is strong. We have faced a bit of brake fade over the course of testing the bike, which is a little surprising as the bike we have has only clocked around 1,500km on the odometer. That’s not the part you need to look out for though. 

Even then, ABS calibration needs improvement. When braking hard, the ABS does intrude, which causes this rather shuddering motion at the front. Also, we faced an issue where ABS failed on us, and that was not a case for this particular unit only. Thankfully, on this bike, the system came back on, which wasn’t quite so on the other test unit we received earlier.

Fancy Looker, Not Techy

Unlike e-scooters, the F77’s features list isn’t too extensive. Yes, it has the usual smattering of connected tech but the app for the same is still in Beta testing as we are recording this video. Toggling through the menu does take you a few minutes to understand, though.

And even activating the reverse mode, there’s no clear button for that. It was upon fiddling around the bike that I came to know how to use the feature.

Unique But Not Engaging Enough

So, the Ultraviolette F77 is offering a unique motorcycling experience. It is rather quick but not too quick, has plenty of range for a week’s worth of riding and would be a great companion for weekend rides. I just wish the ride was a bit more pliant and sophisticated, and Ultraviolette had tank grips for better control over the bike. Ultimately, this unique experience will be limited to only a few. And there’s no prizes for guessing why.