Ultraviolette F77 Mach 2 Recon Review: India’s Best Electric Bike

The Mach 2 Recon retains all the sweetness of the 1st gen F77 while having some more wholesome bits

Rs 81,000, that’s the price difference between the base variants of the 1st gen Ultraviolette F77 and the 2nd generation F77 Mach 2! And yes, the latter is the less expensive one. And for that, the F77 now has quite a few more things. So does that automatically make the new bike better or is there something more to it? We recently rode the new F77 Mach 2 Recon for a couple of hours and there were a lot of things we quite liked about the bike. That said, please note that we rode the Mach 2 Recon and hence our observations will be for that variant. Based on those observations, what we can do is tell you if the extra money for the Mach 2 is worth it.

Design

The Ultraviolette F77 Mach 2 looks smashing and there’s no doubt about it. There are no real design changes and honestly they weren’t needed either. The Mach 2 still looks futuristic, sporty and you instantly know it’s a very premium product. What still is the best part is that there’s not a single bolt or screw on the fairing, so no ugly welding marks and no unsightly bolts to be seen. The F77 looks extremely clean and the finish levels are top notch. In fact, within a span of about 35km of riding, 3-4 people stopped and inquired about the bike and a lot more turned their heads to just catch a glimpse of this bike. In sum, the F77 was a very good looking bike that feels quite premium and that has remained the same in its 2nd generation too. 

As of now, there are 9 colour options available: Turbo Red, Plasma Red, Afterburner Yellow, Stealth Grey, Asteroid Grey, Cosmic Black, Supersonic Silver, Stellar White and Lightning Blue. In our opinion, the black and silver paint schemes look a bit too stealthy for such a flashy bike. Those who light bright colours will love the reds, yellow and blue. But if there’s one paint scheme that looks absolutely stunning, it’s the Stellar White one. Have a look at it below:  

Motor & Performance

And that’s the thing about electric bikes. Because there aren’t things like clutch engagement or gear shifting interrupting the acceleration, EVs can feel a lot quicker than what they actually are. So all of these things do add to the Mach 2’s overall fun factor. 

Handling & Ride Quality 

Handling is another area where the F77 was very likeable and it’s still the same case. At 207kg (197kg for the base variant), the F77 isn’t exactly light but the moment you start riding it, it masks its weight beautifully. Low speed direction changes or tipping the bike into corners at high speeds, the bike does both almost effortlessly and you don’t feel as much of the bike’s weight. Sure, its handling isn’t razor sharp like the KTM bikes, but it’s still very pleasant. Even moving it around in parking lots at standstill feels reasonably easy. The only issue that still persists is the resistance from the motor when you’re trying to manually reverse the bike with the motor still on. Thankfully though, Ultraviolette has given it a reverse mode, which you can engage by long pressing the brake lever and the ‘down’ button on the toggle switch together. 

Another thing that hasn’t changed is the riding posture and the suspension setup. The F77’s clip-ons are low-set and there’s quite a lean to reach them, putting you in a committed riding posture. That said, the posture does feel very nice when you’re attacking corners. What’s funny though is that the F77 Mach 2’s lower body ergonomics are surprisingly relaxed. Even my 6’0 frame found that there was enough legroom and my lower body felt far from cramped. One thing that Ultraviolette did add though are tank grips, something the bike really needed. And these perform beautifully as you can grab the tank a whole lot better. Their placement is spot on and riders of different heights can nicely lock their legs into a sporty riding position.

And as for the suspension, the previous F77 was quite a firmly sprung bike, especially at the rear and the new one is the same. While we didn’t exactly face bad roads, just a couple of speed breakers were good enough to tell us that the monoshock is still on the firmer side. While it’s not harsh, you will definitely feel each and every bump on our roads. The braking is just as sharp as before and we have no complaints in that department. We did complain of ABS malfunction in our road test of the 1st gen F77 and while we didn’t face any such issue on the first ride, that’s something we need to test out properly when we get the bike for a road test. 

Features 

The biggest update for the F77 this year comes in the form of a bunch of new features. For starters there are 10 levels of regen braking and 4 levels of traction control and they both work quite well. Regen can be set from 0-9 and our pick for sporty riding was R9 since it gave the most stopping power when rolled off the throttle, mimicking engine braking the most. On fast, flowing roads R9 will ensure that you barely need to use the brakes and it feels very nice. That said, whacking the throttle open after it’s slowing down through R9 will eat up a fair bit of battery so if you’re riding hard in Ballistic mode and with regen set to 9, you might find the battery percentage depleting quite quickly. And that very jerkiness doesn’t make it ideal for the city. For your everyday commutes, we’d suggest you to keep the regen at about 5-6 since it strikes a good balance. 

As for the traction control, you can have it at level 1, 2, 3 or switch it off completely. We found TC1 to be quite nice since it allowed just that little bit of slide at the rear if required, and cut off the power if it slides any further. That said, you can still ride it at TC2/3 if needed, till the time you get used to the bike. To sum it up, both these rider aids have been calibrated very nicely and they do add to the riding experience. 

Another very nifty addition, especially for a heavy bike like the F77, is hill hold. The moment you get on an incline, all you have to do is tap on the brake (front or rear) and an ‘H’ sign will pop up on the console, indicating that hill hold has been engaged. A tap on a brake (again, front or rear, both work) or gently getting on the throttle will immediately disengage hill hold. During our brief test ride, the system worked very well and we had no issues with it. It’s just that we wish the engaging part could’ve happened on its own since the process of having to engage the brake (and risking potential lock up for a second) when you’re on a slippery incline can be slightly unnerving for some riders. Plus even after you engage it, the bike can roll down a little bit because of the chain slack. So you will have to trust the system once it shows it’s engaged. In sum, we wish the system engaged on its own the moment it detects you’ve slowed down to a stop on a slope, similar to what it is like on the new Ather 450X. But apart from that, the hill hold system worked very well.  

Other feature updates for the new F77 Mach 2 include charge limit, find my F77 and a lot more. You can check it all out in our launch story. As for the TFT console, it still looks very fancy and premium. The switchgear feels very premium too and while toggling through it isn’t the most intuitive, once you get the hang of it, it’s very nice to use. My biggest issue with it is that it’s totally flat and isn’t tilted towards the rider at all. And that means you’ve to scoot your head all the way ahead in order to read the data. And while it is a sporty bike with a committed riding posture, I wish it was tilted at least a bit to make it more legible. What doesn’t help the case is the font size. The font size for crucial readings like the odometer, time, tripmeter, range and even the ride mode is small and reading it on the go becomes quite difficult. So the space management could’ve definitely been a bit better.

Should You Buy The Ultraviolette F77 Mach 2?

The F77 Mach 2 retains all the likeable factors of the previous F77, while adding some extra wholesome bits that we talked about earlier. So if you want a performance oriented electric bike, the Mach 2 still makes for a very nice option (and the only one in India). Be it your weekend rides up and down some twisties or belting it out on a race track, you will have fun on the Mach 2. 

And A Rs 2.99 lakh price tag for the Ultraviolette F77 Mach 2’s base variant is a lot more justifiable than the older Rs 3.80 lakh tag (both ex-showroom) for the base variant. That said, not all of the above mentioned things come as standard on the base variant. Here’s what it misses out on 

* All prices ex-showroom

So the big question is: is the extra money for the Recon variant worth it? The answer is, if it’s not too much of a stretch, then yes it is. The extra range, more levels of regen braking, traction control and extra battery warranty, all of them will make the stretch worth it. Plus Ultraviolette also says that you’ll be saving about Rs 22,000 every year (as opposed to a similar performing petrol bike) even if you ride it for just about 5,000-6,000km a year. Higher that number is, the more the savings. So if you can make the stretch, we’d definitely advise you to go for it. 

And if you can’t, the F77 Mach 2 base variant is still a nice electric bike to live with. Yes, the lower range means getting out of the city can get tricky but even as a daily rider, the Mach 2 will make for a fast and fun bike. As long as you’re ready to live with the firm suspension, committed riding posture (issues inherent to sportsbikes in general) and the range anxiety (issue inherent to EVs in general), the F77 will make for an expensive but a good buy. 

And if you’re a first-gen F77 owner, don’t be worried because all of these updates are backwards compatible. You can get both the extra power and features on your bike through a simple OTA (Over The Air) update for absolutely free! So head to the nearest Ultraviolette showroom and they will help you out with the same.