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The price and performance figures of the Orxa Mantisplace it in the same ballpark as the base variant of the Ultraviolette F77 priced at Rs 3.8 lakh.Now what is the Orxa Mantis all about, what are the features it gets, what are its pros and cons, how is it to ride and most importantly should this be on your radar when you’re out in the market looking for an electric bike? Read the complete review for all the answers.
First, let’s talk about its design, the Orxa Mantis looks interesting and unique. It features an angular design, a sculpted tank with multiple sharp cuts and creases. The headlamp design with its LED DRL is catchy and it gets twin projector lights at the front with DRLs below. The electric bike has some nice details like small wings on the sides, sharp graphics and a few other unique details that make it stand out from the crowd.
The charging port is placed on top of the tank and the lever for the front brake is mounted on the right handlebar and the lever for the rear brake is mounted below. The seat height is quite tall at 815mm and it gets a split seat setup. The Mantis is undoubtedly a handsome, striking and sharp-looking motorcycle, but the general quality, paint job and fit and finish need improvement. However, the company says that they’re working to sort this out as production begins to step up.
The Mantis is based on an all-aluminium aerospace grade alloy frame and Orxa claims that the Mantis is the lightest in its segment with a kerb weight of 182kg. At the front, it gets 41 mm telescopic forks and an adjustable preload mono-shock at the rear and it offers a good balance between sportiness and comfort.
In terms of features, the bike gets all LED lighting and a 5-inch TFT instrument cluster with a Linux-based Orxa operating system. The resolution and the graphics are pretty good but the visibility under direct sunlight leaves room for improvement. The bike also gets Bluetooth connectivity, a Mantis app with navigation, phone notifications, ride analytics and much more.
As mentioned previously, the e-bike is based on an all-aluminium aerospace-grade alloy frame. The aluminium-cased battery pack is suspended on this frame and a liquid-cooled BLDC electric motor is mounted behind the battery. The Orxa Mantis has the first liquid-cooled motor on an electric two-wheeler in India and the company says that it has used liquid cooling to aid packaging and make the motor compact and light.
We only got to ride the bike on a go-kart track for around 15-20 minutes, so a full review of the real-world range will have to wait until later. The Mantis gets an 8.9kWh battery pack and the company claims a real-world range of 221 km on a full charge. The battery can be charged from 0-80% in 5 hours using a standard 1.3 kW charger. The company is offering a blitz 3.3 kW charger which can be purchased separately at an additional price and this can juice up the battery from 0-80% in 2.5 hours.
The initial impression of the powertrain was quite nice and the power delivery is very linear, you don’t feel the sudden burst of power when the throttle is pinned. The motor has a peak power of 27.5 hp and 93 Nm torque. Post 30 kph, the acceleration is quite quick up to about 85-90 kph, after which it begins to trail off.
Hitting speeds of up to 120 kph should happen quite easily on the street with a claimed 93 nm of torque. Orxa claims the bike can sprint from 0-100 kph in 8.9 seconds and has a top speed of 135 kph. Refinement levels are decent, but one area that definitely needs improvement is the initial response when the rider pins the throttle. It has 17-inch wheels with 110/70 section tyre up front and 130/70 section at the rear, so the bike felt confident on the track.
Braking duties are taken care of by a 320 mm disc with a four-piston fixed calliper at the front and a 230 mm disc with a single-piston floating calliper at the rear. The braking performance is acceptable and it gets single-channel ABS, although, at this price point, the bike could have been better off with dual-channel ABS. The bike feels stable and the behaviour around corners is natural and predictable.
The riding position is slightly on the sporty side and the handling is also good fun as the bike feels planted and confident. The ride quality is pretty good too, the suspension setup isn’t too stiff and it filters out most of the undulations on the road without becoming too uncomfortable.
The deliveries are slated to begin in April 2024 in a phased manner with Bengaluru being the first and launch in other cities will be announced later. The bookings for the Mantis are now open for Rs 10,000 for the first 1000 customers, after which the booking amount will be increased to Rs 25,000. Orxa is offering a three-year, 30,000km warranty on the bike, battery and motor.
In terms of design and looks, I think this is a handsome e-bike with sharp and aggressive lines. The bike looks very unique, and sporty and definitely stands out from the crowd. The bike commands Rs 3.6 lakh, an ex-showroom price tag, so does it justify the price? It’s quite close but not just yet as there’s a fair bit of improvement that needs to happen in the mentioned areas.
The performance and acceleration needs to be improved, the paint and plastics needs better finishing and the digital dash needs better visibility. There are a few things such as range, connectivity features, performance at high speeds and more that I was not able to test out properly and a complete verdict can only be given after that so stay tuned for real-world test review.
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