A selective and irregular series of mad, mysterious, magical and in many cases downright ridiculous motorcycle designs that have caught my jaundiced eye over many years of trawling through design websites – not for bonkers bikes but for design stories. But one does come across…
This is one the results of artist Ken Kelleher’s tortured imagination, from a 2023 story on DesignBoom. Usually when I find such things I forward them, under the heading of ‘Aidan’s New Bike (Not)’ to my coterie of overeducated hooligans who share my passion for bikes and my twisted sense of humour. But since I am at last – about 25 years late – joining the blogosphere, please enjoy the share:
One of the things apparent about Ken from this pic is that he himself must be about 10ft tall. I wonder if he has added extra leg length, or indeed a whole new section of leg, just to match the insane proportions of his ghastly yellow confection?
The fairly regular conclusion to be made from accumulating such two-wheeled eccentricities is that many of these designs are quite obviously designed by people who nothing about riding motorcycles. Worst and by far best known example of this is the BatCycle from The Dark Knight, whose flat section tyres, at a rough guess about 24in (600mm) wide, would render it completely impossible to ride. OK, it’s a fantasy comicbook movie and we all love Batman, but if you want to come up with a sweet fantasy / futuristic bike, at least design it so motorcycle fanatics can actually imagine riding it – right?
More to come. Much more, many more … the new generation of electric powered bikes has delivered some crazy stuff. Some elegant and even rideable designs, but mostly … bonkers.
Aidan Walker 