i would prefer the p220 over the fazer fairing anytime..... the fazer's headlight looks meaner than that of p220 but p220 gives a more powerful look...

I thnk both have their pros and cons.

In case of wolf eyed bikes, they really seem worth it when you ride with just the 'eyes' and no headlights. They look really cool in that scenario. But all that vanishes when the sun shows up with all its might; because with the lights off, it isnt as intimidatng. In a 'dark side' sense, they can be considered nocturnal creatures that look and behave decently during daytime and show their beastiness only after the sun sets

As for the aggressive looking headlights, they are attention grabbers 24*7. You can easily spot a bike with such headlights among a line of other bikes. They simply stand out. But as nitro demonstrated, an angry looking bike isnt what you want, when you plan to kick back on work stress on a weekend ride. And again looking at the dark side, its exciting and kicky when you pull of the protective covering off your bike and get an angry pair of eyebrows, almost as if they are saying, ''how dare you wake me up!?"


Although, IMO it would have been a lot better if fazer's headlights were smaller. Because with headlights(that are supposed to denote eyes) occupying 30-40% of the front fairing, it almost lookes like an alien


P.s.- evn i'm waiting for nitro's next post


P.p.s.- the headlights of the white yamaha in the bottom left corner of reminds me of ET

Yes you are right. The frontal area is dominated by too much glass. Reducing it might have increased the appeal. The Japanese don't care much about the finishing as much as Europeans do. I call it what may seem appropriate as 'deadline design'.

A very good article.

Motorcycle design - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

By now i guess you guys might have some idea about bike styling. The influences on bike styles come from various backgrounds.For example, A sport tourer will be influenced by the target customers they have.The kind who like soothing curves and soft lines. It will not take into account a track crazy audience. Tending towards more angular lines.The VFR 800 [2002 onwards] stands as an exception till date.

There is something called as product life.It is the amount of time the bike will remain as a good seller. The styling of the bike must be made so as to not look outdated 5 years since. Here is where the Europeans have an edge. The European designs are well thought of. The various influences on their design come from their culture. The knack of detailing comes naturally from their artistic monuments and installations! The European style tends towards conservativism. No bold lines and edges. Another reason is the budget. Ducati cannot afford to upgrade its production line every two years. Hence they have to design something which will last that long. And last enough till they can make another model.

In stark contrast,Japanese design is extravagant and bold. This influence comes from their 'Samurai' culture. Sharp and edgy lines are accepted in their culture. There is an ever increasing anime influence over their design. Anime is the typical Japanese style of animation.

Then there is the dilemma of amount of machine to be shown or not. Usually a fairing will cover the machine parts that will not look appealing enough. Or to work on making the exposed engine look good! Americans just spray chrome and its done! The Italians rule this part!

Now an important point.

What will the Indian style?
Will it be influenced by our mahals and maharajas? Or will we embrace an other style? That remains to be seen. Till date we have been riding Japanese machines. Which were meant to be cheap mode of transport. No regards to styling whatsoever. But now, as the awareness level rises. The demand for better styled bikes will also rise. Our own design institutes are creating some very good bike designers. Namely NID and IIT. But are we creating our own style? No! Because the manufacturers cannot risk their investments. They would rather stay on safe side and copy an existing style.
Bajaj blatantly uses European style. Hero Honda is definitely Japanese. TVS is somewhat a mixture.
I am waiting for our own style.

Please do post your comments!
Thanks!

Next, i will describe how a bike is designed from scratch.

Nice effort sathya you've put up there. Its from the next part of the article that i ve been waiting for so many days. Dont feel like there is only very less people interested in this kinda articles, sure there are a lot of readers like us, many of whom dont bother to post a reply (like me for so many days.. ). Continue...

There is no "Indian Style", at least till now.


Waiting... post soon.

Design process

I will try to briefly describe the design process in a motorcycle design studio. Now in Transportation design, design processes do not differ a lot from company to company. The general outline is the same. It changes according to brand positioning and market. Some might have different processes!

1st stage:Analysis and Definition:

In this stage the purpose of a new bike is defined. Say a new streetbike will be produced. In 500+cc segment. The designers and other people in the team embark on a research journey. Their job is to Analyse the existing market and find an opportunity for a new bike. All keeping in mind the market and the alloted investment. They have to back their data usually with the help of marketing proffessionals and product planners with their feedback. They also might need survey figures. They also study online forums! Here is where XBHP matters!
At the end of first phase they come up with a rough estimate of the config the bike might have! Say:the bike will be 600cc with inline twin engine.Usual frame. It will be producing around 100bhp. It will be meant for city riding and occasional touring. And some more details. So this becomes the brief for designing and defining form of the bike.

2nd stage: Creativity:

Now we have the general idea of the bike.In this stage a huge number of sketches are made by the designer[s]. The aim is to explore many different styles and forms. Tools such as simple pencil and paper to wacom cintiqs are used for drawing. Here is where they get the idea of how the bike might look. Many forms of headlights,tailpeices,fairings, tanks are tried. In the end the designer proposes 5-6 relevant concepts in highly detailed form before the head of project. When a concept is approved by the concerning people, the job is to style it.

3rd stage: Development:

In this stage you already have the design. The designers now make a clay model mock up in 1:1 size.They may use styrofoam,rapid prototyping machines also. In many places a CAD model designer works on the computer model of the bike. The softwares used are Alias studio, CATIA etc. The aim is to create a bike with all the details and get an idea of the final product. There is a lot of exchange between the engineers and designers. A designer proposes one thing and the engineer checks the feasibilty. And then tells the designer whether is it possible or not. Still many minor changes are done to the bike. All the time going back and looking at the overall bike. Here we see the bike in actual size for the first time. When the model is 100% complete and frozen, the next stage begins.

4th stage: Prototype:

In this stage the CAD data is analysed for any problems and is used for production of parts. Many manufacturers give orders to the parts providers for the parts such as suspensions, tyres,etc. The tank presses are made. These presses are very very costly. And as a result we see the tank design does not change that often. Unless you want a plastic tank! And then a first prototype[s] is[are] built for testing. The testing is usually done on own tracks. And if there are any problems, they try to rectify them. Here is where the first model of the new bike is run on roads! This takes a considerable time. Usually we see the bikes in magazines as scoop images! Usually hidden under black cloth.

5th stage: Production:

Here we assume everything has gone as per planning and the final prototype is free of problems. Now the bike is ready for production! After the logistics are set, the first batch of bikes are ready to hit the road!

6th stage: Marketing:

Well this is not a stage per se. But marketing is needed to tell the world about your bike. People from magazines are invited for test rides. We see the tests in magazines. Commercials are launched. And finally you see the bike running on the road!

Depending on the manufacturer this process may differ. It also depends hugely on the investment. It may take many years for a new bike to hit the road. Hence when you see that a manufacturer claims that they will be bringing a bike in xyz category, it is usually after 1-2 years that we see it on the road.

I hope i have not missed anything. Comments are welcome!
Thanks for reading!

I am sharing with you some of the pics from Rajputana Custom Motorcycles.

People will realise what I was trying to say when I meant 'INDIAN' style. This custom builder looks very promising! And the first one to actually have an Indian style! It is starting my friends!



INDIAN styling!!!




Very good styled bikes! And just checkout the attention to details. Big thumbs up!

And the Facebook link.
Rajputana Custom Motorcycles's Photos - "LIGHT FOOT" | Facebook

^ You beat me to it...

But sadly its a one off custom mod thingy, no mass scale manufacturer would even attempt to do so.
If only HD or RE builts one "Indian" themed bike, it would set a trend!

+1
Royal Enfield should do this! It would be just insane! Just imagine the brand perception people will have! HD won't do it since it is American.

I hope our Indian manufacturers get an idea of Indian design!

RE <> Indian, thats the sorry part... but seriously this could be a great ploy to kick HD in thier nuts!

Trust me RE will never do this. I heard they're even unable to meet their demands on C5 & hence the bookings have been closed as people who've booked C5 are in long waiting queue of 9 months. In a way I'll be glad if RE doesn't do the customizing as they're not even stabilized in production, leave alone customizing.

Question to NitroSatya
Just see this pic - http://i908.photobucket.com/albums/a...r/DSC02347.jpg
This pic was posted by one of our fellow xBhpian on this thread

If you look at the design of the motorcycle, the handle bars are positioned almost the same level of seat with a huge bulky fuel tank causing riders to lean for all day long; probably this isn't suitable for touring. My thoughts were like, why didn't they raise or heighten up the handle bars? That would've been little better positioning isn't it? Pls pend down your thoughts Satya. Tks.

You are right. This is a R series bike. Meaning Race. The reason why they didn't raise the bars is because they intend it to be a track bike. A rider has to take it out to race track and actually the time he is on seat is less!
A Touring bike has a little different seating.With raised handlebars and little flatter tankline. Still people who can tolerate this position for long period can take it for touring.

Some people like extreme seating position which reminds them of the track-ness of the bike. Some people want a sporty look with comfortable ride[Ninja 650r,GSX-F,etc.]. Some people want a total upright position like FJR,Goldwing,etc.

You should check out the MV Agusta F4's position, very very track focused wrist breaking leaned over position!

More questions are always welcome!