Ultraviolette Shockwave: India's First Hardcore Electric Trail Bike
No roar, no gears-just raw speed. Is Shockwave a man's ride or does masculinity need an exhaust?
There was a time when the loudest growl of Royal Enfield was talk of the town. The deep-throaty exhaust note was a gong indicating the man had arrived-in style exuding confidence. The new Ultraviolette Shockwave, India's first hardcore electric trail bike, challenges the purr with a turbine-like whine. Like the futuristic hovercraft.
An anthesis of the Royal Enfield, which is all about nostalgia, that signature thump, and mechanical rawness, Shockwave breaks out of that old-school romanticism to race us to the future with silent precision.
Weighing merely 125 kilograms with a top speed of 120 kmph and a peak torque of 505 NM at the rear wheel, the newly launched Shockwave by the startup, Ultraviolette, has no internal combustion engine and exhaust. It has a battery pack of 4kwh that doesn't need the rev to build on or faffing about with gears. Just twist the throttle and see how it comes alive.
The electric bike delivers almost on all fronts. Take the peak power output, for instance, its 14.5bhp or the range that takes it to165km on a single charge, the features along with its minimalist design embodies the futuristic aesthetic all while providing the rugged functionality for use in a closed-circuit track.
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For a world that has seen motorcycles as machines that let men define themselves on open roads, away from the rigid confines of society, the deeper symbolic shift needs much addressing. Lurking between the lanes of freedom and rebellion, motorbikes have always been an extension of human desire. The great American poet, Frederick Seidel, who often discussed masculinity and characterised motorbikes as motifs of masculine power, speed, and risk-taking thought so, too.
One could wonder then what Seidel would have critiqued the new wave of cyberpunk bike that, unlike its predecessors, is light and electric. He would certainly discuss how motorcycles are an extension of the male body that amplify dominance, aggression, and even eroticism. According to him, masculinity is also about demonstrating it and bikes are a weapon that mix entitlement with existential dread.
So, would he scoff at the idea of electric vehicles and become nostalgic about the gasoline-soaked masculinity or be curious of how this shift in the bike culture depicts the riding beasts. Would he disdain the fact that e-bikes might be trickier for a long road trip, of the heat sensitivity at present or the fact that batteries tend to degrade over time?
Afterall, the charging infrastructure is the Achilles heel right now. Maybe he would sternly be critical of the lack of sound as no sound might mean no presence, the performative bit, you know!
Perhaps, even grudgingly, he would love the design that sports a narrow tail, vertically stacked headlights and a high front fender and overall sleek carbon fibre bodywork. To him, the ebike might be a sign that even masculinity and masculine desire are undergoing change.
A serious high-performance machine, with no exhaust and an acceleration range establishes it in the league of superbikes, However, unlike traditional fuel-powered bikes, the bike needs a rest period of around 1.5 hours so it can juice it up before next ride.
The e-bike also has four traction control modes, switchable dual-channel ABS, and six levels of dynamic regeneration. That said, it also gets a TFT instrument cluster with smartphone connectivity.
Available in two colours- frost white and cosmic red, the Shockwave electric enduro bike, certainly represents a significant shift in the Indian biking landscape with its sustainable yet thrilling electric motor-powered model.