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TECH NEWS
2025 Urtopia Titanium Zero e-bike - 1Does this new 10.8kg titanium e-road bike really “redefine what’s possible in lightweight e-bikes”?
You’d be hard-pressed to identify Urtopia’s new Titanium Zero as an e-bike thanks to its discreet bottom bracket-mounted Quark DM 1.2 motor that weighs a claimed 1.2kg. Urtopia reckons that the bike as a whole, built around a 3D-printed titanium frame, comes in at just 10.8kg (23.8lb).
We’ve reported on Urtopia a few times previously. You might remember us covering its e-bike with ChatGPT voice interaction, for example, or the e-bike you control with a smart ring.
The Titanium Zero concept e-bike, which made its debut at the CES 2025 expo in Las Vegas last week, features Urtopia’s self-developed Quark DM 1.2 motor.
“It can be said to be the world's smallest, lightest, and highest torque-density motor, weighing less than 1200g, with a max torque of 60 Nm,” says Urtopia.
“It features Urtopia’s self-developed high-precision torque sensors and high-dynamic-response magnetic encoders, ensuring rapid responsiveness and seamless performance.”
Urtopia claims that the 3D-printed titanium alloy frame offers “unparalleled strength, durability, and lightweight properties”.
The seatpost is titanium too, while the fork is carbon, as are the wheels and cranks. The 10kg claimed weight includes the motor and battery.
Although it’s a concept bike – meaning that it has been created to demonstrate new ideas and technologies rather than to be sold on the market – the Titanium Zero is said to be compatible with standard bike components.
Urtopia says, “The innovations pioneered in the Titanium Zero – from its ultra-lightweight motor to seamlessly integrated components – are shaping the future of Urtopia’ s e-bike lineup. With advanced features like Urtopia self-developed torque sensor and dynamic-response encoder technology, each ride delivers unmatched performance.”
Urtopia also plans to offer the motor to other manufacturers, so we might well see it elsewhere in future.
We’ve not ridden the Titanium Zero, nor even seen it in the flesh, but it doesn’t immediately stand out as obviously an e-bike. Look more closely and you’ll see the control panel on the top tube and the oversized bottom bracket that contains the motor, but that’s hidden by the chainset on the driveside.
Although Urtopia’s website proudly proclaims that the Titanium Zero as “the world’s lightest e-bike”, there are certainly lighter models out there. The HPS Domestique 1-21 road bike was said to be just 8.5kg when it was launched back in 2021, for example, while the Ribble Endurance SL e Hero is 10.5kg (23.1lb). Most lighter models come with carbon frames.
But what do you think about the tech? We’d say it’s one to watch.
Mat has been in cycling media since 1996, on titles including BikeRadar, Total Bike, Total Mountain Bike, What Mountain Bike and Mountain Biking UK, and he has been editor of 220 Triathlon and Cycling Plus. Mat has been road.cc technical editor for over a decade, testing bikes, fettling the latest kit, and trying out the most up-to-the-minute clothing. He has won his category in Ironman UK 70.3 and finished on the podium in both marathons he has run. Mat is a Cambridge graduate who did a post-grad in magazine journalism, and he is a winner of the Cycling Media Award for Specialist Online Writer. Now over 50, he's riding road and gravel bikes most days for fun and fitness rather than training for competitions.
Latest Comments
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I've got dynamos running B&M StVZO compliant lights. They are bright, but they have a hard upper cut-off so they don't dazzle. They light up...
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Two of the key features are 18 and Not included...
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A very different situation I think we can all agree - less violence and generally less of the extreme violence on all sides. Certainly a vastly...
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Do we really need a rehash of a previous article that is only a few days old? Slow day?
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12 comments
It looks great. My pockets probably aren't deep enough sadly.
Yeah, so you can zoom along, motor assisted, no sweat - until you reach 25Km/h and the motor assist stops and your riding mates leave you in the dust.
Glorious.
If they "leave you in the dust", maybe you're better off without 'mates' like that in the first place.
I'm not into road group rides myself, but from what I hear leaving slower riders behind is no exception. That said, it was of course just a matter of speach, to say that motor assist only up to 25km/h is pretty damn useless.
If you're on a drop ride (which is not most rides). But then, if you're on a drop ride, they're going to drop you with or without the assistance, and you'll expect it, so what's the point, exactly?
Which is nonsense. For starters, if you're getting the assistance at lower speeds, then when the speed goes up you'll be fresher, and likely to be able to hang on that bit longer.
More importantly, though, as above, there are plenty of people for whom the purpose of riding a bike is not simply to cling on to a drop ride, and may find the assistance very useful.
"if you're getting the assistance at lower speeds"
My point was that on most rides on a road bike, be that 'drop rides' or any other type, there is not much of that.
And my point was, that's... not true.
Most people who are sports riding with their friends using an E-assist bike don't need or use the motor assistance on the flat because they are perfectly capable of sustaining a 30–35 km/h speed there. What they have it for is the extra power input on the hills when, inevitably, younger and lighter riders are going to start dropping them. Being able to get a bit of a boost up hills has helped many club riders to carry on enjoying rideouts into their 60s, 70s, 80s and even 90s and I know of at least one family where e-assist bikes mean that four generations can ride together, from great grandfather who is nearly 80 down to 15-year-old great grandson. So not that damn useless.
Fair assesment, i guess, and I probably look at it too much from my Dutch (flat country) persective.
That said, despite you knowing one such family, I often hear such examples, but they feel mostly theoretical if I'm honest.
What I see happening, but never hear anyone mention, is that yes, the first person in a riding group to get an e-bike is the one who is typically struggling to keep up. But then, sson enough, others follow suit, because the see 'the slow one' keeping up quite easily all of a sudden. And before you know it, most/all of them have an e-bike, and it's back to square one.
I would dream of my non-assisted bicycle to have such low weight.
It is a bicycle to drool over but this Urtopia bicycle must utopic price.
$ 17,500 is my guess ....
Where do I sign up? This is so much easier than dieting.