Happy Birthday MINI!

Quick sketch for MINI's 50th birthday. I've put the motorcycle project on hold while I work on the Local Motors competition, but I'll get back to it in a few days here.

Death Touch

The next character for Escape the City, Tried to take this bike in a different direction, thought it would be cool to try treads, though I dont think it would have much success outside the concept realm yet it was fun and well suited for the character. Cheers.

Final Design

Well here it is. . My final design rendered in Photoshop. It's an extremely light weight single cylinder, 500cc 2-stroke race bike. It is intended for use on small oval tracks, reminiscent of old school board track racing. While it would come from the factory as a closed course race bike, there would be an optional lighting kit and exhaust to make it street legal.

Escape the City

I was thinking about designing a few characters for a project I wanted to start. I was thinking about calling it "Escape the City." The whole idea is kind of based off an apocalyptic world where racers will be dropped into the middle of major cities that have been in the wake of war or infestation and have them fight each other while trying to make it around and out alive. Its basically like Twisted Metal or Deathrace 3000 but was going to keep it to just bikes.
I want to try to design a few different characters and bikes to fit the storyline. Each with nicknames, weapons and their own numbers. Here's the first one, ExoticMangos. I based the bike off of the last pages of sketches I submitted. Hows it all sound? I don't really have a set story down yet or name even so all ideas and suggestions may help.

Attempt #2

sketching experiment

Trying out a different style, what do you guys think?
There are some things that I like about it, but it came out looking kind of dirty.

finalish direction

i'm trying to hone in on a final direction.

i took some of the themes of the previous ones and played with the proportions a bit.

i'm goin with in-wheel motors

also, this one can turn....happy?


crit away!

Hub center steering

Hub center steering
dual forks
vented disc brakes
forged aluminum wheels
summer performance tires

you know... the usual :)

Concepts

I found middle ground on a few issues I had and worked out some more side views for what I wanted, and Im getting closer to the look Im going for so far. From here I can focus more on how it works and get some details put into it.

Revised handlebars

Working out some of the details...

Modified Final Direction

I'm gonna have to cut a notch or something in that edge that will be pressing up against the guys calf... I'll get to that though when I have a more detailed design.

I think this lightens up the bottom a bit with that whole in the front now... It also lets the engine air cool a bit and shows off the exhaust a little more as well. Thanks guys for the adivice.

With Oscar

Here is the bike again, sense someone wondered what it would look like with someone on it. I created this Oscar in Photoshop and is fully adjustable. Swing by my blog and download it, if you like it.

Bike Concepts

Heres some concepts I did just starting with side views and 2 tone designs.
Still need to get into the details and what the wheels are going to look like.
I was trying to just think about the silhouette of the outside of the design first and build from there.

STEERING

I know we're not engineers, but as industrial designers, we should take a minute to read up on the general physical rules of motorcycle steering. Not to say there aren't any creative ways to get around conventional motorcycle forks, take the Dodge Tomahawk for example:
It splits the wheel in half, with each half pivoting vertically to create a lean/turning condition. Check the video to see it in action.


Also check this link for more conventional motorcycle steering setups
Bicycle_and_motorcycle_geometry Fork_offset

This isn't meant to be picking on anyone, I just want our designs to be as informed as possible

Here is the Hub Center steering setup that Tim is looking at for inspiration

Final design direction

I still have some details to work out, but this is the direction I'm heading in. I threw some triathlon inspired handlebars on there and I still have to figure out if I'm doing hubless or standard wheels.

Bike Painting final

As done as it's gonna be for now. Sleep time.

Final Direction

So this is what I think I'm gonna work with... I tried to make it kind of stealthy.. especially with the exhaust being like a F23's exhaust. Different paint would help the stealthiness but for now matte silver is the deal. I think its better than my original angular concept but I'd like to know what you guys think should change.

Narrowing it Down

Here are some more sketches I did searching for a final design. I came across some photos of some old board track racers, and that's what inspired these.

I really liked the look of the blade style forks. These would work like normal forks, but the moving parts are hidden from view, so it appears the wheel is floating up and down between them.



This is a composite of a few sketches from above, and the ideal direction I'm heading. I'm going to integrate the exhaust a bit better on future iterations. I figured stuff like that might become more apparent once I start drawing it from different angles, and working out volumes.

Bike painting WIP

I started this the other night, trying to find a nice composition and lighting. Bike design: not really sure what I'm doing, although in this case I'm focusing more on the illustration than the vehicle.

Next Step

Alright guys, it seems as though we have a decent idea of what direction we should go... So I guess we should start narrowing down the single direction. Go at your own pace though... It would be cool though to keep the same pace of production from last week. That was awesome haha.

Anyways its up to you to decide what you need to do so lets do it!