IN BRIEF
Fantic unveiled the Rhapsody on 4 September at the International Bike Festival in Misano, describing it as the Italian brand’s “new full-carbon e-Enduro”. It is built around a fifth-generation Bosch Performance Line CX motor rated at 120 Nm of torque, paired with an 800 Wh integrated battery, and a mullet setup — 29-inch wheel at the front, 27.5-inch at the rear — with 180 mm of travel up front. The suspension uses a Horst Link layout with a coaxial pivot, which Fantic describes as developed for long-travel designs. According to the German specialist press, the bike will be offered in three build levels, from €6,490; the brand lists no Rhapsody pricing on its product page to date.
| Frame | Full carbon |
| Motor | Bosch Performance Line CX Gen 5, up to 120 Nm |
| Battery | 800 Wh integrated |
| Front travel | 180 mm |
| Wheels | Mullet: 29 inches front, 27.5 inches rear |
| Suspension | Horst Link with coaxial pivot, progressive compression curve |
| Price | Three build levels from €6,490 according to the German specialist press |
Fantic is one of those Italian brands with a motorcycling background that have moved into electric mountain biking without making much noise. The Rhapsody, revealed in early September at the Misano show, tops off a range that already included the Sierra and the Ridge: this is the machine the manufacturer has built for pure enduro.
The Fantic Rhapsody, a full-carbon e-Enduro with a Bosch motor
The brand sums the bike up in a single sentence: “Rhapsody is the new full-carbon e-Enduro built to deliver precision, power and control on the most demanding terrain.” Beneath the frame sits a “Bosch Performance Line CX Gen 5 motor with up to 120 Nm of torque, powered by an integrated 800 Wh battery”.
Opting for the fifth-generation Bosch places the Rhapsody in the camp of those sticking with a proven German drive unit, at a time when several European manufacturers are switching to newer rival systems. Fantic also stresses the packaging: “The motor and battery are positioned close to the center of gravity to improve weight distribution and make the bike easier to control on technical terrain and the most demanding climbs”.
Mullet, 180 mm up front and a coaxial Horst Link
The Rhapsody adopts the mullet layout, which Fantic justifies bluntly: “The 29-inch front wheel increases stability and rollover capability, while the 27.5-inch rear wheel makes the bike more agile through direction changes and gives you more freedom on steep sections”. And it concludes: “With 180 mm of front travel, Rhapsody is ready for Enduro terrain”.
On the kinematics side, the brand announces a “Horst Link suspension layout with a coaxial pivot and progressive compression curve, developed for long-travel suspension”. The coaxial pivot — placed in line with the rear-wheel pivot axis — usually serves to limit the influence of braking on how the suspension works.
On rear travel, however, caution is in order: the manufacturer’s official page consulted on 7 September does not state it, and the specialist sources that covered the launch do not agree with one another. So we are only repeating the front figure here, the one the brand publishes.
Three build levels, and prices that do not yet come from the brand
That is the limit of the exercise at this stage. German magazine BIKE reports three build levels and gives, in its specification table, three prices of €6,490, €7,990 and €9,990; colleagues at Pedelecs und E-Bikes detail a Sport at €6,490, a Race at €7,990 and a Factory at €9,990. Those figures appear neither on the Rhapsody launch page nor in Fantic’s online catalogue as of 7 September.
A 250 Wh range extender is also announced as an option by the specialist press; Fantic’s product page does mention Range Extender compatibility, without specifying its capacity.
That leaves the brand’s own pitch, which does not bother with nuance: “Rhapsody is not for everyone. It is for those who take on the most technical terrain, seek the limit and choose to go beyond it.” We will wait for the full spec sheet before judging on the evidence.
