He’s 22, he drives for my favorite team, he’s from the home that runs my favorite circuit, he’s the youngest to win the Pole Trophy, he’s Charles Leclerc.

A precocious champion with breathtaking talent and ballistic pace, Charles has been fast-tracked into the money-can’t-buy race seat at Ferrari. Raking up the space left by Scuderia’s last world champion, Kimi Räikkönen, he promptly scored more race wins and points than his teammate, an established number one, Sebastian Vettel. That’s some profile!

Out of the car, Leclerc is modest and thoughtful and apparently loves seeing the world go past by like flashes of strobes, even on two wheels.

He recently commissioned a cool custom build of a Husqvarna Vitpilen 701 from one of the fanciest French builder, Bad Winners } }. It’s got ten more horses, is 60 lbs lighter and goes by the name - "The Apex 2.0"⁠.

Joining champion stalwarts like Hamilton, Räikkönen, Button, Webber, Schumacher, and Senna, Leclerc’s passion for speed also comes on some exquisite and custom motorcycles, and his latest epiphany is a carbon-fiber cynosure built around the ‘White Arrow’ – Vitpilen 701. It’s no more white, or sane.

The apex hunter, rightly named "The Apex 2.0", had its fuel tank and body panels all stripped down bare, to begin with a fresh intent. The new components were shaped first in 3D modeling, then 3D printed before being manufactured with oozing carbon-fiber, to be finished off with a layer of a shiny coat. DYMAG CA5 carbon-fiber wheels were also put in, by demand from Leclerc himself, which alone shaved 12 lbs off the final bike.

At the front, the stock round LED unit has been swapped with a carbon-fiber trimmed Duke 790 headlight unit (honestly, I wished they’d left the stock on). The rear gets an in-house designed Bad Winners plexiglass stop-light embedded within a carbon-fiber cowl, which also hides a weight-saving Antigravity 8CELL Small case battery within. This, along with the custom leather saddle, is bolted onto a slender custom tube frame.

Off-the-shelf bits include Renthal Racing clip-on handlebars and grips tethered to an in-house designed triple tree setup. They have also swapped the stock dash unit to a Bad Winners integrated 4.3″ TFT that is controlled via Motone Push Button units. Throttle-by-wire, switchable two-channel ABS, and slipper clutch have been kept as-is from the stock bike.

All of this blends minimalism with sophistication rather well. Speaking of which, have you noticed that carbon CR-T muffler exhaust unit by SC-Project? I’m already making saliva bubbles. They have rightfully traded the stock cat with a free-flow stainless steel pipe feeding straight to the muffler. To keep things in tune, a Dynojet Power Commander V takes care of pollution levels.

Bad Winner didn’t see the need to mess with the internal organs of the Vitpilen 701. Instead, they worked around it to squeeze out ten more horses, taking the power level to 85 hp. Making this possible is a custom-made CDI, Motogadget m-Unit controller, and a set of pod filters replacing the original airbox. The alloy swingarm, WP inverted telescopic front forks, and Brembo braking systems remain untouched.

With all this going on for the Apex 2.0, dry weight dips down steeply from an already impressive 346 lbs to 287 pounds. Of course, this is a one-off for the ace F1 star, but if you need one too, Bad Winner will make it happen for a check of €20,990 ($23,400), and will also throw in the 2-year manufacturing warranty from Husqvarna. If you have shallower pockets, Bad Winner has custom kits for as low as €14,690 ($16,400) as well.

This is Bad Winner’s “Last bike of the decade.” They plan to cook a new electric motorcycle company now, and it’s going to be called as VEGA MOTORS!⁠