It's an Industry Thing

Republished from Paul d’Orléans’ ‘Wandering Eye’ column in Cycle World

[Note: this column was written in 2017, and while the situation hasn’t changed much in the USA, motorcycle sales in Europe are actually on the increase, and the same is true in India.  The rest of the world carries on as always, buying small utility machines (based on the Honda C110) in their millions, although in China, one of the biggest markets in the world, the ubiquitous small motorcycles are almost exclusively electric.  I republish this mostly for my thoughts on design, which remain consisistent – ed.] Motorcycle sales have been on a downward slope for a generation now. Has the world changed, or has the industry changed – or, even, have bikes themselves reached a stage of maturity? The internal-combustion motorcycle seems to have reached a point of diminishing returns technologically, as even a small capacity machine is capable of double any speed limit, with good suspension and brakes. Electric motorcycles are different; they face big hurdles compared to an internal combustion bike, with issues around riding range and battery size. They can be made wicked fast but not for long.

So gas bikes are pretty near perfect, technically; is that why they became boring? Specifically, is that why OEM factories are scrambling (cafe racing, even) to poach ideas from independent customizing shops? There was a time when talented designers like Edward Turner (Triumph) or George Brough (Brough Superior) or Briggs Weaver (Indian) managed to combine technical progress with body shapes and color schemes that were universally considered beautiful, and which stand the test of time. These designers led the industry, and the buying public, by the nose.  And Harley-Davidson has been recycling the aesthetic perfection of a 1936 Knucklehead for 90 years now. New Triumphs, Brough Superiors, and Indians are styled to look like their grandparents, which has less to do with nostalgia, in my opinion, than their forbears’ strong aesthetic identity.

The rise of new-wave customizers since 2010 is the most exciting development in motorcycling in decades. Small shops making quirky machines have managed to make bikes chic again with a younger crowd, a necessary state of affairs at which the OEM factories have failed, and they know it. They’ve been keeping a close eye on trends and throwing cash at events like Born Free and Wheels & Waves. Factories are also sponsoring custom builders by handing out free bikes (and a little cash), hoping for ideas they can use in production, and a cool factor they can’t generate internally. Factory designers are frank about poaching ideas from customizers and admit to outsourcing important R&D from outside shops. Independent designers are navigating factory offers of “collaboration:” while some feel burned by the experience afterward, others have sorted out a mutually beneficial relationship.

What’s clear is no Edward Turner or George Brough exists in the industry today, no visionary trend-setter whose products the world clamors for. That exists in the tech world, but there’s a void in our industry…which is okay. Design decentralization works for other industries. For example, in the fashion industry (that dwarfs motorcycles by Billions), big names regularly poach the ideas of tastemakers, but those same talented outliers with fresh ideas are routinely hired as heads of design for big brands, or their names are rounded up under a corporate umbrella. It’s a proven model; rebels like Alexander McQueen or Yves Saint Laurent are brought into a big tent to carry their designs forward.

Today, there’s no reason BMW couldn’t purchase Roland Sands Design as a sub-brand for manufacturing, or Yamaha hire Shinya Kimura as chief designer. The motorcycle industry is deeply conservative (as is the bike-buying public), but it’s now possible for a basic platform to inhabit multiple chassis configuration (think BMW R nineT or Ducati Scrambler). Limited runs of specially branded bikes could be made profitably, leveraging the technical clout of the mother ship. It’s only fear keeping the motorcycle industry stuck in an old model; perhaps it’s time to look at other industries for inspiration.

By the numbers:

149 custom builders featured in Gestalten’s The Ride (2013) and The Ride: 2nd Gear (2015)

1,923 Harley-Davidson XLCRs cafe racers built in 1977-78, and considered a failure

800 Ducati 900SSs built in 1975-76, which saved the company