Pimp My Ride
The SDS Fenrir has become one of Final Fantasy XIV’s more recognisable status symbols: a sleek, black battlebike that still turns heads when it rumbles past an aetheryte. It started life as a bonus for attendees of the 2018–2019 Fan Festivals, then made its way onto the Mog Station as a paid, account‑wide mount, and has held onto that sense of being a slightly indulgent purchase ever since.
Visually it is a straight homage to Cloud’s motorcycle from Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, translated into Eorzea with just enough lore dressing to feel at home. The frame is all angular plating and heavy front forks, unified in black, with a ceruleum engine hum and the classic track “The Chase” on the mount BGM doing most of the work to sell the fantasy while you ride. It does not really “transform” in any elaborate way when you take off, but like other mounts it gains flight once you unlock flying in a zone, rising smoothly into the air rather than suddenly sprouting wings or rotors.
What makes the Fenrir more than just a cosmetic indulgence is its baked‑in ground speed. In any area where riding maps can increase mount speed, the bike behaves as if you already have the first tier of the speed upgrade unlocked, even if you have never bought a map for that zone. It does not exceed the normal maximum once you have fully upgraded a region, and it does not affect flying speed at all, but in fresh story areas – particularly through Stormblood and Shadowbringers on an alt – it lets you move at that “one‑star” pace from the start instead of trudging along at base velocity.
Day to day, that small advantage mostly translates into a smoother early levelling experience and a certain satisfaction in knowing that your bike will never feel sluggish on the ground. Once flight is unlocked, the practical gap closes, since all flying mounts share the same speed ceiling, but the combination of engine noise, music and a sense of weight still makes rolling through cities and short hops between objectives on the Fenrir feel different to floating along on something more traditional.
Availability is where the mount holds onto its aura of exclusivity. The original Fan Festival codes are long spent, and the standard route now is simply to buy it from the online store as an account‑wide unlock, priced in the same bracket as other premium mounts. That makes it more accessible than a true one‑off event reward, but the real‑money gate means you still do not see it in every party list. For players who grew up with VII or who just like the idea of something loud, low and unapologetically modern in amongst all the chocobos and airships, it ends up feeling like a good fit: a mount that offers a modest but tangible quality‑of‑life perk, wrapped in a design that wears its lineage proudly.
