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Thoughts on motorcycle design
In an article on Oliver Neuland, a design consultant now teaching Industrial and Transportation Design at Massey University's Auckland School of Design, the former BMW Motorcycles designer reflects on some differences between car and bike design: "[With motorcycles] the separation between body and inner technology is not so clear. For motorcyclists--who are even more emotionally attached to their machine--the mechanics are a core part of the beauty of their vehicle."
Might that trend be changing?
The 1988 anime blockbuster Akira was the first time many of us saw a bike with enclosed mechanics (and an articulating canopy); alas, it only existed on the silver screen, though fanatics have hacked working replicas.
Twenty years later Swiss designer Franco Sbarro's Pendolauto concept bike has completely enclosed mechanics, and two extra wheels to boot. It'll be on display at this month's upcoming Geneva Auto Show.
To the bikers out there, what do you guys think? Do designs that obscure the motorcycle's inner workings detract from its "suchness," as the author of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance might say?
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If to look at a bike as a line of the industry, I can't argue with the aptitude the convey of bike design from "mechanical" as it's known to some kind of "aviation" even futurism is way to relative.
But bikes like the horses at the times, differed from the other transportation options, are another topic because they are more than transportation, so they are still based on conventional technology for the same reason. Emotional experience from riding a bike should not to be shadowed by relative design previsions. Futuristic previsions may be better and the weapon-of-choice for those times riders since future peoples emotional structures-aestetics standards would differ. But as for now, I think that mechanical-fairing-conventional balance is just alright.
When I get Rich I'm so going To get myself the top one!!
i hope they start selling them in the us
In some instances designers have been toying with 4 wheeled motorcycles which I don't think have those correct dynamics and will never be able to equal either a motorcycle or a car, mainly due to their extremely short distance between the tire contact patches on the wheels in the same axle, then they resort to pivoting hubs that alter camber, etc. resulting in a complex and heavy machine that simply does not work and does not convey to the user that raw mechanical connection and emotion that a motorcycle gives. I have never been much of a fan of Sbarro's overdone and sometimes not very tasteful work (that as stated above borders on toy-like and sometimes impractical) and for 20 some years have been riding, sketching and designing bikes to know the difference. 3 and 4 wheelers probably can attract a segment of the population that is not adept or coordinated enough to ride on 2 wheels, and if that is all they can handle fine, for me, give me only 2 wheels please.
Swinefactory is right, an electric driven bike is different from an combustion engined one.
In the interview I pointed this out. With new alternative power sources there has to come a different design language, because the feeling of riding it will change as well as the proportion of its components.
The current image of an motorbike is very much defined by the proportions and location of engine and (former) fuel tank. (With the former fuel tank area becoming mainly the air-box it became already obvious, that this area is rather treated as a symbol. You could change this whole area. But people would not accept it. - apart maybe from some niche products like trail bikes)
The beauty of the mechanic of bikes derives mainly from its tangibility. This is somehow a romantic view and approach. It will be hard to make the average rider to change.
In a world which becomes more virtual, immaterialized and complex, a motorbike gives many people back an object which is still rather easy to understand and sensible. - Fuel runs into carburetor, carburetor makes inflammable gas, gas explodes in the cylinder, burned gas goes into exhaust. This is very visible in a classic motorcycle layout.
To turn this into something which belongs in the world after the digital revolution, with all its hard to understand indirect relations will be quite a challenge.
Oliver Neuland
To me it's when a designer over designs a bike so that it morphs into some sort of open car, that the spirit is lost. Goldwing anyone? The spirit of a bike is more than the mechanics, it's also about the nimble freedom and face in the wind feeling it affords its rider.
Regards,
SD. Wodinsky,
AComm,eBM,BComm
On the other hand, Sport bikes have extensive fairings simply because the riders need to overcome the wind. On the Sbarro concept, the fairings have turned into body panels, like a car. It looks like a toy. There is no provision for shielding the rider. Maybe its electric powered and goes only 15 mph like a SegWay!!! Ha ha ha (evil moto laugh)
I think when it comes down to it, designers use plastic to hide not mechanics but lazy ownership. I wish I were less lazy about bike maintenance, but when I come home from a long ride, I don't feel like cleaning around my chain...with my plastics, I don't have to.