What are the elements that make a motorcycle a motorcycle?
Well, to start with you pretty much have to include two wheels, some form of non-human propulsion, braking and steering systems and well, a nice paint job also helps.
With his recent Moto Undone concept, designer Joey Ruiter seems to be rethinking almost every element of what makes a motorbike a motorbike.
The Moto Undone has two wheels, a motor and brakes, but that seems to be the only concessions Ruiter makes toward the consensus reality we elect to name “motorcycle.”
His bike is not shaped like a motorcycle; makes no motorcycle noise; does not have a flashy motorcycle paint and runs not on gasoline, but electricity.
At first glance, the bike is startling. It seems to be a motorcycle encased in a block of ice, or trapped in a billet of aluminum.
In reality, the Moto Undone is a 1000 watt, 48 volt electric motorcycle that Ruiter says has a range of 90 miles or about three hours. All gauges and riding information, like speed and GPS info, are displayed wirelessly via smart phone.
Ruiter says he wanted to reset the definition of a motorbike by, “stripping away historical attributes that make them so great. It’s hard to image a motorcycle without fancy paint, overpowered motors, exposed mechanical genius and sweet exhaust tones. Moto Undone is pure generic transportation and by motorbike category definition it isn’t very cool. The motorbike references are small and when someone is riding they are all you see. The bike almost disappears. The rider just floats along the streets silently.”
