I have had dustbin fairings on the brain lately, and yesterday’s story about golf ball dimples on motorcycle helmets isn’t helping things.
From a pure design perspective, there is something I enjoy immensely about streamlining — I think its the sleek lines and low-slung bodywork that hugs the asphalt, looking for any edge over the wind. Despite being something of motorcycling’s past, there is something futuristic about a well-designed dustbin.
That’s an interesting thought, because from a practical point-of-view, I’m rather indifferent to the whole idea.
The two-wheeled examples I’ve seen of extreme aerodynamic efficiency are not machines I would want to ride, let alone own…sans maybe the 2012 MotoCzysz E1pc — that bike was downright fun to ride, but I don’t think that was because of Michael Czysz’s aerodynamic work. I digress.
The streamlining designs that have been catching my fancy lately though are modern takes on an old-school aesthetic and method for cutting through the wind.
It doesn’t take much to find modern builders who are recreating old dustbin designs into their modern-day builds, but I’m more interested in how the aerodynamic principle of streamlining can evolve as alternate to today’s aerodynamic compromises, in the same way steampunk explores a worldly evolution that never happened.
The first concept to catch my fancy, as such, is the BMW Apollo Streamliner by Turkish designer Mehmet Doruk Erdem.
Still true to the classic lines of BMW’s post-WWII machines, the BMW Apollo Streamliner hints enough to the classic bike crowd, while Erdem’s stylization of the front fairing adds a look that could have come straight from the factory.
The rider’s position is obviously low to the ground, and likely rather uncomfortable, which is probably why modern motorcycles don’t adopt such a design, but there is a certain beauty the machine. It screams to fly fast, and then be admired once it gets there.
If that’s not true to the cafe racer mentality, then I don’t know what is.
Source: Inazuma Cafe Racer
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