An interesting blog post about Volkswagen's 20% ownership of Suzuki and designer Nils Poschwatta's drawing of what a VW influences Suzuki would look like, made me think about some of the intangible requirements for a favorite motorcycle. Here is the design:
 What I like in certain vehicles is a "swiss army knife" sense of utility. Lots of Beemers have this. In the automotive world, VW used to have this, and still occasionally gets it, Saab used to have it in their peculiar way, Volvo lived it in certain models. Honda's Hawk and CB750's had a motorcycle version of it.
It's an interesting concept, because really, it doesn't mean much. Little things, like extra electric plugs, play on this. Rides with solid feel and plainer styling tend towards it. An absence of leading edge power and technology seems to help.
Mostly, though, it is just a sense that the vehicle will reliably do whatever is required, with styling that reinforces this sense.
As a result, real or not, the rider feels confident that the bike will take whatever is thrown at it, mile after mile. A solid feel, a certain plain aura. It may not even be real. Simple, easy to fix, basic. Like a Swiss Army knife.
A lot of the cost of a motorcycle is the cost of setting up to manufacture it. Not as bad as tooling on a car, but still. The bikes I am talking about have a lasting quality, like a Norman Rockwell painting. You like them better as you put on the miles.
No doubt many riders are missing what I am getting at here. I think a lot of high mileage riders, however, will understand it.
To me, these are some of the characteristics of a bike you grow to love over time. Hard to describe, but easy to discover. In other words, a bike that just plain works, and looks it.
I like the Poschwatta design, a lot, and look forward to things to come from the collaboration.
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