Sleek Urta Hybrid "Downhill-O-Cross" Two-Wheeler Destroys Trails With a Touch of Madness

Folks, if the name Wilier is new to you, not a problem. However, suppose you consider that this name has been designing and producing bicycles since before our grandparents were born: 1906. In that case, you should pay a tad of attention for the next few minutes as you may just end up traveling to Italy to get your hands on a machine from this crew. Years later, Triestina Wilier was founded in 1945, and from there, the name was locked into cycling history.

Later on, the brand encountered issues tied to the economic turmoil in the nation, not their inability to produce an amazing machine. In 1969, the brand was repurchased, and the tube fabrication equipment fired back up, and today, well, today, we'll be seeing the result of all these years of experience building bicycles.

Considering that we live in rather modern and technologically advanced times, Wilier ensures they stay at the head of the pack with their freshest Urta Hybrid, a two-wheeler that perfectly blends an array of geometries, suspension systems, and materials to create a "down-country" bicycle. Personally, I like to refer to it as a downhill-o-cross bike.

Diving right into what you're sitting on as you await the morning sun, it's a carbon fiber machine with a full suspension design and rear travel actuated by a shock integrated into the top tube. This a cross-country bike feature that's being used quite heavily these days, and for good reasons. Regarding how much travel you'll access for soft landings, 120 mm (4.7 in) is found at the rear and fork of the Urta.

Now, all that's nice and all, but the real magic behind this two-wheeler is the electronics it's packing. Believe it or not, as sleek as that frame looks, it's hiding a Fazua Ride 60 setup that's; how do I put this? Absolutely amazing! Why? If you've been keeping up with autoevolution, you know why a Fazua e-system is a big deal; even though it's a mid-mounted drivetrain, once your battery is out of juice, this "drivepack" placed no resistance on your bike's bottom bracket.

Most other mid-mounted motors basically lock up or are incredibly hard to move once they're no longer fed with electricity. This means you'll be walking your bike home if you outride your range. All that is history with Fazua. Even Porsche loved this system so much that they bought out the company just earlier this year.

Overall, the Ride 60 boasts 60 Nm (44 ft-lb) of torque, and a 430-watt-hour battery module is found to fuel all this magic. But, if you feel you need more range than the standard, a range extender can be added to the mix and brings another 210-watt hours to the game. That should be enough for a few shots around the local mountain range.

Regarding pricing for this ravishing creature, here's where things may get a tad scary. The least expensive setup that Wilier offers for the Urta is priced at €7,000 ($6,800 at current exchange rates) and offers a Shimano XT gear system tuned to 12 speeds. The most expensive build you can grab is rocking a Sram Eagle XX1 AXS, which is going for €12,500 ($12,200 at current exchange rates), just enough to take some breaths away. Oh, the lightest also comes in just under 16 kilograms (35 pounds).

Listen, I can sit here and talk about this bike and all it offers for quite some time. The best way to get a feel for what's going on with this one is to find a dealership with one and take it for a spin. Make sure to have your checkbook ready; you may leave with a new Urta Hybrid.