Untitled’s New Electric Bike Proves That You Don’t Need a Fuel Tank to Look Cool
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Electric motorcycles can tend to look like toys from the future. With many of the parts integral to a gas engine—the fuel tank, carburetors and exhaust—replaced by the electric drive train, the bikes look stripped down, leading some companies to overcompensate with unnecessary details and flourishes. Not Hugo Eccles, though. Instead, the San Francisco-based designer leaned into the freedom of imagining a new kind of bike, and created a minimalist dream with the Untitled Motorcycles’ Zero XP.
Neither a mechanic nor a traditional automotive designer, Eccles has always brought a unique vision to the custom projects he’s created for Untitled Motorcycles. Having worked on Ducatis and Triumphs in the past, he’s currently focusing on bikes made by electronic motorcycle manufacturer Zero, and the first one is a beauty. Rather than try to make up for what’s gone, Eccles bore down on the essentials, including only design and structural elements necessary to ride the bike. He broke the rules of motorcycle design—because they no longer applied.
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“When you’re dealing with an internal combustion engine, you have built-in physical constraints. The fuel tank has to sit above the motor to gravity-feed the carbs, the carbs are positioned away from turbulent airflow, the exhaust is routed to avoid heating the fuel or the rider, and so on,” he told Bike Exif earlier this month. “But those rules don’t apply to an electric motorcycle—and that freedom is an incredible opportunity for a designer. If things like a fuel tank, exhaust, carbs, and clutch are no longer necessary, then what is?”
The result is a bike that basically looks like a rocket engine on wheels—its sleek, aluminum-housed drivetrain adorned with the only trace elements of a frame, a seat and kneepads. Eccles made clear he wanted to bring attention to the bike’s electric innards: “I didn’t want to hide the powertrain behind a fairing. I wanted to unapologetically celebrate the character of this motorcycle.” Other design touches include a Motogadget gauge mounted in a custom carrier, CNC’d footpegs, clip-on handlebars, a modified suspension and 4XLED twin headlights.
Finished in Ghost Grey aircraft paint, the Zero XP is eye candy, to be sure. But that’s far from all it has to offer. The bike’s electric drivetrain has plenty of pep. The 82kW motor produces 140 ftlb/190Nm of torque and is capable of reaching a top speed of 124 mph without switching gears. It’s also got a decent range of 80 to 160 miles, depending how hard riders want to push it.
Check out more pics of the bike below:
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