God bless you Nitro... Thanks for reviving the thread...

*cough cough* waiting for the updates that we discussed yesterday

The motorcycle has come of age in terms of styling. More and more importance is being given to it's styling and proportions. Designers are hard pressed to find new forms of aggression in styling. They usually mimic nature. Kawasaki uses shark styling in the Ninja superbikes. Yamaha uses snake eyes on it's R series bikes. Honda's new 08 CBR takes it's face from a raging bull. An insectoid look was gaining ground in mid 2000s. Bought to the fore by Benelli TnT. The two eyes distinct from each other on a streetbike was novel idea at that time. It was designed by Adrian Morton. Who is now onto designing MV Agustas. It died down soon.

One such great example is the new Kawasaki Z1000. Two strong arms sticking out in the front of the body. High lowered head pressed in the big shoulders, low back side.
This surely was inspired a big animal. A silverback Gorilla to be precise!



We humans react to some familiar proportions subconsciously. A muscular human without saying anything implies presence and power. Even if he is wearing a tuxedo or baring his body. So what exactly implies this proportion? In the field of entertainment design, it is known as Super-ape proportion. Some characters are Hulk, Predator, people from Gears of War videogame, etc. In fact all the DC comics' superheros are drawn this way. Small heads and big bodies. Wider shoulders and small waists. Normally we are three heads tall till our waist and one head wide till our shoulder edges. But to imply the super ape proportion, it is four head tall till the waist and more than one head wide till our shoulder edges.
Many bikes have utilised this porportion succesfully. Small headlight and big wide side flanks or fairing bits.Namely the B-King, Vmax and the Diavel!

oh.....mann....came back again?...i was eagerly waiting for you....now please consider me...

Would be restarting this thread now.

Found an extremely good article by Sir Alan Cathcart:

an extract:
"But that's not all, for the KTM 125 Duke addresses a key issue that's of concern to any biker: how to compete not only with cars but with all today's many other forms of leisure pursuit, from wakeboarding to mountain bikes, video games and entertainment to rock-climbing, in attracting the next generation of riders to the world of motorcycling - especially in mature markets like Europe, the USA, Japan and Australasia where for years the average age of bikers has been rising, just as their total number has shrunk."

Riding KTM's 125 Duke | Cycle News

Satya - Since you touch based upon the headlamps (which I've to admit I went through only now), can you touch base on the old & new Speed Triple pls? The new ones, "personally", I feel is not going well compared the beautiful old ones.

Also, why do they move to cat eyes headlamps? Aggression again?

Nitro bro, I would like you to consider some hypothesis I created regarding bikes:

1. I think that an exhaust that is pointed directly at the rear tyre, will eventually heat up the rear tyre due to exhaust fumes... This should give it better grip specially for the RR's.
My question is, will it work or did I miss something? Are exhaust fumes in RR's that hot to create an impact...?


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2. I was thinking about an adjustable Double toe shifter that gives you these benefits:
a. no heavy foot movement. Boon for shifting while sports touring,
b. quick shifting and reflexes while racing, (correcting shift mistakes),
c. its adjustable and removable, to suit convinience,

It can be applied to out existing bikes, just one toe positioned above the foot is required to be attached. See its image to understand what I want to say:

Again my question: Will it work?


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3. Is an intake from the cylinder frontal area (near radiator) and exhaust from the cylinder rear possible? The way I imagine, it should give ever lesser weight. And mass centralisation to some extent.

Lesser weight because the silencer won't need large pipes to transfer gases, as it would be attached almost on the cylinder(s) with a small twisted pipe (if at all required). Yes, I'm talking about underseat silencer (under rider's seat not pillion's).

Again, is it possible?

all of them were nice ideas..
Had to add to your 3rd point; it will also give some ram air effect..

1. I would think exhaust fumes would do more harm than good to sensitive race spec tyres.

2. I ride with the ball of my feet on the foot pegs. Your theory of double toe shifter might prove extremely cumbersome as I have to be very accurate in putting my toes back in the slot every gear change. Besides, I don't use the toe part to change gears as illustrated, rather, I use the ball of my feet to down-shift, and just behind the toes to up-shift. So from a personal perspective, not a good idea.

+1; exactly my thoughts. My thoughts were, probably the initial few Kms might sound OK; for a distance over 600 Kms, the exhausts heat + the tires heat combined would simply rip apart the tire isn't it? If it didn't then the heat from the exhaust is insufficient which doesn't hold water.

@samarth: Not quite sure about the feasibility. But interesting idea nevertheless.
It all ends up on manufacturing costs. Manufacturers will always make less parts to save cost and hope we adapt to the ride.

Pulsar 200NS discussion

Hello Satyajit
I read ur post on Pulsar 200NS thread where u mentioned people prefer what glitters ie flashy designs and all (somewhere on the same lines not quoting it)
My point is Did you not like the design/product?
also there are pictures circulated around to how they have blindly copied CB1000R would like to know your point of view.
am sure we can have a whole hearted conversation on this

Good to hear from some enthusiastic people.

The Pulsar stood as a muscle bike of India. It was always marketed as male.
With the new one, they have reduced the muscle effect. Went a bit slim. After the Pulsar 135LS, they started to shift the design language in a major way. Went sharp and edgy. But the original was roundy and butch looking. And the sheer amount of small small surfaces is crazy!

This tells that Bajaj has drifted away from their original way of thought. To be different from others. Something like BMW.
And went the typical commercial way. Flashy designs and all. It is not bad but just tells us that Bajaj is worried about the competition and sales. Yamaha FZ was the biggest event in Indian bike history. Can't even stress enough. Billions of beginner Indians suddenly upgraded to the international styling at once! What an answer by Yamaha!
If not for Yamaha, Bajaj would have been still be keeping us back in time. I had expected a more muscly,wide and shorter Pulsar. But it is now a tall and slim one. That's KTM's frame, nothing else.

Your thoughts always welcome!
Cheers!

Pulsar 200NS discussion

Wow this Point of view is new to me.

Well Hats off to you for superb analysis

I agree about the new styling cues which are more edgy and sharp for an Indian manufacturers Point of view.

If I seem to recollect properly they had hired services of Glynn Kerr,and some Austrian company for Styling and Engineering
Wonder what Inputs they had given Bajaj!!!!

Yes the Indian values have been lost somewhere with First the sharp Tail Light and Chopped Silencer on LS135 as you mentioned.

Also the Stance of the bike is confusing it states Naked/muscle bike from front and Sporty/frail at the rear with the under slung Exhaust which from Engg point of view is a dead weight on suspension
Also its funny but I noticed one thing the Head lamp is inverted I mean in earlier versions the wolf eyes(pilot lamps) were on top and now they have placed them at bottom of headlamp

Regarding Pulsars Domination on market I think they lost the edge long back when Honda and Yamaha with Better quality and cycle parts(R15 and FZ were game changers) bombarded our market which took them by surprise where they (Bajaj) could not capitalize due to aging design where i think they have launched it a little too late.

One more thing Bajaj Does not have History in racing so they don't have any DNA to follow like some other foreign manufacturers for eg:- the Asymmetric design and Tele lever suspension from BMW designed by Norman Hossack etc


Yet I think they have amazing PR strategy for Normal Junta to either overlook such things or to keep them ignorant on this matter with regards to mass media.

One more question off topic
As you are into styling
I had read an article in OD or AI ages ago maybe 10 yrs there was this guy named Tereblanche from South Africa he was Head of styling with Ducati haven't heard much about him or his designs lately tried to search but didn't find anything Do you know anything about him his work?

Regards
Siddhashant

^ I agree with you completely. For normal people, they hardly care about these things.

Transformers was a big hit in India. And using a little bit of that influence might do good to gain popularity. This bike reminds me of Devastator from Transformers 2. Made of 6 small robots. With a distinct jawbone or mandibles[in biological terms]

This styling is called as Insectoid styling. This was supposed to be pioneered by Benelli TnT and Trek. Later Kawasakis went insectoid with their Zeds and mantis like ZX10R. Triumph now is into insectoid styling. With their new Speed Triple.

The new Pulsar has these insectoid pilot lamps. Like many creatures in the films. But beneath it is a KTM supermoto proportion. It will finally reveal it's height and stance.

Cheers!

[About Terblanche:later]