Kiwi design attracts motorbike world's attention

Auckland School of Design students Rohan Geo (left) Alli Abbas, Joonhwan Choi, Emily Ang, Joseph Raffills, Nick Marks, Jason Khoo and lecturer Oliver Neuland. Missing is Sam McCafferty.

Massey's stylish motorbike design catches attention of Honda.

Massey University's Auckland School of Design (ASoD) has made several European designers and Honda sit up and take notice.

In a project initiated by ASoD senior lecturer Oliver Neuland, with the help and input of Paolo Cuccagna, the chief designer and manager at the Honda R&D department in Rome, they asked a number of Massey students to sketch a new concept motorcycle.

Neuland has had experience in motorcycle design in Europe as designer at MZ, BMW and a consultant for Aprillia. He worked on BMW models such as the R1100R, C1, and the F650 before moving to New Zealand to become a programme leader at Massey's Albany campus.

The brief was to design a small capacity commuter motorbike for Generation Z, aged 16-22, who appear to have turned their backs on a cheap and efficient mode of transport.

"Motorbikes are deeply emotional products and the subject of many irrational preconceptions,"said Neuland.

"Maybe that's why they are on the brink of being extinct instead of hyped as one of the most promising solutions for a more sustainable and economic future of personal transport for this age group in regard to cost, mobility and sustainability."

Twenty four students from the Massey Auckland and Wellington campuses submitted sketch concepts and three were selected and evaluated for further development.

Once a final idea was set, students Rohan Geo, Alli Abbas, Joonhwan Choi, Emily Ang, Joseph Raffills, Nick Marks, Jason Khoo and Sam McCafferty, under the guidance of Neuland and Cuccagna, set about starting on a clay model.

"I'm doing industrial design but I thought it would be cool and fun to design a motorcycle," said Ang.

"I really like cars so I thought doing something with a motorcycle would be interesting."

Driven contributor Eric Thompson (VCD programme manager at the ASoD) played a minor role as a consultant having previously built and raced motorcycles.

"I was talking to Paolo about a book I'm writing and he suggested because New Zealand designers have a different approach to things (he mentioned the Brittan bike) he thought we should do a project together and he suggested a 125cc bike," said Neuland. "Paolo chose one of the 24 sketches and the Honda board in Japan chose another. The students then had a vote as to which one to build."

The final refined design concept resulted in a full-size clay model being built in the clay-modelling studio on the Albany campus. The model is one of only a few full-scale clay models built in New Zealand and the first motorbike clay model at the School of Design.

"The Honda board followed the whole process and, from what Paolo said, they were quite excited about the whole process and one of the chiefs there actually looked at our blog while we were building it.

"[Honda] were quite amazed by the quality produced and that it was a very good result for students who have never actually designed a bike before," said Neuland.

The designer of the chosen sketch, Sam McCafferty, was then given the chance to go head to head with other schools in Europe. After submitting more sketches and an interview, McCafferty, and one European designer, were chosen for a three-month internship at the Honda R&D studio in Rome.

"I'm really looking forward to going to Italy," said McCafferty.

"I've loved motorcycles since I was young, and always wanted to design a motorcycle.

"I couldn't have done it without the team - they worked really hard to translate the ideas from the page into this design, evolving it along the way."

The motorcycle is on its way to Massey's Wellington campus to go on display at the College of Creative Arts.