July 15, 2014

DAILY INSPIRATION.

July 15, 2014/ David Mucci

July 14, 2014

ART&DESIGN: BMW F800GS Motorcycle Illustration - by Ian Galvin

July 14, 2014/ David Mucci

BMW F800 GS Illustration & Design

by Ian Galvin

This was a commissioned work for a F800 GS owner done by Ian Galvin. Below are his comments and process.

Owner supplied photo.

"Paint scheme idea."

"We worked together adding parts that he wanted to add in the future, a KTM 690 fender in this case."

"...and a new windscreen setup."

"Then paint..."

"...and a few decal requests with some final touches."

Ian is available for contract illustrations. Contact Him.

He also has prints for sale in the Moto-Mucci Webstore.

July 11, 2014

BEHIND THE DESIGN: How Bill Webb of Huge Design Re-Imagined the Kawasaki Ninja 750 Tail

July 11, 2014/ David Mucci

A Tale of Tails

1995 Kawasaki Ninja 750 (ZX7)

by Bill Webb of Huge Design

Being an Industrial Designer myself I love seeing people who come from the same background applying their in-studio process to outside realms. Of course when this process is applied to custom motorcycles it's like a double rainbow of super interest that I must explore. When Bill Webb of Huge Design had his custom Kawasaki Ninja 750 go live on BikeEXIF recently that booty had me all like dammmnnn. It's rare to see such precisely sculptural forms that are familiar to the design world being applied to one-off custom bikes. The reason is usually because it's simply cost prohibitive. There tends to be a barrier between those who have the hands on skill of metal shaping and those who have the designers eye for beautiful and innovative form language. It always excites me to see people who are able to cross this boundary from one side or the other. Here's a behind the scenes tour of what went into Bill Webb's Kawasaki Ninja booty from the man himself:

"I had always loved the idea of combining all the different styles of bikes that I love into one. I love the performance and raw purpose-built look of race bikes. I love the honesty, nostalgia and subtle simplicity of a stripped down classic café. I also love the f-u attitude of a mean-ass streetfighter (minus the skull headlights and cheesy details). My goal with this project was to make a perfect blend of sport/café/fighter in a subtle “out of the factory” way."

"I have obsessed over other people’s builds, what I liked ...what I didn’t. I figured out that the one area where all other “racebike turned naked street bike” failed is in the subframe/seat. You can pretty easily clean-up the front, black out the radiator, and get some trick lights/bars that replace the front fairing…but the tail execution almost always looks like crap. That’s when I decided I would use my skills as an Industrial Designer to actually design the subframe in my 3D CAD software that I normally use for projects at work.

I took a ton of measurements of the ZX7 frame and tank. I settled on the Ducati 1098 seat as the perfect silhouette that would match the tank and took a ton of 3D measurements of that. [I then] set off designing the subframe to seat interface, designing the inside as well…allow mounting room for all the electronics that needed to fit in this tiny solo-seat part."

"Once I nailed the design in CAD, one of our trusted modelshops machined the the part out of a 110lb block of aluminum. He joked it bared fit on the CNC. After a few days of machining it was done and sent back."

Bill then set out gathering up the rest of the parts he needed to complete the design and the rest of the bike. He had the tank and frame professionally painted subtle shades of silver and spent a lot of time on eBay sourcing all the little bits and bobs needed to button things up. The end result was a quite radical transformation of the Ninja into a crossbred custom with so much modern flare you'd never know it's almost old enough to drink.

Bill says this is only the beginning, "I love what we do (for our high tech clients) but we also want to grow our design capabilities into more ‘garage/shop/custom’ work. Our plan is to move into a larger facility that can have CNC machines, a full shop and ability to prototype both our client work and our passion projects…more bikes to come!!!!"

July 10, 2014

DAILY INSPIRATION: "Strasse" 1979 BMW R100 RS by Fuel Bespoke Motorcycles

July 10, 2014/ David Mucci

"Strasse"

1979 BMW R100 RS

by Fuel Bespoke Motorcycles

"Based on a BMW R100 RS from 1979, the Fuel R100 Strasse (“Street” in German) was commissioned by Pablo, an enthusiast of classic motorcycles, restless traveler and fan of Apple products. He dreamed [of] a motorcycle where aesthetics have more relevance than performance. A bike to get around the streets of Barcelona and even for some of the dirt tracks that you can find around. A bike to look at and be seen.

The basic idea in terms of design was to get a motorcycle with simple and clean lines, where each part of the bike was very defined by color or materials. So for example, the tank and fenders are a block. The engine was totally painted for getting another visual block. The chassis and subframe in sand color is another one."

"The tank was a very important part for the look of the bike. We made a lot of tests using different techniques to get an aged metal aspect, which was finally achieved using Bitumen of Judea plus a clear coat for protection. A powerful and small lithium battery was hidden in the air filter box to get a cleaner design. On the right side of the box a little battery disconnector was adapted and installed. The headlight is from a classic trials motorcycle. A powerful Motogadget speedometer was installed and the ignition was relocated on the side. The rear taillight was installed inside the seat for a cleaner look. On one side of the bike is a small metal case built in Poland. It gives a military look to the bike.