‘NEW BIKE DESIGN IS WAY TOO BLAND’
Journalist, photographer, songwriter and film-maker, Nick Berkeley of Bikerglory navigates the dangerous minefield of bike design
Form cannot compromise function. Beyond this diktat, motorcycle stylists begin each job with a relatively free hand. Styling is largely on the surface: the livery, the saddle cover, the just-so footpeg hangers. Yet such fripperies can make or break a new model, because style has always been key in biking’s psyche. But although we are currently spoiled for choice in terms of model diversity, styling and design have become ultra conservative. It took the industry years to wake up to the retro and custom scene, since when they’ve been milking it as hard as possible. New retro may still be marketable, but it feels playedout. The average rat bike has more individuality and authenticity. Real retro bikes are just old bikes, but they have the patina, the blemishes, the vibe of interaction with a world unmediated by marketing executives. Their retro status was never designed: it was earned. BMW are often cited as being radical in terms of design, and hip to the latest street moves, but their last radically designed bike was the K1300R, complete with brutal styling and uncompromised engineering solutions. Like it or loathe it, nothing they have done since has been as original, and originality confers the kind of gravitas no faux scrambler can. Back home, the Ariel Ace puts its niche British competitors to shame. The Ace is the bespoke equivalent of the mass produced K1300R, and the fact a Japanese V4 is at its beating heart makes it more authentic than Nortons or Heskeths trading on nostalgia. That’s because it brings the 21st century into play, complementing styling that is part of its function; as all good styling must. Neither Ace nor K have anything to do with retro or custom builds, or the adventure market, but they rock. Someone has pushed the styling boat well out to sea, ignoring the shouts to stay near the shore and be careful… Honourable mentions, though, to Yamaha’s MT-10, whose many surfaces over-elaborate a tad; and Bimota’s ever-young Tesi 3D. All four are proper design statements, meaning authenticity is built in. That’s the golden rule when it comes to motorcycle styling.