Bultaco is back in the motorcycle market, with two electric bikes. The Barcelona-based brand unveiled the prototypes – the naked Rapitan, with dummy tank that can hold a helmet, and the Rapitan Sport, which has US dirt track styling – in London and production will begin later in the year.
“What began as a thesis project has become a company with the size and solidity needed to create a new generation of Bultaco motorcycles,” said Juan Manuel Vinós, CEO and co-founder.
The origins of Bultaco lie in a project by LGN TECH Design S.L., a firm specialising in mechanical and electronic engineering.
After two years of development and research, the company tested its technology in the most demanding setting: competition. LGN, today Bultaco Motors, participated in the 1st World Electrical Motorcycle Championship organised by FIM in 2011. With a motorcycle that was readied in just three months, and competing with brands with a great deal more experience and superior models, Bultaco Motors came third in the first Magny-Cours race and fourth in the overall rankings.
These promising results and the backing of people with extensive knowledge and experience in the automotive sector were the decisive factors needed to move on to the next step: creating the structure needed to launch a range of motorcycles on to the market.
In that next stage, the project became Bultaco. “We were not looking for a prestigious name for a promising project; it was something different. 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,” adds Juan Manuel Vinós.
Bultaco plans to create a sales network, initially in Spain, the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany and France.
BDN was at the London launch – full report in the June issue.