Harley-davidson Livewire V Triumph Tiger 900 Rally
We’ll spend a lot of time gawping at our new bikes, and the way they look is a critical part of their appeal. Bike asked Grayson Perry, artist, TV presenter and lifelong biker, to judge them on looks
Ithought this might turn up,’ says Grayson Perry, eyeing the substantial form of the Harley-davidson Livewire. The (electric) Motor Company’s most radical new model since their first bike in 1903 doesn’t appear to have convinced Britain’s favourite artist, who’s also a committed Harley fan.
‘I think this is an opportunity missed,’ he muses. ‘I suppose that you’d call it an intermediary design. It’s weaning the macho biker onto the idea of electricity, and I’m sure it’s fun to ride because they have torque from nowhere, but it looks heavy.’ That’d be because, at 249 kilos it is heavy, highlighting one of the critical compromises that electric bikes have to resolve; battery range versus battery weight.
After a minor digression into the joys of his new electric mountain bike and the potential for customising electric motorcycles he’s back on topic. ‘They could have made more of the electrical sub-station aesthetic,’ he observes, deadpan. ‘You know those signs that say DANGER OF DEATH, and when you look over the wall that’s what you see.’ He points, cracked red varnish on his finger nail, towards the Harley’s massive battery and bursts into guffawing laughter.
‘It feels like this is a continuation of the styling of the Street Bob, a kind of muscle bike, rather than the classic teardrop tanked cruiser. I do find the contemporary Harley-davidson a disappointment, though I loved everything they did until fairly recently.
‘Every country has its own aesthetic that is bled into their culture. So everything from Italy is quite dinky, and all their bolts and fixings are just so, whereas everything from America is phssst, phssst (he mimics using a bicycle pump). It looks like its been over inflated; the cars, the trainers, the people. This has that too.’ Then he notices the motor. ‘That’s very Roy Rogers, they could have made more of that.’ Climbing aboard he prods the dummy tank. ‘I’d hate to see what’s under here.’ And it leads to further observations. ‘For me aesthetics
are about honesty. If it’s a box of gubbins then make it look like an interesting box of gubbins. Don’t make it look like a petrol tank.’ And now he’s on a roll. ‘And these things… the hugger… I never like that look, but resolving those things is a real problem for designers.’ Visually the Triumph couldn’t be more different. ‘What’s interesting looking at the Tiger is the way they have stripped back the fairing on the trellis. I’ve noticed them getting sparser and sparser, so they look like a two-wheeled version of a Baja dune buggy. You can see everything and it has that butch, utilitarian quality. I don’t know whether or not that’s just a pose, because if there is one thing designers are brilliant at faking it’s authenticity.
‘The aesthetics of adventure biking are really interesting. It’s all Dakar Rally inspired, and you see guys going to Tesco like they’re headed for Marrakech, but every time you get onto a motorcycle it’s about fantasy.
‘I have been drenched in motorcycle aesthetics since I was a teenager, and if I think about what are the driving forces in bike beauty it’s speed, it’s functionality, it’s engineering finesse. It’s the kind of mechanicalness of it. We want to see the bits and bobs, and we want them all to be beautifully made so that they jiggle and wiggle in the right way. I’m never going to get fully in love with glassfibre and plastic. ‘Painting the frame white is clever because it pops out and then you don’t look at all the gubbins, the dishwasher stuff, behind it. And look.’ He’s found the preload adjustment knob. ‘Here’s the tap for the dishwasher water.’ More laughter.
‘Comfort and aesthetics are really dicult bedfellows, so when building a bike that has to be comfy for a thousand-mile stint you are always going to compromise the looks. But, if I was in the market for a bike to ride two-up, I could see myself on this.’
So the winner of this round? ‘Oh, definitely the Triumph.’