Some two-wheelers are so outlandish that even the idea of them feels like fiction. Yet, time and again, these ‘rebels’ break free from the moulds we’ve built for two-wheelers, and that’s what makes them irresistible. They’re uncharted, audacious and impossible to ignore. Joining this list is an adventure-capable electric motorcycle — the Ultraviolette X-47.
Seeing it in the flesh, it looked unmistakably Ultraviolette, yet so different from the F77. The compact headlight remained but now wore a flyscreen on top and an ADV-style beak below. Even the tail-light wasn’t new, but it sat in a unique cast-aluminium subframe. And the wheels? The same 17-inch size as before, but now wrapped in dual-purpose tyres.
Of course, just bolting on knuckle guards, dual-purpose tyres and some ‘tough-boy’ styling wasn’t going to cut it. Ultraviolette reworked the F77 frame by relaxing the rake angle by a degree, added long-travel suspension, a new steel box-section swingarm and revised the final drive. The result? A menacing-looking motorcycle that had me instinctively drawing parallels with European supermoto-tourers.
Perfect balance
Developing a true crossover is tough. Such a machine must combine road manners and long-distance comfort without compromising off-road performance. Build one with 40 bhp and a 207-kg kerb weight and it gets even tougher. But somehow, Ultraviolette has nailed it.
The moment I sat on the 820-mm seat, everything felt just right. The handlebar was tall and wide enough to give me a relaxed yet commanding leverage, and the footpegs were slightly rear-set but not so much as to ruin touring comfort. Soon, I set out to do some proper ‘crossover’ things.
First up was a B-road with ripply concrete, and the suspension smoothed out every imperfection. Naturally, to test its limits, I ventured onto a trail. Standing on the pegs, leaning forward, weaving through dense foliage, I barely noticed the surface below. The suspension still did not disappoint. In fact, I began to trust it with much rougher stuff.
I found myself in a barren expanse where every rock and boulder dared me to launch the X-47 off it. With traction control off and rear ABS disengaged, I twisted the throttle, sending all 62.2 kg-m to the rear wheel which clawed at the earth and slid the back out. Recalibrating my brain for the surge of torque, I hit another stretch, caught some air, and braced for a hard landing — but the X-47 soaked it up. The only hitch was that upon touchdown, the motor cut out which was tolerable. However, the ABS calibration wasn’t. Tuned for tarmac, it tended to intervene just when I needed braking most on the trail. That was my cue to head back onto tarmac, which happened to be a race track.
The first Indian-made motorcycle to feature radar, and the system lights up the console and flashes alerts on the mirrors in case someone is in the rider’s blind spots | Photo Credit: Kaizad Adil Darukhanawala
Ultraviolette motorcycles have always been fun on a track and this one was no different. I was a bit wary of the MRF Revz AT tyres, which admittedly hadn’t let me down so far, but I still had to be careful not to scrape the footpegs on the road; cornering clearance was decent but not infinite. This bike wasn’t meant for track duty, at least not with the stock suspension settings. The ride was too soft to really push hard; the suspension wouldn’t settle, something that could be fixed by cranking up preload at both ends. Still, the motor kept urging me on.
It’s the same motor as the F77, but with a bigger rear sprocket. Ballistic mode was my default for the entire ride. Even so, the motor felt as friendly as ever. Off-road, it took a couple of seconds for the mode to go fully ballistic, but once in the flow state, that delay faded away. The brakes too, were up for the abuse, and I dialled the regenerative braking to maximum to take some pressure off them.
After hot laps on the track, Ultraviolette put on the tech demonstrations. That was where the X-47 revealed radar-based rider aids and the integrated dashcam system. Being the first Indian-made motorcycle to feature radar is bragworthy, and the system lights up the console and flashes alerts on the mirrors in case someone is in the rider’s blind spots. To check if I was getting the alerts, I had to constantly monitor the mirrors or the console; the alert lights weren’t in my field of vision to seamlessly integrate into my riding experience.
Ultraviolette is providing its Hypersense radar tech as standard on the bike. What’s not standard is the integrated charger, something that would have been more useful considering the bike’s intended purpose. However, at the time of writing this, Ultraviolette hadn’t revealed the pricing of the optional integrated charger and the dashcam. But do note, the extra screen only shows what the cameras see and can’t be used to access navigation.
But for all the tech wizardry, the X-47’s biggest headline may be its price. At ₹2.74 lakh onwards, it’s hard to ignore, even if the 10.3 kWh variant (with its claimed 323-km range) will likely cost about a lakh more. Ultraviolette also offers four different charging options plus UV Lync to let you plug into any car charger. That means the X-47 isn’t just a wild concept anymore, it’s a genuinely usable adventure EV.
Some ideas are too wild to stay locked up in a sketchbook. The X-47 is an EV that’s part trail hooligan, part tarmac tamer. It’s not perfect, but it’s audacious, and that makes it irresistible. If this is Ultraviolette’s idea of an adventure bike today, I can’t wait to see what it does with its upcoming Shockwave.
© Motoring World
Published on October 3, 2025