Motorcycle design

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Motorcycle design

Motorcycle design
Wolf in wolf’s clothing

Motorrad asked well-known designers to give them an insight into their future projects. The creatives from Target Design in Hechendorf, Bavaria, are the first to present their project. Name: Sachs Speedroadster.

Axel Westphal

March 24, 2000

When the pure pleasure of the motorcycle as an object directs the stroke of the pen of the designer, the result is something like the speed roadster. Especially when the client gives a free hand. And it’s called Sachs. The people of Nuremberg don’t have an in-house design team, but rely on a proven external team: on Target Design around Hans-Georg Kasten, older motorcycle connoisseurs as one of the fathers of the trend-setting Suzuki Katana 1100 from 1980, a household name.
“Sachs wanted a bad, mean motorcycle. And that’s it ?, Target Design boss Kasten goes straight to the point. The search for a market niche for the small German motorcycle manufacturer, after the fixed completion of the Roadster 650 and Bigroadster 800, initially directed the gaze to aggressive sports equipment with the V-engine of the Suzuki TL 1000 that displayed the technology. Designed by Target Design last year, it was aimed at enthusiasts of extreme, high-performance motorcycles with an extraordinary design. »There are now several motorcycles with the TL 1000 engine on the market, such as the Cagiva Raptor. We had to rethink. Suzuki, now established as the home supplier of the engines, could help out. The Hayabusa engine, pioneer of 300 km / h motorcycles, seemed just good enough. »One can only replace performance with even more performance ??, postulates Kasten. “But we want to stand by pure performance and not hide it, as the Japanese do. It’s a wolf in wolf’s clothing. But it was certainly not meant to be a riot motorcycle in the style of street fighters. More like a jewel that has to be elegantly processed, but easy to assemble. Under no circumstances do you want to afford the complexity of an MV Agusta. There are enough style elements at Target Design so that you didn’t have to start from scratch. After all, the team can look back on many years of experience in designing motorcycles (see box on page 150).
MOTORRAD’s wish to take a look at the brain pool of creativity spurred the team to accelerate their work. And met with the desire of the designer to be the owner of Sachs to encourage them on their way to new shores. “The owners rated our project as very extreme, which it is. In just four weeks, the designers at Ammersee in Bavaria conjured up a wealth of designs, only a few of which can be shown here. They are so exclusive that not even Hartmut Huhn, head of development at Sachs, knows them all. The fact that he agrees to the publication speaks for his trust and his will to make a difference quickly. The salespeople at Sachs initially got stomach ache. “They always hear from their dealers: When are you going to build this thing ??? It is certain that the Speedroadster will be built. The budget is approved. Now there is a lot of detailed work to be done. “In any case, we would like to use an injection?” Says Hartmut Huhn. Suzuki does not want to release the injection as it is used in the Hayabusa at the moment. “Perhaps Suzuki is ready to do this if you see advantages for image reasons?” Hopes Hans Georg Kasten. In any case, Sachs would like to nail it down and equip the Speedroadster with a regulated Kat.
But that anticipates the Speedroadster project too far. First of all, it is important to clarify what kind of framework concept appears to be suitable. Currently, a chassis is favored in which the four-cylinder engine supports and a large-volume main tube connects the steering head and swing arm suspension. What the swing arm looks like is also not yet clear. “We want to avoid a diversion. It’s too complicated and too difficult. There are progressive struts that have long been common in cross motorcycles ??, explains Kasten.
The decisions must now be made quickly. Because at the INTERMOT in Munich in autumn at least one finished model could be admired. Series production will begin in 2002. Planned number of pieces: initially 500, later 1000 per year.

The creative ones

The small but fine design company was founded by Hans-Georg Kasten in 1980 and today employs nine people. Located in Hechendorf am Ammersee, Target Design works for well-known automobile companies such as BMW, Audi, Porsche and MAN Nutzfahrzeuge, develops ski bindings for markers, designs skis and showers, created the complete range of products for Detleff’s mobile homes, designs car seats, aircraft seats, spark plug connectors, car rims and and so on and. The Hamburg-born box became known in the motorcycle sector for the design of the Suzuki Katana 1100, which he designed together with Hans A. Muth. The katana was way ahead of its time and was considered by many to be too innovative when it was launched in 1980. The recognition came later, when it was no longer offered in Europe, while it is still produced in various displacement versions for the Japanese market. In 1988, Kasten developed the Enduro GS 100 Paris / Dakar for BMW with the characteristic frame tubes built around the cladding. Target Design achieve progressive designs for Schuberth, Krauser and Hepco helmets & Becker motorcycle cases, Uvex glasses and much more. As Sachs’ in-house designer, the team drew the Roadster 650 and the Bigroadster 800 as well as various 125cc models. The designers Matthias Diebold, Hans Geiger, Lucas Lorch and the boss himself are working on the Speedroadster project presented. Contact address: Target Design, Breitbrunner Strabe 6, 82229 Hechendorf, phone 08152/78361, email pr@target-design.com, Internet www.target-design.com.

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