Swann Insurance Bike

A major design project I have been working on for about a year, in conjunction with Sydney-based insurance research organisation, the IAG Technical Research Centre. This organisation has been looking closely into ways to make motorcycles safer as well as cheaper to repair in the event of a simple tip over, and asked me for some design input, which lead to the 'Swann Insurance Motorcycle of the Future' design.

I wanted to make the concept of such a motorcycle as practical as possible, with a minimum impact on the visuals. I believe you would be hard pressed to spot the various design features without them being pointed out.

I coined a term 'Ablative Design' to describe the idea of cheap, 'sacrificial' components being used in areas susceptible to tip over damage. Think of a $30 alloy cover bearing the brunt of a simple fall off the sidestand, instead of your $2,000 muffler. Simple really. 'Ablative' comes from the old Apollo space program, where it was used to describe the heat shield that was itself destroyed whilst protecting the crew from the dangers of re-entry.

The concept also grew to include the latest ideas in electronics, in the form of ABS, Stability Control,Proximity warning and programmable cruise control.