Brabus and Fragment Design have built a 10-unit version of the Brabus Urban E electric motorcycle we covered in April. The Brabus Urban E Fragment Edition is priced at $50,000 in North America. Developed with French electric motorcycle maker Dab Motors, this special edition model keeps the standard Urban E’s drivetrain and chassis. The black-and-white design theme created by Brabus and Hiroshi Fujiwara, the Japanese designer who founded Fragment Design, gives the motorcycle its distinctive look.

The price puts the Fragment Edition well above the rest of the Urban E line. Brabus and Dab introduced the Urban E at Milan Design Week in April at €22,900 in Europe. In Europe, the Fragment Edition lists at €45,000, nearly twice the price of the standard bike.

Brabus and Fragment Design are also releasing a limited run of co-branded gear with the motorcycle: leather gloves, a riding jacket, and a fleece zip hoodie.

Black, white, and one logo

The bike’s design theme is strictly black and white. The bodywork is black, with exposed carbon fiber on the front fender, rear hugger, belly pan, motor side cover, and rear winglets, along with a Brabus cover over the front section of the frame. White carbon-fiber wheel covers, white brake calipers, and a white Brabus Masterpiece leather seat supply the contrast. The seat uses Brabus’ Shell quilting pattern, the same stitching found on the red Masterpiece seat of the standard Urban E motorcycle. Brabus says the restrained palette follows the minimalist approach Fragment Design is known for.

Fragment’s logo appears in the translucent monoblock LED taillight under the seat, built into the light itself. “Every detail was considered, from the painted carbon components to the bespoke crystal-clear rear light featuring the Fragment logo and the white Brabus seat,” said Dab Motors founder Simon Dabadie. “The result brings together Fragment’s understated aesthetic, Brabus’ identity, and Dab’s iconic design in a completely unique motorcycle.”

How Fujiwara got involved

The project grew out of a chance encounter in Milan. Fujiwara, often called the godfather of Tokyo’s Ura-Harajuku fashion scene, saw an Urban E during Milan Design Week.

“Collaboration is a way to make what I want, or what I would like to use. It has to make sense, and everything I design is personal,” Fujiwara said. “I never design thinking about what the market wants. When I was in Milan during Salone, I just came across the Brabus E-Bike on the street. I simply thought the design was beautiful. Brabus takes something that already exists and pushes it somewhere else. I think Fragment works in a similar way.”

Dabadie said the encounter led directly to the project. “We met Hiroshi during Milan Design Week, where he discovered the Brabus x Dab E-Motorcycle,” he said. “He loved the bike, and that naturally led us to imagine what a Fragment motorcycle could be.”

“I love to engage with other designers, especially if they’re trailblazers like Hiroshi is,” said Brabus CEO and owner Constantin Buschmann. “He’s going to bring something to the table that we never thought of, and we’re going to bring something to the table that he never thought of.”

Drivetrain and battery

Under the paint, the Fragment Edition is a standard Urban E motorcycle. Its brushless motor makes a peak of 37 horsepower, and Brabus quotes 350 lb-ft of torque, a figure Dab’s specifications list as measured at the rear wheel. Dab rates continuous output at 8 kW, or about 11 horsepower. Top speed is 75 mph, and a carbon belt drives the rear wheel. Brabus says specially programmed engine management sharpens throttle response, and a dedicated inverter sends more current to the motor under load. Carbon-fiber ducts on both sides feed cooling air to the motor so it can hold its output in hot weather and during sustained hard riding.

A 72-volt, 7.1-kWh lithium-ion battery provides up to 93 miles of range in city riding. Dab’s figure on the WMTC combined test cycle is 75 miles. The charging port sits in the front mask, which also carries an illuminated Brabus logo framed in carbon fiber. The battery charges from a 220-volt outlet. Going from 50 to 100% takes about 90 minutes, from 20 to 100% about three hours, and at least 3.5 hours from empty. The charging cable stows in a compartment ahead of the seat.

The Urban E offers four riding modes plus a boost function. Sport mode delivers full power and sharpens the response for quicker acceleration. Street mode delivers full power through a linear torque map. Eco mode caps top speed at 37 mph and flattens the initial torque curve to save energy and limit wheelspin on slippery surfaces. Reverse uses electronic phase inversion, with limited torque and speed, for backing out of tight spots. Brabus counts Nitrous as a fifth mode, and it provides on-demand boost. It overrides whichever mode is active and sends maximum phase current to the motor for up to 10 seconds.

Chassis and equipment

Dab builds the Urban E around a steel double-cradle frame, a steel trellis subframe, and a cast aluminum swingarm. A fully adjustable 46mm inverted fork and a CNC-machined shock each provide 3.9 inches of travel. A stunning Brembo radial-mount four-piston caliper painted white grips a 320mm floating disc, and a single-piston Brembo caliper squeezes a 240mm rear disc. ABS is standard on both wheels. Dab lists the standard Urban E at 320 pounds, with an adjustable seat height of 31.5 to 34.6 inches.

A PIN code starts the bike, so there is no physical key. A 2.8-inch LCD shows speed, battery status, charging progress, and system temperature. The supermoto-bend handlebar carries switchgear with integrated turn signals, along with CNC-machined aluminum levers and brake fluid reservoirs. A projector headlamp sits in the front mask, and vertical daytime running lights sit in scoops on either side of the monocoque-style tank and seat fairing.

What $50,000 buys

The Brabus Urban E Fragment Edition is a standard Urban E with nothing mechanical changed. It has the same 37-horsepower motor, battery, suspension, and brakes as the €22,900 bike at half the price in Europe. The difference is a white seat, white calipers and wheel covers, a taillight with Fujiwara’s logo, and a production run of 10. Buschmann laid out the logic behind that trade. “Designing luxury products, you have to touch people’s hearts within a second of people seeing them,” he said. “Otherwise, we’re not standing a chance.” The Fragment Edition competes entirely on that first second, and Brabus is unveiling it this weekend at ComplexCon in Los Angeles, a streetwear and sneaker convention rather than a motorcycle show.

Brabus Urban E Fragment Edition Photo Gallery