It could easily just be me, but not that many new bikes seem to scream "gorgeous" at me these days. They nearly all look pretty uninspiring or just plain strange. Even the Panigale looks a bit weird, with the cavernous eyes, pointy nose and nothing at the back, just a seat hanging in mid-air. The naked Kawasaki on a different thread looks odd - the lines don't flow. KTMs seem to have so many angles you could cut yourself on one. No one has ever said that BMWs look nice. The Multistrada, whatever its qualities, is not really a thing of outstanding beauty, the Diavel looks like an anvil and had odd bits of plastic attached to it. So chip in. It could just be an age thing, but right now where are the new fabulous, must have bikes from an aesthetic point of view? Some of them must look good, surely?
the triumph speed/street - could be luffly but has been given the ugly stick treatment, rest of range apart from the little sports bike again fugly imho nothing says buy my buy me - apart maybe some of the MV's I wouldnt change mine for any of the current offerings
I wouldn't say ugly, I just guess bike design is changing and kind of morphing in to one Look at the naked selections, the Monster does does not look a million miles from the Suzuki Gladius, Hyper looks like the Dorsoduro. 1098 head on is easily mistaken for 2007 Fireblade. 999 is where its at, but I could be bias No doubt someone will be on soon blurting on about how stunning the 916 was. IMO the 916 does now look dated
Nope. All ugly... Bring back the Bonny or Norton 850 commando...too much plastic nowadays... mind you, my 848 Evo is gorgeous!!
I agree, not many lovely bikes these days in my eyes but I got into bikes in the late 70`s and early 80` when there were beautiful flowing models like the bevel 900ss etc, and while I liked plenty of bikes through to the early 2000`s it has mainly got a bit angular and pointy for my tastes now .
bike design as with all vehicle design is governed by computational fluid dynamics and mass centralisation, especially sportsbike design. hence the short noses, high tails, angles all over the place and the loss of underseat exhausts. Form follows function
In a word, yes. Was looking over my mate's new Yamaha Fazer 800 (?) half faired thing he's just bought brand new, and man, its ugly. All the better really, when I consider that my SS is now 22 years old, and gets better looking all the time.
Again, in a word, yes. I would like a curvaceous, rapid and stylish sports tourer. What I have is a Multistrada. I hope we move on from the 'transformers' school of design sooner rather than later.
I think the RC8 looks better in the flesh than it does in the photos.Also quite like the look of some of the new MV's.
Got to say that although its relatively old school by todays standards this is (for me) the most stunning motorcycle ever created, its got classic curves and lines and epitemises the Ducati brand (obviously slightly biased) I WILL own one bfore i die.
I agree with the OP - but then I've got a "Tatti Ducati" ST4 and a Laverda Formula, so what do I know ?
not before the felt tip fairies in the styling studio get to work it doesn't. They style, then ask engineering to perform miracles. CFD comes very late in the process, and trust me, most aero advantages are pretty much obliterated once the form is optimised to 'look cool'. motorbikes are pretty much ahead of cars in that respect, but its still not perfect. If engineers had their way for example, the 916 would have worn a conventional swinger, instead of the single sided arm. The truth about bike design is that you can't make an aerodynamically optimal bike, the wheel is exposed at the front, so that's turbulent airflow straight away, then you park a rider on the top and it all goes to rats. Angles are definitely stylists whimsy and fashion, lets face it, the 916 had all the aerodynamics of a concrete slab, but people thought it was aerodynamic because it was pointy and small. So, in many ways yes you're right, but when it comes to consumer orientated vehicles, form first, function second.
I thought I was alone on this subject but clearly not. IMHO Ducati design has gone downhill since they moved on from the 05/06 restyled 999. Not one since has caused me to consider splashing the cash for any of their later offerings. Ye Gods what are they on. There's the grim Hyper/Multi/1x98/Diavel and don't mention the supposedly magnifico Panigale and then there's the weird Strada versions they've just come up with! Anyhow don't pay much attention to me I've added the latest BMW GS to keep my 999S company...talk about beauty and the beast! All the other makes are primarily functional but are certainly not attractive. The MVs are quite nice to look at but judging by road test reports and my test rides you couldn't say they are functional. Combining the two seems beyond the current crop of Uni. artistic design graduates. Anyone noticed the latest 3 cylinder Yamaha? Dog's breakfast or what?
